See Also:
- Meditation: Introduction
- Meditation: Setting the Stage
- Meditation: Introduction to Lessons
- Meditation: Quick Meditation
- Meditation: The Candle
- Meditation: Modified Candle For Children
- Meditation: Beads
- Meditation: Direct Seeing
- Approaching Therapy
Remember, the idea is to practice meditation and to try to get better at it. There is no ‘point’ to it, just the fact of doing it. If there is a point to meditation in general, it is to simply learn to let your mind settle. To use an analogy, you must allow the waves on the surface settle if you are to see the stones beneath the surface. Learn to allow the surface to settle – make no waves when there is no wind.
This series of lessons presents some principles of theory and practice underlying the approach to meditation that I teach to my clients. Meditation is likely the most important element of therapy in that it helps to open doors of self-awareness and understanding, and this leads to self-control (i.e. impulse control). With meditation, all other therapeutic activities are accelerated and become more effective.
The lessons:
Meditation 1: The Candle – You will need a quiet room and a lit candle. In this case, the candle serves as a focal point for attention and makes it easy to simply let one’s mind clear.
Meditation 2: Direct Seeing – may be done with a partner or alone using a mirror. In this case, the focal point is the pupil of the eye. Looking directly into another’s eye is challenging at first, and so I generally recommend starting with the candle and breathing meditation, but this is merely a recommendation.
Meditation 3: Bead Meditation – Uses a string of beads to help focus attention to breathing.
These three techniques are appropriate for virtually all ages, and all manner of learning difficulties and medical concerns. Whether you are meditating for yourself or teaching a child to do these techniques, you must take it slowly at first and limit your time to a few minutes to begin with. You should then try to build this time until you can manage up to 20 minutes at a time, at least a few times weekly. Eventually, you will get to a point where you can find the same self-focus while doing pretty well anything, from washing dishes to driving.
I hope you enjoy these activities.
