What does meditation mean to you?
Wikipedia defines meditation as a mental exercise and, as a result, a special mental state that cannot be described and that everyone interprets as they understand it.
Often, people unfamiliar with meditation think that meditation is simply sitting in the lotus position. Or that it is thinking about one object or word. Or repeating one phrase, prayer, or mantra.
In reality, all these actions are not meditation, but a way to concentrate your mind on one thing instead of letting it wander among different objects and thoughts.
And this is still not meditation. It is a form of preparation. And not the most modern one at that, requiring patience, time, and persistence, which in itself is not bad, but not very rational.
I suggest an unusual method of meditation that will help make your life more mindful, happy, and balanced.
What is Meditation
The true goal of meditation is being in your body, in its sensations in the present moment. This is that very state of being here and now that so much is written about.
And being here and now is a state of mindfulness.
The goal of meditation, its essence and process, is the mindful living of your material, bodily life.
It is important not to fixate on some kind of “spiritual development,” not to strive for something you don’t yet understand, but, on the contrary, to live every moment of life in the body, feeling every particle of this body at every moment in time.
After all, this is meditation. This is mindfulness, a spiritual state, being in the “here and now.”
See also 10 principles of a mindful person
If you have just started your spiritual development journey, these principles and life values will help you bring order to your life.
Meditativeness in the Body
If the goal and idea of our life were exclusively some kind of non-material experiences and processes, we would not have bodies.
But we were born with the physical ability to use all our senses to interact with the material world around us.
To touch something, to feel roughness or, on the contrary, smoothness, warmth or cold. To feel a smell, a taste, a touch on the skin, the wind in your hair.
To make something with your own hands, feeling how your fingers gradually adapt, learn to interact with the material, and mold a completely material thing out of it.
To do exercises or stretching, or yoga, and feel how your muscles warm up and stretch.
This is what life in a material body is given for. And this is meditative if you pay attention to these processes, rather than letting your thoughts wander anywhere outside.
See also Yoga for Chakras. Boost your chakras with simple movements
Meditativeness in Everything New
Each of us is familiar with meditative states. Every single one! These are the states when you are doing something new with your hands and body, and all your attention is focused on that process.
The first ball in the goal, the first stretch, the first attempt to sew on a button, the first touch of the sea – these are the most vivid meditative moments in every person’s life.
Everything you do for the first time is meditative. And everything that is meditative carries happiness within it!
And I think that is exactly why people love to buy new things, visit new countries, do something new in life – jump with a parachute or go learn to dance.
They hope to get happiness, not realizing that happiness is meditativeness, happiness is being in the body.
Why aren’t people happy all the time? Is it really only because we don’t have enough new things? Not at all.
A new action gives a person happiness. But it is a short-lived happiness. Only for a brief time, sometimes just for a few seconds, when you are completely immersed in your sensations from interacting with novelty.
But even this little bit of happiness, even these meager few seconds, make your life bearable, and sometimes even good.
So imagine what it could be like if your happiness stopped being so fleeting. If your meditativeness, your mindful connection with the world, stopped being so rare.
See also: What prevents you from enjoying life
And now to practice! I suggest the practice of the new as a method of meditation.
The new helps diversify life, expands consciousness, and, accordingly, raises the level of happiness.
Meditation Method – The Practice of the New to Raise the Happiness Level in Life
When interacting with something new, you automatically immerse your attention in that interaction and in your sensations from it. So the advice is simple – increase the amount of new things in your life!
1. Achievements in Sports
The best thing you can do is a new sport or progress in a familiar sport. It is precisely during sports that a person has the most new bodily sensations to pay attention to.
But it shouldn’t be daily running or a gym with a standard load. There will be nothing new in that.
The best sport is one where you have more opportunities for progress.
If it’s the gym – increase the load, change exercises, do something radically new. If it’s running – run backwards, sideways, in a zigzag, or at least take a different route; change everything you can change about it.
But still, in my opinion, that’s not the kind of sport where there will be a lot of new things (except maybe the weather ;))
I think these are very good choices:
- Martial arts with learning various new techniques,
- Dance with learning different figures,
- Trampoline,
- Gymnastics, stretching, acrobatics, parkour,
- Rollerblading, skateboarding, ice skating, but seriously, with learning new elements, not just riding in a straight line,
- Wakeboarding, surfing, kitesurfing, park snowboarding (on features),
- Yoga, of course, with new poses and attention on the body (I saved the best for last on purpose).
2. Handicrafts
Not mechanical, but when you are doing something new: a new pattern, a new, unfamiliar object, a new material, a new technique, and so on.
- Sewing, knitting, weaving,
- Modeling,
- Constructing from any materials,
- Building a house with your own hands,
- Home repairs! (yes, exactly that),
- Any making of something new with your hands.
3. Theater club, any body-oriented practices
Anything that immerses your attention in your body, in how it moves, what it feels, where it is tense, where it is relaxed — this is a good way to meditate. At such a moment, you are in direct contact with your body, you are in the “here and now.” And that is meditation.
4. Tasting food and drinks
If this is not just “eating deliciously,” but rather thoughtfully feeling first the aesthetics of the presentation, then the taste of the dish or drink. To understand the nuances, try to determine the grape variety or the coffee roast level, to learn how to do this.
See also To eat or not to eat, and if to eat, then what
What and how to eat to maintain high vibrations and not lose grounding.
5. Philharmonic, opera, listening to music
If you know how to immerse yourself in your sensations from listening to music, from the timbre of opera singers’ voices, if the focus of your attention is inside you, you truly know how to enjoy sound, if your attention does not leave your body, you are focused on your sensations – this is exactly what you need.
6. Travel, trips to the countryside
In reality, visual interaction almost always takes your attention away from bodily sensations and onto the objects you are contemplating.
If you can keep your attention on your body while contemplating new landscapes, then this is a wonderful source of happiness. But, if you cannot yet, this source is the least effective for you.
This also includes, with the same limitations (not for everyone), a simple change of route from work to home, a walk through an unfamiliar part of the park.
See also Expanding Consciousness. 4 techniques for every day
7. Visiting museums, theaters, exhibitions
Here there is the same problem as with travel. If your attention leaves your body and goes to what is happening externally, you are not in meditation and are not truly happy.
But if you know how to immerse yourself in your sensations of delight from the beautiful movements of dancers, from the emotions of actors, from contemplating works of art, those emotional, ethical, archetypal images that they convey to you.
If the focus of your attention is inside you, you truly know how to enjoy what you see, then this is your source of meditativeness and happiness.
8. Communicating with pleasant people
Communication can be used as a form of meditation. But this source of meditativeness is not available to a very large number of people, because using it is quite difficult.
Most often, during communication, our attention is focused either on the other person or on our ego (showing off, talking about ourselves).
But there are people who know how to get the right kind of high from interacting with others. This high is not caused by how the interlocutor treats you. It is the high of feeling the universe sitting across from you — infinite, unknown, interesting, and delightful.
The high of sensing its wave inside your own body, but simultaneously understanding that it is separate from you, and you can only interact with it, not merge with it.
I know maybe two people out of a thousand acquaintances who are likely capable of feeling this. If you possess this ability, you are lucky.
In reality, it’s enough that we have plenty of communication that brings us pleasure from spending a pleasant time with a good person or people.
It’s not necessary to extract meditativeness and mindfulness from everything. At least not at first.
Practicing something new is a great way to make your life more fulfilling and happy. Give it a try and see for yourself!