MEDITATION

MEDITATION

Meditation is a process of quieting your mind, stilling your body and letting go of the distractions of the world. In order to do so, time, practice and patience are essential. Meditation opens you up to a whole universe of change and possibility that will simplify and satisfy you. To begin, you need only to want to learn how and to have a sincere desire to move beyond your mind, into a reality that will uplift and encourage you.

Along the path to a sincere meditation, you will encounter many distractions that provide opportunities for you to strengthen your focus, and may discourage you as well. These distractions come in the form of thoughts, emotions and physical interruptions, creatively disturbing you in the way of itchiness, antsy-ness, aches and pains. At other times, your mind may come up with lists you need to make, conversations you need to have, or groceries you need to buy. In order to really settle down, your body and mind have to learn that your meditation time is valuable. In fact, when taken seriously and practiced diligently, it becomes the most sacred time of your day. Most of our lives are spent looking outside of us for self-reflection and confirmation. The practice of going inside is new and unchartered. When you are listening to a dear friend, watching a great film or listening to a piece of music you enjoy, you are relaxed, still and focused. Meditation uses this muscle of concentration, the only difference is that you don’t have an external focal point in front of you, but rather your focal point is internal.For you, it is much the same except the place you are reaching toward is deep inside of you. And what you are reaching for is deep inner peace. The Buddha said, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

Meditation is tuning into the universal vibration which requires precision and accuracy on behalf of the meditator. When you learn to listen, you become accustomed to the sound and you rest within it. Then you truly can come into union with peace. You become a living and loving being who relates to all of life through a prism that is fueled by joy, connection and love. In fact, you begin to radiate that joy and love to all whom you meet and everything you touch. Your days turn into opportunities to share that experience and you look for ways to contribute to the continuation of this reality for yourself and others. You simply become happy.The 18th century German poet, Goethe said, ‘‘if everyone kept their doorsteps clean then everyone’s doorsteps would be clean.’’ Meditation has the potential to have this effect on the whole planet; if everyone learned to truly meditate and really contain this union and peace inside, the world would be vastly different, radiating joy and peace. There would be a natural connectivity of people to one another and to the earth. A sense of responsibility would naturally emerge within each individual and a fresh new balance would arise. The world would be vastly different and intensely united.

By practicing meditation education could improve immensely. By practicing meditation students could become happier and healthier and ultimately by practicing meditation education would become a far more enjoyable and rewarding experience for our children. What if students were given the ability to deal with stress in a healthy way? What if our children were better focused and could deal with decisions, large and small, with clarity? Could meditation education in schools help prevent tragedies such as school shootings and even bullying? Can meditation help students do better on tests and quizzes in education? There just is no better way to deal with stress than through meditation. Meditation helps us think with a clearer mind and more relaxed body. Through meditation we are able to gain control of our minds, bodies and thought, where we otherwise assumed we could not control them. Children can become naturally healthier and happier students through meditation education instead of the use of prescription medication and the wide variety of mental illnesses our children could be wrongly diagnosed with. Meditation has no negative side effects and can help our students in many ways. Meditation education can provide students with a clearer mind able to work through tests and social problems with ease and consideration. The benefits of meditation can certainly be used in education to relieve stress, anxiety, worries, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, decrease depression, and even a tendency for violence. Many more people are starting to believe that transcendental meditation education should be taught in schools. It helps students think clearer, be less distracted and just generally healthier and happier. In an article in the International Herald Tribune it states, “New research appears to be strengthening the case for teaching transcendental meditation education in United States schools, showing it to be a means to improve the concentration of students and a way to enhance their physical and mental well-being”.

A study on college students showed that those with elevated blood pressure relieved that with just fifteen minutes of transcendental meditation two times per day. There have been many more studies done that show students who practice meditation regularly are overall healthier and happier children than those who do not. Now that these studies are being done with significant findings towards the numerous benefits of meditation in education, groups of teachers, parents, educators, and even physicians are working to bring transcendental meditation education into schools and education for the purpose of relieving students’ anxiety, stress, depression, and violence. If meditation education where brought to schools in the United States it would probably have to be in the form of a health class, such as gym and other health classes. If it were taught in health class then parents would not worry as much as if it where taught during regular classes. As long as parents would understand the benefits of meditation and that it would have no connection to religion in the schools, then it would work. It will take a lot of people and a lot of work to begin meditation education.

Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted on the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program at more than 250 independent universities and research institutions worldwide. For example, in the United States, the National Institutes of Health has awarded over $24 million to research the benefits of the Transcendental Meditation program for improving health, reducing cardiovascular disease, and improving brain functioning. Findings have been published in leading, peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine, The American Journal of Cardiology and the American Heart Association’s Hypertension.  Breath meditation is also an excellent preparation for brainstorming and freewriting -- two techniques that help students deepen their reflections on a text and develop their essay ideas.  The meditation expands the range and depth of mental associations by dissolving blocks and relaxing conventional connections and logical  linkages. Insight meditation will deepen students’ understanding of writers who emphasize the experiential foundation of our relation to reality: e.g., Coleridge, Emerson, Whitman, Hardy, Joyce, Woolf, Lawrence, Lessing.  And because the technique enables students to move beyond dualistic thinking and experience a greater sense of community with each other and with all beings, it is effective when used just before psychological discussions of love and individuation and political discussions of multiculturalism and community.  Greater awareness of interconnection, and of the pervasiveness of suffering on the planet, can motivate students to greater acts of compassion, love, understanding, and healing

                                            Prof. John Kurakar