Almost
everyone has heard about meditation but almost no one
knows how it works or what it does. The concept of quieting the mind
for improving the quality of life has been shrouded in mysticism and
has not had the necessary technical explanation for too long. In many
cases, hardcore scientists have discarded the idea altogether,
deeming it fanciful and unrealistic, until recently - when modern
research began its exploration into the uncharted waters of
consciousness.
The beginning:
The pioneers of this
field were the Transcendental Meditation (TM) people. TM is a
meditation technique, founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an Indian
spiritual teacher and physicist, who facilitates the process and cuts
down the time and effort usually needed to learn it in other
meditation movements, making it readily available to everyone,
especially the busy modern householder.
Does it work?
The
following results are based on a small sample of more than 600
scientific studies conducted on TM in over 200 independent research
institutions in 35 countries during the past 40 years. The following
has been determined:
Mind
Body
Relationships
Professional
Life
World
That aside, let us look more into the mechanics
of meditation and how this ancient process really works. To
understand that, we need to first look at how the mind works in
relation to the body.
The mind and the body are interrelated, each
affecting the other. Dr. Deepak Chopra, M.D., renowned author
and spiritual leader says in his book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of
Yoga, "Your mind is a thought-generating organ. Thought forms
perpetually arise in your awareness. The activity in your mind is
communicated to every cell in your body. When your mind is turbulent,
your messenger molecules communicate turbulence to your cells,
tissues, and organs. If you can quiet your mind, you can send
messages of peace and harmony to every cell in your body. To
experience the real essence of yoga –the full integration of body,
mind, and spirit- you need to develop the ability to quiet your mind.
Meditation is the technology that enables you to do so."
Tracing down the thinking process to its finer states, through
meditation, we eventually arrive at the source of the mind’s
activity, a domain of unbounded awareness. In this state, the mind,
and thus the body, finds itself balanced and joyful for no reason
other than for existing. That state of un-constricted awareness is
the natural state that we should experience in our everyday lives.
The reason why we might not have such experience is because our
stress levels have incredibly increased, creating mind turbulence,
which pushes us away from that natural happy state. This natural
state is the condition babies are in when they are first born, before
they begin accumulating stresses.
In the past, people followed the rhythms of nature, they woke up at
sunrise and slept after dark, they ate fresh foods and breathed clean
air, so sleeping at night was sufficient to release any accumulated
stress. Today, unfortunately, this is no longer the case; we are
being bombarded with stress from all directions.
When someone is clear headed they take the right action
spontaneously, there is no internal conflict: one thinks happy
thoughts, feels good feelings and acts in ways beneficial to everyone
involved. When someone is stressed – stress, being any abnormal
experience one undertakes; physically, mentally, or emotionally –
clarity of mind decreases and the ability to take the right action,
which is life supporting to the one taking the action and everyone
else concerned, becomes difficult.
How to do it?
So, how does one perform Transcendental
Meditation? A session of Transcendental Meditation only requires 10
minutes to 40 minutes per day, depending on how long one decides to
remain in a trance. The first step is to find an environment that is
not distracting and assume a comfortable position, such as sitting.
Next, the person chooses a word, image, or phrase and concentrates on
it. By focusing on this one object the person falls into a trance.
This trance can last for as long as the person chooses. While the
person remains in this state of mind, he or she is psychologically
present while paying minimal attention.
According to
Nada Haidar, a teacher of the TM technique, "Any stress or
overloading causes damage to the system. For example, if you go to a
party and dance all night, the next day you cannot walk. Yet, we
cannot tell people to withdraw from the world. Don't enjoy life,
don't go to movies, don't ride cars, don't see friends. Who would
want to do that? It is simply not applicable, at least not nowadays!
That's why we need to increase the capacity of the nervous system to
handle experiences by releasing previously accumulated tensions, for
we do not want to detach from life but to attach to it and live it in
its fullness. This is where our technique comes in. Our
Transcendental Meditation, which takes only 20 minutes of your time,
is practiced once in the morning and once in the evening, wherever
you are, and the only ability required for practicing it is the
ability to think!"
Perhaps, in the past, spiritual techniques, like meditation, were a
luxury reserved for those who had free time on their hands, however,
today, in the fast paced rhythm of our modern world and the
stress-packed environment that surrounds us, extra measures for
stress release are becoming a daily necessity for everyone. Whether
one is looking for clarity, stress release, spiritual understanding,
a better quality of living or just something out-of-the ordinary,
meditation is definitely the way to go.
For more information on TM in Egypt e-mail amrkhaled22@gmail.com
