At any moment, most of us have many concerns occupying our consciousness – present responsibilities, reflections on past events, and so on. A sense of mental chaos can easily be the result. Mind training techniques can provide an effective way of clarifying our thinking and can guide us through relaxation to inner peace.
Few of us do not complain about the stresses of modern living. Much of this stress arises because our thoughts and emotions dominate us, keeping us dwelling on the very things that we would rather not think or feel. Stressful thinking is typically unproductive; it solves nothing, tires us out, and leaves us feeling more worried than ever.
One way that we can take more control over our mental and emotional lives is by using mind-training techniques, such as meditation. Meditation teaches us that thoughts and emotions are things that we have rather than who we are. It can free us from the often oppressive influence of thought by letting us acknowledge that thoughts come and go – and it is up to us how much attention we pay to them.
Eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, place great emphasis on meditation. The mind control that it brings puts practitioners in closer touch with their being and clarifies their relationship with the reality outside themselves. However, not all proponents and teachers of meditation come from particular spiritual traditions. For example, transcendental meditation (TM), which became very popular in the 1960s, is essentially a secularised technique borrowed from a respected Indian guru. Strip ped of its overtly spiritual dimension, TM is widely practiced in the US and has even gained government support.
Meditation has also been approached from a strictly secular and scientific standpoint. For example, Herbert Benson of Harvard University Medical School has developed a meditation technique called the relaxation response’, which has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety and slowing the heart rate and breathing.
Meditation for everyone
Anyone can learn to meditate. Many people take up the practice after retirement or when their children have grown old enough to allow them more freedom. Even the very young can be introduced to meditation. Experiments in the UK have shown the positive effects of meditation in the classroom. Just five minutes of sitting quietly and focusing on breathing at some point in the school day helped children as young as seven to be calmer and more attentive.
Men and women are attracted equally to meditation and seem to progress at similar rates. Indeed, the main obstacles to successful meditation are not sex or age but impatience and boredom. In the West, we have become accustomed to instant results; meditation demands time and self-discipline. We are also used to a constant diet of entertainment fed to us from outside, and the idea of sitting quietly, doing nothing except experiencing one’s mind, may seem very tame. However, ut the experienced meditator is rarely bored; discovering the serenity and tranquillity of the uncluttered mind gives a unique insight into consciousness itself.
Meditation costs nothing, can be carried out anywhere, requires no apparatus or special clothes, and has many proven physical and psycho logical benefits, including stress reduction, pain control, and even lowering of blood pressure. Meditation is also deeply rewarding as a voyage of self- discover. Parado lexically, although it is an inward journey, it takes us not away from the world but more richly and deeply into it.
