MEDITATION TECHNIQUES 

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Meditation techniques are numerous as well as offerings. But we should not forget that we have not personally invented meditation but that meditation is an Eastern technique thousands of years old. And also that the Western world has a completely different approach and attitude to spirituality and life in general than Eastern nations.

A Westerner will more talk about meditation than practice and will generally use meditation techniques to reduce stress or to solve other problems in life.

Meditation in Western society is more understood and practiced as a concentration.

Meditation (or concentration) techniques span a wide range, from contemplation which means deeply reflected thinking about something, to the highest states of yogic, Buddhist or Tantric thought.

 

The mind always wants to be somewhere. There is an unlimited choice of subjects to focus the mind on.

Depending on personal nature the subject of meditation in Yoga (which is dualistic) and in Vedanta (which is non-dualistic) can be internal or external, abstract or concrete.

For very restless heads the object of focus of the mind will be an object with form and for those more stable the formless object.

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It can be a loved one or even an enemy (the latter is a very challenging choice and is only possible to accomplished heart).

It can be a dream or vision, a divine cosmic being or form (ishtadevata), an idea, a situation, a constructive conversation with wise people, a place, space, stars, a heart.

Anything that leads to a deep understanding of the real truth of the object can be chosen as a meditation object. Understanding will then lead to recognition, and that is what Yoga is.

In all, Yoga, Vedanta and Tantra, the common object of meditation is the repetition of the OM mantra or some of the thousands of years old mantras such as Soham, or Gayatri Mantra:

oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, tát savitúr váreniyaṃ, bhárgo devásya dhīmahi, dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt).

The repetition of the mantra is called Japa. They are taught in classes led by real Yoga teachers or by those who have themselves experienced the mantra at the highest level of heart and mind (this is felt, cannot be easily enacted or hidden).

This repetition of the mantra is different, from loud repetition (baikhari), lightly whispering (upanshu) or in the mind (manasik). The mantra can also be written on paper (likhit).

A little note about writing words on paper:
because the approach to spirituality and life in the West is fundamentally different from that in the East, modern Western science would call many of the old Eastern techniques “personality disorder” . So, unlike Yoga psychology, Western psychology sees this activity as “mental disorder” , and often people who have an extreme need to write will be described as “graphomaniacs”. This, of course, has nothing to do with likhit, an ancient spiritual technique that leads to high levels of spirit development and soul evolution.

More advanced states, or meditation techniques, are meditations on abstract objects such as the meaning of mantra or ancient texts.

 

For all meditation techniques, be it contemplation, yogic, Vedantic, tantric or Buddhist techniques, the awareness of breath which is a gross form of prana or vital energy, is used as a starting point.

In Buddhist terminology, this is called anapana sati.

We are all part of the infinite.

And the point is not to boast about anything.

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What can happen in higher pranayama experiences is that consciousness and prana unite with the soul.

This in itself will be a spontaneous (kevala) meditation that transcends the mind or intellect. That means that the reason transcends lower natures and understands the very high, abstract nature of things. Spontaneous meditation provides answers to many questions.

 

Still, meditation is not a perfect unification because there is still a sense of separation between the Sadhaka (one who practices Sadhana or practice) and the subject.

When the mind and prana are resolved and when there are no more boundaries, one experiences Samadhi.

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This is how Yoga helps human beings call things by their real names and make a difference.

For this reason, Yoga is associated with concepts such as paranormal experiences, Overmind, Supermind, cosmic consciousness, light, enlightenment, out of body experience, intuitive knowledge, supreme knowledge, transcendental knowledge, higher reality, ultimate reality, extrasensory perception, parapsychology, mystical experience, metaphysic, cosmology, super natural powers, higher dimensions, psycho-physical phenomena, endlessness, unity, unification, reunification, quantum physic, space, time, no space, no time…, which are, after all, all natural phenomena.

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Every single human being comes to Earth with an already united body, spirit and soul, but only a few have succeeded in realizing theirs being.

A conscious lifestyle based on the sciences of Yoga can unfold the levels of the Self step by step and without shortcut.

In this way, human consciousness transcends) to reunification.