Cultivating Stillness

As has been mentioned in other places on this website, it has been estimated that we each have over 60,000 thoughts and images circulate through our minds each day. The emotional content of this procession is often stressful, and has scientifically been proven to impact the quality of life both psychologically and physically.

Several different techniques can alleviate this relentless, obsessive train of thought. These techniques include 1) Journaling 2) Direct Questioning 3) Moving Meditations and 4) Sitting (or Lying) Meditations.

1. Journaling

Journaling is the technique of simply writing down our thoughts and concerns that dominate our everyday thinking, and reflecting on their content. It tends to force us to face negative emotions in our lives, and dissipate the energetic weight of those feelings. It is a private activity, and some health professionals advocate that the paper on which you write actually be burned afterward to eliminate the concern that very personal reflections could be read by others. Regardless of whether you share your writings, or keep them completely private, this technique helps us digest and cycle our emotions, just as we digest and cycle our food. Incredibly, research studies on journaling have resulted in significant improvements in the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and asthma sufferers. These findings are just another in a long list that ties stress to physical disease.

2. Direct Questioning

Direct questioning utilizes specific questions for self-investigation. In this technique, certain universal questions that pertain to all of us can be asked of ourselves. These questions have been found to access our deepest feelings and cycle through them as journaling does. This method can also utilize pencil and paper, or it can be a mental reflection on the questions, while deeply facing, experiencing, and dissolving the emotions that emerge. A list of these questions is given on both the Root of Disease and Root of Obesity pages on this website.

3. Moving Meditations

Three moving meditation techniques commonly practiced include Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong (pronounce chee gung). All three involve slow movements, coordinated with the breath. Each brings us into the present moment and gives us relief from the thought-stream that dominates everyday thinking. Scientists have found that when these disciplines are practiced, certain harmful biochemicals that travel throughout the body are decreased, and other positive biochemicals are increased. Calming brainwave patterns associated with relaxing states of mind have also been found to be promoted.

4. Sitting (or Lying) Meditations

These meditations are usually performed in either of the body positions identified above. They are divided into two categories: Guided Meditations and Self-Generated Meditations.

Guided Meditations are generally led by a speaker on audio or videotape. The DVD meditations sold on this website fall in this category, and the mechanism by which they work are explained here. The listener is usually taken through relaxing breathing techniques, visualizations, and affirmations, lasting anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. This technique has been scientifically proven to alleviate stress and the symptoms of many major diseases.

Self-Generated Meditations are often preceded by a few hatha yoga postures, or other light stretching and twisting movements of the body to stimulate the nervous system. It is followed by one of three breathing strategies to still the mind and cultivate inner silence. Those breathing strategies are either 1) kinesthetic, 2) auditory, or 3) visual.

Kinesthetic strategies include observation of the sensations of the body. For example, awareness of the rise and fall of the abdomen, or the entering and exiting of air from the nostrils, are two common practices.

Auditory strategies include the mental utterance of a mantra--a word or phrase on which the mind can focus. Any positive word can be used including "peace," "joy," or "love," but certain words have also been practiced through the ages. These include the famous "OM" mantra, or the "So Hum" mantra. "So" is mentally repeated on inhalation and "Hum" is repeated on exhalation.

Visualization strategies are also effective. One of the most well known is "Spinal Breathing" in which the spine is envisioned to be a hollow tube. On inhalation, energy is imagined to be traced from the base of the spine to the top of the head. On exhalation, the reverse path is traced.

Oftentimes, these breathing strategies need only be practiced for a few minutes before the practitioner is transported into the inner space of the still mind. Should excessive mental activity resume, one only needs to return to a few moments of the breathwork. The goal would be to anchor ourselves in silence, making it the "default" state of mind from which we react to all occurrences in the outside world.

All four of the techniques--Journaling, Direct Questioning, Moving Meditations, and Sitting Meditations--alleviate stress and cultivate inner silence. Much as physical activity builds muscular strength and endurance that benefits us well beyond the actual time spent in the gym, these four methods cultivate stillness well beyond the few minutes a day they are actually practiced.

Be Well!!

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