A  mini  "How To"  on  how  to  meditate . . .  

     

Below is an excerpt from Dolores Cannon’s book, Jesus and the Essenes.  It is an explanation as to how meditation can be taught at a very young age, with emphasis on opening of the mind to what is.  It involves concentrating on something and becoming one with it.  As your attention narrows to one point, you will find that it seems to open to all that is around it.  Shift your focus amd just enjoy what surrounds it, releasing the center, as that is the way spirit contacts us.  As you do this more and more, usually 5-10 minutes morning and evening to start, you will find that it becomes easier and easier.  This process is meant to revitalize you!  If you find yourself not concentrating as well as you would like, try listening to a far away sound.  Just stay with it.  It gets easier every week.  

 

“We just sit and we must be very still and must think about the way we are breathing, and concentrate on it for a while.  And when it is under control, you have learned enough that you don’t have to think about it.  Then you must focus on something.  You take an object and put your point of focus somewhere in the middle of it and become one with it and study it and learn about it.  Then you would release this.  Once that you become one with it and understand this, you would then “unfocus” the focal point so that you are no longer in the center but around.  So that it invokes everything that is around surrounding you.  I cannot explain this very well.  A student is taught to do this when they are nigh three, four years old.” 

 

We say that we talk to God through prayer.  The answers come back to us through meditation.  If you want an answer, ask the question before you start--and then, just let it go! You may get a message, but more often than not, you will have an intuitive thought, which is the answer to your meditation.  For example, I may ask for assistance in finding my car keys. After the meditation, I think... "It's a little cold, I'll get my sweater."  Guess what I find in the pocket?  Pay attention to the little things happening around you.  You may think that a coincidence occurs and you have an answer.  Know that there are no coincidences in life.

 

Another simple practice is to find the spot in the middle of your head where there is nothing. It is there.  Find it and focus on it.  Stay with it regardless of what comes up.  If there is sound around you or you have another thought, it's okay to be aware of it, but center your thought on the "nothing."  Sometimes it helps to find a point of light that you see when your eyes are closed as you do this.  As you remain focused, you will find that at some point that everything around that spot will open up.  My little ones like to call this "the fuzzies."  Stay in the fuzzy space and enjoy the feeling of just being.  Remain there five minutes to start with and gradually increase the time you spend.  I suggest morning and night each day.  The more you do it the easier it becomes.  Soon you will be able to go there just by one thought or a couple of breaths. If this method doesn't seem to work for you, try a guided meditation. Pick up a CD or try a few on YouTube to see if you can realize this state of peace.  

 

Studies have shown that there are many advantages to using this practice.  Meditation has been shown to have many positive benefits.  Some of them include lowering stress levels, improving grades, increasing signaling connections to the brain, better control over processing emotions, improved pain management, assistance in focus, and long-term beneficial effects in the treatment of people diagnosed with anxiety disorders.  It doesn't stop there.  There is also documentation of improved relationships with others and more compassion demonstrated via interaction with the outside world,  enhanced mental and physical health, and anti-aging advantages.  Who doesn't need a break from the multi-tasking expectations from our busy world?

 

Stick with it a little at a time, and try it a few ways.  Maybe it works best for you in nature.  For some people more of a routine is necessary.  Finding a special place to practice every day simplifies it for them.  Others like silence, while some prefer background music.  The point is that we are all individuals in our own right, with unique perspectives.  Opening to the wisdom of the universe and allowing ourselves to leave the "thinking" part of our brain rest, gives us a boost.  Some people expect to be a little tired, as if they have come out of a nap, but instead find themselves supercharged after meditation.  

 

If all of this isn't enough to have you consider implementing a daily practice of meditation, consider the anti-aging effects of practicing mindfulness.  There is research to indicate repair of telomeres which are found in our DNA strands.  At one point this kind of regeneration was thought to be impossible.  A study out of UCLA showed a smaller decline in the brain's cerebral cortex in people that practiced meditation compared to those that didn't.  Skin tends to glow and aging slows in those that practice.  You may find yourself amazed at how much this little practice that has gone on for thousands of years can rejuvinate you!