Be 'At One' with Alpha Waves Meditation
Meditation. Noun
- ...the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed.
- ...serious thoughts on a particular subject that somebody writes down or speaks.
There are several ways to define the noun meditation, but really the only way to truly understand meditation is to experience it and embrace meditation as a verb rather than a noun – Meditate.
By changing the word meditation into the verb to meditate the meaning becomes clearer. If one asked "What is it like to meditate?" rather than "What is meditation?" the answers would provide a clear description of what it is like for us to be in a meditative state. We can explain how we feel, our visual experience and internal sounds (i.e, thoughts). We can express ourselves by explaining: "When I meditate, I have this feeling of calmness." or "During my practice I have this incredible sensation of silence." or "The mental picture I see when I am meditating, gives me an intense feeling of wellbeing." Experiences will vary but no one experience is better or worse than another – just different.
A meditative state can occur unsolicited. For example, when listening to some wonderful music, watching small children at play or being in a relaxed state with a loved one, etc. It can be anything that stops our minds from working overtime and gives us a great sense of peace and contentment. Consequently, we all know what it is like to be in a meditative state automatically, but being able to induce it at will is another matter. This is where the active practice of meditation comes into its own – it offers us the ability to turn on that peaceful state at will, whenever we need it most.
Why Meditate?
The most common reason for meditation is to control stress. Meditation quiets the mind. It slows down our internal chattering and creates inner peace. Meditation enables us to be in control of our thoughts rather than allowing our thoughts be in control of us. When we understand that every thought we have is reflected in our bodies, we can understand how important meditation is for our wellbeing. If our minds are restless and out of control due to stress, our bodies believe that whatever we are concerned about is actually happening in real time. Your body will produce chemicals, such as adrenalin to protect you and to enable you to go into the 'fight, flight or freeze' state to remove you from danger. Ultimately this is damaging both physically and mentally Read More>. Another reason for meditation is to become more spiritually connected.
About 35 years ago I started practising meditation as part of my yoga training. I found it virtually impossible, and I have had many false starts; mainly because what I expected to happen was totally unrealistic and not in my nature. One of the reasons for my initial failure in learning to meditate, was my belief that the mind should be 'empty'. The nature of the mind is to think, not to be empty. However, we can learn to reign in our thoughts and direct them to where they can be more resourceful. I also used methods which were not appropriate to the way my mind naturally operated. I was out of sync with my own mind resulting in broken rapport with myself - not a good place to start with meditation. About 16 years ago, I finally found a method that suited my personality. Since then meditation has been extremely beneficial rather than problematic and I now have a regular daily practice. Whenever I am worried, fed up or over-burdened with responsibilities, I meditate for a few minutes with the result that my state is changed and the world looks like a different place.
I have studied Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) for the last 25 years. This has enabled me to put together a step-by-step programme, which allows people to discover the method that best suits their personality and thinking.
First Step First
It is important to get yourself in the right state before you start to meditate. It is necessary to prepare for meditation and for some people this is all they need to become quiet 'inside' and experience a meditative state. The first step is to find rapport with yourself and your environment. We need to be totally aware and acknowledge ourselves and our surroundings (such as the thoughts passing through our minds, the way we feel physically, sounds we may hear, etc. etc.). Instructing yourself to stop thinking, is like telling yourself not to think of a pink elephant with orange spots all over, carrying a monkey on its back banging cymbals! It just doesn't work that way, your would automatically see the pink elephant in your mind's eye. You can test that by telling yourself not to think of something (and then see if you do). However there are ways around that, which can be learned.
The preparation is as follows:- Sit in a comfortable upright position, and close your eyes.
- Notice everything that is going on, such as noise outside, the feeling in your body, awareness of the breath. For about 2 minutes.
- Become aware of your thoughts. Don't stop your thoughts, but observe them and acknowledge them by mentally saying: Now I am thinking this...now I am thinking.....
- You might find that very slowly you start noticing spaces of silence between the thoughts.
- If you find that your thoughts have drifted of without you noticing it, simply go back to step 3.
- Remember it is called practising meditation; the emphasis is on the word : practising. You are just learning and that means not being perfect at it yet.
- Be patient and enjoy the practice.
- Start by doing this for about 5 minutes and see how you go! It's just the preparation and it will give you a taste of being in a meditative state.
- My clients often find that these preparation steps are sufficient to get them into a quieter state and they simply stick with this method for 20 minutes a day.
- The above is an abbreviated process and it often helps to seek assistance from an experienced meditation trainer.
©Antonia Boyle 2012
I have produced a relaxation training CD, which can help you reach this meditative state:
For more details about meditation please Read More>
ANTONIA BOYLE is a Master Practitioner NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and qualified NLP Health Specialist. She is Founder Director and Director of Training of Alpha Waves International PDS.She uses this wonderful technology in her Outcome Focused Coaching, Brief Therapy Practice and Training Programmes. She works as a trainer, coach and therapist with a wide range of people. For the last 20 years a large part of her work has been working one to one with clients at the Westerham NLP Practice. This mainly involves helping individuals re-discover their own inner strengths and resources so that they can live life to the full, mentally as well as physically and achieve their full potential on a personal as well as professional level.
Her other expertise is yoga and meditation. Her training methods are strongly inspired by her study of NLP. She has trained yoga teachers for more than 20 years for the British Wheel of Yoga. She has been teaching yoga professionally for more than 35 years. She organises and runs Meditation and other courses.
