Several ways of doing meditation – demonstrated by Yogaguru Suneel Singh. Image Courtesy – Vijay Gautam
Do you remember a time when you are totally absorbed in what you are doing? Long hours may have passed away, yet it seemed like only a moment. Remember what a good feeling it was to be completed absorbed in those moments.
Several questions come in a row:
How accurate your perception was?
or, How clear your thinking was?
or, How alive you felt?
A simple example to delineate ‘Dhyan’ is like this – a housewife while cooking, devotes her complete mental attention warped in emotional warmth in the process of cooking, the food she cooks becomes significantly different from others.
There are several ways of practicing meditation. This depends on your physical health, profession, nature, and available time. First of all, the meditation room is to be separately decorated with inspiring pictures of great saints, prophets, great teachers, or with a beautiful photo of your god. Always wash your hands, legs, and face before seating in meditation. Morning time between 5 am to 7 am and in the evening between 6 pm to 8 pm is good for ‘Meditation’.
A) Om Mantra Dhyan
First of all, you should sit in a comfortable meditative pose with your eyes gently closed. Keep your back straight and stretched up with the shoulders relaxed. Silently chant ‘Om Mantra’ with full attention to the mind and should be fully focused on the rhythmic flow of the mantra. Try to practice it at least for 10 minutes daily and gradually increase the time.
B) Jyoti Dhyan
First of all, sit in a comfortable meditative posture with your eyes open. Keep a burning candle or ‘Jyoti’ 4 feet away from you with the level of your eyes. Just to start with it, look for a while then start gazing at ‘Jyoti’ as long as you can without blinking your eyes. After resuming some moment, close your eyes and mentally watch the flame. Visualize the pattern and colour of the ‘Jyoti’. Concentrate your mind on the flame as long as you can hold it. Practice it daily at least for 10-15 minutes. Remember, ‘Jyoti Dhyan’ is also one of the parts of ‘Tratak Shatkarma’.
Read: Delaying ageing process in the human body – Part III
C) Walking Dhyan
When you feel agitated or restless, walk at least for 10-15 minutes down the corridor or workplace or home or in a park to ease away the restless condition. Now, you should try to harmonize your steps with your breathing. The repetitive motion of your legs and arms helps you to enter a meditative state, which takes away your anxiety and anger.
D) Image Dhyan
Keep a picture of your God in front of you. Sit in a posture of meditation, concentrate gently on the picture till your eyes shed tears. Circulate your mind on those pictures around feet, legs, chest, and the crown of the head, etc. Now, close your eyes and visualize that picture. Practice the same process again and again.
E) Memory Dhyan
Go through two to three pages of a book, then close the book now and try to remember what you have read, focus your attention carefully. Allow your mind to associate, classify group combine and compare. If you attend to the subject on hand very carefully you will receive a clear strong impression. If the impression is strong you will have a very good memory.
F) Dhyan on Thoughts
Sit comfortably in any meditative posture. Keep your back straight, neck and shoulder relaxed. Close your eyes gently. Concentrate on whatever thought comes to your mind. Let them come and go. After a while, thoughts will disappear automatically. Your mind will become completely quiet and calm. For better results, practicing 15 to 20 minutes a day is good.
Read: Is it possible to delay human ageing?
G) Nad Dhyan
Sit in your favourite posture. Close your eyes and ears with your thumbs. Try to hear the Anahat sound (mystic sound) after practicing for two to three days you will hear various types of sounds such as flute, thunderstorm, the humming of bees, etc. Try to hear the gross sound; firstly you will hear sounds in your right ear. Occasionally, you may hear in your left ear also. But try to stick to the sound at one ear. This is an easy way to capture your mind. Practice it till the time you are unable to hear sounds.
H) Chakra Dhyan
This is a process of advanced meditative practice in which the concentration is focused on the various energy center or the charkas. There are 7 chakras in the human body and they have connections to different endocrine glands. The Charkas are (1) Muladhara (Root Chakra) (2) Swadhishthana (Sacral Chakra) (3) Manipura (Solar Plexus Chakra) (4) Anahata (Heart Chakra) (5) Vishuddha (Throat Chakra) (6) Ajna (Third Eye Chakra) (7) Sahastrara (Crown Chakra).
Hold your attention on each Chakra for as long as you are satisfied. Imagine that you are breathing in and out from the charkas on which you are holding attention. Practice this method of ‘Dhyan’ for 10-15 minutes every day. Perception of these psychic centers will bring the development of the endocrine glands which in terms will establish not only firm control of reasoning mind overall actions, but also will correct the unbalanced psychosomatic and metabolic activities.
Read: Delaying ageing process in the human body – Part II
Benefits of Meditation:
1. Mental agitation and aggressiveness get dissolved and develop reasoning abilities.
2. Due to meditation, you will achieve mental poise and confidence. One also gains to enhance stress tolerance capacities.
3. Your concentration level improves. One is able to do the task more efficiently and skillfully.
4. Meditation controls anger and short temperament.
5. Meditation helps in personal and organizational skills for improving interpersonal relationships.
6. Due to well-developed analytical and reviewing abilities, one can maintain fastness and mental poise against any stressful condition.
7. Feeling to disconnect yourself from the materialism and consumerism of modern life.
8. Mediation builds us to live in present.
9. Our concentration power increases. As a result of this writing, reading skills become sharp.
10. Meditation also helps to gain benefits to prevent diseases caused by the herpes virus that is common to us. Problems like cardiac asthma, high blood pressure, neck back pain, ulcer, hyperacidity, etc. get normalize with the help of meditation.
Meditation has also manifold benefits on the large area of diseases that are psychosomatic in nature.
