subject: Practicing Meditation To Experience Transformation [print this page] The practice of meditation is learning to be in control of the mind instead of allowing it to control you. To learn to gently quiet the mind is the most important step to experience deep and transformative relaxation and spiritual awakening. Yogi Bhajan said, "Prayer is when you talk to God, meditation is when God talks to you." The practice of silencing the mind allows the quiet space to open within you so you can hear that divine voice inside of you, deeper than all thoughts. This is true meditation.
Every yogic and spiritual tradition has different methods for practicing meditation ranging from finding the simplest of quiet moments in your day to embarking on a disciplined daily meditation practice incorporating mantra, meditation music, andpranayama. In Kundalini Yoga, the most common types are silent meditations, sometimes with a silent internal mantra recitation, and meditations that are practiced by chanting mantras or affirmations out loud, often accompanied by mantra music or meditation music. Any of these can be practiced with specific postures and mudras.
The basic guideline for practicing meditations in many yogic traditions is to try them out for at least 40 days. Yogi Bhajan taught that in 40 days you will break a bad habit, in 90 days you will create a new positive habit, in 120 days you have become the positive habit, and by 1000 days you attain mastery.
Meditations are also often given specific lengths of time related to their intended purpose. The most commonly used times in Kundalini Yoga are either 11 minutes, 31 minutes or 62 minutes.
It is believed that the ideal time to meditate is when the angle between the earth and the sun is at 60 degrees. This happens 2-1/2 before sunrise and sunset every day. In the Kundalini tradition, the 2-1/2 hours before sunrise is known as the Amrit Vela or ambrosial hours and this is the time that the Aquarian Sadhana meditations are practiced. Using the Kundalini Sadhana Music to accompany these meditations creates a very powerful meditation experience.
There are great meditation resources for finding specific meditations for specific purposes. Meditations for Transformation Five Part CD Series contains powerful meditation music with special instructions on the mantras and mudras and their healing effects. If you prefer to just find a peaceful state on your own for meditation, listening to any yoga music or meditation music while sitting in easy pose with the eyes closed is a great first step. This can even be done while practicing any kind of yoga, be it Kundalini yoga, Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Vinyasa, Flow Yoga or Bhakti yoga; some soothing yoga music can be incorporated to attain that higher realm of concentration and mental calm.
Meditation and yoga are both practices towards a spiritual life. There are great tools that can accompany these practices. Spirit Voyage is an online yoga and music company which has dedicated itself to sharing these tools. Spirit Voyage offers a vast collection of spiritual music CDs and DVDs for practicing yoga and meditation.
Kundalini Meditation by Harijiwan Khalsa, A Hundred Blessings by Mirabai Ceiba Mantras for Precarious Times by Deva Premal and Adhara by Nirinjan Kaur are few from this collection which will create the perfect serene atmosphere around.
The extensive music collection offered by Spirit Voyage is enriched by the sacred chants of world famous devotional singersDeva Premal, WAH!, Snatam Kaur and many more whose beautiful voices fill up the air with divine tranquility sending you into an blissful state of meditation. You can also find a great Yoga DVD to help with your meditation including ones from Yogi Bhajanand Gurmukh.
Using these tools, you will find yourself transformed by the powerful and beautiful practice of meditation.
