An Overview of Buddhist Meditation Techniques

Meditation requires time and practice. Imagine having total control over your mind instead of your mind controlling you. Buddhist meditation techniques help one develop and discipline their minds and if you practice these techniques regularly, you will soon find a gradual positive change in your mind, making it free of any fear and be an owner of a healthier body, stronger mind and enlightened soul.

Following Buddhist meditation techniques doesn't mean that you have to take and year off and go to some far off mountains to practice them. You can incorporate these methods where ever you are in your daily life. It is up to you to take a decision and make place for these Buddhist meditation techniques in your life. With time, you will free your mind of all those meaningful thoughts and meditate successfully.

Benefits of Buddhist meditation techniques

If you follow these meditation techniques, you will develop higher concentration and mind and generate good emotions like love, kindness and tolerance for others. You will find yourself getting calmer and relaxed and have a general sense of well being. Getting a physically and psychologically healthy life will bring a harmony in your body, mind and soul.

When you practice Buddhist meditation techniques, you will see a profound effect on your mind, body and soul with regular disciplined practice. Once you reach a state of not having the need to connect to or have physical objects, you have surely come a long way on this journey. This is one of the primary goals of this meditation. You should retire your mind from the worldly desires even if for a couple of minutes a day. You will sense immense peace with no connection to this physical world or when your mind is devoid of any worries. The feeling of calm and relaxation can only be felt and not explained. When you feel detached from the world, you are left with a clearer mind that is able to focus, concentrate and work better.

Vipassana

Buddhist meditation techniques teach you Vipassana, which is watching your breath with awareness. Just watch your breath as it comes and goes. This is perhaps the easiest and simplest of techniques for meditation. Breathing is the most of essential life process of our body and needs no conscious effort. Vipassana teaches you to be just aware of your breath and as it goes in and out of your body. Don't try to control it but just flow with it.

Buddha practiced these techniques all his life with the aim of detaching the mind from the world and getting rid of its cravings for materialistic things. Buddhist meditation techniques are followed widely all over the world.Although this extremely easy meditation can be practiced anytime, anywhere, initially it is strongly recommended to set aside a separate time and place for it daily.

Original article

Buddhist Are the Inventors of the Meditation Techniques

It seems to be very near the truth, if we say that Buddhist were the inventors of the meditation. The Buddhist meditation techniques are the best and worldwide recommended for the stress relief. In fact, meditation is a top priority element of the Buddhism. You will find dozens of meditation techniques based on Buddhist phenomena. The holy script of the Buddhist reveals complete details of meditation techniques. Lord Buddha adopted these meditation techniques for peace of mind during his life.

Practice is an essential part of the meditation and important than theoretical knowledge of its techniques. There are two basic techniques which are commonly used in these days due to their best productivity.
Tranquility or peace is the first method in the Buddhist meditation techniques. The main purpose of this technique is concentration of mind. The learner can choose any subjects from the 40 topics. It includes ten stages of concentration lessons, like discs of different colors, candle flame or other lights, water, etc. It also includes a variety of bodily decay such as rotting corpse. Breath control is usually the next technique including deep breathing exercises. This mindfulness breathing technique is fundamental and compulsory meditation exercise for every student. There are many benefits of this exercise. It helps to calm the mind by removing the inner chatter. The student feels much confident and pays accurate attention. With the help of this technique, students gain control over many mental hindrances of their life, such as sensual desire, doubt and sloth, anxiety, and ill-will. The next stage is the final stage where the student feels actual happiness.

Insight is the next method in the Buddhist meditation techniques. In this technique, the students learn to see the things as their actual existence. The students get rid of aversions in this technique to reduce the effects in rational judgment. They learn to accept the truth, even if it is not according to their taste. This is the initial stage in this technique and called as bare awareness. The students also needed three existence marks, which are essential in the phenomena. These three marks are suffering, not-self, and impermanence. The breath meditation exercise is also a part of this technique which helps them gain the enlightenment.

However, many people use both Buddhist meditation techniques at the same time in their practical life.

Next stage is the developing of kindness and loving. This technique directly changes the emotional habits of the students and helps them become more positive in their emotions. The students become more patient, kind to others as well as to themselves, and keen to understand others. This technique also teaches them to forgive others on their mistakes.

Mantra meditation is adopted by the every student of the Buddhist meditation techniques. In this technique, the followers use a simple phrase of their choice and repeat it at even-pace whether loud or internally. It helps them to calm their mind against any damage and pain due to any mischief. Most of the people think that this technique is only consist of spiritual phrases, but it is not true, you can select any poem as mantra to calm your mind during anxiety.

Original article

The Buddhist Monk Meditation

It has been known that meditation is great help to achieve a certain level of peace within one's self. How much more if you can meditate like a monk within a month? You might be a little bit of a sceptic about this, but read on. The following steps will prove that meditating like a Buddhist is not impossible. And even ordinary folks like us can do it.

For the first five days, you must develop a sense of awareness of your thoughts. It is natural to have full control of your thoughts, but you can begin by being aware of the dominant thoughts in your brain. You can do this by assuming a meditating position for fifteen to twenty minutes and focus on the thoughts crossing your mind. Do not try to do anything with your thoughts: do not drive them away, change or analyze them. Just let them be and focus on them. This is the first step that you should do. Just make sure that you are aware of the thoughts running through your mind.

For the following five days, you should be able to meditate in "hypnagogic state" or what is commonly known as the state between dreaming and sleeping. To do this, find a comfortable place to lie on. Make sure that you lie on your back and position your arms and the elbows so that it forms a 90 degree angle with your torso. When you begin to fall asleep, your arms fall and awaken you. Pay attention to your body as you are falling asleep. The goal here is to put yourself in this state at will. You must also be aware that you might find yourself in a state known as "sleep paralysis" which often comes with hallucinations. Do not worry, this is normal. There is nothing to be anxious about.

By the middle of the month, you must also learn thought maintenance. Remember, for the last few days, you were told not to do anything about your thoughts. Now you are encouraged to address them out loud. This can be a bit different from what you were doing for the past days. This is the next stage and it is going to be a new experience altogether. When you do this, you will find that thoughts begin to disappear. You will then be waiting for the next ones to be entertained.

Now that you are nearing the last five days of the month, you will also notice that thoughts become still in your mind yet you find peace with it. Just maintain this state and you will find more meditation benefits. You will then start to feel at peace and not feeling any kind of anxiety in your mind and in your emotions.

This is a whole month's guide that you have to follow to become effective in meditation like the Buddhist monks. Once you perfect them, make it a lifetime commitment. Allot at least fifteen minutes per day. This is going to benefit you. You will find more physical, emotional and spiritual benefits than your ordinary kind of meditation.

Want to learn more about personal and spiritual growth? Go to our site and also get a Free Self Help Tips Report.

Original article