What Is Meditation? Can It Help Me Relax?

Meditation is a discipline that has been practised all over the world for thousands of years

. Many cultures have their own meditation techniques ranging from chanting mantras to more dynamic meditations involving physical exertion before being able to sit in meditation or silence. Some cultures use the breath as a tool for meditation, others use dance that evokes a 'trance like' state, others use whirling, some use gibberish and others use yoga. But what is meditation. What is it that all these practises are striving to achieve?

Meditation is a word that aspires to a state of 'no mind' or transcendence of the self. The traditional belief is that to meditate one has to let go of the body and all of its senses. One has to let go of the mind and the ego and dissolve into the oneness of consciousness. We are all led to believe, especially in the western world, that we are the ego and the mind and the body. We believe this to such an extent that we will fight to the death to protect these things and any material objects we may have acquired along our way.

But what if, as is said in the Vedas and by Buddhists and Krishna devotees to name but a few, this life is a temporary state? one that we will leave behind only to be reborn again into a different incarnation at a later date? If this is true surely there must be a thread that is maintained through out these different incarnations? If there is a thread or commonality surely we must be able to tune into it and be aware of what it is?

If we look at nature and the cyclic manor in which it seems to work, it starts to make sense that we are born, we live a life, we leave our bodies and we are born again. A good comparison is to look at the ocean. The sun shines on the ocean evaporating the surface of the water. This then forms clouds that will produce rain. The rain will fall back to the earth and eventually end up as the ocean again. In effect it has had a 'life cycle'. Why should our existence be any different? We are all born of nature and must abide by the same rules.

What if we are all born out of consciousness, like waves rising from the ocean. We see ourselves as separate to the ocean but one day we will dissolve back into it. We can take this idea even further; what if we are born as expressions of consciousness wanting to know itself. This means everything we do or think is in fact a part of the expansion of consciousness? The universe is expanding all the time, why should consciousness be any different. If we are always a part of this ever expanding consciousness, or if we are never separate from it - we just think we are, surely we can be aware of it, in fact this has to be our birthright?

This is where meditation comes into play. If we can drop the sense of 'self' and of 'I' and all the associations that we attach to our 'identity', who are we? If we really let go of all our beliefs and ideas of what should be and of who we are what will be left? It is a bit like a wave on the ocean letting go of its idea of being a wave. What is left? Just the ocean. This is the true experience of meditation.

So can meditation help with relaxation? Of course. Technology used in the medical world has proved that meditators brain patterns are different to the usual. The reason for this is the mind and the body get to completely relax. Meditation is more restful than sleep. The reason for this is the awareness of consciousness, our true self. What could be more 'at rest' than fully being our conscious self? What could be more recharging than experiencing our true eternal nature?

by: Anadi Taylor

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