Meditation: committing to the goal of knowing yourself

Meditation is a means of transforming the mind. Meditation practices are techniques that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and a calm seeing of the true nature of things. By engaging with a particular meditation practice you learn the patterns and habits of your mind, and the practice offers a means to cultivate new, more positive ways of being.

With regular work and patience, these nourishing, focused states of mind can deepen into profoundly peaceful and energized states of mind. Such experiences can have a transformative effect and can lead to a new understanding of life.

There are many things in life that are beyond our control. However, it is possible to take responsibility for our own states of mind — and to change them for the better. This is the most important thing we can do, and some believe that it is the only real antidote to our own personal sorrows, and to the anxieties, fears, hatreds, and general confusions that beset the human condition.

Among the physical benefits of meditation:

• Strengthen Immunity
• Alkaline PH Balance
• Boost Endorphins
• Boost Serotonin
• Better Endocrine System

Meditation is a precise technique for resting the mind and attaining a state of consciousness that is totally different from the normal waking state. It is the means for fathoming all the levels of ourselves and finally experiencing the center of consciousness within.

In meditation, the mind is clear, relaxed, and inwardly focused. When you meditate, you are fully awake and alert, but your mind is not focused on the external world or on the events taking place around you.

The goal of meditation is to go beyond the mind and experience our essential nature — which is described as peace, happiness, and bliss. But as anyone who has tried to meditate knows, the mind itself is the biggest obstacle standing between ourselves and this awareness.

Meditation is a practical means for calming yourself, for letting go of your biases and seeing what is, openly and clearly. It is a way of training the mind so that you are not distracted and caught up in its endless churning. It is a system of commitment, not of commandment. You are committing to yourself, to your path, and to the goal of knowing yourself.

Sources: www.innerpeacemeditation.org and www.eocinstitute.org