Meditation
What is meditation?
Meditation is listening with your whole being. It is a form of non-judgmental attention, of opening up to what is here and now. It has to do with awareness. You can also have a 'meditative moment' while looking at the waves and surf on the beach. All your senses are open, your thinking stands still, you enjoy, you feel one with what you see, you relax. The moment just happens and awakens a deep longing in you. Maslow called it a 'peak experience'.
Meditating, by doing exercises, helps you to achieve more and more structural relaxation, peace and quiet attention. And practice makes perfect; the positive effects will become stronger and last longer. Substantial changes are increasingly observable in the brain.
Meditation can be more (but not necessary)
You feel connected to, rooted in, an all-pervading 'Greater Reality', which you experience within yourself, but which also transcends it. You become receptive to the transcendent Ground (God, the One, Being) of all things and you root more deeply in that Ground, which is also the Ground of our being.
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Openness to this deeper Reality, for example through meditation sometimes gives joyful and enlightening experiences. Sometimes it also brings out dark sides of yourself and feels anything but enlightenment. However, it can have a healing effect if you pay attention to this part of yourself. As a result, an increasingly deeper unity grows between your conscious self and your deeper Self and a transformation of yourself takes place in the direction of truth, unity and love.
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Body posture and breathing are important when meditating and help the mind to achieve relaxation, silence and attention.
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Effects of meditation:
There is a lot of research that has proven the positive effects of meditation. In essence, mediation is the exact opposite of stress, physically and mentally. Meditation reduces pain, work stress, anxiety and depression, promotes cardiovascular health, improves cognitive function, lowers blood pressure, reduces alcohol abuse, improves longevity, promotes healthy weight, reduces tension headaches, relieves asthma, regulates blood sugar levels in diabetic patients, relieves PMS , reduces chronic pain, improves immune function and increases quality of life. There is only one letter difference from medication to meditation.
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You can meditate using a text, an image or in total silence. Just paying attention to the wave movement of breathing can also be sufficient.
Practical tips and links:
The best meditation is the one that suits you best. Often the simplest is the most powerful. Meditating for 20-30 minutes is nice, but even one minute can have clear effects. You can find examples on Youtube or in your app store
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Rozijn- oefening, heel leuke oefening om kennis te maken met Mindfulness (en een keer te doen): [klik hier]
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Loopmeditatie: [klik hier]
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Metta- meditatie (Boeddhistisch; beoefening van Liefdevolle vriendelijkheid naar je zelf en anderen): [klik hier]
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Mindfullness meditatie bij autisme (geschikt voor iedereen): [klik hier]
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Centering prayer (Engels): [klik hier]
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Soefi- traditie: tocht door de woestijn: [klik hier]
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Soefi- traditie: geleide Latifa meditatie: [klik hier]