Meditation
Definition and Benefits
What is Meditation?
Meditation is the unceasing flow of one thought about God or the Atman. It is completely shutting out worldly thoughts and thinking only about God. Swami Sivananda often likens it to the continuous flow of oil from one vessel to another. True meditation cannot be taught or sufficiently explained, only experienced, following a long period of practice of concentration.
Meditation, or dhyana in Sanskrit, is the seventh step in ashtanga yoga.
Why Meditate? - Benefits of Meditation
Daily meditation practice brings peace of mind, inner joy and inner peace. By increasingly gaining control over your mind, every session brings you closer and closer to your own Self, the center of your being filled with joy, wisdom and bliss.
Meditation helps you understand how your mind works, and when you understand how your mind works you can begin to make purposeful changes to your life to improve it. Additionally, meditation improves your ability to objectively analyze your emotions, mental states, thought patterns, and responses to events that occur around you.
Regular meditation opens the avenues of intuitive knowledge, makes the mind calm and steady, awakens an ecstatic feeling and brings the Yogic students in contact with the source of the Supreme Purusha (God). If there are doubts, they are all cleared by themselves when you march on the path of Dhyana Yoga steadily. Swami Sivananda
When you meditate regularly your mind becomes clearer and more focused, thereby improving your quality of life and allowing you to perform better and more quickly all tasks you choose to be involved in. Not only can meditation help you reach your goals quicker, but also and more importantly, it can guide you in setting better and wiser goals in life.
There are also numerous benefits for the physical body. Studies have shown that the regular practice of meditation can assist one in lowering blood pressure, decreasing stress, improving memory, and bring in a host of other health benefits.
You will get the full Ananda (Bliss) of the divine glory only when you merge deep into silent meditation. Swami Sivananda
To learn the steps to begin a traditional yoga meditation practice, please see our pages on How to Meditate - Techniques.
