Meditation.

Meditation is the art of 'not thinking', allowing your logical mind to be stilled so that your true consciousness is revealed and expanded.

There are two main ways of meditating; guided when you listen to another person, tape or CD guiding you through the meditative process, or 'open' (unguided) when you may perhaps use non-intrusive sound effects or music to promote a self-managed meditative state.

Traditionally meditation has been used from the earliest of times by devotees of a religion, usually Eastern, to promote spiritual enlightenment.  Today's meditation is nondenominational, embracing many belief systems, and is used to gain relief from stress, anxiety and fear. It promotes relaxation, is the pathway to self-awareness and realisation, calming, enables you to cope, gives confidence and inner peace.  You will also find increased energy, a state of well-being. It creates and restores balance, it enables you to meet challenges calmly, and rekindles a 'Love of Life'. Your creativity is awakened, and you have a realisation of unlimited potential and self-worth.

In healing it is particularly useful for entering the state of  inner peace -  the 'stillness' within, before commencing to heal.  Also can be used for self-healing, as in a state of Being (focusing inward) we can experience the present moment and in this state healing occurs holistically. You must surrender to the experience, allow the conscious mind to be quietened, and become inspired and intuitive.

The Conscious, logical mind is never still, intrusive on inner self and demanding. It is limited, linear and rational. It is judgmental and reasoning. We have been given a conscious mind to experience the material world with, and to enable us to survive. The Inner, spiritual mind is unlimited, expansive, non-intrusive, undemanding and simply accepts whatever it encounters without question.  In meditation we access the inner mind which is the mind of true reality. It knows no barriers.

Features of meditation.

Breathing is very important. Breathe through the nose and exhale through the mouth, say 3 or 4 times prior to meditation, then allow the pattern to fall into its own rhythm. You can imagine that when you breathe in, you are breathing in a brilliant white light energy from the Universe (the light energy of Unconditional Love), and as you exhale this energy percolates into and fills your whole body.
Be comfortable and sit with arms and legs uncrossed. Hands with palms upwards, and feet firmly on the floor.

It is important that you are in a 'balanced state', that is to say that you are balanced between Earth energies and Spiritual energies - that you are in touch with both dimensions.

Grounding is that state of being in touch with the Earth, so have your feet on the floor, or even lie on the floor to meditate. If you wish to meditate in the open air, then be near a tree, perhaps hold or touch the tree (embrace it even), or sit with your back to the tree, and preferably near water, if that is possible.

Your location at home is important and so find a restful corner or room, and meditating here as your regular location will promote a feeling of calmness, peace and inner harmony by association. Turn off the 'phone, TV and radio and allow no interruptions.

Time is not important as you can meditate for a few seconds (as in 'daydreaming') but for an intentional meditation perhaps 10 minutes is ideal, and no more than 20 minutes as a general rule.
Intrusive Thoughts should be acknowledged and then allow them to pass by, and return to an intentional meditative state. Do not consciously resist the intrusive thoughts, let them disperse naturally.
Experiences should be allowed to flow and accept them. Do not have any preconceived idea of what you should experience. Do not judge it, or your thoughts, during meditation. Do not question or even try, at this stage, to understand them if they are not at first sight obvious. They may be meaningful later.
Relaxation: the more you are able to physically relax, the more you will benefit from the meditation.
External sounds and activities should be ignored without reaction.

You are now ready for your chosen meditation.

Types of Meditation.

All types described can be either guided or open, according to whether you have a suitable tape handy for 'guided' or prefer to self-manage the process, as 'unguided'.

Observation Meditation.
Observe thoughts, feelings or images that come into your mind. Do not judge them and do not react.  Be in the 'now ' moment and accept clarity of vision and unlimited thought. Even with your eyes closed you can 'focus' them (really focussing your mental perception) on to different levels of observation. You can, of course, ignore this part of 'vision' entirely, it's up to you. This meditative state brings passive allowance of all things, an understanding of an expanded reality and can be a path to self-realisation and discovery of 'self'.

Focus Meditation.
Concentrate and focus on  something. That 'something' can be your breathing, a mantra (repetitive chanting), a word (representing a quality) such as peace, love, harmony, or a symbol, perhaps of the Divine Being. It can also be an object, such as a flower, a candle, a crystal, or nature sounds and sights.

This kind of meditation brings empowerment. 
If the focus is an object, then you will need to do a few minutes of meditation using your breath as the focus, with your eyes closed. When you are into the meditative state, then you can open your eyes and observe the object. Merge with it in your mind, become the object, expand your awareness of the object and its consciousness as you are one with it.
If your focus is a quality, then focus on the particular quality chosen, and try and experience the feelings and emotions associated with it.   
For a Mantra, such as listening to a tape or CD of Buddhist mantra's with the sounds of  'Ahh, Aum' then you must become the sounds, resonate with the frequency of the sound - merge and become one with it.
For a symbol, decide which one you will use beforehand. See the symbol in your mind's eye and focus on its particular qualities. Become the symbol. Examples are a cross (representing life or faith), a circle or globe (We are all One), or a triangle or pyramid (ultimate strength in Unity). The symbols just described are the symbols of the planet, Mother Earth.  Reiki healers may wish to use the sybols of their discipline.

Enlightenment Meditation.
This is reaching the 'self', inner innate knowledge, and accessing the 'quiet'. It can also be seeking the answer to a problem, and be issues, guidance needed, self-awareness, self-healing and self realisation. (Who Am I? What is my Purpose?, Why am I on this planet anyway? Understanding God, and other concepts). You will need to be clear in your mind first what you wish to receive enlightenment about.

Be open to answers at the time - do not judge or question the answer.  Sometimes the answer or explanatory experience may come later. Listen to the 'inner voice', and be especially aware of feelings and emotions as well as words that may come into your head. To be clairaudient is not necessarily being able to hear words in your ear, but rather being aware of them in your head. You can normally think in words and sentences with your mind, but it has been described as hearing those 'inner voice' words 'nearer' than the words of conscious, logical thought. Although not easy to put into words, this actually describes it very well.

Dynamic Meditation. 
This can be self-directed or guided. It is not a passive meditation.

Imagine an environment or setting that you are comfortable with or would like to be at; perhaps one you already know well. This image is the focus for your attention, stay with it and do not change part way through. If the meditation is self-directed, then be specific about the place you are at, unless you are drawn to change it or modify it, then you may go with your feelings or impressions.
Use this meditation for meeting or communing with someone; your guide, helper, friends or relatives.

Dynamic Meditation is also useful for being creative. Visualise your life as you want it to be. Visualise anything you wish to create. Never try and visualise anything with a negative aspect. Always positive, fair, and with due regard to everyone else. Visualise Unconditional Love to all of mankind and to the planet Earth itself.
Visualise abundance. Remember that whatever you want is yours already - you are just waiting to receive it.
Visualise yourself as you want to be.  If you visualise something for yourself, do not think 'I wish, I would like,' but instead think "I have - I am" etc.
To make this meditation complete, then include all your senses in your visualisation; sight, smell, sound, touch and even taste.

The Inner Sanctum Meditation.
This is really a dynamic meditation to create your own special place of peace, love and harmony - your own sanctuary.  Create an area or environment first (garden, pasture, seaside, woodland, near a waterfall, etc), then create a structure (house, cave, temple, bower, etc.) Next enter and create the interior of your sanctuary, as you wish it to be, and your exact location within this sanctum.
It may be simple or grand, but here you are protected, secure and comforted.
You can return to this inner sanctuary within your mind whenever you want, and within its safety, comfort and personal environment you may then indulge in any of the other meditation types.

Healing and Unconditional Love Meditation.
This really is another dynamic meditation. See a column of brilliant white light from above surrounding your Being.  You can imagine that you are lying down and experience being within this column of light, or you can see yourself as being slightly above and away from your body lying there, and see the body being illuminated and immersed in the column of the light. This light is bringing Love, Healing and harmony into your life.

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Experiment with all of these meditations and see which one, or ones, suit you best.  You may be able to devise some others of your own, but remember that the idea is to still the conscious, active and logical mind to allow your inner consciousness to expand and explore unlimited perception. Buddhists have an expression - 'the space between thoughts is reality', and although not quite using it in the same context as in Buddhism, nevertheless this phrase puts it very well, and you may consider that meditation is a way of widening that space between conscious thoughts, and truly, you will perceive reality.

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