Is There One Best Way To Meditate?
Legacy signals
Legacy popularity: 1,221 legacy views
There are countless ways to meditate, more than two hundred in India alone. Among these, one is based on science not tradition. It uses feedback – visual proof of attention to assure success. Here’s what you need to know.
Attention: The Key To Success
At first glance we see differences. There’s sitting and walking meditation, vocal and silent, eyes open, eyes closed. Methods vary, yet all work in the same way: attention brings success.
All forms of meditation focus attention (on mantras, movements, breaths, etc.). One, and only one method anchors attention, making success a sure thing. Here’s how feedback works.
How Feedback Creates A Sure Thing
First, what is feedback? Feedback is information – knowledge of results. Psychological research has proven it necessary for learning. This means that to improve at any skill, you need to see what you are doing.
Meditation’s skill is attention, but when it comes to attending, we simply can’t see what we are doing. We set out to attend (to our breath, a mantra, etc.), but soon find ourselves lost in daydreams.
Meditation’s problem is that we lose attention without knowing we are losing it. It slips away unseen. Standard methods offer no way to monitor attention. Like throwing darts blindfolded, if you can’t see your target you can’t improve your aim. Lack of feedback keeps us from meditation’s great rewards. The new method holds the solution.
See The Light: A Better Way To Meditate
Meditation needs feedback: visible proof of attention. The good news is: it’s surprisingly easy to find. Sensations of light have been noted in meditation since the ancient practice began. This light is feedback – proof of attention.
To see light you need only gaze at a spot and focus attention. Visual distortion (usually light) soon appears. The distortion is caused by attention itself when attention holds the eyes still. A fixed image uses up photo pigment, causing sensations of light. These are feedback signals. They mean you’re on target. Here’s the how to.
How To Anchor Attention With Feedback
Start with a target for attention. A two inch round of paper with a pea sized bull’s eye will do, but feedback comes faster with specially designed Focusing Discs freely available at the Straight Line Meditation site. Focusing Discs use colors to produce visual “intensity” effects - distortions that put on quite a show.
Focus with a gentle gaze on the bull’s eye. Feedback will appear. When it does, shift attention to the light. Attend to feedback and you’ll attend to attention itself. Hold on to feedback and you anchor attention. This creates straight line meditation – a direct route to your goal. Now consider the advantages of feedback.
Advantages Of Feedback
Compare the new to traditional methods and advantages are obvious.
* No Nebulous Instructionsr
Traditional meditation instruction is nebulous. (It’s even said there’s no right or wrong way to do it.) Feedback method instruction is explicit. The right way is clear. No guesswork is involved.
* No Wasted Practice Timer
Unavoidable waste of practice time (time spent wandering) goes with traditional methods. You might daydream throughout a session. With feedback however, you can mind your mind. You can make every second pay off.
* Easy To Hold Attentionr
Holding attention without feedback is all but impossible since you can’t see what you are doing. With the new method, visual signals give continuous guidance.
* You Cover Ground Fasterr
Eliminate wandering and you cover ground fast. Feedback guides you straight to your goal.
* Fast Practice Skill Developmentr
Practice skill builds automatically with the feedback necessary for learning. Just doing it, your power of concentration grows.
* Energized Relaxationr
Feedback keeps you focused and on your toes. Sharp, clear, undivided attention leaves you relaxed and energized, not collapsed as often follows traditional practice.
* Higher Goals In Reachr
With the feedback method, rest and relaxation are just the beginning. You can aim higher, fulfilling more of meditation’s promise.
* Guaranteed Successr
Feedback is proof of attention, guaranteeing success. That makes this the one best way to meditate.
The One Best Way To Meditate
Spiritual traditions offer stores of wisdom. Masters in these traditions serve as living examples of enlightenment. When it comes to practice technique however, consistent success demands feedback. If you have a traditional practice, use feedback periodically to confirm attention. Check to be sure you’re on target.
Beginner or advanced success demands attention. Among hundreds of methods, only one guarantees it. Use feedback to see the light in more ways than one.
Article author
About the Author
Meditation teacher and author of STRAIGHT LINE MEDITATION, Carol E. McMahon, Ph.D. (and contributor: Master Deac Cataldo), cordially invite you to experience instant meditation success at: http://www.StraightLineMeditation.com/FocusingDiscs.aspx, and sample enlightenment self-tests at http://www.TheBestWayToMeditate.com.
Further reading
Further Reading
Article
Lost In Translation
We joined a liberal Christian Church years ago and I have been participating in a Bible study group for the past three years there. I guess it was my curiosity that first drew me to the Bible a very long time ago. I did not attend church as a child . My mother described herself as a ...
Related piece
Article
Excerpt: Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness
Why Even Bother? The Importance of Motivation If, from the meditative perspective, everything you are seeking is already here, even if it is difficult to wrap your thinking mind around that concept, if there really is no need to acquire anything or attain anything or improve yourself, if you ...Why Even Bother? The
Related piece
Article
Book Review: Wherever You Go, There You Are
Amazon.com Review In his follow-up to Full Catastrophe Living--a book in which he presented basic meditation techniques as a way of reducing stress and healing from illness--here Jon Kabat-Zinn goes much more deeply into the practice of meditation for its own sake. To Kabat-Zinn, meditation is ... Amazon.com Review In
Related piece
Article
Guidance on Meditation
Meditation has been an focal bit of various societies for centuries, the value of its practice being renowned as of great consequence on spiritual, emotional and tangible levels. The practice of meditation has been widely renowned to be helpful to dropping stress levels, elevating healthiness on a corporeal state of being and to sanction the folks practising with a improved amount of spiritual fulfilment. With regard to comments which have been made in conjunction with improved bodily health improvement much of which can be also ascribed to greater emotional health and stress reduction.
Related piece