
Meditation questions you were shy about asking
RelaxationSave yourself from your own thoughts, worries, and minor worries by discovering meditation from scratch. In this article,
WHAT IS MEDITATION?
No matter how great and powerful the Russian language is, it is difficult to find a precise (and, most importantly, understandable) definition of meditation. According to Osho’s advice, if you turn on the lamp and remove all objects around it, the lamp will still glow.
The same principle underlies meditation – to remove all thoughts and fantasies, leaving only a pure state of mind. Meditate – is just to be.
Most often meditate, concentrating on something. As a rule, it is a mantra, the movement of air on inhalation and exhalation, or an internal eye located between the eyebrows. Such concentration helps to cut off all other thoughts.
The posture should be so comfortable that it is possible to relax with a straight back and hands lying freely on your knees (without bending in the lower back, hump and neck broken forward) – it can be just crossed legs in Turkish, posture, sitting on your knees, half lotus, lotus, etc.
HOW DO YOU MEDITATE?
Breathing. The most common concentration is on the movement of air as you inhale and exhale. You can follow the sensations around your nostrils, observe the movement of air throughout your body, direct it to a sore spot, or mark how the air moves from your chest to your abdomen.
Often meditation is accompanied by pranayamas (for example, nadisodhana) that allows to plunge deeper into the sensations.
Chakras. Concentrating on energy channels in the body is a classic story for those who have already deepened their knowledge of yoga or esotericism. The essence of meditation with the chakras is that we are on one of the chakras (or all seven, moving from the lower to the upper chakras) hold attention.
Someone visualizes the color of the chakra, someone sings mantras that reveal, for example, ajna-chakra, someone just listens to them, and there are those who do everything at once.
A candle. It is usually used in evening meditations. The flame tongue should be at eye level. It should just be contemplated, listening to the emotions and questions that arise in the head.
Push away, erase everything that comes to your mind with the help of a candle, and you will see much more in a small light than the cause of melting wax. In addition, with the help of a candle you can quickly and effectively improve your vision with the help of trataka meditation – fix your gaze on the candle until the first natural tear (2-3 minutes) rolls.
Sounds and their absence. Concentration on mantra (e.g., Shantala performers) also does not trigger the cycle of images, associations and thoughts, and therefore is widely used in meditation practice.
Spend attention from the melody of sounds, syllables, words to their combination and melodies in general – hear the music really, as if you want to remember every note.
If the mantras aren’t your story, you can always prefer quiet, word-less songs or silence. The last option is special. Mila Shchukina’s yoga teacher advises you to fill the silence of the peculiarity, to understand what silence it is – your silence.

Visualization. This is one of the easiest ways to learn to get rid of problems and anxieties in your head. When none of the above practices do not help, imagine a blank sheet of paper, see in your mind your favorite subject, imagine how you merge into an abstract form with a loved one, imbued with light that fills you from top to toe.
Give free rein to the fantasy, which, as you have noticed, wakes up in us only when the thoughts are on the lock, and the subconscious is completely free.
Steps. Meditation is a miracle. With its help you can calm yourself and return to reality at any moment. Even when you go to work, hurry up to a meeting or want to walk your dog. Slow down your step by paying attention to how the sole touches the ground and the top tends to the sky. Take three steps as you breathe and the same amount as you breathe.
Of course, you can adjust this system to your own rhythm, but don’t forget to concentrate on the feeling you have in the present moment. You live, go and breathe right now and never again – not in the past, not in the future.
WHEN AND HOW BEST TO MEDITATE?
You can start meditating at any time of the day or night. Buddhist Titus Nat Khan and writer Dominic Loro advise to “catch” meditation even watering flowers and my dishes. Yes – yes, monotonous work is an ideal resource for a calm mind.
Although many people like to do it during and after yoga, when the body is released all the psychological clutter. In most cases, meditation is partially replaced by shavasana (posture of a corpse) at the end of the practice, but in some forms there are full meditations.
In Kundalini Yoga, especially popular in the West, there are dozens of different meditations. This is because meditation in this form is used to solve specific psychological or physiological difficulties.
Kriya Yoga itself is a condition close to meditation. Yogis describe it as the movement of energy up and down around the six spinal centers and claim that half an hour of kriya=yoga is a year of natural spiritual development.
Nidra Yoga is also called “sleep yoga” – it is performed while lying in shavasana and is a borderline state between sleeping and waking up. From the actual meditation of Nidra Yoga, in addition to posture, also differs from the concentration on the internal study of body parts.
In addition to these, there are many other types of yoga in which meditative practice is present: shivananda yoga, aishwarya yoga, sahacha yoga, triyoga, and so on. However, nobody and nothing prevents from practicing meditation separately from yoga or just physical exercises.