Meditation

The meditation that I practise and described below doesn’t involve philosophy or religion nor is it a pathway to spiritual enlightenment. It is merely a means of reducing anxiety and stress.

The purpose of meditation is to experience mental calmness and ease. This continues long after meditation ceases so that it is ongoing into your everyday life.

How to Meditate

Part 1 – Physical Relaxation

1. Sit upright on a solid chair, at ease but slightly uncomfortable due to the hard seat.
2. Place your feet flat on the floor and rest your hands loosely in your lap.
3. Slowly close your eyes.
4. Visualise your shoulders and allow them to drop a little trying to feel what it is like letting the tension go a little.
5. You may feel some resistance to letting go, don’t fight it, just accept it calmly. You may feel slightly afraid – this is normal, accept it.
6. Try to let go a little more.
7. Now think about your whole body. Starting with your feet can you feel any resistance or tension? Let it melt away.
8. Now move your thoughts to your lower leg muscles. Let any tension ease away. Visualise it flowing out of your body through your feet. Feel your legs becoming heavier.
9. Next move to your upper leg muscles and follow the same procedure.
10. Continue to your groin, buttocks, stomach, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, jaw and face muscles.
11. If the tension grips you, let it go. If it grips again, let it go again. The objective is to let it go without fighting it.
12. You may find the tension (or gripping) keeps returning. This is normal. Remember you have been doing this for some time; it has become your normal response, a defence against an unidentified danger. As you practise letting go this relaxed state will in turn become your normal response. We are returning you to your natural state, the way you once were, the way you really are.
13. It will take time and repeated practice but I guarantee you will let go.
14. Feel relaxation flow down your body, washing the tension out through the bottom of your feet. Feel your arms and legs becoming heavier and take a moment to really enjoy this relaxation.

Part 2 – Mental Relaxation

1. As you begin to relax more deeply sounds become more distant.
2. Be aware that your breathing is slower and easier.
3. You may feel afraid again. Let it drift away.
4. Sit in calm and ease enjoying this good feeling.
5. If thoughts enter your mind or you find your mind wandering don’t worry about it. Let them pass and return to your state of ease.
6. Let go into it more and more. For a few moment just exist. Just be.
7. If your conscious mind pulls you back in alarm, don’t fight it, let it go. There is nothing to fear; these are old habits testing you. Slowly relax again and return to your state of calm.
8. Stay with it as long as you want. You will know when the time is  right to return. It may be a minute, five minutes, ten minutes or half an hour. It’s up to you.
9. When you are ready, gently open your eyes and sit there in peace for a moment.

Notes to Help You Meditate.

1. Don’t worry if you’re doing it right or not. Don’t worry if your doing it for long enough. The important thing is to practise regularly and just let go. Don’t try to let go – just let it happen. If you try and make yourself relax then the effort involved is counterproductive to what you are trying to achieve.
2. Meditation is not the same as sleep. Your mind is alert but it is still, it is quiet, free from worry or tension. The reason we sit when we meditate is to keep awake. If you lay down and tried it then you would drift off to sleep. In fact if you have trouble sleeping, try the above relaxation routine while you are lying in bed.
3. Your mind will never be completely blank for long periods, thoughts will enter and leave but your mind will be calm and still.
4. You can meditate any time or any place. Most people have their own familiar place where they are free from external distractions.

Notes About Meditation

1. Meditation is completely natural, it returns the mind to its natural, resting state.
2. Meditation makes the mind healthy as exercise makes the body healthy.
3. Meditation is the antidote to stress.
4. Meditation is an experience of effortless being. The mind experiences an absence of anxiety that continues on into everyday life. Repeated practice brings calm and ease into your life and an ongoing reduction of anxiety and tension.
5. During meditation changes to the body take place – heart rate slows, blood pressure lowers, breathing slows and shallows. The production of cortisone falls with decreased anxiety. This allows the immune system to function more effectively.

Meditation Script

If you have difficulty meditating then the following script will help you.

Get someone you are comfortable with to read it slowly and softly to you. They should read one item at a time, pause for ten to twenty seconds and then read the next line.

“Sit comfortably now.
Place your hands loosely on your legs … then slowly close your eyes.
Take a deep breath … hold it for a second and then slowly breathe out. As you do so notice how good that feels.
Take two more breaths and feel the tension leave your body as you slowly exhale.
Now think about the top of your head... feel any tension in the muscles of your scalp … think about those little muscles and the skin of your scalp and just allow them to let go and relax...
Now feel the muscles of your face, notice any tension … just let it go, feel those muscles relax...
Notice your forehead, your eyes and eyelids...
Be aware of your cheeks, your mouth and your jaw muscles...let them go
Feel how wonderful it is when you let your face totally relax … you can actually feel the skin settling, smoothing out... your mouth may open slightly, but whatever's best to you, just let it happen...
Unclench your teeth and relax your tongue … the more you physically relax, the more you can mentally relax...
Think about your neck and shoulder muscles now … and then into the tops of your arms, letting all tensions drain away
Move your thoughts down through your elbows... into your forearms...
Now down through your wrists and into your hands... right the way down into the very tips of your fingers and tips of your thumbs... just let all those muscles go and relax...
Now think about your breathing … notice that you're breathing more steadily, more slowly …  as you relax more and more
Let any tension in the chest area simply drain away … then think on down to your stomach muscles, letting those muscles relax, too...

Think down into your back now … to the long muscles either side of your spine, just let those muscles relax...
Move to your waist... then down to your thigh muscles feeling all that tension draining down your body
As you think on down through your knees, down through your shins and calves, just allow all those areas to relax and let go
Now think on down through your ankles, through your feet, into the very tips of your toes... all the muscles of your body beautifully relaxed and easy... very lazy...
Sit in stillness for a moment … feeling how wonderful it is to be relaxed. Just exist, just be for a while … free from thoughts or tension.
When you are ready … it may be one minute, five minutes or longer - you will know when the time is right – slowly open your eyes. Sit in peace for a few moments longer. Bring this wonderful relaxation into your life.”