It’s awesome that you’re asking! I highly recommend working with a teacher/guide who can support you with specific instruction and follow up. Working with a teacher allows your unique experience to be honored and tends to create the most sustainable results over time. A teacher, such as myself, is often connected to a larger network of teachers and community. In my case, it’s our worldwide community of Vedic Meditation Initiators and practitioners. When you learn Vedic Meditation, you enter our worldwide community. This gives you incredible access to resources, experiences, and support along the way. So while someone could instantly give you something to focus on during meditation, a process of instruction, with a qualified guide, will serve you best. The quality you receive from your experience will be reflected in the quality and care you invested in the learning process itself. If you’re ready to get started with Meditation, please inquire within. If you’re interested in brief descriptions of common objects of attention during Meditation, read on:
The Breath
Among the most common and universally applicable approaches to Meditation: breath awareness. Breathing is the beautiful common denominator of humanity. It is unique in that we have the capacity to manipulate it and it operates with autonomy. Breathing serves as a wonderful object of attention for Meditation. It is both consistent and dynamic. It offers both rhythm and flow. It occurs naturally and spontaneously, in the absence of effort or control. These are the ideal conditions for Meditation. Our practice creates an opportunity to shift from doing to Being. Following the breath, without force or control, invites the mind to shift away from content and into the sensations of breathing itself. When we quiet down enough, we can feel our breathing in our belly, our chest, on the tip of our nose, or perhaps in our throat. You may prefer to locate where, in your body, you are experiencing your breath, and allow your attention to rest there as you breathe. As I mentioned, I recommend utilizing a teacher/guide who can honor your unique experience and set you in the right direction.
The Body
Like your breath, your body is a high-value object of attention for Meditation practice. When we experience our body, it’s a present moment phenomenon; The content is always related to here and now. With the mind, we tend to pendulum between past and future content, often missing the present moment entirely. When we practice body awareness, we are moving away from content (thinking) and into sensations (feeling). This is the practice of getting out of our heads and into deeper layers of our own consciousness. As you practice, it’s as if you can start to feel yourself from the inside out. There are a variety of approaches to body awareness Meditation. Here a few: 1) Scan your body from head to toe, slowly and mindfully 2) Identify sensations that are sending signals of pain/tension/stress/speaking the loudest. Spend some time with each sensation, offering your breath and loving awareness. 3) Integrate breath awareness with body awareness. Pick a location and feel your inner body as you breathe, without force or control.
A Mantra
In Sanskrit, man means mind, and tra means vehicle/instrument. A mantra is a ‘mind vehicle’. A mantra is a common object of attention in Meditation. In the Vedic Tradition, the source of Vedic Meditation, there are thousands upon thousands of mantras, each type with its own unique, intended purpose. For Vedic Meditation, we use a bija mantra. Bija means seed. The name gives away its function. The bija mantra is designed to transport the mind from the surface layers of common, everyday thought, into the depths of consciousness, to the seed level. Namely, from surface to Source. Generally speaking, a mantra may be spoken aloud, chanted, or thought silently. Mantras are used uniquely, across the world’s traditions, according to their particular source and intended function. The universal mantra, Aum, contains all other mantra vibrations within it. If you’re ready to get started with your own practice, inquire within. Namaste!
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