By Kyle Roderick

Meditation is so hip that currently over 50 million Americans, or 19 percent of the population, engage in some form of it.

Since the Beatles went to India and studied Transcendental Meditation (or TM) in the late 1960s, American interest in meditation has grown exponentially. But there are myriad styles of meditation and many reasons why people swear by its life-enhancing, soul-soothing effects.

“Some people think that meditation involves sitting around feeling blissful, like a latter-day Buddha with a big enlightened smile,” says Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., and author of the best-selling Meditation as Medicine (Atria, 2001). “But it’s not like that at all,” he continues. “Meditation means acknowledging what you are feeling and opening yourself to the truth. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it can also set you free.”

Khalsa, who is based in Tucson, Arizona, has been practicing and teaching Kundalini yoga meditation for almost thirty years. As he puts it, “When we acknowledge our fear, pain, regret, etc., we begin, paradoxically, to free ourselves from its strangling grip.”

While daily meditation helps you release negative emotions, it also fosters compassionate insights into how your mind/body thinks and behaves. Chris Hoskins, who teaches yoga and meditation at the Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, California, explains, “The oldest form of stress management, meditation clears out negative energies so that you see and feel life as it really is: perfectly mysterious, ever-changing, and precious.”

Here is a guide to some of the most popular and compelling forms of meditation (TM, Vipassana Buddhist meditation, mindfulness, walking, and Shakti meditation) with information about how they are practiced.

TM

According to the ancient Hindu philosophy on which TM is based, our true nature is eternal, infinite, and intertwined with everything in the cosmos. It is our birthright to realize this authentic state of being. Toward that end, in TM, one is given a personal mantra, often in Sanskrit, to help focus the mind and realize our true nature.

Practitioners sit with eyes closed and silently repeat the mantra over and over for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day. “The great thing about TM is that it’s based on effortlessness, real effortlessness,” says Martha Soffer, co-director of Surya Spa, an Ayurvedic day spa in Pacific Palisades, California. “Anyone can learn TM and do it – you don’t need any special ability. And it certainly doesn’t matter what religion you are.”

Research indicates that practicing TM reduces frequency of hospitalization as compared to those who do not meditate. Some studies also show that TM is useful in easing insomnia and bronchial asthma, depression, and heart disease.

To find a TM training center in your area, call (888) LEARN-TM or visit www.TM.org

Vipassana Buddhist Meditation and Mindfulness Meditation

Involving mind/body awareness of each moment as it unfolds, Vipassana means “mindfulness of what is or bare attention,” says Nancy Minges, M.A., a Soda Springs, California, yoga and meditation teacher who periodically leads retreats at Spirit Rock – a Vipassana meditation center in Woodacre, California. “Some people refer to this as mindfulness meditation,” Minges explains, “but they are essentially the same practice.”

Vipassana and mindfulness are rooted in the Theravadan Buddhism tradition of Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. As in other Buddhist practices, in Vipassana, one focuses attention on the breath. This develops the mental spaciousness to witness and “hear” one’s internal monologue of thoughts and worries. “By focusing on the breath, you see how ephemeral thoughts are,” says Minges. “You also start to enjoy just feeling and being rather than thinking. It’s easy to learn, and it’s relaxing, empowering, and liberating at the same time.”

“There are many exercises for cultivating mindfulness, and these are called dharanas,” says John Holmstrom, co-director of Surya Spa. “The goal of mindfulness meditation is to become immersed in witness, or cosmic consciousness,” Holmstrom continues, “and the classic ancient technique is to watch the in breath and the out breath, along with observing the moment or space in between breaths so that you become centered in bhairava, or cosmic consciousness.”

Mindfulness of chakras, or the energy centers of the body, is an effective practice for stimulating the body. Chakra-centered meditation is an ancient Indian practice that involves focusing on the seven energy centers of the body and using mantras to activate these energy centers.

An easy and user-friendly way to learn chakra-centered meditation is with The Ribbon Breath Meditation CD and energy guide. The accompanying twenty-page booklet explores each chakra and details mantras, actions, foods, and color frequencies that stimulate each of them.

Walking meditation

All great world religions, such as Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, have traditionally practiced walking meditation. In today’s retreat centers and spas, walking meditation focuses on the breath and involves silent mental and sensual contemplation of the body in time and space. It may also incorporate repetition of mantras, affirmations, or visualizations. You need never walk alone: walking meditation is a calming and bonding way to spend quality time with friends or family.

Phyllis Pilgrim directs specialty programs at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, and leads early morning walking meditation hikes up Mount Kachuuma. “Walking meditation simultaneously relaxes and invigorates mind, body, and spirit,” she says. “It’s excellent for people who are too active to sit still in meditation or for those who want to build up cardiovascular strength and manage their weight.” Pilgrim stresses that this is an easy practice to work into daily life. “You can benefit from ten minutes of walking meditation during your lunch hour – or do it for longer after work to unwind from your day.”

Shakti Meditation

The Indian Tantric and Hindu philosophies hold that Shakti is the Great Mother Goddess, or the source of all life. A feminine, super-nurturing force, Shakti is the source of the movement of prana, or life energy that you live and breathe. “Because most of us live mostly in our thoughts rather than in our bodies, many of us feel like we need nurturing. Shakti meditation is the healing solution to this dilemma,” says Los Angeles-based yoga teacher Mark Whitwell, who teaches Shakti meditation in his recently released DVD series, Your Own Yoga From the Source.

As Whitwell explains, “You can do Shakti meditation while sitting or moving. Focus on your breath. Rest, relax, and absorb the nurturing life force that you feel in your heartbeat, the sunshine, or the air.” When you are with your breath, he continues, “you are with that which is breathing you, and that is Shakti; so you are nurturing yourself by connecting to the source of all life.”

“Vipassana revolves around being mindful of what is and watching the breath, but Shakti meditation is more sensual and heart-centered. While one focuses on inhalation, exhalation, and the spaces in between breaths during Shakti meditation, one’s primary activity is identifying, feeling, and absorbing the nurturing life force that dwells within oneself and everywhere else in the universe.”

Whatever style or styles of meditation you practice, the main point is to practice every day so that you empower your mind/body/spirit. “Give yourself a dedicated, uncompromising time for meditation,” says Whitwell, “just like you take a daily shower, so that there’s no issue around meditation and you do it automatically, and with pleasure.”

May/June 2006

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