Meditation
By: Derek O’Neal and Courtney Roberts
Familiar
Meditation
Practice and process of paying attention
and focusing your awareness
Natural
Beginning the Meditation
Journey
 Secret of meditation begins with developing, focusing, and
directing your awareness
 Build concentration-block out distractions and focus on awareness
 Be open to receptive awareness-loosens and extends the mind’s
boundaries and embraces every experience that presents itself
 Use contemplation for greater insight-allows room for freedom and
creative expression
 Cultivate positive, healing states of mind-helps you transform inner
life by withdrawing energy from mind-states that are negative or
self-defeating
Why Meditate?
Physiological Benefits
Psychological Benefits
Decreased heart rate and lower blood
pressure
 More happiness and peace of

Quicker recovery from stress
 Greater enjoyment of the present

Decrease in beta and increase in alpha,
delta, and gamma brain waves

mind
moment
 Less emotional reactivity

Enhanced synchronization-correlates with
creativity
 More loving relationships

Fewer heart attacks and strokes
 Increased empathy

Increased longevity
 Enhanced creativity and self-

Reduced cholesterol levels

Decreased consumption of energy and
need for oxygen

Deeper, slower breathing and muscle
relaxation
 Reductions in acute and chronic
Reduction in the intensity of pain
 Complement to psychotherapy

actualization
 Heightened perceptual clarity and
sensitivity
anxiety
Why Meditate?

Teaches you to slow down and take each moment as it comes; the present moment is all
that matters

Learn to welcome every experience and facet of your being without judgment

Helps you to accept others the way they are and opens up your abilities for a deeper
love and intimacy

Relaxing the mind relaxes the body

Encourages an inner mental spaciousness where concerns no longer seem so
threatening

Can lead to more happiness and help you focus on the important things in life

Enhances work and play performances

Increases appreciation, gratitude, and love

Discover how to achieve a deeper sense of purpose

Helps you feel more centered, grounded, and balanced
A Beginner’s Mind
 Have an open mind to whatever arises
 Freedom from all expectations and preconceptions
 Spacious and spontaneous mind
 Original awareness
 Innocent, don’t-know spirit
Exploring What Motivates You
 What you bring to it is what you get out of it
1. Improving you life
 Primary concern is to fix yourself
2. Understanding and accepting yourself
 Developing self-awareness and self-acceptance
3. Realizing your true nature
 Finding your identity
4. Awakening others
 See others as no different from yourself and put their needs before
your own
5. Expressing your innate perfection
 Express your “true nature”; confidence in the peace and happiness
you already have
Living in Harmony
 Be mindful of cause and
effect
 Reflect on impermanence
and the preciousness of life
 Realize the limitations of
worldly success
 Practice nonattachment
 Cultivate patience and
perseverance
 Simplify your life
 Live with honesty and
integrity
 Face situations with the
courage of a warrior
 Trust the technology of
meditation
 Dedicate your practice to the
benefit of others
How the Mind Stresses You
Out
 Preoccupation with past and
future
 Resistance to the way things
are
 A judging and comparing
mind
 Learned helplessness and
pessimism
 Overwhelming emotions
 Fixation of attention
 Clinging to a separate self
How Meditation Relieves
Stress
 Develops focus and meditation

Stabilizes concentration, returns to
the present moment, cultivates
positive emotions
 Allows spontaneous release

Negative thoughts and feelings
naturally disappear
 Penetrates your experience with
insight
 Become aware of your inner
experience, become aware of your
story and how it confused you,
change your story, see beyond
your story to who you really are,
free yourself from your story
Becoming Aware of the Here
and Now
 Turn attention inward
 Relax your body
 Develop mindfulness
 Moment-to-moment awareness of your experiences as
they occur
 Focus on your breath
 Expand to sensations
 Welcome whatever arises
 Control your wandering mind
Meditation Poses
Kneeling
Half Lotus
Quarter Lotus
Full Lotus
The Practical Stuff
 What to wear: choose comfort over fashion
 When to meditate: any time is the best time
 How long to meditate: anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour; it’s up to you!
 Where to meditate: create a sacred space

Avoid the busy spots in your house, stay away from areas of work, find a quiet place
that is not too dark or too light, and is close to nature and fresh air
 Meditate in the same place each time


Fewer distractions, good vibes, peaceful memories
Can meditate while doing dishes, at the computer, driving, talking on the phone,
watching TV, working out
 Before you meditate…

Eat lightly or wait an hour after a big meal and avoid mind-altering substances
Just Do It

Practice meditation again and again

Make and keep a commitment to
yourself

Be consistent

Restrain yourself

Give 100% of your energy

Apply yourself earnestly

Make an effortless effort

Suspend judgment and be accepting

Let go, unmask, and surrender
yourself
Factors that Close Our Hearts
 Fear of being attacked, criticized, manipulated, or
overwhelmed
 Resentment-bitterness builds up
 Unresolved grief-constantly mulling over your losses
 Jealousy-label self as inferior
 Pain
 Grasping and attachment- fear of losing what you’re
attached to
 Self-clinging leads to separation from others
Opening Your Heart
 Benefits of love: energy, peace, well-being, good health,
belonging, interconnectedness, and spiritual awakening
 The factors of a happy and fulfilling life
1. Lovingkindness: feeling of goodwill toward all
2. Compassion: feel others’ suffering and want to help
3. Sympathetic Joy: happy feelings that arise in response to
the happiness of others
4. Equanimity: don’t allow what happened to you upset you
 Generate compassion
Common Roadblocks to
Meditation
 Sleepiness
 Restlessness
 Boredom
 Fear
 Doubt
 Procrastination
 Self-judgment
 Attachment and desire
 Pride
 Avoidance
 Bypassing
Develop a Practice That
Works For You
 Know your motivation
 Play to your strengths and fill in the gaps
 Experiment, trust intuition, and then settle down
 Create a regular practice
 Meditate with others-join or form a group
 Attend a workshop or retreat
Being Happy with Meditation
 Happier people: more energetic, generous, better-liked, selfconfident, more likely to have fulfilling relationships, more effective at
work, have stronger immune systems
 Accept what life brings




Feel and express gratitude for the good things in life
Savor the pleasures life offers
Dwell as much as possible in the present moment
Don’t let the inevitable ups and downs disturb their equanimity
 Savor the moment
 Foster flow
 Develop gratitude
 Learn to forgive
 Cultivate optimism
Using Meditation for Healing
 Healing=returning to an intrinsic state of wholeness
 Ways meditation works:
 Love and connectedness, relief of tension and stress,
restore alignment and balance, opening and softening,
creating space for emotions, harmony and joy, freedom
from self-clinging, awakening
 Increased focus, minimal distractions, free from
expectations, enhanced clarity, greater endurance, flow
experience, capacity to see things multidimensionally,
self-acceptance, compassion
Types of Meditations
 Practicing relaxation
 Find a quiet & undisturbed spot, sit in a comfortable position, choose an
object to concentrate on, maintain a receptive attitude
 Practicing a half smile
 Form lips into a half smile, hold this for at least 10 minutes while doing an
ordinary activity, practice this the next time you feel your spirits sagging
 Walking meditation
 Walk at usual pace while following breath, coordinate breathing with
walking, be aware of feet and legs as you move them, enjoy mindful
walking for as long as you want
 Peaceful place
 Sit comfortably, close eyes, take a few breaths, imagine yourself in a safe
and protected place, take your time, allow yourself to rest in feelings of
comfort, safety & tranquility, spend as much time as you want here