Do you meditate?  I have meditated off and on for about forty years.  I always envision meditation as a total calmness of the mind like the still surface of a Maine lake at dawn.  The dark glassy surface of the water is broken only by an occasional ripple, and the very air is suffused with a golden glow.  My meditation, on the other hand is more like a rainstorm hitting a giant mud puddle!  Splat! Splat! Splat!  My mind just cannot seem to be still.  “I need to buy dog food.”  “Did I mail the insurance payment?”  “Where did I put that new tee shirt,” and on and on.

I read somewhere that prayer is when we talk to God, and meditation is when we sit quietly and listen to the reply.  “Be still and know that I am God.”  (Psalm 46: 10).  Deepak Chopra and the late Wayne Dyer, two of my favorite writers, often spoke of being the observer or the watcher of your thoughts and just gently nudging the stray thoughts aside. On those rare moments when you succeed in transcending your own chattering mind, it is indeed a feeling of total peace and oneness with the Universe or the Divine, whatever term you prefer.  I can only liken it to the sensation of peacefully floating in an endless, dark space.

Over the years I have tried any number of meditation methods and techniques, some effective and some not so great.  There was the candle meditation where you sit in the lotus position and stare at a flickering candle.  While it is somewhat hypnotic, I figured I was probably going to singe my hair or burn the house down.  I’ve tried repeating a mantra over and over, but always got bogged down in the words!  I always lost track of the complicated Indian mantras, and the ones I made up myself never quite worked.

Then there was the sound meditation using the ahhhh’s and ohmm’s.  Now that is somewhat satisfying as the sounds echo internally through your head; however, it is hard to do nice resounding ahhhh’s and ohmm’s at home.  Your family thinks you are crazy, and even the dogs are concerned!  “Mom, are you OK?  Here, let me lick your face to make the owie go away.  Maybe I should crawl into your lap?  There, isn’t that better?”  Some people have great success with a rhythmic motion sort of meditation, so I tried the walking meditation.  This is very relaxing with a one-two-three rhythm somewhat like a waltz.  While walking you can do a short mantra.  I liked Peace-Light-Love, nice cadence and movement.  Alas, when you are walking in the woods being tugged along by a 100-pound dog, it can be hazardous, not to mention fallen trees and rocks just waiting to trip you!  I guess the walking meditation is best for people who live next to a golf course or a city park, not for those of us who live in the Colorado mountains.

I’ve tried the breathing sort of practices where you breath in through one nostril (while closing off the other nostril) to a count of four, hold it for a count of four, and then exhale through the other nostril for a count of four and so on.  I always felt as if I were going to suffocate and was never quite coordinated enough to master the opening and closing of each side.  Unfortunately, this method is also not overly effective if you happen to have a stuffy nose either.

So, what do I like and practice today?  I really like the chakra meditations where you focus on the seven chakras.  I may have to do a blog on this sometime in the future; it is too long and complicated to go into in today’s blog!  I also like what is called EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, better known as Tapping.  I find that Tapping works really well if I am not feeling well or am in some sort of intense emotional state, but it is not something I practice on a daily basis.  If you find this intriguing, check out Nick Ortner’s great book, The Tapping Solution   This technique has also been adopted by many psychologists and psychotherapists.  (www.thetappingsolution.com)

My favorite these days is what is called binaural sound meditation, also referred to as brain entrainment.  This involves listening to two different sounds in each ear using stereo headphones.  Although you are not consciously aware of hearing two different beats, your brain recognizes the two levels and moves to deeper brain waves.  While you consciously hear only gentle rain or ocean waves, your brain moves to deeper levels, from alpha waves to theta waves, and ultimately to delta waves.  The nice thing here is that the changes in brain waves can actually be shown and documented via EEG readings.  As you may know, our normal wide awake brain state is beta.  Alpha is that half awake-half asleep dream state,  Theta is associated with REM sleep, and delta is deep sleep.

Unfortunately, I don’t have my own EEG machine at home to measure my own waves, but no matter, the feeling of relaxation and serenity is amazing!  And the changes in the neuro pathways in your brain are permanent, so the benefits continue.  Since I always like to share what works for me, I would encourage you to take a look at Holosync (www.centerpointe.com) for more info.   In almost two years of using Holosync, I have only missed a handful of days doing the meditation, which for me is very unusual, so something must be working!

©The Eclectic Grandma, 2017