On meditation
Meditation is a basic skill on the path. You should master it and never stop doing it. Please put all your skill points into it until it is maxed out. Don’t just do it on a cushion, once a day. Do it all the time and every time you recall it. Do it on a bus, in a queue, when you walk to the shop…
What works for me is to practice in bed before I go to sleep. It is either a deep meditation or a tranquil sleep. Either way, it’s a win.
I promise you will never regret it or you get your money back. It is an ability that will improve your life in so many ways that it is fascinating to me there are still people not doing it. It is a basic ability upon which the entirety of the path rests.
Meditation is a practice that has been shown to have many benefits for both the mind and the body. Some of the potential benefits of meditation include:
Reduced stress and anxiety
Improved concentration and focus
Increased feelings of calm and relaxation
Improved immune function
Reduced symptoms of depression
Improved cardiovascular health
Reduced blood pressure
Increased feelings of well-being and happiness
The meditation process on the cushion starts with progressive relaxation, followed by insight meditation. Out of the cushion, you just step into the meditation directly.
Over time, I will list many different forms of meditation here with links (Coming soon™):
Progressive relaxation - a basic exercise that works as a perfect setup for deep meditation with plenty of benefits of its own, start here.
Insight/Vipassana/mindfulness meditation with advanced and mastery levels, make this your next step.
Metta prayer - tune into a frequency of the highest order - love, and kindness
Mantra meditation
Walking meditation
Running meditation
Running Metta meditation
Body scan meditation
Choiceless awareness
You are invited to explore all of them and pick those that suit you the most – if applied correctly they can all help you equally. You may also notice that there is a kind of am overlap in them as all of these are aiming for a similar goal. However, insight is fundamental; in some form, that insight should be applied in all of these.
You may also ask “Well, insight into what exactly?” and the answer is: “Into the fundamental nature of phenomena that are characterized by the so-called 3 characteristics”. (Coming soon™)
ADDENDUM:
Many scientific studies have explored the benefits of meditation. Here are a few examples:
"Meditation and the immune system: A review" by David Shapiro and Roger Walsh: This review article summarizes the scientific evidence for the effects of meditation on the immune system, and discusses the potential benefits of meditation for health and wellbeing. It is available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
"Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis" by Elizabeth Hoge, Catherine Bui, and Hector F. Myers: This study conducted a meta-analysis of the scientific evidence for the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on healthy individuals, and found that MBSR was associated with significant improvements in psychological and physical health. It is available here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3193654/
"Meditation and cardiovascular disease: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association" by Sidney C. Smith Jr., Robert A. Schneider, and David R. Brodie: This scientific statement from the American Heart Association summarizes the scientific evidence for the effects of meditation on cardiovascular health, and discusses the potential benefits of meditation for preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. It is available here: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000461
These are just a few examples of the many scientific studies exploring meditation’s benefits. You can find more studies by searching online for keywords such as "meditation and health," "meditation and stress," and "meditation and disease prevention."