Misconceptions About Meditation

 

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Misconceptions About Meditation

People have many different ideas about what meditation actually is. The meditator needs to understand the nature of the mind, rather than keep fighting it. Most of us for most of the time are dominated and run by our thoughts or feelings. As a consequence, we tend to think that we are those thoughts and feelings. Meditation is the state of simply being, just pure experiencing, with no interference from the body or the mind. It's a natural state but one which we have forgotten how to access.

There are several meditative techniques which help to create an inner ambience that helps one disconnect from the body-mind and thus simply be. Methods of meditation are only needed until one attains a state of meditation – of relaxed awareness, of consciousness, of becoming centred – has become so intrinsic to one as, say, breathing.

There are several misconceptions about meditation. People think that meditation is only for those who are spiritual seekers. Not so – the benefits of meditation are manifold. The main one is the ability to relax and to be aware without any effort.

Meditation is a practice to gain ‘peace of mind’. This is a contradiction in terms because the mind is a chronic commentator. Meditation helps you in creating a distance between yourself and the commentary, so that the mind, with its constant chatter, no longer intrudes on your inherent state of silence.

Meditation is a mental discipline to control or ‘tame’ the mind, to become more mindful. It is neither a mental effort nor an attempt at controlling the mind. Effort and control involve tension, whereas meditation is all about relaxation, letting go of tension. One only needs to understand how the mind works, one doesn’t need to tame the mind to become more mindful, but to grow more in consciousness.

Meditation is not about focusing, concentrating or contemplating because focusing, concentrating is narrowing of awareness. One concentrates on an object or thing to the exclusion of everything else. By contrast, meditation is all-inclusive, it is an expansion of your consciousness. The meditator becomes simply aware, but not of anything in particular – his awareness becomes all-encompassing.

Meditation is a new kind of experience. Not really – if you have been a sportsperson, you will be definitely aware of what athletes call ‘the zone’. It is that space where you can do nothing wrong, you are at the peak of your performance as things just start happening. This happens with singers, musicians, painters too as their creativity when in the zone surpasses whatever they have created earlier. Meditation is a natural state and one that you have almost certainly tasted, although perhaps without knowing the flavour.