How to meditate: A step-by-step guide to the art and science of meditation - Softcover

John Jyotish Novak

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9780916124557: How to meditate: A step-by-step guide to the art and science of meditation

Softcover

ISBN 10: 091612455X ISBN 13: 9780916124557

Publisher: Crystal Clarity,U.S., 1989

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This bestselling book presents a thorough, concise, step-by-step guide to the art andscience of meditation. Complete with photos and illustrations, How to Meditate is an aid tocalmness, increased vitality, clarity of mind, and ultimately, inner communion with God. Youlllearn about techniques for relaxing body and mind how to develop devotion and intuitionsecrets of the spinal centers chakras energy exercises and yoga philosophy from PatanjalisEightfold Path.John Jyotish Novak has been teaching meditation to students worldwide for 30 years, and iscurrently Spiritual Director of Ananda Sangha, the largest network of spiritual communities inthe world. Author of the popular 30 Day Essentials series, see pages 5 and 9.

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About the Author:

Jyotish (John) Novak has studied, practiced and taught meditation for over 30 years. He came onto the spiritual path when he met Swami Kriyananda in 1966. Jyotish was a founding member of Ananda Village in Nevada City, California in 1968. Ananda Village is dedicated to spreading the spirit of friendship, service and community throughout the world.

For its first ten years Jyotish served as General Manager of Ananda Village. He and his wife Devi started the first city ashram for Ananda in San Francisco in 1979. In 1984 Jyotish expanded Ananda's outreach and helped start the work in Europe. Jyotish currently serves as the Spiritual Director of Ananda worldwide

Today, over 800 people reside in six Ananda communities throughout the world. (Seattle, Palo Alto, Portland, Sacramento and Assisi, Italy). The European retreat and community located in Assisi, Italy, also serves Ananda meditation groups in Europe, Croatia, and Russia. Both the Nevada City and Assisi communities have world-renowned guest retreat facilities where thousands of visitors annually visit for renewal or instruction in many aspects of meditation, yoga, and the spiritual life.

He is the author of the best-selling book How to Meditate, 30 Day Essentials for Career, and 30 Day Essentials for Marriage. He also is the creator of Meditation Therapy TM and has three videos: Meditation Therapy for Stress & Change, Meditation Therapy for Relationships, and Meditation Therapy for Health & Healing. Jyotish, who holds a BA in psychology, has taught and lectured throughout the world.

Getting Started Meditation is a simple process which can be done any time and anywhere you can interiorize your mind. It is not based on dogma, faith, or ritual but is concerned, like science, with experimentation and experience. Just as science seeks to uncover the secrets of nature, meditation seeks to discover truths about the nature of consciousness. It's tools, rather than microscopes and oscilloscopes, are concentration and intitution. While nothing is needed for meditation except a willing and inquiring mind, there are a number of things that can be done to make the search easier. The following are helpful aids.

Set Aside a Special Area for Meditation It is very helpful to have an area that is used only for meditation. It will help reinforce a meditative mood and, over time, will become filled with meditation "vibrations." A small room or closet is ideal as long as it can be well ventilated. If you don't have enough space for a whole room, then set aside a small area in your bedroom or some other room that can be kept just for meditation. Your area can be kept very simple - all you really need is a small cushion or a chair to sit on.

You may also want to set up a small alter with a picture or pictures of those great souls who particularly inspire you. Many people also like to have a small candle for evening meditations and perhaps an incense burner. Your alter can be elaborate or simple according to your own tastes. A pure heart is, in any case, the true alter.

Cooperate with Natural Forces There are certain natural forces which can either help or oppose your efforts. Magnetic forces in the earth tend to pull one's energy down. Certain natural fibers serve as insulation against these forces just as a rubber coating insulates an electrical wire. Traditionally, yogis sat on a tiger skin or deer skin, but it works nearly as well to cover your meditation seat with a woolen blanket, a silk cloth, or both.

Especially good times to meditate are dawn, dusk, noon, and midnight. At these times, the gravitational pull of the sun works in harmony with the natural polarity of the body. It is somewhat easier to meditate at night or early in the morning while others are asleep. Thoughts have power, and the restless thoughts of people around you will have a subtle tendency to make your meditations more restless.

Develop Good Habits Good habits will be the major force in determining whether or not you benefit from the science of meditation. A bold statement, perhaps, but a true one. Good intentions and bursts of enthusiastic devotion will dissipate unless they become translated into daily habits.

The first thing you need to do is settle on when it is convenient to do your meditations. In choosing a time for meditation, regularity is the most important factor, so set a time when you can be consistent. Meditate every day. Even if you meditate only five or ten minutes at a time, at least start! Better yet, try to meditate fifteen minutes to twenty minutes twice a day in the beginning and then increase the time gradually; but don't go beyond your capacity to enjoy each meditation. Depth of meditation is more important than the length of time spent. As you progress you will find that you naturally want to meditate longer. The more you meditate, the more you will want to meditate! Once you have chosen a time for you meditations, stick with it until a strong habit has time to form.

For most people, the best times are just after rising in the morning and just before bed at night. These times are the least likely to have scheduling conflicts, and it is easiest to re-program the subconscious mind, where habits are rooted, just after or before sleep. Many people also like to meditate before lunch or after work, before eating dinner. Wait at least a half hour after eating - up to three hours after a heavy meal - - so that there will not be competition for energy between digestion and meditation.

A very helpful means of increasing the length and depth of your meditations is to have at least one long meditation each week. Your long meditation should be about three times as long as your normal ones. If you are normally meditating for twenty minutes at a sitting, try, once a week, to meditate for an hour. Not only will you find that you can go deeper in the long meditation, but your usual twenty minutes will soon begin to seem short.

Group meditation is also very helpful. If possible, try to find a group of people who meditate regularly. The encouragement of others who have been meditating longer than you is a very powerful spiritual force. In the Indian scriptures it says that satsang (the company of other truth seekers) is the most important aid on the spiritual path after the grace of the guru.

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