As with yoga, there are several approaches to meditation and ways to practice mindfulness. In addition to using practices such as objectification, labeling, yoga, and breathing exercises to relax your thoughts, you can also change the focus of your attention through meditation. This article guides you through concentration and mindfulness meditations that promote clear thinking and compassion.
Concentration
Meditation may be approached in one of two ways: concentration and mindfulness. Clear seeing and compassion are the two elements of mindfulness practice.
When you practice concentration meditation, you focus your awareness on a single point. This could be the sensation of your breath or a repeating word or phrase (mantra). Every time you notice that your mind has wandered off this single point, you refocus it. With regular practice, your ability to concentrate will gradually improve.
Counting Breath Exercise
A simple focus technique is to count your breaths. You would start by counting each exhale from five backward to one.
Sit on the edge of a chair with your back straight and your hands resting on your legs. Close your eyes or look down. Lengthen up through your spine while sitting in such a way that you can extend through it.
Feel your breath. As you exhale, internally give it the label five. Label your next exhale four, and so on, counting down to one. When you get to one, begin again at five.
At some point, you’ll realize your attention has strayed away. Focus on counting your exhales backward from five to one when this occurs. If you lose track of which number you’re on, start again at five instead of continuing where you left off.
After a few rounds, slowly open your eyes.
One of the benefits of this basic breath-counting meditation, or any concentration technique, is that it can aid in the detection of when you’re paying attention where you want it to be—and when you’re not.
Real-life miracles happen when you’re at the “right place” at the “right time” right?
WRONG.
See, the brain can’t distinguish between an imagined event and a real one.
That means IF you can “imagine” a specific miracle in your life… Then your brain carries on as if it’s real.
But only if you can trigger the right source of “energy” in a very specific part of your brain.
This is now possible thanks to a breakthrough guided meditation called “Manifesting Miracle.”
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the practice of observing your thoughts and feelings without judgment. In other words, you watch as each mental activity arises in your mind without trying to fix it, change it, or make it disappear.
Like with concentration, when you practice mindfulness, you choose something to focus on—such as your breath—and place your attention there. This object of focus is often called the anchor or perch from where you begin.
You are conscious of your environment rather than focusing on just one subject and ignoring the rest. As various feelings, ideas, and emotions enter your awareness, you watch and label them, allowing your experience to come and go.
Spider in the Web Exercise
Nothing can divert your attention from the practice of mindfulness. This mindfulness exercise is meant to assist you with achieving a state of concentration and awareness. You start by paying attention to your breath-felt sensation, but then you’ll shift your attention to other things as they come up.
Take a seat with your back straight. Close your eyes or select a location in front of you for your attention. Concentrate on the sensation of your breath where you feel it most: in your belly, rib cage, or nose as the air passes in and out.
Visualize yourself breathing as the center of a spider web encompassing the whole space. If you don’t like spiders, try visualizing an amusing cartoon spider instead.
Your mind will undoubtedly wander to other sensations while focusing on your breath. Once you become aware of this, imagine the new sensation’s location on the web.
Take it all in; immerse yourself in the experience. Then return your thoughts to the heart of the web, where you feel your breath most strongly.
When a fly is trapped near the edge of a web, its attention shifts in the same direction; the spider rushes over to look and then returns to the middle of the web.
You could notice a feeling. If you believe the notion is in your head, shift your attention to your head. Fully acknowledge the notion and then return to the center of the web. Continue to move your attention back and forth for several minutes.
Open your eyes slowly. Notice how opening your eyes feels different than when you concentrate.
Balancing Mindfulness and Concentration
Both concentration and mindfulness need to be practiced simultaneously. It’s critical to master both. If you become overwhelmed in a mindfulness exercise because there are too many things to pay attention to, you can switch to concentration practice.
Worrying is easy to get lost in and be overwhelmed by. Still, it’s important to remember that with practice, you can learn the difference between worrying and simply noticing your mind has begun to worry. You can treat any intrusive thoughts as easily as swatting a fly. With this perspective, it will become easier for you to avoid anxiety altogether.
You may enjoy them without becoming enthralled and then return to your normal state.
Clear Seeing and Compassion
Clear seeing is the act of being aware and understanding what is happening around you, even if it isn’t ideal. In clear seeing, we aren’t trying to change our experience proactively.
You’ll be able to notice an emotion like anxiety when your heart is racing, your back and neck are tight, and you want to flee. Recognizing these things without acting on them would constitute clear seeing. You aren’t doing anything about it; you’re simply acknowledging it.
Compassion can be defined as kindness towards others. A mental attitude allows one to remain open, clear, and unbiased. Nothing could be further from the truth! Gratitude, love, and acceptance are all elements of compassion practice. It’s what keeps you solid enough to see clearly. The equilibrium aids in your ability to be genuinely attentive to your experience without turning into a downward spiral.
It may be too painful to continue practicing mindfulness if you don’t have compassion for yourself. You might start trying to avoid the feelings that come up.
A compassion practice involves developing techniques to become more aware of your surroundings and responding with kindness, much like a parent would show love to their child.
You may learn to accept your anxiety, judgment, or urge to flee—perhaps replying to yourself with “it’s OK” or “this is the human condition.” This may turn into a highly beneficial self-soothing technique that will assist you in stopping the emotional cascade and relaxing your mind.
Compassionate, like accepting that the spider is on the web, can help ease a clear-seeing exercise. To accept something means to be willing to tolerate the situation.
So, for example, if something on your web interferes with you, you may respond with the word yes, simply acknowledging that this event is occurring now.
Some of us frequently resist acceptance because we take the current situation as agreement, approval, or something more than just a desire to endure it. However, practicing acceptance can assist us in dealing with our thoughts and presenting reality more constructively. This is how the Law of Attraction works.
Acceptance Exercise
Shift your body into a posture where you can sit up straight. Close your eyes or find a location before you for your gaze.
Focus on the breath, feeling it expand in your lungs. See yourself at the center of a spider web that spans out around you, connecting to all points in the room. Be aware of yourself breathing calmly at the center of this web.
Your mind will eventually move from the sensation of the breath to something else, such as a sound. Once this happens, direct your attention back to the breath.
Visualize yourself going to the location of the sound, immersing yourself in the sound completely, interacting internally with the word yes, and then returning to your web’s center.
Then, if you look closely, you may notice your thoughts. Visualize traveling to the area of the web where you find ideas and redirect your attention. Acknowledge that you are thinking, respond with the word yes, and then return to the center of your web.
Move your attention away from the center of the web whenever something catches your eye, and then return to the center. Experiences that meet with a “yes” should be given special focus. Once you’ve done this exploring, open your eyes gently.
Real-life miracles happen when you’re at the “right place” at the “right time” right?
WRONG.
See, the brain can’t distinguish between an imagined event and a real one.
That means IF you can “imagine” a specific miracle in your life… Then your brain carries on as if it’s real.
But only if you can trigger the right source of “energy” in a very specific part of your brain.
This is now possible thanks to a breakthrough guided meditation called “Manifesting Miracle.”
