Meditation
What Is Meditation?
There are various types of meditation.
We are talking about TTM, Transformative Mantra Meditation, a focused attention meditation by chanting the Japanese mantra “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo” to a mandala.
Most meditations relax and calm down the busy and restless mind.
Furthermore, they help you to be focused and to stay in the present moment, being free from negative emotions like anxiety and depression, and to feel positive emotions like joy and bliss.
These first signs of a meditative state of mind are underlying certain physiological changes that can be observed in the brain and the heart. One important criterion for a brain being in meditation is a state known as brain coherence which leads to brain synchronization and increases creativity, success and happiness.
After just ten minutes of mantra meditation, we have already measured a strong increase in coherence between the right and the left brain hemispheres in the theta and delta brainwave range. Coherence in the theta brainwave range also leads to the release of the “happiness” neurotransmitter Dopamine which gives you the right motivation to achieve your goals. Furthermore, brain coherence puts you in a state of emotional stability and reduces anxiety and fearful thoughts. It also contributes to an increase in intuition, focus, memory, learning ability, decision-making, problem-solving ability and peak performance. Everything you need to be happy and successful.
How To Meditate?
In Transformative Mantra Meditation (TMM) we use a specific mandala to anchor our attention, for our minds tend to wander about.
One minute we think about the report we have to finish, the next minute we think about the problem we had with a friend or whether we will get the job we applied for.
We think many thoughts and they all tend to focus either on painful situations we experienced in the past or on some worries about the future. These default brain signals run our life and we often do not know how to stop them.
Deeply focussing on the middle part of the mandala enables your brain to stop these default signals and activate the positive task network. Actively reciting the sound of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo while focusing on the mandala takes you out of this never-ending loop of endless worry and dismay. Now you can focus on what you really want.
It is important to first get into a meditative state while doing TMM. Now you can set an intention on what you really want to achieve.
Do it in a very specific and concrete way and in the present tense like : I am healthy and fit or I want to overcome the pain in my left arm.
You may also set an intention to improve your relationships, your finances or to have a breakthrough in your career. Do not worry about HOW your desires will be realized.
How long should you meditate?
If you want to improve your everyday circumstances and fulfill your deepest desires, then you definitely need a regular, constant practice of reciting TMM (transformative mantra meditation).
You might think that you are very busy and stressed and do not have time to practice. However, since you have access to a realm beyond time and space when you are doing mantra meditation, you actually gain time and you will see that you can accomplish the things you need to do during the day in a much more efficient way. You should be really confident that with a regular practice you can achieve a healthy, happy and successful life.
Try to chant the mantra to the mandala at least twenty minutes in the morning and in the evening. There is no limit as to how long you should meditate. When you have a huge problem in your life you want to overcome, you can recite the mantra for two or three or even more hours every day with the clear goal to overcome this problem.
Important, however, is a constant and regular practice in order to help you overcome your attachment to the past and those parts of you that keep you stuck in your old ways of feeling, thinking and acting.
You will notice a difference right away, but you will notice an even bigger difference in a few months or years.
What is mindful meditation?
The restless mind is constantly in stress. It is constantly active, craving stimulation and distraction. In such a state, you do not see, feel or hear what is actually happening in each moment.
You tend to react to situations like an automation without any conscious awareness at all.
You start to feel stressed. The practice of Transformative mantra meditation contains two elements: to calm the restless mind and to observe the mind in a state of mindful awareness.
Transformative Mantra meditation is conceptually based on a line of tradition in which the aspect of mindfulness also plays an important role in our daily practice.
Therefore it is recommended that you start with a heart-breathing exercise as a preparation for the mantra meditation.
Mindfulness simply means to be fully in the here and now, in the mind, body and spirit. In this way you are free from any distraction, brooding over the past, or wallowing in plans for the future.
You can achieve this quiet presence of mind simply by first getting out of your head and by focusing on your heart. Try to breathe a little slower and deeper than usual. Now imagine that you are breathing in and out through your heart.
During this exercise, all thoughts and emotions can come and go, but you merely note them. That is, you neither push them away nor follow them, so you neither evaluate nor judge, but only simply observe them.