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Visualization as meditation

Once again I find a new category is in order, “Visualization” There are many types of visualization exercises, so my first post is an overview.

Visualization meditations may be one of the more approachable types of meditation for people who (like me) find it easy to imagine, to visualize.

There are thousands of products available online. You could search for a specific type of visualization you feel would be beneficial for you. (Perhaps “visualizing good health” or “meditation for good health”, likewise you could concentrate on wealth, happiness, relaxation etc. You get the idea 🙂 )

Once you have found a couple of web site that look promising, see if they have “samples”  you can download or listen to. Some will give you a part of a meditation, some will even let you listen to a whole one – bonus!

This is really important because you want to find something that feel right to YOU. Some people love background music, some people find it distracting. Likewise, some people have voices that guide you into the meditation easily, others not so much!

Where I live there are several new-age, religious or metaphysical type bookstores. These can be a great resource, (especially the few that will let you listen to a CD before you buy) because you can talk to the staff and find out what is popular and why.

In upcoming posts I will give some simple written examples you can try.

This site will eventually have resources I’ve found useful, and I will record a few short visualizations for you. I am looking forward to doing that!

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Meditation with other people

Yesterday I spent some wonderful time in meditation with 2 other people. This has prompted me to include a new section about group meditation.

I find that spending time in meditation with other people can be a very enjoyable experience.

  • Being with other people who are participating with me in something I love enhances my feeling of connectedness. (I wonder if this is why so many people are drawn towards religion in general; most religions I am familiar with have an element of community.)
  • Having a few minutes after the meditation session to discuss what came up for us (for people who WANT to share. Forced sharing seems counter productive) can be enlightening.
  • For people who have trouble “finding the time” to meditate it can be very useful to have a specific time and place to meet. It adds a social element and incentive to practice.

How do you find people to meditate with?

  • Your community may have night classes held  in Secondary or Post-Secondary schools. You could check with your local school board to find what is available in your area.
  • Some Churches offer meditation sessions, either as a separate group activity or as a part of the Church service. This may mean becoming involved with another church in addition to your regular one.
  • There are a lot of groups to be found on various social media sites. You could try checking out meetup.com, linkedin.com or facebook.com as a starting point.

Personally, my first choice would be seeing if my local School Board offers meditation classes. My assumption is that the instructor would have gone through at least a basic screening process in order to be accepted as an instructor.

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Buddhist Walking Meditation

I would like to give you a variety of different kinds of meditations to choose from, including those I am not personally familiar with. (I enjoy sitting meditations best because I find it easier to concentrate).

For people who have trouble sitting still for that long, this 3 minute video is for you 🙂 It gives general instructions for practicing a moving meditation, as well as written instructions you can print out. This simple easy to follow instruction video does not include a guided meditation, but rather just the “how to” instructions. This site also offers several other meditation instructions you may want to check out.

Buddhist Walking Meditation

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You need a break?

Today is a commentary on taking a break from it all via meditation

taking a breakIn my other life, anxiety has been trying to keep me in a stranglehold. A couple of people I love are having major health issues.

Now I will confess to you that I tend to be a worry wart. In spite of my practice I still jump too easily into worry 😉 A few of you may be able to identify with me on that, so I will tell you what I have been doing to side step anxiety:

When a fearful thought rears it’s ugly head I have been doing a two step. First I recognize how the thought makes me feel, then I do one of the following (the one I choose totally depends on how serious the thought is)

When it is a small worry

I ask myself what is good about the situation. For example if I drop a dish and it breaks I can change how I feel by thinking Whew! I am sure glad I didn’t get cut. It is interesting how often I can change my anxiety level simply by changing my frame of reference.

Or if I am already in the middle of  blowing an incident out of proportion I picture what the worst thing is that might have happened. Even when I am in less than blissful mood I find that helps me to put things in perspective.

If you have read the posts about breathing you know another tool I use, focusing on my breath for a few seconds can distract me from over reacting to a situation.

When it is a big worry, I usually do one of two basic different approaches

Sheer unadulterated escapism, but instead of drinking or gambling I find that doing some artwork takes me out of the worry spiral so that when I come back to the situation I am more capable of thinking clearly and acting appropriately.  A friend once told me that she does housecleaning when she is worried, the more worried she is the cleaner her home is 🙂

A word to the wise though, this is meant to be a temporary reprieve!  The sooner you come back to face the problem the sooner you can work out a solution.

Sometimes I find it helpful to go into analytic mode. I list all the pros and cons about a situation, and about all of the possible endings to the situation. By writing it on paper it feels as though I have taken some action and that allows me enough space to leave the problem alone for long enough to do a meditation. I usually do “grounding” and/or “centering” In later posts I will share a couple of each with you. This helps me to gain objectivity about the situation even when the emotions may still be going full blast.

This is a simplification of the process, just enough to let you know a couple of approaches I use. If you have any other meditation-like actions you find useful please feel free to add a comment.

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Breathing Part 3

This meditation is great for people who hold a lot of tension in their muscles. It focuses on muscle relaxation and will likely take 5 – 7 minutes

I use this one sometimes to help me sleep, so I will give you the laying down instructions. (This can also be done sitting in a chair with your feet on the ground, hands open in your lap. If you prefer that version, adjust your visualization to match your sitting position.)

Lay on your back, close your eyes and breath in and out as you would naturally for 4 – 8 rounds, paying attention to your breath – where in your body do you feel it? What do you notice about your breathing?

Breath in to the count of 4 and out to the count of 4. Do this 4 – 6 times.

Breath in counting slowly to 4, filling first your belly with air, then your lungs, hold for 2 counts and slowly breath out.

With the next long deep breath, instead of counting, imagine the oxygen flowing to your feet, relaxing them, “melting” your feet into the floor.

With the next deep breath, imagine the oxygen flowing to your calves, relaxing them so they melt towards the floor.

Breath deeply, relaxing your knees and thighs. Let your upper legs relax so that your feet naturally fall pointing slightly out.

Continue this way until you get right to the top of your head. Progressively relaxing:
Lower back, and deep belly
Mid back and internal organs
Chest and upper back
Shoulders
Arms
Neck
Face

If there is any particular part of your body where you hold a lot of stress feel free to spend extra time letting your breath relax that area.

Remember if you have any physical discomfort pay attention to your body and adjust your position; after all it is a lot easier to relax muscles when you are comfortable 🙂

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Stress Relief – Mayo Clinic Article

In my search for some scientific / medical information about the benefits of meditation I came across an insightful 2 page article from the Mayo Clinic (United States). It outlines benefits of using meditation to relieve stress.

This article gives a brief overview of:
Benefits of meditation
A few of the better known types of meditation
Basic requirements for practice
As well as a few relatively easy ways to add meditation to your day

Mayo Clinic stress relief article

This is a rather basic overview, so I encourage you to look more deeply into any of the topics that interest you.

I would like to find out what most interests you my reader, so I encourage you to add your comments to this page. I am writing some basic meditations that I will publish on this site as well as sample audio files to guide you through the meditations.

My hopes and plans for this site is for it to be a reliable resource for people who are either relatively new to meditation, or would like to find out about other forms of meditation. I know first hand some of the benefits I have experienced (and believe me if I can find and learn meditation I think most people can!)

There are so many “flavours” of meditation I am sure you can find something that will work for you!

What kind of information would you like to see on this website?

What methods of meditation are you interested in learning about?

Are there any particular health problems you hope meditation can help you with?

(According to their website “Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of virtually every type of complex illness.”)