There is a popular slogan nowadays: “Meditation is the medication.” What is it about this practice and its application in the modern world that makes it so “medicinal,” and what is the wisdom behind it?
The commonly known practical value of meditation is stress removal. The practice helps us to shift our attention inward, away from the external world, and to quiet the busy mind. A more relaxed framework of life contributes to better physical health, a more loving and less judgmental personality, and improved quality of life.
But meditation goes much deeper than that. It is also a place where we can go to find true healing, deep peace, and a wellspring of our highest potential as human beings. As we turn inward and upward, we become aware of the deeper, subtler, and even unconscious levels of our being. By focusing the mind in specific ways we are able to balance our subtle forces and polarities to a point of stillness. This process also activates a surge of spiritual energy within. This awakens us at a deeper level and also frees us from past constrictive mental conditioning and patterns, which influence the way that we perceive and relate to the world around us. A mind that is free of these impressions can think a new thought, have a higher perspective and greater awareness, so that we can be symbolically “born again.”
Meditation as a path of spiritual unfoldment has a great impact. The radiant calmness of a quiet mind brings internal contentment, fulfillment, and supreme joy. It is also a source of wisdom, creativity, purpose, and life-direction, which help us to ingrate the benefits of practice into our lives and serve the needs of the world in the way that is uniquely ours.
In simple yogic terms, meditation is a way to knowing your Self. According to Yoga, the True Self (or the Higher Self) lies deep within us. It is not bound by the physical body, thoughts, emotions, or energies. It is eternal and unchanging. The path of Self-Realization is the path to ultimate freedom that exists beyond the world of name and form, beyond the forces of nature, beyond the cycle of life and death, and beyond time and space. To touch the real you is to realize the Universal Life Source that lies as a spark of divinity within ourselves, and also within all beings.
In the calmness of meditative mind we realize the interconnectedness of things at the deepest level. We also realize that we have the creative principal within ourselves, and therefore we are able to create greater harmony in our lives as well as in the world.
Try the following mantra meditation to help you attune to an awareness of the Universal Life Source (the real you) within:
OM-Absorption Meditation
- Find a comfortable meditative seated position and bring the spine upright. Close your eyes, relax yourbreath and draw awareness inward, away from the external world.
- Softly chant the mantra OM* (Ooommm-m-m-m). The sound should be gentle, but full and audible.
- Allow for the sound to help your mind become increasingly quiet and to help you go deeper inward.
- Continue to chant the mantra as you enter mentally into the fullness of the sound. Feel yourself centered within that fullness.
- Feel yourself becoming the sound and enjoy a sense of peaceful bliss as you become more and more absorbed into its wholeness.
*The sound OM (AUM mantra) is a primal sound of creation. It is also a symbol of the Universal Life Source, and the highest Wisdom.