Chapter 4 - Meditation

Meditation is both a form of relaxation and a way to regain control of your mind from your subconscious. Studies consistently show that meditation decreases heart rate and blood pressure. Subjectively speaking, meditation helps you feel better and can lead to much greater clarity and peace of mind.

When meditating, it's best to be wearing loose fitting clothes. You may want to loosen your belt or other clothing. There's no need to be in any particular position, but I strongly recommend sitting down. Don't lie down, because your body will confuse this with the sleep state and you may fall asleep instead of meditating. If you do fall asleep, that’s all right; it’s an indication that you needed the rest. I choose to sit with my legs crossed and my hands on my thighs, arms and hands relaxed with the palms facing more or less upwards. My hands rest at a balanced position where they don’t have a tendency to fall off when I’m totally relaxed. The important thing is to be comfortable. Find a comfortable spot to sit where you can keep you back straight, such as against a wall. A quiet and peaceful place is best. I wear earplugs to minimize disturbances, although that’s not necessary. Before beginning, stretch your arms straight upwards for a few seconds. With arms still raised, twist slowly to the right and hold it for a second or two. Be comfortable, don't strain. Then rotate back to the other side and hold for a second or two. Next, close your eyes and take three or four deep breaths, making each inhalation and each exhalation last about 8 seconds or more. (Count 1 one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc.) When exhaling, try to exhale all the way, but don't strain. The purpose of all this is to relax you before you begin.

There are different ways to meditate. I prefer the "HUNG SAW" meditation. Here's how. In your sitting position, with your eyes closed, your body relaxed, concentrate on seeing the word "HUNG" as you inhale. The letters will start somewhere out in front of you and as you breathe. Watch the letters as they come into your head at the bridge of you nose, right between your eyes. The whole time, say the word "HUNG" to yourself. Keep watching the letters and saying the word until it's time to exhale. (Note that you only say "HUNG" one time, but stretch the sound out for the whole time you're inhaling.) Then see the letters "SAW" go out from your head through the bridge of your nose. Say the word "SAW" to yourself the whole time you're exhaling. Keep watching the letters and saying "SAW" until you begin to inhale. I find it helpful to follow the word "SAW" out far into the distance. Then switch to "HUNG" again and so forth. Do this for 15-20 minutes in the morning, and again in the late afternoon or early evening.

Try to avoid any other thoughts but "HUNG SAW". You actually can't stop your mind from thinking; but you can focus it on "HUNG SAW" and exclude everything else. You'll find your mind wandering sometimes. Whenever you notice this, don't be concerned. Just accept it, unemotionally, and return to "HUNG SAW".

Some days, you'll feel that it was the best meditation you've ever had. On others, it may seem that you were wasting your time. However, studies have shown that you'll get benefits in both cases.

A few points to keep in mind:

- Be comfortable.

- The goal is to relax by ridding your mind of all emotions and all meaningful thoughts. Since your mind is going to think of something, we give it something meaningless to do.

- Sometimes your mind will wander. This is normal, but when you realize it, gently (without getting upset) go back to "HUNG" "SAW".

- This next rule is very important: If something itches, scratch it. Otherwise you may end up concentrating on the itch.

- Don't eat before you meditate or you'll think about your stomach too much.

- Don't lie down, or your body will confuse meditation with sleep.

- The benefits will be greater if you mediate every day. However, if you happen to skip a day or two, or even a month, that doesn't mean you can never meditate again.

- Try meditating for at least two weeks. It may take that long for you to become accustomed to it and start receiving the benefits. Later, if you switch to a different form of meditation, you should also allow two weeks for it to start working for you.

Meditation is a form of rest. When you're good at it, the 15-20 minutes you spend will refresh you and reduce your need for sleep. You may get to the point where 4 hours of sleep per day is adequate, as long as you meditate for 15-20 minutes daily.

When you're meditating, don't expect anything magical to happen. It's basically just a way clear your mind so your body can relax. One meditation session may be very different from the next. Sometimes you may think "Wow, this is good" and other times you'll think "This is the worst meditation I've ever done." Studies indicate that just doing it brings on physiological benefits, even if you don't feel as good sometimes.

Ten years ago, when I learned to meditate, I couldn't see any obvious results. I didn't really feel any different. But after a few weeks, I noticed that, if I meditated in the evening, I had trouble getting to sleep because I'd have too much energy. On the other hand, if I hadn't meditated in the morning before work, I noticed that I felt more irritable and got angry easier. And I started to need less sleep. I gradually went from being tired after sleeping 8-9 hours to feeling refreshed after 6 hours of sleep. Insomnia used to be a problem for me; some nights I'd lie awake for four hours or more and be unable to fall asleep. After just a few months, the insomnia completely disappeared. I now fall asleep in between 10-20 seconds most of the time; maybe it'll take up to 5 minutes on rare occasions. As you mediate more and more, your body will respond more and will re-learn how to relax. And one day, you may realize you've stepped into a whole new world.

Here are a couple of other methods of meditation that you might try. I prefer the HUNG-SAW method because it helps me focus my mind more than others I've tried.

You could also try the "Thing of Beauty Meditation" instead of the "HUNG SAW" meditation. What you do is think of some object you consider beautiful. Concentrate on it. Study it. Turn it around in your mind. Look at all aspects of it. Your goal is to keep your focus only on the object.

There's another method which involves counting from 1 to 4 in time with your breathing. Again, you want to have no thoughts other than what you’re focusing on.

Transcendental meditation (TM) is another choice. One advantage of TM is that there is whole system of support, including teachers and people to meditate with. There is a fee for the teaching.

The purpose of all meditation is to relax you. It also helps you to concentrate and to focus your mind, which are critical if you're going to relax.

The benefits of meditation include less need for sleep; calmer feeling all day; greater ability to concentrate on the present without day-dreaming; makes you more observant; makes your body work better by enabling it to relax; if you're especially tired, you can meditate and get the equivalent of a few hours' sleep (meditation does not replace sleep, it just decreases the amount of sleep you need.); greater happiness, sometimes to the point that you feel you've reached heaven on earth. To me, it seems that life really is fair after all, because each of us has within him- or herself the capability to feel wonderful virtually all the time. We just have to learn how to let it ourselves feel it.

The Buddhists think life is suffering and they see meditation as a way to divorce themselves from that suffering. I believe life is awesome and that our bodies are naturally able to deal with emotions, tragedies, and bad things very well. By really relaxing the muscles in our bodies, we can discover a joy of living that's almost too good to be true.

Beware. The effect of relaxing achieved by these methods may not be dramatic at first. You may not even notice it for weeks or months. If you keep it up, subtle things will happen: you'll need less sleep and won't feel as tired while sleeping less; you won't get angry as easily; people will like you more (this may take years before you actually notice other people's changed reactions to you); you'll be happier. I say these effects are subtle because they may happen slowly, even imperceptibly. In the long run, though, these changes can be dramatic. They'll also help you enjoy being alive more.

Don't quit, and if you do quit, start again.

People that we consider gurus, such as the Buddha, the Dalai Lama, and many others who may not be famous at all, have used meditation to reach “inner peace”. Some of these have said that they would be willing to give up 30 years of their former lives for a single day at their higher level of consciousness. That doesn’t mean you have to become a monk to reach higher states. It does mean that meditation can be of tremendous benefit to you.