What is meditation?
If your answer is to get relief from stress, to experience joy, to kill time, to know God -Wrong! Absolutely wrong! Utterly wrong! Don't be surprised.
Meditation is moving in the inner zone of emptiness, where stress can never touch you. It is exploring the inner space where you remain absolutely untouched from all ill effects of mind and samsara. This inner space is there and we need just the right method to move there, once you have understood and experienced nothing can bring you down from that timeless zone. Being in this zone means, being an ocean of joy. It is not just getting little glimpses of joy for some time and then back in rut. This had been a great dilemma of all meditators; as long as they are doing it, they feel good, elated, happy, enlightened, but moment they come out of the place where they meditate
Yoga Nidra releases all types of tensions- muscular, emotional and mental tensions.
Every human being is endowed with great potentialities but one need to have awareness and training to explore this inner treasure. Yoga Nidra is the way to turn inwards and bring consciousness to the constant flow of life happening within and rise higher within and without. It is the scientific way to eliminate the root cause of all negativities like stress related disorders, ailments like hypertension, depression, asthma, digestive disorders, etc which drain our life energy.
Yoga Nidra is an ancient tantric method, which can open new capacities of the mind. Stress, frustrations, insomnia, and psychosomatic diseases which have become part of modern man’s life, are being caused by our unstable mind. Unknowingly, we hurt ourselves
The real wisdom, the true help, and the final answers are always within. And each and every human being or creature in this universe has equal amount of intelligence, wisdom, love, and self healing power.
when we almost had 106 inches of snow, I was working in my driveway to remove snow. After shoveling snow for over two hours, there was severe muscle pain in both arms. I then used regular self-hypnosis to relax and go deeper into a trance. Then I started using “deepening the trance” techniques in self-hypnosis, thus going into a much deeper state. I was focusing mainly on both arms where muscle pain was very acute. At some point, the pain area felt nothing but some kind of vibration. I felt as if I am separate from pain. Under this deep trance state, without using any traditional suggestion or visualization methods of self-hypnosis, I simply let these vibrations wipe out (like cleaning the black board in the class room). To my surprise, when I came out of this deep trance state, there was no sign of muscle pain in both of my arms.
There is no need to escape from the world and rush to the Himalayas to seek peace of mind. The truth is that contentment is right here, within us, in our hearts.
Most of the people find it difficult to follow certain meditation techniques which are complex and require stringent discipline. So, here is a playful and absolutely joyful technique of meditation which is intense in its own way. This meditation technique is called Gibberish, and is rightly so.
Gabar, a wonderful Christian mystic, introduced this meditation technique which later came to be known as Gibberish. It is said that people would come to Gabar with all kinds of questions about enlightenment and he would simply answer with nonsensical sounds.. At first people thought he was crazy and that no one would come to listen. But hundreds of people came and he ended up having more disciples than any other mystic of his time.
Our mind is always occupied with the incessant flow of thoughts. It is always in a state of disturbance, and has a habitual tendency for distraction. This leaves us feeling so much fragmented that we find ourselves scattered in all directions. It is no exaggeration then, to say that our mind cannot stay still for longer than a few moments, which eventually results in lack of concentration and loss of memory. We are unable to grasp and focus in the present moment.
Now, how do we enhance our power of concentration and strengthen our memory? A unique meditation technique called Tratak is an answer to this. It has many benefits.
Tratak not only brings an end to the mind’s distractions but also enhances the ability to concentrate. It increases the power of memory and brings the mind in a state of awareness, attention and focus.
Tratak is an ideal meditation technique for people of all age groups, especially for students who need to concentrate on studies. Older people who often tend to forget every now and then can greatly benefit from this technique.
In this modern world that we live in, full of medicinal remedies and medical breakthroughs, who would ever dream that something as simple as laughter could induce such amazing benefits to our health that could even rival highly scientific compounds found in drugs of today?
Life can sometimes be serious and tiring but a good and hearty laugh is not only welcome by the people around you but also by your mind, body and soul.
Scientific evidence on the effectiveness of humor as a therapy is overwhelming. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. A healthy sense of humor is related to being able to laugh at oneself.
We usually keep popping in pills to get rid of our usual ailments but never think that a thing as simple as laughter can significantly contribute to cure various diseases with our own healing system.
An enthusiastic laugh can help to reduce stress, maintain the right blood pressure, elevate mood, boost immune system, improve brain functioning, protects the heart, fosters instant relaxation, and the list is inexhaustible.
For some people laughter is a serious business because they literally believe in the adage ”laughter is the best medicine.”
Did you ever wonder that the congregation of people shouting and cheering in the music concerts, fashion shows, or cricket matches is chanting? Yes, it is the mass glorification of a person or team that creates an electrifying ambience, giving incredible pleasure to the large group of people. When we apply the same principle of this materialistic chanting in the spiritual realm, it evokes everlasting joy, happiness, peace and harmony.
Chanting, the glorification of God through His names, is one of the ancient and universal practices of meditation. It is an excellent way to raise body, mind and spirit towards higher self. The vibrations emanating from repeating the name of God still the mind, dissolve worries, and purify the heart; it cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years.
Rumi's words are: `Empty yourself from within -- like a ney -- so that, just as the Prophet kept his lips on one end of the ney and the Almighty's songs began coming out from the other end, similarly, the ney of your heart be emptied of vanity, His songs begin echoing'. There is pain, suffering and appeal, like in a `sigh!' in Zikr.
It was this Rumi who taught a new way of performing Zikr. Zikr that is performed in the standing position! Zikr, in which, for the first time music was used within the four walls of Islam.
The way Zikr is done is really nice. Eight to ten people stand in a close circle. Keeping one hand on the other, they place it loosely near the stomach. Now, why in this circular manner? The ney is round; our backbone is also round. So, they stand in a circle and recite the mantra. When they speak deeply, all their energies keep getting collected at one place.
The most beautiful part is when, during the Zikr of Hayee, the sheikh picks up the duf (tambourine) and goes into the center of the circle. He keeps playing his duf and the sound of `Hayee’ carries on with it.
