Personality is an inextricably linked body, mind and soul, which come to harmony only with the uniform development of each of these components. And help develop themyoga and meditationpracticed at the same time.

What is meditation?

Translated from Latin, the word "meditari" means "to ponder", "to think about". But meditation only at the initial stage directly touches the mind. After the practitioner learns to concentrate on one thought or one image, his mind will gradually begin to dissolve during practice and yield to higher substances, which can be called the true manifestations of the human soul.

The process that occurs during meditation can be called the withdrawal of the senses from the material objects to which we are attached in ordinary life, and the gradual relegation of the ego to the background. During meditation, you will feel your oneness with the whole world and gradually learn to love all manifestations of the divine without personal attachment to them.

A person who meditates regularly can easily make the right decision or react calmly to an unpleasant event, because he feels his true nature and knows that everything that happens has higher causes. His restless mind obeyed the bright and pure soul that sparkles inside each of us, but we do not always know how to listen to it.

Where to begin?

If a yoga one for all meditation- a thing difficult to explain, intuitive and for everyone. It is difficult to say which type of meditation will be effective for a particular person. If you want to find your meditation, study and try different techniques, look for your teacher and ask for higher powers.

Before you start meditation, prepare a comfortable place in the apartment where no one will disturb you. It is best to always meditate in the same place, which over time will work for you and help you focus. It can also serve this purpose by using the same favorite scent, such as aromatic oil or incense sticks.

You can meditate where you do yoga, on the same mat. The room should have a pleasant temperature and fresh air. Dress so that you don't have to think about your clothes. It is undesirable to meditate in jeans, such clothing interferes with normal blood circulation and greatly distracts from the process.

Why Meditation Is Beneficial

main goal yoga and meditation at all times there was a dissolution in the divine consciousness and the attainment of enlightenment. But you do not have to strive for these transcendental distances. very useful for the common man.

Results of regular meditations:

• balanced state, smoothing mood, bringing emotions to balance;
• the ability to see the most effective way to solve any particular problem;
• relaxation and rest after a hard day;
• concentration on the higher areas of your life - creativity, self-realization, helping others, love;
• acquiring the ability to hear the voice of your soul and be happy choosing your own path.

And, of course, much more.

We all came to this world only to stay, and nothing of the material can be completely our property. Yoga and meditation are taught to be aware of this fact and enjoy every day and every little thing without thinking “How can I benefit?” and “How can I please myself tomorrow?”

Starting to get acquainted with the practice of meditation, the question inevitably arises of how to do it correctly if there is no experience and there are no people around who have it and could teach it.

And therefore, beginners who learn the principles of meditation on their own face a number of obstacles that prevent them from starting to meditate, although theoretically they already have some idea.

There are several reasons:

• Lack of time and space for practice;
• The desire to immediately do everything right;
• Thoughts that something is missing and something needs to be changed.

Now more about each in order.

Time for meditation

It happens that some people cannot meditate consistently because they think they don't have time. In fact, time can be allocated even with a very busy schedule. After all, we do not have a question that we do not have time to sleep, wash ourselves, brush our teeth and satisfy our other urgent needs. We always find an opportunity for this, except in rare cases.

Because meditation is as important as our other needs. Perhaps it is not so pronounced and we do not immediately feel an urgent need for it. But just as we wash and take care of the body, meditation washes and cleanses our Mind from the mental dirt that accumulates in it.

At the very beginning of the practice, I do not think that you will need very much time. You can start meditating for 10-20 minutes a day.

The best option is early morning. If you wake up 15-20 minutes earlier than usual and devote this time to meditation, then the issue of lack of time will be closed.

Please watch the video and come back to this material. I'll be waiting for you.

There was a period in my life when I had to leave very early for work and return home late at night. And I could surrender to the current circumstances and go with the flow, but my passionate desire to develop was stronger than that. Since at that moment I was already seriously devoting myself to meditation, I began to get up very, very early, sometimes around 3 am, so as not to interrupt my daily practice.

In general, if there is a desire, there will always be time.

Place for meditation at home

Since in this article we are discussing meditation at home, it would be appropriate to say that, ideally, if you have a specially designated place for this at home, where you can meditate every day.

It can be some corner of your home, in principle, it doesn’t matter where exactly. Living room, hall, bedroom, private office - these are all suitable places.

If you can’t practice in the same place, then it’s not critical, meditate as you can.

If you live with your family, with your parents or someone else, and you are distracted, then again, getting up early in the morning while everyone is still sleeping again will help you resolve this situation.

The desire to do everything right

This applies not only to meditation, but also to other undertakings. A person wants to start, but the thought that I’ll read a little more, look, understand better, and then start, can put off real practice for a long time. A kind of eternal student who only theorizes, but does nothing. It is better to start with a small baggage and deepen your knowledge in the process.

Desire to change something

Some people think that in order to start meditating, you need to radically change something in your life. For example, quit your job, leave your family and go to the mountains, become a hermit, a monk or something else.

Such misconceptions, unfortunately, are not uncommon.

Of course, this is partly true.

Traditionally, yogis retired and devoted themselves to spiritual practices and meditation.

In the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, an ancient spiritual manuscript, such a path is described:

“For practicing yoga, you need to find a clean, secluded place, lay a mat of kusha grass on the ground, covering it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should not be too high or, conversely, too low. Having sat down properly, you can begin the practice of yoga. Having curbed the mind and senses, controlling the activities of the body and focusing the mind's eye on one point, the yogi should cleanse the heart of material contamination.

But only a few out of many many thousands of people are ready for what is described above. And for the majority, this path is likely to be an obstacle.

If an unprepared beginner, after reading books, goes into renunciation and sits there and tries to meditate, then it is likely that instead of meditating, his Mind will be absorbed in thinking about sensual pleasures and the comfort that he left behind. This will not be able to continue for a long time, and having taken the bar too high for himself, such a person will fall down.

How to do meditation at home

Let's get back to our reality. To meditation at home, not in the forest.

I actually had different experiences, I lived with monks, I lived in ashrams, I traveled a lot in India, I stayed and stayed in Holy places, I meditated there and did other practices there.

Therefore, I can say: “To start meditating, you don’t need anything, everything is already there, you don’t need to radically change anything and go anywhere, just start doing it.”

Your desire to develop is the minimum qualification that will allow you to start the practice. But in order to deepen and improve it, additional conditions may be needed, which we will definitely talk about in the future.

One of the conditions for successful practice is stability. Watch the video on how to make meditation a natural part of your life.

Meditation classes at home

Based on my experience, I can say that it is best if you schedule the same time and place for daily meditation. This will help you, which I wrote about earlier.

Before meditation, it is advisable to take a shower and ventilate the room. Also, it is much easier to meditate if you keep the place where you conduct the sessions clean. Those. if there is a mess around, socks, underwear, dirty dishes, etc. are scattered. this will create additional obstacles in practice.

Clutter on the outside usually reflects the clutter on the inside. Therefore, if you maintain cleanliness, it will contribute to the development, remove the remnants of sleep and help better concentration.

Pose

Choose a comfortable meditative position and make sure that no one distracts you throughout the session. Learning to sit properly will help you. Correct and comfortable posture is the key to a good, focused meditation.

Music

Some people recommend turning on music during meditation to calm the mind, but I would be careful with this. Although I have a page with a selection, as well as recordings of mantras, there is no need to use all of them in my practice.

Incense

If desired, you can light an incense stick. Sandal, or any other that you like. The smell of incense purifies the space and helps to calm the Mind. Some people are allergic to smoking sticks, so be careful.

Benefits of home meditation

First of all, meditation at home involves a certain sense of security. For example, while meditating in a forest or a park, or anywhere else, there may be a sense of insecurity that can be distracting. But by practicing in the same place, especially at home, this feeling does not arise.

Ways to Meditate at Home

You can meditate at home in the way that you like best.

I am a supporter of classical methods, and I do not support newfangled trends from the category: attracting love, money, healing the body, etc. All this can come by itself, which is allocated to each of us, while meditation has a slightly different goal.

Mantras

My main method of meditation is meditation on the sounds of the mantra. They are usually said aloud, in a whisper or to oneself. A separate article, in which I described in detail, will help you figure it out.

If it is very difficult to concentrate on your own, then you can turn on the recordings of mantras (the link above, there are several audio recordings in this article) and repeat in unison or at your own pace.

For silent meditations such as the gayatri mantras and the breath meditation, it is best to be in absolute silence so that there is no distraction.

Breath meditation

In this meditation, you need to concentrate and monitor your breathing, this will help you

Such meditation most often does not pursue any high spiritual goal, but simply helps to calm the Mind and awareness.

In one short article it is impossible to grasp the immensity. Meditation is like a bottomless ocean in which the more experience we have, the deeper we can dive. But I hope that this publication will allow you to start meditating at home. to new articles and videos to receive notifications about them directly in the mail. And also I will be glad to questions and additions in the comments to this post.

With respect and best wishes, Ruslan Tsvirkun.

Yoga is one of the most effective self-improvement systems invented by mankind. The origins of this tantra go back to ancient Indian philosophy. Meditation becomes the main tool of yoga, everything else in it should be considered only as an auxiliary technique that allows a person to meditate with full dedication. Thus, yoga and meditation are, in fact, one and the same. We are talking about a single complex that develops the physical and spiritual capabilities of the individual. The task here is also the same - to achieve a state in which yoga is given the right to communicate with God. In the fundamental work of the ancient Indian sage Patajali "", this state is called "Samadha". Translated from Sanskrit - "perfection", "highest happiness", "nirvana".

The role of meditation in yoga is key. Only with its help you can distract from extraneous thoughts and focus on the most important. Man is the fruit of his thoughts: what he thinks about, he becomes. This is what the ancient yogis taught. He is constantly influenced by the outside world and inclined to temptations that give rise not only to pleasure, but also to suffering. Meditation, filtering all this through the sphere of consciousness, allows you to exclude its negative components from life, thereby facilitating and making the road to the cherished goal more joyful.

The benefits of meditation become more and more tangible and obvious as one develops skills in doing it. Regular exercise opens up great opportunities for a person:

• increase endurance, self-confidence;
• give dynamism and purposefulness to actions;
• bring peace and contentment.

Relaxation, which occurs as a result of a meditative effect on consciousness, clarifies the mind. This greatly enhances creativity. The habit of not being distracted by unnecessary life details allows you to focus intellectual energy on achieving only the chosen goal.

Features of yoga

Practice has shown that yoga techniques according to Ayurveda and versions become the most effective in meditation. At the same time, the first method covers mainly the complex of physical preparation for meditation, the second one already directly organizes the mental improvement of consciousness. It is preferable to use both methods of meditation only after mastering the simplest exercises.

The first thing a practitioner should decide is the timing of yoga. With regular classes, the morning before leaving for work is ideal. This will significantly invigorate the body relaxed after sleep and adjust it to daily stress. During the day, short meditations can relieve fatigue accumulated at work, increase mindfulness and increase productivity. They can be done several times in short sessions. Evening classes are useful to distract from daytime problems and move on to home rest.

Before starting the exercise, it is advisable to fulfill several conditions that will improve the effect of training and make it more enjoyable:

• find a separate room for yourself;
• ventilate it well;
• dress in loose clothing that does not restrict movement;
• turn on relaxing music;
• take a starting position.

Where and how to practice

After some practice, you can learn to meditate in any place: in nature, in public transport, in a working environment. Music can be replaced simply by the singing of birds, the sound of leaves, the murmur of water, and even silence. The only thing that matters is the ability to adapt to any circumstances.

Yoga exercises are performed from a sitting position with eyes closed. Ideally, this should be the Lotus position: straight back, heels as close to the hips as possible, knees apart. For beginners, this is difficult, so for a start, just sit on a soft mat and keep your back straight. The last circumstance is very important. In this position of the spine, it is easier to adjust the range of motion.

The key to meditation is regular practice. Short daily sessions give a much greater effect than long meditations no more than once a week.

A set of simple exercises for meditation

To achieve the desired effect, the exercises must be performed sequentially.

Spinal traction

From the starting position on a slow breath, you need to mentally imagine that someone is pulling the body up by the top of the head. As you exhale, relax and “shrink” again. Repeat the exercise several times until slight fatigue.

Consistent relaxation

Close eyes. Mentally relax the entire body, starting with the toes and ending with the crown. At the first stage of training, you can state the relaxation of each area with an inner voice:

• relaxed pinky,
• knee,
• stomach,
• shoulders,
• face,
• language, etc.

As a result, there should be a feeling of heaviness throughout the body.

General relaxation

Fix the starting position and do not move. Visually assess the situation around, but do not react to it in any way. Attention is on the state of the body: it should be completely relaxed without changing the posture.

Breathing exercises

Just breathe through your nose, raising and lowering your diaphragm (not with your whole belly). Deep, without making any sound. In this case, the exhalation should be longer than the inhalation. The task of the exercise is to develop a figurative sensation of the passage of air throughout the respiratory tract: from the nostrils, trachea, lungs to the diaphragm and back.

Breathing with a mantra

A mantra (translated from Sanskrit as a spell) can be any sound that must be accompanied by each inhalation and exhalation. The main thing is that it causes a certain vibration in the body, for example, "x-x-x" or "oh-oh-oh." Sound volume doesn't matter. It is important that the memory with the help of the mantra fixes the duration of inhalation and exhalation.

Purification of consciousness

During breathing exercises (regardless of with or without a mantra), the mind will constantly be filled with a series of various thoughts, good and bad, necessary and unnecessary. The task of meditation is to filter them mentally: choosing one, the most important thought, colored with emotional positive. Everything else should be eliminated as the exercise is repeated.

Breathing to music

Music, due to its rhythm, also plays the role of a mantra. At the same time, with careful selection of the repertoire, it can also perform a relaxing function - to some extent, combine the tasks of the exercises "breathing using the mantra" and "cleansing the breath" and enhance the concentrating effect of meditation. Ideally, the rhythm of the musical composition should coincide with the beats of the pulse in a calm state.

Development of temporary regulations

The duration of meditation has no specific restrictions. Everyone is guided only by personal feelings. The minimum threshold that can fix certain skills is approximately ten minutes. The maximum is until the moment when the consciousness has time to fully concentrate on one thought and calm down. To control the necessary regulations, set a timer during classes.

Return

By the call of a timer or simply by an already developed habit, exit the state achieved during meditation. This is done gradually. First you need to return to the body the tactile sensations taken during the exercises: from the toes to the head. Then liberate consciousness - dip it into everyday life and become adequate to it. Open your eyes and slowly stand up.

Conclusion

Meditation in yoga plays the role of a kind of simulator that allows you to tone the body and mind. A huge part of the time and internal energy is spent on understanding unnecessary ideas that fill the consciousness with a stream. Sometimes it is difficult to choose what hinders life and what helps in practice. In the process of meditation, a person gets the opportunity not only to independently weed out the superfluous from thoughts and focus only on what is necessary, but also to gain the skill of such an algorithm in any life circumstances.

By meditating, we learn to control mental reactions, emotions and actions, learn their limits. This gives us the opportunity to be balanced even in critical situations and get out of them in the most worthy way.

Atma Vichara meditation is about maintaining uninterrupted mindfulness of being aware of the inner sense of "I" (aham-vritti).
“This is the sum and essence of everything that the aspirant to Truth needs to know. The categorical requirement for him is to conduct a zealous and one-pointed search for the source of aham-vritti» Sri Ramana Maharishi. The practice of self-exploration.

Meditation. Meditation techniques and states

With a long meditation all kinds of thoughts and desires are absent, awareness of one’s self ceases, breathing almost completely disappears, a state of deep peace is established, after which the inner consciousness of a person is illuminated with light, causing a state of inexpressible bliss. A person can stay in this state for a very long time without being aware of the surroundings.

At the household level, it is sometimes believed that Meditation allows you to achieve relaxation, release from stress, cleansing the mind of unnecessary thoughts and experiences, obtaining peace of mind and inner harmony. In most psychotherapeutic techniques, it is recommended to exercise in meditation with maximum relaxation. According to the opinion widespread in some schools, for mastering meditation techniques at an acceptable level, it is enough to exercise for half an hour daily for six months. However, the goal of spiritual seekers does not lie in the realm of the material world.

meditative state of mind

The yogi always understands the difference betweenconcentration, M meditation, fullness of attention, contemplative presence and integration.

It should be remembered that in addition to the methods used meditation, in Laya yoga, the basis of practice is continuous contemplation, and the understanding of the techniques of contemplation is transmitted from the Teacher to the student.

The main method of practice is recognized as continuous attention to the natural state, Meditation in motion, contemplation, self-liberation of dual perception through the presence of awareness.

Contemplation in Laya Yoga means the effortless presence of alert awareness that does not focus on anything in particular. The yogi tries not to cling to the past, not to fantasize about the future, not to be grasped by the concepts of the present, to be beyond the concepts in the natural state.

The natural state is neither inside nor outside, it is like the sky without borders and center. It is the mind in its True Suchness. It is like space without qualities, yet all qualities arise from it.

Liberation from the consequences of any action occurs when the yogi is constantly in non-dual contemplation.

If you are practicing meditation and do it correctly and for a sufficient time, you can experience different levels of enlightenment of consciousness.

These levels of enlightenment of consciousness are called dhyana - states of meditative concentration.

There are eight levels of meditative concentration or eight dhyanas.

According to the Vedic tradition, there is an infinite consciousness within us, which is called Atman, Brahman, God Shiva, Nature of Mind, Mind as such, Self, Buddha Nature.

Our past deeds and actions, in this and past lives, that is, Karma, pollute Atman. T This is the operation of our mind, which sees only the ego. When we meditate, we are trying to overcome some of the limitations of Karma and break through to the state of the True Self, to subtle luminous clarity, trying to subordinate the ego to the Supreme.

When we meditate, we can have many experiences and different states of consciousness, we can experience feelings, emotions, visions, states of delight, exaltation, or, conversely, oppression and depression. They're called bhavanas. None of them are essential. They should be regarded as an illusion, as another opening layer of consciousness.

You should not become attached to visions, to any states, but you need to deny them all, ignore them until you come to a state of higher unsupported awareness.

Only a spiritual Master can indicate whether this state is true or not. If you do not have a spiritual Master, you can find yourself in the sutras, sastra the instructions of the saints, descriptions of these states.

For a practitioner of Laya yoga, often under Meditation understand just such a stay in the original Wisdom of peace, when there are no distractions, stay in the worldview that the Teacher conveyed to the yogi.

"A mind without self-existence must eliminate the duality of meditation and the meditator."Mahasiddha Saraha

Meditation- this is the main thing in yoga. This is essentially a constant desire to connect with the Divine, the rejection of the ego, everything else is secondary.

The adherent of Laya Yoga strives to achieve awareness of his essence and the world as a whole. Being in continuous awareness, the yogi is fully aware of the changes taking place in him: the onset of peace, harmony, energy balance, unity with the world and God.

Everyone is familiar with the word meditation. But what is it? In the literature (modern and classical, religious and secular) one can find different approaches to understanding meditation.

Meditation for beginners

Meditation for beginners refers to a wide range of practices that include methods designed to promote relaxation, cultivate internal energy and life force (chi, prana, etc.), develop compassion and love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.

And all these benefits are indeed a pleasant "side" effect of the practice of meditation. There are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice and many different types of meditation, you will find a description of many of them on our resource.

Meditation is:

relaxed state of awareness;

a technique that involves the study of the mind of its foundations in order to achieve certain goals;

a practice aimed at making the mind aware of its content without identifying oneself with the content being studied.

How to meditate correctly?

If you are wondering “how to meditate properly”, but have not yet begun to practice, then perhaps you are overwhelmed by doubts, why do it, how long does it take, do you need special skills, where to start, how to meditate at home?

In this article, we will try to collect and consider the most popular questions for beginners, as well as misconceptions that prevent you from starting to meditate.

What's the point?

For centuries, people have been meditating in search of peace, happiness, transformation or control of their own consciousness.

If a person really feels satisfied with what he has and who he is, then more often he does not think about the need for self-knowledge.

But in most cases, people come to yoga, meditation, when they feel an inner hunger - a feeling that there is something bright inside, something vast and divine, but a person does not have access to it. This inner hunger comes from a spiritual need.

The purpose of meditation is to learn to control the most valuable instrument of each person - the mind, attention. After all, the state of mind is a determining factor in the feeling of happiness and success in all spheres of life.

A person can have all the benefits and still feel unhappy, or, on the contrary, have very little, but feel in harmony with himself and the world around him.

Look around, watch yourself and your loved ones, media people in the field of sports, politics, show business - no amount of material wealth, physical skills and resources will help a person become happy and peaceful if the way of thinking is negative and unconstructive.

Meditation will not solve your problems at home, at work, in society. But it will give you much more - the potency to cope with any events (good and negative) that occur in your life, give you strength and teach you to let go of unnecessary emotions, feelings, thoughts.

Meditation helps you master your own mind by affecting one of its key aspects: attention. After all, everything that we pay our attention to exists for us.

Having mastered the ability to fix your attention only on what you need, you will be able to filter and not miss the negative points, as well as everything that is not useful for you.

Thus, meditation for beginners is a powerful tool for working with consciousness, which will eventually give you the opportunity to create and receive what you want.

Relaxation or self-hypnosis?

In fact, relaxation is just one of the main effects of meditation. On the other hand, it is one of the conditions for successful meditation.

If you are focused on practice and not tense, this will help you achieve deep realizations, will allow you to work with consciousness. Therefore, when it comes to "guided meditation" (yoga nidra, scanning the body in order to relax it, etc.) - this is not meditation in the proper sense of the word.

Of course, such practices are good, because. relax and help relieve stress. But meditation is a deeper practice, working with consciousness in the first place.

Meditation is also not hypnosis (or self-hypnosis) in which there is a verbal suggestion to see and feel certain things. For this, the creative capabilities of the brain are used - imagination, visualization are used.

Meditation also does not usually use imagination or the cultivation of emotions (except for certain types of practices, such as "Loving-Kindness"-meditation of loving kindness).

How to learn to meditate?

In modern sources you can find such a huge number of types of meditations and techniques, with a description of the process, effects and other things, that it is not at all necessary to look for this guru.

There are very serious techniques that have a great impact on the state of mind and even on physical well-being, so they are best practiced in special centers or under the supervision of an experienced practitioner.

But most types of meditation are suitable for beginners, which you can start practicing on your own - at home, in nature, even at work. To do this, you only need a little time and a convenient place.

You don't have to follow any strict rituals or wear special clothes to meditate. Someone prefers to prepare a place and space for meditation (using singing bowls, mantras and music, incense, images of deities and saintly personalities), because they see it as a necessity and help in preparing the mind for meditation - but all these actions are not essential for practices.

Of course, meditation was originally practiced to achieve spiritual enlightenment and was used in Eastern religious rites, which have certain attributes, adherence to strict rules. But, like most techniques that have come from the east to the west, meditation today may not essentially have anything religious under it. You can practice meditation as a simple exercise for the sake of health and well-being.

By the way, believers of absolutely any religion can practice without any conflict with their faith. In addition, today there are many methods and types of meditation, many of which were developed not by religious apologists, but, for example, by scientists and philosophers (we have considered some of these types of meditation in separate articles).

"No time" to meditate?

Write down the time spent each day. Now set aside 20% of that time for meditation. Do you have time now? And, probably, this is at least 10 minutes a day?

In the modern pace of life, watching TV, reading social media feeds for the majority of the active population is a way to escape from everyday problems. But just try changing the way you relax a little. We are confident in the result.

You will definitely feel better after the meditation sessions - more relaxed, more focused, more rested. And it's free! All this is worth a few minutes of your time.

Many people report that once they start meditating, they have even more free time. And all because attention begins to focus only on what is really needed!

Suddenly and absolutely organically, you will find that you have been wasting a lot of time on actions, experiences, events that are not useful to you at all.

How to start meditating at home