Meditation has become a health trend in today’s fast-paced modern world. It may seem simple to start a meditation practice: Find a quiet space, play some relaxing music, sit cross-legged, and that’s it! However, for people who lack meditation experience, such guidance is not enough. Many people have misunderstandings about meditation. This article provides the concepts, principles, effects, conditions, and essentials of meditation so that you can understand this powerful practice holistically and get the most practical methods.
What is meditation?
Meditation is an inward journey of quieting and purifying the body and mind. Through the practice of the unity of mind and body, one can obtain deep inner purity and tranquility.
This transformative process can be compared to scooping a bucket of water from a running river. Initially, the turbid water is filled with silt and fallen leaves. After the water settles for some time, the heavy substances slowly sink to the bottom, and the light substances float to the surface; thus, the water at the surface and in the middle is relatively clear. The process of meditation practice is like clearing several layers of messy consciousness from the brain. After releasing mental complications, one is left with a pure mind. Then, when reconsidering matters, you realize that everything is so simple and easy to handle.
Scientific research shows that meditation can activate neuroplasticity and reshape brain function and structure. Through the practice of meditation, you can get the following benefits:
- Calm the heart, clear chaotic thoughts, build concentration, enhance creativity, develop learning and cognitive abilities, and increase intellectual capacity; all these benefits contribute to improved planning, decision-making and social interactions.
- Soothe tense nerves and muscles, reducing chronic stress.
- Adjust blood pressure and heartrate to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
- Relieve physical pain, boost immunity and inhibit inflammation.
- Enhance positive energy, reduce the concentration of “stress hormones” such as cortisol, inhibit anxiety and depression, relieve stress, and aid sleep.
- Exercise your mind, enhance empathy and self-awareness. Reduce conflicts by developing a deeper understanding of others, effectively solve problems, cooperate through communication, improve interpersonal relationships, and boost emotional intelligence.
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Meditation gives you the power to change your life
People are often exhausted by the high-pressure and fast-paced lifestyle common to the modern world. Maintaining the dynamic balance between family, work, self, and health is a constant challenge. Many are eager to find a way to balance the body and mind.
Large enterprises and corporations, including Google, are increasingly impacted by the consequences of having chronically exhausted and stressed employees. These companies hire the top innovative talents of the world who are enthusiastic about work and unafraid of challenges and pressures. However, when people work under stress without rest, they lose access to new viewpoints and refreshing ideas, and their creativity dries up.
Many big corporations have woken up to the need to maintain their staff’s passion for work and inspire their creativity. In 2007, Google created the “Search Inside Yourself” (SIY) meditation course to help employees break free of stress and thrive in a more open, peaceful, kind, and inspired working environment.
Meditation, the practice that arose in the East in ancient times, has become popular in modern Western society. In many countries, schools (including Oxford University and Harvard University), hospitals, government agencies, and international corporations have set up meditation courses for students, teachers and staff. In 2012, Intel began to provide the Awake@Intel meditation courses for their employees. Participants found that their stress and frustration had been significantly reduced through meditation. They experienced more joy. Their new ideas, insights, clarity of mind, creativity, concentration, workplace relationships, meeting participation, projects, and team effort bore marked improvements.
Grandmaster JinBodhi teaches meditation in many countries around the world. He hopes that everyone can improve their physical and mental health through meditation and enhance their happiness at work and in family life. If every person were happy, every family would be happy, and the world would be a more beautiful place.
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Back to Basics on the Benefits of Meditation: Part II
Relax the body and mind, enter a state of clarity and wisdom
The meditation methods taught by Grandmaster JinBodhi can help practitioners rapidly enter the meditative state and obtain a calm, pure body and mind. Grandmaster JinBodhi has distilled the richness of his years of self-cultivation experiences into these methods. Through simple visualizations, practitioners are guided to experience physical and mental relaxation. For example, The Meditation of Greater Illumination starts with visualizations which incorporate “sky,” “Universe,” “rays of light,” and “compassion,” helping practitioners enter a pure, calm state wherein they can experience peace and joy.
During the deep, immersive practice experience, you will encounter a variety of sensations such as heat, cold, pain, soreness, numbness, movement, smoothness, and astringency. Through correct and continual meditation sessions, practitioners will gradually move toward a peaceful, liberated state; they will be able to transcend the troubles in life instead of being emotionally afflicted by them. When you self-cultivate to this level, you can naturally rid yourself of many physical and mental illnesses, develop wisdom, and even see the truth behind the evolution of things.
Ancient ascetics said, “One day in the cave, the world has been thousands of years.” This statement describes the feeling of transcending time and space that a practitioner experiences when engaged in the depths of meditation. When meditators can enter a noble, expansive manifestation of time and space on a regular basis, they will absorb the energy and information of this ascended plane of existence, develop keen perception and see through to the truth, and finally achieve ultimate enlightenment.
Anyone can meditate
The purpose of meditation is to purify the body and mind, unlock wisdom, and experience a free and comfortable life. Meditation is helpful to everyone, regardless of gender, race, age, education level, or occupation. As long as you are born human, you can practice meditation. Meditation can significantly improve the following situations:
- You’re unable to concentrate and plagued with distracting thoughts. While you are doing one thing, your mind is thinking of something else.
- Your cognitive ability has weakened. Although you have read something many times, you cannot remember it. Your brain often lacks power and goes blank.
- The unsolved problems at work are still bothering you when you get home, impacting your diet and sleep.
- Facing conflicts at home and complicated relationships in the workplace, you often feel emotionally out of control.
- You experience mental and physical tension. In times of great stress, your body stiffens and feels out of control.
- You feel stressed and depressed. Your mind is burdened by worries and you rarely experience happiness.
- You long to know the truths of life and the world and become a liberated, enlightened person who is capable of helping others escape suffering and attain happiness.
If you have the above problems or wishes, you can transform yourself through practicing meditation. Just persist in practicing 30 minutes of meditation daily, and over a period you will see significant effects including enhanced physical and mental health and feelings of happiness and completeness. You will also become a compassionate, kind person who enjoys life and work.
Get valuable guidance from professional teachers｜International meditation organization: Bodhi Meditation
People perceive the world through the five senses and consciousness. The body’s sensory system (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind) brings us forms, sounds, fragrances, tastes, and touches that are the test of life. Meditation is an inner practice. During the meditation process, you will experience complicated feelings, including miraculous experiences and some negative ones. If you misunderstand them and deliberately pursue these feelings, you will stray onto a potentially destructive path. Thus, when you first embark on your journey of practice, you must get professional teaching and guidance from an experienced meditation teacher.
The various meditation courses conducted by Grandmaster JinBodhi can help you grasp both basic and advanced meditation skills. We welcome everyone to Bodhi Meditation. Join us to understand and experience the power of meditation.
You can also get to know us in the following ways:
- Follow Grandmaster JinBodhi’s Facebook page and subscribe to Grandmaster JinBodhi’s YouTube channel to watch relevant teaching videos. Get the latest information and take online courses.
- Go to the Cibeiyin online store to download or purchase educational CDs. Recommended for beginners: The Meditation of Purity, The Meditation of Bone Melting, Illuminating Body and Mind.
- Go to the Bodhi Meditation Centers around the world to participate in a group practice or sign up for courses.
Further reading：
Learn Sitting Meditation the Easy Way：Tap Into the Benefits With Professional Guidance
A Guide to Meditation for Beginners: Simple practices for physical and mental health
