Meditation and Its Goals
Meditation is one of the pathways into the sacred space inside us. It helps us retreat from the external world and step into the inner, where we will find an inexhaustible source of strength and inspiration.
Being one of the limbs of yoga, meditation is meant to ultimately reconnect our true self with God and the spiritual world. By focusing and aligning our minds, we are able to bring it to the space of the heart where God and us reside. Once achieving this yoga, or union with God, the practitioner is overwhelmed by tremendous bliss, which is of divine nature. This form of bliss cannot be experienced on the plane of sense perception and those who have achieved this state are liberated in consciousness. They cannot be shaken even in the midst of the greatest obstacles which life can place before them, like experiencing one’s own death.
Just as each of us has to find our own rhythm in breathing, so we each have to find our own inner guidance in meditation. Meditation is a time to ‘zoom out’ from the external world and ‘zoom in’ into the vast inner space of boundless opportunities.
Just as a turtle withdraws into its shell, we have to put outer concerns aside for some time and focus on the sacred space within us if we hope to enter it.
Meditation and health benefits
Meditation is best practiced in solitude and silence. By taking just a few minutes time daily to sit, breathe and free the mind has an immense benefit for our physical and mental health. Studies have shown that meditation improves physical and emotional responses to stress, it boosts our immune system and provides for clarity of thought and strong determination.
How to practice meditation
If you are not an experienced practitioner, it is very useful to take the help of guided meditation sessions. For this, all you need is to find a peaceful and comfortable place to sit or lie down for a few minutes and relax into the meditational experience.
The ancient yogic traditions teach us that the best time to meditate is early morning, just before sunrise. But if you are not able to meditate at that time, then any time of the day works good. Evening hours have proved to be suitable for meditation, especially for those who wish to wind down their activities of the day.
Either sitting on a chair, in the lotus posture or lying down, the most important thing is that you try to focus your attention and gently bring the mind back to your object of meditation.
Breathing plays the most important part in each meditational experience, as it is the bridge between our external and internal consciousness. Just by becoming mindful of our breathing, we are immediately turning inwardly being connected to the Self.
Last but not least we wish to say that meditation can be practiced on various levels of our consciousness – the levels of body, mind and soul. Whatever your intention to practice meditation is, we recommend that you try to go deeper on the quest for your true Self where eventually you will reach the platform of spiritual consciousness and Unity with God. Once having reached that platform you will experience a total transformation of consciousness by which you will be able to taste divine love and thus become fully invigorated.