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Find
a quiet and peaceful place to meditate can create a multiplier effect
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Many
people ask, 'What are the benefits of meditation?', 'To what state
can meditation bring oneself to?', 'Am I suitable for meditation?'
I
am not a teacher, but I would like to share my past few years
meditation experience.
In
Chinese, meditation gives an impression that a person has to sit
still. In fact, one can meditate while he is sitting, walking, lying
down, standing or even when he is engaging in different kinds of
activities. Meditation means when we are highly concentrated, it is
thoughtless in our mind, and it creates a strong experience of living
in the moment and the sense of existence.
Simple
meditation starts from breathing, meaning focusing completely on the
process of breathing in and breathing out. The process of observing
breathing is just like chaining a monkey, making him can only climb up and
down along the rod, therefore unable to do whatever he likes. Our
minds are just like monkey, so it is always called, 'Monkey mind.'
In
fact, many people don't even know that they have a monkey mind, they
let their brains occupied by different thoughts and images. If they
are not indulging in the memories of yesterday, they are expecting
for the fruits in future. They cannot stop thinking for even one
moment. They may feel tired mentally, but they don't understand why.
Therefore,
meditation can raise the consciousness of people. First, through
observing breathing, you will notice that you cannot rest your mind
on the process of observing breathing for even a single moment. Your
mind is always in the past and in the future. Afterwords, you can
try to put all your attention on breathing in place of that unbroken
thinking stream. You have to do it with all your effort and
persistently. If you could achieve the stage of thoughtlessness,
even for one minute, you would find that your mind would be very sharp and
refreshing.
So
in daily life, meditation not only increase one's productivity and
also his energy level.
I
should skip the part that some people can achieve Samadhi (Sanskrit,
meaning a state of non-dualistic consciousness, and in which the mind
become still and one-pointed), because I don't have such an experience.
However,
I do experience that thoughtless and blissful state through long
hours of meditation. The first time was during the 10 days Vipassana
Retreat in India, I strongly felt and experience the EXISTENCE of
myself. The second time was also during a Vipassana Retreat in
Nepal, some traumas and knots were dissolved and I could clearly
listen to my heart and my soul. And through meditating every day in
the past few years, I was sometimes inspired and got revelation in
life situations after meditation.
There
is a Vipassana Retreat in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong. During these
10days, one has to meditate 10.5 hours per day, beginners may feel
scared. But I strong recommend the retreat to those who are really
willing to learn meditation. If you could free just 10 days in your
lifetime to face the naked self, you would be rewarded.
For
those who don't want to take this challenge, I recommend you to get
up 10mins earlier every morning. Find a comfortable and quiet spot
to sit, no matter you want to sit in cross-leg or on a chair, the
point is to sit with your spine straight, so as to let the Chi/Prana
flow freely. Close your eyes, slowly breathe in and notice that the
cold air is flowing into your nostrils, trachea, lungs. Then slowly
breathe out, and notice that the already warm air is flowing out from
your lungs, then trachea and nostrils. Repeat this cycle for at
least 5 to 10mins, if there are thoughts occuring and take away your
attention, just slowing bring your attention back to observing the
process of breathing.
If
you can be persistent and do this exercise for a few months, and even
prolong the mins of observing breathing, I think you will definitely notice the
benefits of meditation by yourself.
