Steps For Good Zen Meditation Grand Rapids

By Lisa Howard


Most people are lost in the thoughts of the past and those of the future. This has made many forget their purpose in life. It is important to take the time and listen to yourself trying to answer the question on the reason for life and death. Taking a few minutes to sit by yourself and relax in a peaceful environment will help you shed all your fears, plans, and ambitions and find yourself. Below is the guide on Zen meditation Grand Rapids.

To introspect well, there is a posture that you are expected to sit in, to ensure it is effective. It requires one to sit on the ground with legs crossed. To be a little comfortable, you can introduce a pillow but avoid using a chair. Then, have your back straight to reduce chances of you being too comfortable to fall asleep. You can do this for as long as you want though many people will do it for half an hour.

The next thing to do after positioning yourself is being able to relax. The essence of the whole thing is relaxing and if you fail to relax you will not be making any progress. To relax, use your belly to make deep breaths and avoid breathing through your chest. This way you will be consciously breathing. Taking deep breaths for the first few minutes will help you relax. After relaxing, you should then unconsciously breathe.

The place of introspection is also vital. Get a place that is quiet and far from any disturbances. The first minutes of your concentration should start with your eyes closed, and then after you can relax, you can open them halfway for the rest of your session. This prevents you from seeing things that could easily distract you making you lose your concentration.

To protect yourself from things that can easily cause distractions, it is important to have your eyes half open and only looking at one point. If it is in a room, you can concentrate your eyes on a shadow, a candle flame, or the wall. If you are doing the meditation outside, you can keep your eyes on something like a rock on a beach.

The other thing you need is a mantra. This is a thought on which you have to focus your attention. It is usually done rhythmically in a repetitive manner. The mantra can be external or internal. External mantra can be the sound of a raindrop, and internal mantra can be a sound you repeat yourself. When you start making and repeating the sound, your thoughts will return to that sound hence introspection starts. In Zen meditation, the mantra is breathing.

The advantages that come from introspection are many. One is that it enables you to overcome your fears and focus on your primary goals in life. Meditation is also used as a cure for many diseases since it resets your mind not to focus on threats.

Finally, there are those short-term effects of concentration which include stress and anxiety reduction. This gets achieved when one brings her thoughts together such that they can create some power in themselves that can control their thoughts. Having succeeded in controlling your thinking, stress cannot overpower you.




About the Author: