 Awakening With Mindfulness Meditation
Cars whizzing by, people yelling, doors opening and closing, sirens screaming, rushed footsteps and the incessant ringing of cell phones; the sounds of the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Turning your attention from these outside distractions, you slowly regain control. Your heart rate steadies as a familiar sensation starts to wash over you from the inside out; a sense of well-being and peace starts to replace the frustration and sense of urgency of the world around you. You once again become mindful of your own state of being, allowing yourself to find a state of inner peace amid a chaotic world. You are not only aware of everything around you, but also everything within you. You can feel each muscle tensing and relaxing as you draw in and release each breath; you feel your blood circulating, surrounding your vital tissue with life-sustaining oxygen. It takes but a few moments to regain control, to find your center, to enter a state of mindfulness meditation.
Many people believe that meditation's goal is to block out a person's surroundings in an effort to close off the mind. While meditation does achieve this effect, its practice is not limited to this. Mindfulness meditation, what many consider true meditation, is the act of putting the world into proper perspective. It is about searching inward for greater understanding of things in the outside world.
Mindfulness meditation is not the act of cutting off the outside world; rather it is about finding control, about finding and understanding your place in the present moment. With some practice, mindfulness meditation can be achieved by anyone. There are many different things that you can do to achieve this peaceful state of being.
To achieve a state of mindfulness meditation, one must practice regularly. One of the most common mistakes a person can make is trying to meditate for long periods of time, in an effort to train their mind. This is actually extremely counterproductive. When meditating for long periods of time, many people find themselves focusing on the concept of meditation as their minds tire, rather than allowing themselves to actually meditate. Instead, one should meditate for short periods of time throughout the day; approximately 10 to 15 minutes at a time. When you meditate for shorter stretches of time, you train your mind to relax and become more aware of itself, and the world around you is put into proper perspective. When you reach this point, you have successfully achieved a state of mindfulness meditation.
Environment and posture are also key factors in mindfulness meditation. One's posture should be relaxed, but controlled, with eyes gazing down to avoid focusing on outside distractions. While training yourself in mindfulness meditation, one should seek a place of little distraction.
When thoughts come to you during mindfulness meditation training, one should see that as an inevitability and quickly dismiss the thought. No matter how important the thought may be, you must focus on training your mind. Learn to let that thought go; bring yourself back to your present breath, the current moment, and the only thing that matters.
Mindfulness meditation is an effort to train your mind to be self-aware and to find your true self. With practice, anyone can achieve this desirable state of being. One only needs to be diligent and focused on the task at hand. Achieving mindfulness meditation does not have a set timeline or structure; as each person's life is different, so will be their path of enlightenment. One such path is that of mindfulness meditation.
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