Meditation for Dummies
I’ve been meditating since I was a kid. Forced to live in a Buddhist monastery by my Spartan father, I had to meditate for hours. Meditation helped me gain focus, concentration, and discipline. Without it, I would have still been the hyperactive, restless kid with the attention span of a goldfish.
I’m not Buddhist, if I ever was, but mindfulness meditation has been helpful to me in so many ways. Living in this city with a million stimuli firing neurons in my brain every second, I have to meditate to stay calm and focused. I notice the times when I lack focus, for example on the subway, I’m jittery, anxious, and distracted. I’m more neurotic, paranoid, and irritable. But when I meditate, I can focus on things for hours. I can open my News app on my phone and read article after article on my phone and not have to think about what the perverted looking old man sitting next to me is thinking about me.
Even in the midst of the chaotic world we live in, keeping calm and focused is the key to success. Physical ability is only one contributing factor to Olympic medalists’ success. You need to have focus and keep your head in the game.
There are many types of meditation, that I will list here.
Mindfulness meditation - Focus on breathing and your body from a third perspective. If your attention wanders, notice your breath again and drag your attention back. That’s the key to concentration. Whenever we read a book, we can lose our train of thought. Real concentration isn’t staying concentrated on something for hours at a time. It’s your ability to keep your eyes on the task and pull yourself back from distractions and stay the course, for hours at a time.
Concentration meditation - Concentrate on a single object. I like to concentrate on a black dot in my mind and imagine my mind as a blank piece of paper. You can also concentrate on a mantra or Bible verse to cultivate focus.
Loving-kindness meditation - Repeat phrases of goodwill towards yourself, loved ones, friends, neutral people, and even enemies. “May I be happy.” “May I be healthy.” “May I be safe.” “May I be at ease.” “May you be happy.” “May you be healthy.” “May you be safe.” “May you be at ease.”
Visualization meditation - Visualize yourself in a serene place, or in a house, or in a palace. This is how mind palaces are made. Practice building a mind palace through visualization.
Body scanning - Focus on each part of your body, observing sensations through your body without judgement. This cultivates body awareness.
Hope this article was useful. Keep calm and meditate.
