Visualization Meditation

Some may find focusing on the breath and clearing the mind challenging.  An excellent alternative is to use visualization meditation techniques.  This is when a picture is created in the mind and used as the focal point of the meditation.  Since everything we do is processed through the mind as an image, this makes visualization a powerful tool. 

Guided visualizations are a good way to begin training your mind to focus at will.   Find visualization exercises that work for you.  There are CDs and MP3s available that do just that, guiding you through imagining a scene, building on the image and increasing your power of deliberate thought, to bringing you back from the meditation.  Once you become more comfortable, you can then lead yourself through the guided imagery, with the ability to enter and leave the deeply relaxed state as you choose.

As you harness the energy of your imagination, you can progress to visualizing a situation and playing out different solutions while in a meditative state.  Many who do this find it useful to keep a journal in which some time is spent reflecting on the results of your meditation.  Throughout the globe, the value of meditation is being rediscovered as an extremely effective tool.

Persist in all your efforts to find peace and peaceful resolution.  As with any endeavor, your continued efforts will pay off - in this case with copious benefits to your self and those around you.

Image Credit:  David Amoroso,Viajero #4, acrylic

Chanting

Chanting is the rhythmic vocalization of words or sounds, often in one or two tones. A common practice among spiritual traditions, it is found in every human culture. Although the specific practice varies, chant is found throughout Eastern and Western faiths including Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism.  Universally recognized as a way of altering consciousness and raising psychic power or energy, chanting is also used by Native Americans in preparation for ceremonies and other momentous occasions.

To reap the most benefits from chanting, one's mind must be clear and focused. Keeping the mind in the present, chanting helps one develop mindfulness. Chanting is not like singing a tune. When chanting, a mantra is often used.  A mantra is a repeated word or phrase used to aide in concentration in meditation and believed to expand one's awareness and increase their connection with the spiritual or divine.

As you chant a mantra during meditation, the focus of your meditation is to merge with the vibration of the sound you are chanting and become one with that energy. In this way, you connect with everyone in the world who is chanting that same mantra as well as everyone who has ever chanted that same mantra. In this way you merge and connect with them on a spiritual level.

For me, one of the greatest benefits gained through my meditation practice is awareness of the interconnectedness between our mental, emotional and physical levels it brings. As this awareness grows, it leads to an understanding of the more subtle areas of existence.

So try out some chants, keeping in mind that it is virtually impossible to chant incorrectly. The sound is simply a sound, just vibrations in the air. It is the feeling and intention of love behind it that results in the chant bringing peace and joy.

May your meditation and chanting bring you peace and inner joy.