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For Buddhists, meditation is the basis of religious practices. But it is also an effective way to overcome psychological tension, stress, and mitigate strong feelings. Psychologists have adopted meditation techniques. We present you three of them.
“It is like an endless vacation. It is better than the deepest sleep. It is a calming of the mind that sharpens everything, especially the perception of your surroundings. Meditation makes life fresh,” Hugh Jackman describes his twenty years of meditation experience. The actor captured the essence of the process, which the Dalai Lama calls “the path of bliss”, with amazing accuracy.
Meditation in Buddhism is the basis of spiritual practices. Many psychologists have adopted meditative techniques, but not everyone knows what a variety of results can be achieved with their help.
“In the West, meditation is perceived solely as a way to bring oneself to a state of peace. But its possibilities are wider. Moreover, if you engage in peace meditation too much, you can, on the contrary, become too nervous, says Orientalist philosopher Andrey Paribok. – In the practice of meditation, we achieve the ability to control the spontaneous flow of consciousness, to direct attention to a specific object. As a result, if an emotional or mental turmoil arises, one who owns meditative techniques can interrupt it, not allowing the spontaneous mind to mock itself.
Shamatha – Achieving Concentration
Shamatha is one of the main types of meditation. According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, it aims to return the mind to a point of highest concentration, which he calls focus.
Daniel Goleman notes that in the process of meditation, the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for self-control and will, are “pumped”. In our world, where information flows from the screens of smartphones, TV screens, billboards, from the pages of newspapers, it is extremely important to learn to stop, prioritize and move towards the goal.
Meditation becomes a tool to help us calm the storm and focus on what matters most.
Due to the distraction of attention, we may notice too late that life has turned into chaos. We are like a boat in the middle of a hurricane and we can hardly get the situation under control.
Meditation becomes the tool that helps calm the storm and focus on the most important, standing in the position of an observer. Experienced practitioners warn that the effect is not achieved immediately, but as a result of regular training: it should be done daily, at about the same time, gradually increasing the intensity of the exercises.
Technique No. 1 “Mind Concentration Exercise”
Take some time, find a place where you won’t be disturbed, sit comfortably with your back straight, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Inhale and exhale, and inhale and exhale again. Our consciousness is rhythmic, this respiratory cycle will be pleasant to it. Watch how the air enters and exits through the nose, fills the lungs and diaphragm. Feeling distracted, gently come back.
Most likely, thoughts and memories will distract you. It `s naturally. Just bring yourself back to tracking your breath. At the end of the practice, slowly open your eyes, sit a little longer, thank yourself for the practice.
Working with emotions
Buddhist teaching pays great attention to working with emotions. It comes from the fact that anger and envy cloud the mind, while love and joy ennoble it. Compassion for others is a mandatory quality for a Buddhist. Practices of generosity and caring for others are impossible for someone who is immersed in a state of despondency or anger.
Meditation helps to expand the emotional range, enhance the experience of joy, happiness, unconditional love and acceptance in relation to the world and people. Compassion, rejoicing and equanimity Buddhist teachers recommend practicing together, as one feeling supports the other.
Technique #2 Metta Meditation, or Loving-Kindness Meditation
This practice is especially valuable if you want relationships with others to change so that they become more warm and understanding.
Find a quiet place, sit up straight, close your eyes. Concentrate on your breath for the first couple of minutes, watching your mind settle down. When extraneous thoughts stop filling your mind, wish yourself joy, health, happiness. Say to yourself: “I wish myself to be happy”, “I wish myself health”. It is better to pronounce these words in time with the breath. If you start to have negative feelings, dissolve them into an experience of self-love.
Then imagine your best friend or loved one. Give him love, wish him happiness and health. If you feel tension in the body, observe it, slowly dissolving it in a state of joy and love. Imagine a friend: a colleague, a salesperson from a nearby store, a neighbor – someone to whom you are neutral, and wish him happiness and kindness, freedom and joy. It is difficult to feel love for a stranger, but gradually, in the process of practice, it will become easier to do this.
The most difficult thing is to wish happiness to someone who is unpleasant to you. But this is also the most important thing in developing loving-kindness. Actor Richard Gere, who has been fascinated by Buddhism for many years, mentally wishes every person happiness, and this, according to him, gives joy, first of all, to himself.
A sincere wish for good and health to someone who has done bad things to you is a real breakthrough in mastering emotions. And this is the penultimate stage of metta meditation, after which you can wish happiness to all living beings. Stay in this state, observe the changes that have happened to you. Thank yourself for the practice.
Analytical Meditation
Once you have mastered the ability to focus on your breath, you can move on to the next level of meditation. It refers to the practice of Vipassana, aimed at developing awareness and wisdom. The essence of analytical meditation is concentration on an object, internal or external, in order to develop a certain quality, such as compassion.
Meditation is not a static exercise that is done the same way every time.
“Analytical meditation in the East is just reflection,” Andrey Paribok clarifies, “but at the same time, the one who thinks seeks to take a position above the situation. For example, in meditation, the thought comes to him: “Ivan is a bad person.” But he does not dwell on it, does not “hang”, but notes that such a thought came to him, but this is just an assessment. He looks at this assessment from the outside, gradually disengaging from it. The task is not to cling to the thought, to the object, but to let them go.”
You can think about different things – about life and death, about the happiness of loved ones and your own, about the significance of care in this world. It is important to choose a specific topic, focus on it, and concentrate on the breathing cycle, which will help maintain focus.
Technique #3 Empathy Meditation
Sit up straight. Begin by doing the practice of focusing on the breath and calming the stream of consciousness. When you feel ready, focus on a specific thought. For example, think of a time when you suffered and someone took care of you. What feelings did you have? What did this person feel? How did it change him?
Recall a time when you showed concern for someone. What was the reaction? What did you feel about it? Think how many sentient beings suffer every day. Wish them deliverance from suffering, mentally lend a helping hand. Be in a state of meditation for as long as necessary.
Take a few breaths in and out, gently come back. Thank yourself for the practice. In the future, note the quality that you have in the process of meditation, and develop it.
Meditation is not a static exercise that is done the same way every time. As the spiritual growth of the practitioner, the technique becomes more complicated. Her ultimate goal will be to constantly use this way of thinking in order to experience life in all its colors.