Introduction
To complement the broadcast and online streaming of My Reincarnation, a documentary about an exiled Tibetan Buddhist master and his Western-born son, we are collaborating with meditation instructor Salil Wilson to bring you a short, weekly meditation program with easy tips and exercises to incorporate meditation into your everyday life.
Click on the links above to access exercises and posts from each week.
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, a global Torch-Relay -- promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Dos and Don'ts
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Some Simple "Dos and Don'ts" for Getting Started
Stressed out? Anxious? Meditation can help you relax and focus, improving your overall state of mind and helping you deal with the daily grind. This simple weekly program by POV and meditation instructor Salil Wilson will help you learn how to get started and give you some easy ways to incorporate meditation into your everyday life. Each week we will tackle a different topic, so what's more fitting for our first week than to lay out some basic tips and give you a 10 minute meditation exercise that's easy to complete each day.
1. When -- The best time to meditate is first thing in the morning, just after you get up. Make sure you set your alarm to get you up 15 minutes earlier than usual. Another excellent time to practice meditation is right before bed. You will find it easier to go to sleep and you will have deeper more fulfilling rest.
2. Duration -- To start with 10 minutes is more than enough.
3. Where -- Find a spot in your living space that you can set aside for meditation. Make it really nice with inspiring photos of nature or a spiritual figure you identify with, find some fresh flowers and perhaps burn some incense or essential oils. It is best if this space is used only for meditation - that way it will serve as an outer reminder for your new found inner discipline.
4. Music -- The right kind of music can be really helpful in creating an atmosphere conducive to meditation. Try some different types and artists to find what you like. My favorite is "Flute Music for Meditation" by Sri Chinmoy.
5. Posture -- Make sure you are sitting in such a way that ensure your spine is erect and comfortable. Don't try to meditate lying down - you'll just fall asleep.
6. Don't get discouraged -- Meditation is very simple but is not always easy. Learning how to quiet your mind is a life long process so don't expect results overnight. Regular, punctual and sincere practice will definitely produce profound benefits to you life.
Exercise
The easiest and most effective method to begin meditation is to focus you attention on your breath. Try this exercise below for 10 minutes.
1. Make your breath very slow, deep and relaxed. Your breathing is intrinsically connected to your thoughts and your emotions so by calming your breath you inherently calm your thoughts and emotions.
2. Start by consciously relaxing your entire body. Using the rhythm of your breath to release the tension around your eyes and face, soften the muscles in neck and shoulders, relax your chest and back. Feel your spine lengthening. Using your breath to relax and soften the remaining muscle groups.
3. Imagine you are breathing in peace and breathing out any worries, anxieties and tensions you may have accumulated during the day.
4. Spend the last 3 minutes trying to become aware of your heart beating while still breathing in peace.
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Stress at Work
Some Tips for Relaxing and De-stressing at Work
We all know work can be a place where we experience stress, tension and anxiety -- it is also important to recognize that we can be most effective, efficient and productive when we are relaxed and operating from a sense of poise. Here are some suggestions that might help you nurture and maintain a sense peace and equanimity throughout the workday.
Set aside 5 minutes to do the following exercise. Find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed. Sit up straight yet relaxed.
1. Breath -- Focus your attention on your breath -- observe how you are breathing. Is it shallow, short and somewhat tense? Make a conscious effort to slow down and deepen your breathing.
2. Relax -- Consciously relax the muscles in your face, particularly around your eyes and ears. Soften and relax your neck and shoulders. Try doing some gentle neck rolls and shoulder shrugs. (Ask any yoga teacher -- we keep a lot of stress in our face, neck and shoulders).
3. Concentrate -- Count as you breath in and out. Work on slowing down your breathing. Make an effort to use your entire lungs for each breath. Feel the cleansing effect of these deep, slow breathes.
4. Imagine -- Try to feel you are breathing in a solid feeling of peace.
5. Mantra -- Either in silence or out loud repeat the word "peace" for the duration of each outward breath.
Observe how you feel before and after this exercise. We all have abundant peace inside our hearts that we can access at any time. Unfortunately for much of our lives we forget this most valuable resource and we spend day upon day becoming more stressed out, less efficient, less productive and a lot less pleasant to be around.
A few minutes meditation can help us enormously. We become centered, have greater clarity and are able to make better decisions. I once saw a video of myself presenting at a meditation class both before and after a meditation exercise. I was shocked at the difference -- how much more effective, clear, concise and focused I was after leading a meditation exercise. Up to that point I thought of myself as fairly constant with minor variations -- that video showed me something very different.
Finally, this five minute exercise will serve as a "Top-Up" to help get you through the day operating at your serene optimum but is by no means a replacement for a good solid meditation practice each morning.
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Mantra
Mantra
A very effective way to both focus your mind and regulate your breathing is through the practice of mantra. This time honored tradition has been used as an aid to meditation for ages (literally).
Traditionally mantras are in the Sanskrit language and use words such as Aum (Om) which is sometimes described as the mother of all mantras or Shanti which means peace. There are many, many mantras and if you like the sound or quality of an English word you can use that also - such as peace, joy, light or whatever quality you feel in need of.
Exercise
1. Choose a mantra you wish to repeat
2. Sit up nice and straight with your spine erect yet comfortable
3. Focus your attention on your breath
4. Take a nice long inhalation and as you exhale offer your mantra outloud
5. Make your mantra long and slow
6. Take a nice long inhalation and as your exhale offer your mantra outloud again
7. Repeat this chanting as long as you would like. You can try counting how many times you repeat your mantra - no matter if you lose count just choose a probably number and keep going
8. After you have chanted for a while you could try repeating you mantra in silence
9. After 10 minutes try stopping and enjoy the peace you have create both inwardly and outwardly
10. Also it is a good idea to sit quietly for about 5-10 minutes afte meditation to fully absorb and assimilate what you have received during your meditation
11. Experiment chanting different mantras at different times and observe how they affect you Mantra is a really simple and effective way to focus your attention an to regulate your breathing. You can do it in many different setting and will always produce results
Resources
Try chanting the Tibetan Buddhist Chant Om Mani Padme Hum
Try chanting Aum 108 times with Sri Chinmoy
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Teachers and Communities
The Importance of a Teacher and Spiritual Community
Probably the best way to sustain a regular and productive practice of meditation is to find a suitable teacher and spiritual community. Of course you can "go it alone" but most people find a teacher and spiritual community provides a nurturing and sustainable foundation for a long term spiritual practice. This is by no means a revolutionary idea, rather people have realized the benefits of a teacher and community for millennia - think Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and so on.
The challenge is to find which teacher and community is the right one for you. Spiritual Communities tend to form around spiritual teachers, individuals who, through their own spiritual practice, have developed the capacity to serve aspiring seekers. Again you, and only you, can determine which teacher and community resonates with you.
Here is something reassuring Sri Chinmoy once said about the individual's (seeker) search for a teacher, "There is no seeker on earth who will remain without a teacher if he is desperately in need of one. If his aspiration is intense, if his inner cry is constantly mounting, how can God remain asleep? It is God who has kindled the flame of aspiration in that particular seeker, and it is God who will bring a spiritual master to him or place him at the feet of a spiritual master."
You can start by exploring which teachers and spiritual communities might appeal to you. Most meditation communities have some kind of public functions you can attend and many are free. Try a search for "meditation practice" with the name of your city. You could also try reading various teachers writings to see if you connect with them.
If you are serious about embarking on a long-term and dedicated meditation practice then at some point you will need to commit to a certain type teacher and practice and stick to it. Don't become a "spiritual tourist" floating from one group or teacher to another. Like anything in life if you want to make progress then you have to put in the "hard yards" and make a dedicated long-term effort.
Ultimately only you can direct your life. Spiritual teachers, family and friends can all make suggestions and provide direction but in the end it is your choice, so be mindful and be wise in how you choose to live your spiritual life.
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Building a Practice
Building a Meditation Practice
There is only one way get better at meditation and to receive more benefits from it- and that is regular as well as punctual practice. There are no short cuts.
Here are some tips that will help you build a daily practice into your busy life.
1. Choose a time - first thing in the morning - where you can set aside 15 minutes to be calm and quiet. Be realistic, choose a time when you are actually going to be able to get up and give it your best effort - every day. Yes that does include Sundays
2. Create a beautiful space where you will practice you meditation. Put flowers and candles there. Find inspiring images of nature. Keep some inspiring and spiritual books within easy reach. Set up a sound system where you can play spiritual music. Make it a sanctuary where you will want to spend time. Only use this space for your meditation and reflection
3. Make sure you shower and wear clean, light and loose fitting clothing for your meditation practice
The above will help provide an environment that is conducive to a more fulfilling inner experience.
Exercise:
1. Begin by closing your eyes. Focus your attention on your breath. Observe if it is shallow or deep. Is it fast and superficial
2. Make an effort to slow your breathing down. Work on filling and emptying your entire lungs. Concentrate on filling your lower lungs by expanding your belly then fill your upper lungs by expanding your upper rib cage and back ribs
3. To ensure you fully exhale collapse your upper chest emptying that part of your lungs and then contract your belly by drawing your belly button toward you spine. Imagine these breaths to be cleansing you of built up tension and stress. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for at least 5 minutes
4. Now draw your attention to your muscles and consciously relax all the muscle groups beginning from the tiny muscles in your face and back of your head. In rhythm with each breath choose a muscle group or part of you body to soften and release tension. From your face and head work on down your neck, shoulders, chest and so on, all the way down to your toes
5. Open your eyes just enough to let light in. Rest your eyes on either a candle flame or a flower that you have in front of you. Don't think about anything just allow you attention to be focus on the object in front of you
6. Feel you are breathing in the quality of either the candle flame - light or the flower - beauty. With each breath feel that quality entering into you
7. After 3-4 minutes close your eyes and imagine the candle flame or flower inside your heart. Feel these qualities of light or beauty radiating out into your entire being
8. Finish by chanting 13 times a quality which you would like to increase in your life and share with the world. Here are some suggestions "Peace," "Light," "Beauty," "Love," "Joy."
Good luck and happy meditating.
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.
Final Thoughts
It's Up To You
This is the final blog post for this series and I wanted to thank you for your interest. The previous posts can be found here. Please take the time to go over these posts and make an effort to practice the exercises. It is the actual experience of meditation that will inspire you to continue.
In these posts there are more than enough resources for you to begin and sustain a regular meditation practice. An important thing to recognize is the newness and sense of inner progress and discovery is to be found in your sincere meditation practice and not in new techniques. Some people use only one or two techniques such as breathing or mantra their entire lives - however their experience is ever new because of their sincere and regular practice.
"God has chosen the conditions under which you are living your present life. It is like a play. The stage is set and the curtain has been raised for you to perform your part and advance along the spiritual path. Your present conditions are the best possible ones for your advancement." - Sri Chinmoy
If you wish to continue with your meditation practice then my feeling is the two things that will help to most to sustain and nurture this journey is a regular daily practice and finding a teacher and community you like and connect with.
My experience with a regular practice of meditation has been that it enables me to become more connected with the deeper and richer parts of myself and inherently enables me to make choices that are more fulfilling and rewarding in my life. Meditation enables me to better listen to my heart - and when I listen to my heart I make more illumined choices in my life that eventuates in a more satisfying existence.
Of course it takes effort and there are definitely times when I may not feel inspired or like sitting down to meditate sincerely for 20 minutes - but from experience I know that if I do make the effort the rewards will be far greater than if I do not.
So I bid you well in your continuing inner journey and if you have further questions I can be reached on twitter @salilwilson or you can visit my blog www.joyblog.org.
If you would like to do some further reading there are many highly acclaimed authors for you to choose from - here's partial list some which I have come across: Sri Chinmoy, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Thomas Jefferson (he created a wonderful version of the bible choosing excerpts he loved most). Of course there are many others and this is just a starting point.
Good luck,
Salil
About the Author
Salil Wilson has been practicing meditation for 27 years under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy. Salil also serves as the Executive Director of the World Harmony Run, an global Torch-Relay - promoting the ideals of peace and international understanding.