stress management has become extremely popular in western society in the recent years however; it has existed for thousands of years and has obviously passed the test of time in various other cultures. Meditation has in fact survived years of political upheaval and socioeconomic transition. If meditation was not beneficial would it still be around and being practiced thousands of years later? Probably not.
The word meditation tends to cause confusion in many people due to it being unknown or regarded as somewhat metaphysical, new age, or associated with a special dogma or religion. Well as just discussed there is nothing new about meditation and I believe that the foundation for meditation in its purity is not confusing or complex. The very essence of meditation is simplicity, but as Ayaja states in his psychotherapy text, “simplicity is often the most complicated thing” (Ajaya, 1983, 126). I genuinely believe this statement to be accurate in especially western society’s way of life.
Life consists of simple principles, however human beings tend to complicate them within their minds rather than living and being from the soul. I know for my life, I choose to keep meditation and living as simple as possible. I think Stephen Levine says it best when he discussed meditation in his book, A Gradual Awakening, “meditation is for many a foreign concept, somehow distant and foreboding, seemingly impossible to participate in. But another word for meditation is simply awareness. Meditation is awareness” leben positiv verändern Now, this explanation is indeed workable and practical to an individual wanting to become involved in meditation.
Within this paper, I will offer a simple explanation of the process of meditation, its psychological, physiological, and spiritual benefits as well as a brief description of my personal experience.
There are several types of meditation, however Levine states that “differences in these techniques are basically due to the primary object which is concentrated on through the process” (Levine, 1989, 8). Thus, I will base this paper on achtsamkeit für anfänger (Vipassanna) which involves directly participating in each moment as it occurs with as much awareness and understanding as possible. In my opinion this is the simplest and most effective form of meditation and actually a very enlightened way to live your daily life.
We live “now” right in this moment and that is what this type of meditation proposes. After all, as Goleman (1972a) states, “the goal of all meditation systems, whatever the ideological orientation or source…is to transform the waking state through the fruits of practice – to die to the life of the ego and be reborn to a new level of experience” (155).
As previously discussed, the focus of this paper will be mindfulness meditation rather than concentration meditation which is what usually comes to mind when the word meditation is mentioned. While concentration meditation focuses on the attention of a single object, mantra, or deity, mindfulness meditation includes a more dynamic inclusive field of observation. It is inclusive of the depth that surrounds us rather than shutting the world out, which is more practical for the average participant in western society https://www.bloombay.eu/. It was also suggested by Kabat-Zinn (1994) that mindfulness may be beneficial to many people in western society who might be unwilling to adopt Buddhist traditions or vocabulary. Thus, mindfulness meditation is considerably more appropriate for our society than discussing the full range of meditation techniques from eastern traditions, due to its simplicity, practicality and perceived detachment from eastern philosophies and religions.
