Meditation Rocks! » deep silence

Finding Solutions to Biggest Problems with Meditation

King Sidharth — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:00:02 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I have those days when I wake up and my mood isn’t just the best. I can be really annoyed or angry. No matter who says what, those are the worst days to be. And anything positive is just annoying.

I just had a day like that last week, and the first thing came to my mind was, “Dang! This is going to be bad day. Nothing is going to work out, I just know it.”

Thanks to the years of meditation, along came this spiritual insight. “Since anything is not going to work out, why bother even trying and being more frustrated then ever? Why not just figure out what’s bothering me?”

When you’ve been meditation for a while, ideas and insights like this just pop-up. You have practiced those good feeling state of being so much that nothing else will ever do.

So I sat down in meditation. Which wasn’t easy at all because when everything is bugging you, so does meditation but I was determined to get well so I continued anyways. I was using my favourite ease and flow processes.

To my amazement, I was bugged in meditation too! It wasn’t just working out. But I was determined, so I started again ‘ease and flow’… ‘ease and flow’ and then another though about a friend who is so buggy came to my mind and there I went out of meditation.

But anyways, I was determined to meditate. So I crawled back to meditation and this time it was bliss. It was so good to be back in my state of being that I so much like.

So What?

Why I am telling you this story, and most of those who being to read have left already. But the reason I am telling you this is to share with you want an important lesson I learned from this.

Often when stubborn problems come to our life, we just want to fight and struggle against it. But that never ever works. Fighting against the problem never brings in the solution it’s the Law (of Attraction).

Only way to solve any problem is to be in the right state of mind and then look at it. Meditation is one of the best tools to get into that state of no-mind. It is likely that as you focus on problem after meditation it will drag you back to emotional state where you were. But use your will power and determination, not to fight against anything; but to be your best no matter what.

Meditate.

Photo Credit: AAAARRRGGGHHH by Evil Erin, on Flickr

Why Noisy Environment is Awesome for Meditation

King Sidharth — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:04:11 +0000

Sounds sarcastic eh? On one hand we think of meditation as peaceful activity to be performed in silent coroners of world. People even go to the mountain tops and retreats to meditate. Cutting off from rest of the world.

Is Meditation Powerless?

But here is the thing, if meditation needs so much of peace before it could be practiced, if meditation needs you to run away from your lifestyle doesn’t that mean that meditation is powerless in front of all these things?

Is the honking of horn, laughing of people, shouting crowd, raging traffic, chattering mind more powerful than meditation?

I’d say meditation is far more powerful than all these things put together. Meditation is so powerful that Buddha was enlightened, Jesus defeated Satan and You rocked your life!

So Why Go to Silence?

So why do we go to retreats? Why do we run away? Why to we need silence to create silence?

There is not one reason. People what to create a mood, take a break, it’s easier, distractions are less and all sorts of stuff expect ‘I want to meditate.’ And when you really do want, it will happen, right there and then. No matter where you are standing, what you are doing.

Personal Experience

I’ve meditated in my school, in libraries, in public parks, at discos and many places that I will not utter here. And there was no hardly any difference. In fact, I find it quiet amusing and it helps me a lot to feel detached.

When I am meditating, I pay no heed to the meaning of sounds around me. Though I am highly aware of them because of raised sense of awareness but all sounds are meaningless. And this practice helps me render all the struggles meaningless at any point of time and I can walk out of problems with my heart full of gratitude.

Peace is a bridge and so is violence. But bridges can never hinder my practice.

Group Discussion

So after reading this don’t you feel that noisy environment is not only good but in some ways awesome for meditation?

Tomorrow I will discuss with you how to meditate in a noisy environment. Till then let’s discuss what other benefits it could offer. And if any of you have tried that already, please share your experience.
Photo Credits: The Living End White Noise Tour Perth by Michael_Spencer, on Flickr

Get it Clear Dude – The Components of Meditation

King Sidharth — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:30:58 +0000

A while ago I received a guest post entry for ‘Meditation Rocks!’ from a new internet friend. It talked about watching TV and saying that it’s meditation. It made me think that though we are talking about new ideas on meditation but am I giving out clear view of what actually can be called meditation and what not?

Don’t Mind, it’s Empty

Often I hear people and books on meditation talking about ‘putting mind into meditation’ but the truth is ‘There is no mind in meditation’. If that doesn’t sound logical to you, it is not supposed to, think of it as ‘Mindfulness’. So when we are reading and watching TV, we are actually filling up our minds, which is NOT meditation. As a mindful state, or mindless state cannot ask for more to be filled. You are already full.

Taking the opposite, writing poetry and singing and writing diary etc. are expressing mindfulness (so you are taking it out on paper or canvas). A full vessel can overflow. That is meditation.

No Peace, Just Relief

Through meditation we are not trying to achieve peace of mind. We are trying to relief ourselves. In fact, using the word ‘trying’ is not correct. We ARE reaching towards relief, sailing more like.
When you are angry and frustrated, it is impossible to feel at peace and all.

So meditation isn’t about attaining peace. It’s about reaching for relief, be it beating the pillow, shouting or other harmless way of relieving the emotions. That soothing out is meditation and it automatically takes you from Anger to Revenge, from Revenge to Relief, from relief to hope, from hope to peace, from peace to you. This journey takes place inside, without harming others or yourself.

No-Thought of the Day

I’ve heard a lot about OSHO and finally decided to at least visit his website. There they have ‘No-Though of the Day’ and I cannot agree more on this concept. Meditation isn’t about thinking happy thoughts. There is no mind and thoughts in meditation. I love OSHO’s thoughts.

Let It Be

That’s my favourite song! Hail the Beatles! Yes meditation isn’t about ‘trying’ as I mentioned above. It’s about letting it be. And it’s not hopelessness, coz when we stop trying and let it be. All things automatically turn to better, you don’t try and heal wounds shouting, “GROW BACK!” you just let it be and it heals itself. That’s the way it is supposed to be –that’s meditation.

Ego? Moi? – Access Denied!

Door to the world of meditation are too small to let you in. Either you are there or you are not. When you think in terms of ‘I’, ‘Me’ (read: ego), In fact, when you think. You are not there. And when you don’t, you are there. So leave your profession, thoughts mind and body behind and you are already there.
Photo Credit: Charlevoix Fountain IV by ktylerconk, on Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Improving Concentration with Meditation

King Sidharth — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:34:35 +0000

Whenever I try to sit and study, I just can’t concentrate! There are so many distractions. I just want to open facebook once, check my mails, call that friend or just sleep for 5 min. No matter what I do, I just can’t concentrate. I don’t want to do it.
This is story is not only close to a student’s heart but also to professionals and many more people. So why does this happen and can Meditation help?

Relax

Most of the time we just can’t concentrate because there is so much going on in mind that it becomes hard to focus on a task. Meditation can help in quieting the chatter of mind. Here is a simple exercise you can begin with:

Close your eyes and sit comfortably
Relax every part of your body.
Focus on breathing in and breathing out for few min.
Now, in your mind, start counting from 1 to 10 with your breathing.
When you breathe in, count 1 and when you breathe out count 2
When you reach to ten, start again from 1
Let mind think whatever it wants, just concentrate on counting from 1 to 10
After repeating this for sometime, you will notice that your mind is quiet and under your control.
Now open your eyes and get down to accomplish the mission

The important thing to remember here is that you cannot force the mind to become quiet. Mind is supposed to think, that’s it’s nature. You can ignore, shift the focus away from mind to breathing and counting. This will result in mind becoming calm itself and under your control as you affirm and choose to be in control.
Try it now and let me know how you feel.

Photo by Randy Son Of Robert, on Flickr

5 Obstacles to Meditation and How to Overcome Them

King Sidharth — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:19:44 +0000

When idea of writing this post came to my mind. I thought, “Boy, this is gonna be an endless list” but it was not. Obstacles might seem too big or too many to start with. Once you genuinely start doing it, all obstacles are lost. Here are 5 of my all time favourites:

I don’t know how to!
Who’s got the time dude?
It’s boring stuff!
When I close my eyes, I feel so bad!
I can’t concentrate, I just don’t have patience

But How?

This is so human, we want to know ‘how to do it’ before we could actually do it, otherwise sounds illogical to us. But I don’t remember how I breathe or how heart beats, but still I am breathing and my heart is beating. Meditation is natural, it comes from inside.

For starters, to make it easier for you, sit with eyes closed, relaxed body and focus on your breathe. Feel yourself breathing in and out.

Methods like Zen Meditation etc. are some developed ways of meditation which can enhance your own or can help you reach a specific state of mind. But the way you meditate is as personal to you as the way you walk, talk, breathe and live.

Finding Time

This was my favourite excuse. I have school, friends, homework, parents and yes the movies I always wanted to watch (this was the biggest one) and why not, if meditation is all about good, then (I thought) watching movies will do me more good. But little did I know what good it could do.

I kept on writing ‘Meditation’ in my to-do list, sometimes I did sit down (only to get up getting bored – we will cover this in next heading). Finally I stopped putting it on list, and stopped bothering myself and found myself sitting in solitude, silence, closed eyes, clam mind and deep silence. I was meditating.

I stopped thinking of it as a task, and it happened. Try breathing intentionally, you can’t do it for long – you will get bored. Most important things in life like breathing, heart-beat are natural and happen automatically. So is with meditation, let it happen to you. Don’t force it and all time will come.

Boredom – Oops! I slept

I try to motivate my friends to meditate, and most of them try (Yeah! I have good friends). Many of them complain about getting bored and many of them say that they dozed off to sleep. And guess what? It’s a good sign!

It might seem boring in beginning, stay on the line… you are headed in right direction. In time you will find, in this boredom, the treasure – yourself. Put on some light instrumental music (not Bon Jovi!) on very low volume to help a bit.

Emotional Storm

As soon as he closed his eyes, all his extreme good or bad moments replayed in his mind. Emotions started to surface and soon it was a storm. This is story of my friend who was going through a lot in life and whenever he meditated, often cried or laughed loudly.

Are you experiencing something similar? Does your mind suddenly becomes an emotional chaos and you just want to leave the world?

If this happens during meditations, it’s good. Meditation is providing a safe outlet to all that emotional energy. Let it flow out… in time you will learn to direct your emotions, in the direction you want!

Can’t Focus / Can’t Concentrate

Once in a month I make a group of people who are interesting in exploring meditation and invite them to a park or garden. We sit there and talk about meditation and then, obviously, meditate. Having learners by your side helps a lot when you yourself are learning; schools also function on same principle (don’t they?)

This time a friend’s friend got excited and joined us. He was so excited that when all of them were meditating (and I was guiding if you are wondering) he kept on popping up with questions.

It happens to the best of us. Sit in meditation and mind starts making grocery list, or the important phone call we always forgot to make and we almost forgot about the assignment which is due tomorrow.
The biggest mistake people make here is to get frustrated, blame themselves for not having being able to concentrate or simply give up.

Think of your mind as a little kid whom you take out with you (walking on road) that child is excited and wants to get in middle of road. The child doesn’t know where to go and what to do, but you know. So you lovingly and patiently hold his hands and tell him, “Not that way dear; come this way (we have cookies!).”

Do same with mind. Remember to be patient and loving, “Not that way dear; come this way (we have abundance… of cookies!)”. Dare you shout on a child, and he will tell you what hell (frustration) is same is true for your mind.

Are there any obstacles you have? A new all time favourite that you would like to share (I will try my best to answer it), then just let me know (use comment section below or Contact Page). Well at least you could tell us how you liked (or unlike) this post.

Beyond the wall by Giuseppe Bognanni, on Flickr

Bored by HotDirt21, on Flickr

Samael by SAMAEL TRIP, on Flickr