Meditation belongs to no religion or sect. However it is used by many religions and is acknowledged by them as the most meaningful practice that a seeker can apply for his or her emotional, mental and spiritual growth. Meditation is simply a technique, which can be used for generating quiet, calm, stillness, concentration and awareness about the self.

There are many misunderstandings about meditation. One of the most common is that it is daydreaming in which the mind is allowed to follow flights of fancy. Other misunderstandings about meditation are that it is listening to music, a deep relaxation in which the mind experiences happy thoughts, a trance like state or a struggle to stop thinking and keep the mind blank. Each of the above states has its own benefits but is not meditation.

Meditation is about a range of active techniques that enhance the power of the mind not only whilst meditating but also in our waking life. It is essentially a state of highly directed concentration on a single stimulus. It has been described over the years as stilling the mind, focusing mental energy, discovering the true self, achieving inner peace, and harmonizing body mind and spirit.

Meditation techniques can include sitting in silence (it is not “sitting” and doing nothing but a very special kind of sitting in which the mind is kept clear, alert and watchful and free from losing itself in a train of thoughts), body movements, visualizations, vocalization, walking, sensing and so on and so forth.

Unfortunately our mind does not get trained to think or concentrate by the techniques taught in our schools and universities. Though the knowledge that we gain from these institutions is of value to our lives it does not constitute a training of the mind. “Thinking” is a good thing when we have control over the way thoughts rise and the direction they take. However most of the time we don’t have any control over them. Our thinking often functions in the manner of a roller coaster. Thoughts arise involuntarily and take off on their own course. Happy thoughts, sad ones, anxieties, hopes etc. rise, go their own way and exert their power over us. The same is true of emotions, which rise and fall seemingly of their own accord and keep us trapped in all kinds of behaviors and situations that we may know are not good for us but feel completely out of control with.

Knowledge and thinking therefore may help us interact with the outside world but are of little value in helping us control what happens inside our own head and how that shapes who we become.

Meditation is about experiencing and understanding this fragmentation within us and simultaneously directing the self to its maximum potential. It is the most effective tool for training the mind and results in a range of benefits for the meditator. Physical relaxation, improved concentration, more control over thought processes, an enhanced self understanding, improvements in creative thinking and an improved memory are just some of the key benefits of meditation.

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