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So you would like to learn or develop your meditation practice.

Meditation is the key to a healthy and balanced life, mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Please be very open with the word ‘spiritual’. The online definitions of ‘spiritual’ include:

• of, or related to spirit or soul (www.wordnik.com)
• not concerned with material or worldly things (www.thefreedictionary.com)
• concerned with religious values (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
• relating to the inner character of a person (Cambridge Dictionary)
• relating to the individual’s search for meaning and purpose in life (www.wikipedia.com)
• relating to the expansive science about how to be blissful (www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org)
• relating to people’s beliefs of a religious nature, rather than the physical parts of life (www.successconsciousness.com)
• relating to a worldview and a way of life (www.liveanddare.com)
  
  

There are many more definitions like this on the Internet; the list could quite easily go on. However, in my own personal quest for self-knowledge and meaning in life since 1999 I would say it is far more simple and less esoteric than what many people make out the spiritual life to be. I noticed how spiritual philosophies split off the worldly life from the inner ‘spiritual’ one and can literally break apart, divide and separate the material from the spiritual. It creates a split within. This is really the first mistake people make and it sets them up for so  many problems in the practice of meditation because we are very physical beings. We are biological. We are part animal/mammal as well as consisting of very subtle energy bodies – mental, emotional, psychological and vibrational. A spiritual awareness simply includes an awareness of more than one level of being. A spiritual person will see the worldly life as imbued with spiritual awareness and being. Each level is integrated with every other level. Every level of being within is integrated with every level in every other being. We are all deeply integrated with every aspect of life and substance. We hurt when we see others hurt and feel regret and loss when our environment is harmed. This integrative awareness is spiritual but sometimes we need to change our terms of reference and maybe the word spiritual or anything that is of or related to spirit is best termed consciousness or awareness or being. It is conscious awareness and integrated being. This is what meditation helps you become more aware of. It is a practice of integrating and developing and expanding your conscious awareness from the physical through the emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual realms of life and living.

Energisation

The body can be very tired and not help in the practice of meditation. Energisation exercises can be useful for this before deeper states of meditation are practiced:

Relaxation

One of the keys to effective meditation is to learn to relax the body and mind. Tension in the muscles are an obstacle to sitting in meditation. Yoga Nidra which is a deep form of relaxation can help with this:

Personality Type

Meditation is also an introverted activity, going within. It is going to be more challenging for the extroverted type. It is also intuitive and many meditators are intuitive types compared to people who are more sensation types. Another personality characteristic is the thinking and feeling type where feelers are more attuned to using their feelings of right or wrong, whether something is good or not. It is not to be confused with emotion. A thinker uses their five senses to make their judgments of whether something is right or wrong, good or bad. Their decisions are made on facts and science. The feeler will be more internally guided to action and decision. This is relevant to the practice of meditation because one needs to develop the introvert skills, feeling skills and intuitive skills to aid the meditation practice. Similarly the feeler, intuitive and introvert needs to develop their thinking, sensation and extroverted skills to become more successful in worldly life. The purpose here is to become more rounded, whole and complete as a person and avoid one-sidedness in character.

The Hemispheres of the Brain

The right hemisphere of the brain is also related to the meditative mind. Society is dominated by left hemispheric attitudes: logic, reason, dissecting, compartmentalising, thinking, extroversion, sensation, feeling, objective, speech and language, science, rationality. It is busy, restless and directed outwards for material satisfaction. The right hemisphere is responsible for creative, introverted, integrative, wholeness, subjective, emotion. This is relevant to the practice of meditation because there are a number of techniques that work towards balancing the hemispheres of the brain in order to create the conscious awareness of integration. Meditation also benefits from the actions and life decisions in the individual. To be more whole and balanced one needs to look at one’s left and right brain function in life. Someone who is more objective, scientific and thinking in their function needs to balance that with the left hemisphere’s emotional functioning. Someone who intellectualised and rationalises everything is one-sided and needs to develop their biological awareness of emotions, needs and instincts that drive human experience and goals. Someone who is very emotionally triggered needs to balance that with rational thinking, analysis and clear understanding, thinking things through. This balanced and holistic approach makes meditation easier in order to find the inner treasures of peace and bliss so one can recharge and connect to the inner depths of consciousness and understanding.

One technique for doing this is the Eye Movement Calmer Exercise:

The Unconscious Mind

© Martin Handy 2022