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Types of Meditation |
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Insight Meditation: |
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When most people hear the word meditation, they often think of
transcendental meditation or similar practices used to evoke the
relaxation response. In these approaches you focus attention on one
thing, usually the sensation of breath leaving and entering your body
or a mantra (a special sound or phrase you repeat silently to
yourself).
Anything else
that comes into your mind during meditation is seen as a distraction
to be disregarded.
These practices can give rise to very deep states of calmness and
stability of attention.
They are known
as the concentration, or "one-pointed," type of meditation.
In the practice of mindfulness, you begin by utilizing one-pointed
attention to cultivate calmness and stability, but then you move
beyond that by introducing a wider scope to the observing, as well
as an element of inquiry.
When thoughts
or feelings come up in your mind, you don't ignore them or suppress
them, nor do you analyze or judge their content. Rather, you simply
note any thoughts as they occur as best you can and observe them
intentionally but non-judgmentally, moment by moment, as the events
in the field of your awareness.
Paradoxically, this inclusive noting of thoughts that come and go
in your mind can lead you to feel less caught up in them and give
you a deeper perspective on your reaction to everyday stress and
pressures. By observing your thoughts and emotions as if you had
taken a step back from them, you can see much more clearly what
is actually on your mind. You can see your thoughts arise and recede
one after another.
You can note
the content of your thoughts, the feelings associated with them,
and your reactions to them. You might become aware of agendas, attachments,
likes and dislikes, and inaccuracies in your ideas. You can gain
insight into what drives you, how you see the world, which you think
you are insight into your fears and aspirations.
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Mindfulness Meditation: |
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The
key to mindfulness is not so much what you choose to focus on but the
quality of the awareness that you bring to each moment. It is very
important that it be nonjudgmental--more of a silent witnessing, a
dispassionate observing, than a running commentary on your inner
experience.
Observing without
judging, moment by moment, helps you see what is on your mind without
editing or censoring it, without intellectualizing it or getting
lost in your own incessant thinking.
It is this investigative, discerning observation of whatever comes
up in the present moment that is the hallmark of mindfulness and
differentiates it most from other forms of meditation.
The goal of
mindfulness is for you to be more aware, more in touch with life
and with whatever is happening in your own body and mind at the
time it is happening--that is, in the present moment. If you are
experiencing a distressing thought or feeling or actual physical
pain in any moment, you resist the impulse to try to escape the
unpleasantness; instead, you attempt to see it clearly as it is
and accept it because it is already present in this moment.
Acceptance, of course, does not mean passivity or resignation. On
the contrary, by fully accepting what each moment offers, you open
yourself to experiencing life much more completely and make it more
likely that you will be able to respond effectively to any situation
that presents itself.
One way to envision
how mindfulness works is to think of the mind as the surface of
a lake or ocean. There are always waves, sometimes big, sometimes
small. Many people think the goal of meditation is to stop the waves
so that the water will be flat, peaceful, and tranquil--but that
is not so.
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Meditation in Pyramids: |
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The
meditation in pyramids is to visualize each wall of the pyramid
falling forward and opening that side of the pyramid, either opening
or closing with the north. Then one exists outside in an indigo-blue
starry sky.
The way is
then open to follow the "river in the sky" to the 3 stars,
to the old homeland in the Orion Nebula. That’s what the Egyptians
did.
The only metal in the pyramid should be gold.
We believe that
the easiest way to be sure to overpower any unwanted vibration in
the pyramid (from construction materials or metal in your pocket)
is to hang a gold necklace in the pyramid.
The vibration
of gold is especially tuned to the pyramid through the heart. Any
gold is OK, since we are vibratory and a single atom of gold has
the same vibration. Any carat, any color, even gold-filled or gold
plate will work. It develops the mind, and by developing the mind,
also develops the spirit. |
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