1 – Meditation Roots

You do not need to believe in the historical reasons why meditation became such a large part of civilization several thousand years ago, but understanding its origins does help to put it into context and also help you understand how to use it today.

Skipping this section would be like signing up for skydiving lessons, skipping the classroom and going straight to the airplane without learning how to buckle your parachute.

Cautious Hermit

The practice of meditation (focusing the mind) and yoga (focusing the physical body) were used as a tool to enter and engage with the spirit in order to bring understanding and meaning to the question of life itself.

Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? Still good questions today.

Many spiritual leaders spent decades sitting quietly and contemplating these questions. Starving themselves. Punishing themselves. But it wasn’t until Siddhartha, the first recognized and historically recorded Buddha, had the ultimate breakthrough and was able to unlock his mind and realize the true nature of humanity.

There are lots of historical accounts of this 5th century B.C. figure. If you want to research more, Google, “Gautama Buddha”. But simply understand that he found a way to tune the body into a higher state of consciousness that transcended the physical body and the mind. And in so doing, reveal several truths about our existence.

Buddha Teaching under the Bodi Tree

You don’t need to know any more about Hinduism or Buddhism to gain benefit from meditation or yoga. You don’t need to become a Hindu or Buddhist to benefit.

Anybody can benefit. Young, old, rich, poor, tall, short. All the opposites in fact 🙂

Meditation is not prejudiced and works for all.

Meditation Peace Happiness

The diagram below shows my own interpretation and understanding of the meditation process based on my experiences. You can gain benefits from each stage of the process, but I do believe, understanding this whole spectrum really helps. Especially with the first couple of steps.

Most people tend to skip it, or not understand it, and that’s what trips them up and leads to frustration.

Meditation Path – Enlightenment

The diagram is pretty simple and probably self explanatory. But I’ll explain it anyway.

Meditation starts on the left side. The initial steps of meditation begin with physical relaxation. We’ll cover the specifics over the next few pages, but without allowing the body to relax fully, you can’t move on to calming the mind.

Mental relaxation comes next. This is a bit of a fight at first trying to get the mind to calm down. But once you learn not to fight, just observe, the mind naturally calms down and becomes quieter on its own.

Now assuming you did step one and step two correctly, you will dip into your subconscious where you may start to have spiritual experiences, and who knows……..maybe enlightenment.

I can guide you through the first few steps easily. The enlightenment part is up to you.

Guru Hermit

Meditation Boot Camp – Quick Navigation

  1. Meditation Roots – the history of meditation
  2. Why Meditate? – why do we need to meditate
  3. Physical Relaxation – the importance of physical relaxation for meditation
  4. Meditation Environment – how to set up the perfect environment for meditation
  5. Meditation Posture – different meditation postures that work for everyone
  6. Breathe Properly – both energize and relax your body by breathing properly
  7. Breathing Practice – simple breathing exercise before meditating
  8. Subtle Sensations – becoming aware of your body
  9. Stop the Mind – stopping the mind from chattering
  10. Entertain the Monkey – giving the mind a task during meditation
  11. Follow the Breath – focusing on breathing during meditation
  12. Simple Breathing Meditation – putting it all together in meditation
  13. Meditation is a Journey – make meditation a lifelong practice
Rave about the hermit and share the joy
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