Meditation
Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. You can also use it to relax and cope with stress by refocusing your attention on something calming. Meditation can help you learn to stay centered and keep inner peace.
- 1: awareness of the present moment.
- 2: subduing the negative mind.
- 3: mindfulness of the meditation object.
- 4: dawning awareness.
- 5: unwavering commitment.
Ever wonder how Buddhist monks and nuns achieve that seemingly unflappable peace of mind? The truth is, they had to start from scratch – just like everybody else. As you work your way from distracted beginner to seasoned meditator, you’ll go through different stages too, even though you’ll need to leave the linear notion of progress behind. The focus is on the essential parts of the journey, rather than the goal.
Goal orientation is important when you’ve got a project, but it’s an obstacle for meditation. When you have a goal, you are here and the goal is there. But the objective of mindfulness is to be present with your mind in the here and now. In reality, you’re already here, it’s always now, and you can’t escape your mind – think about it! When you sit, you’re simply resting in the present moment: nothing to attain, nowhere to go.
Let’s explore some important points of meditation that can help you chart your path. And remember, rather than focusing on stages of meditation, as Mahatma Gandhi put it, the path is the goal.
Meditation: 5 essential points
1: awareness of the present moment
When we first start meditating, we’re learning to work with distractions. These can be perceived as external – sounds or smells, for example – or internal – sensations, thoughts, and emotions. We should have the firm intention to let go of distractions before we begin, preferably for a set period of time – say five or ten minutes. This kind of focus is essential. Without this intention, chances are the distractions will pull us away from our meditation before we even know it.
We also strive to free ourselves of any judgments, perceptions, or concerns that might divert our attention from the present moment. Some meditators find it helpful to think of themselves as an empty vessel with no history and no memory of the past. Beginner’s mind is a mind that is open to whatever occurs, and not stuck in any habitual pattern or rut. Rather than spend our precious practice minutes mulling over the past or inventing an improbable future, we relax and let go of those thoughts and worries we’ve been carrying around. Being present is so rich and enjoyable! Our old habit is distraction, so gaining a new awareness of the here and now takes some practice, but it’s definitely worth the effort.
2: subduing the negative mind
Do you have a critical inner voice that talks to you about all sorts of issues? Maybe it pipes up from time to time, persuasively expressing your emotional storylines and internal chatter. It can be quite destructive if it suggests that something’s very wrong with your life, your relationships, and who you are. Even if you recognize that the “negative inner voice” is a source of suffering and discontent, it isn’t easy to know how to get a handle on it.
Developing present-moment awareness is an effective way to work with this critical inner voice. One of the essential thrusts of meditation is to be aware of whatever arises in the mindstream and to learn to let go, moment by moment, whether the mental activity is alluring or objectionable. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by what feels like a continuous stream of thoughts. In one technique that helps us let go, we focus on noticing the gap between two successive thoughts. Attending mindfully to this silent pause, however minute, fosters awareness. If we practice with diligence and purpose, over time our inner narrative will naturally ease up and we can let go of the negative inner chit-chat, one gap at a time.
3: mindfulness of the meditation object
A key aspect of meditation is to learn to settle your mindful awareness on one single thing. This might be your breath, the flame of a candle, a repeated word (chant or mantra), physical sensations, or other focal points. The breath is the most common and widely practiced object of meditation. By concentrating on one thing, it’s easier to let go of distractions and embrace the present moment. It’s comfortable for your mind to have an anchor such as the breath to come back to. Read more about mindfulness of breathing here.
Positive experiences that can accompany this balance of letting go and paying attention include feelings of happiness, peace, and calmness. By focusing on a meditation object, your mind can filter out the jumpy distractions that give rise to anxiety and stress and rediscover its natural spaciousness.
4: dawning awareness
Meditation can be a portal to true personal transformation. The many benefits of simply sitting and practicing with the breath have been well-documented, but there’s another technique can take us even further: awareness practice.
As we meditate, we become more familiar with our mental patterns and psychological makeup. We begin to notice all of the spaces, or gaps, between the in-breath and out-breath, between one thought and the next, between one mood and another. Awareness of the gaps puts us in sync with impermanence and change, and we realize that we can actually let go of old views and obsolete habits. We can actually transform the way we think and act. We can afford to be genuine and honest about looking at ourselves, our perception of the world, and, most importantly, our impact on others. This dawning of awareness brings joy and a powerful motivation to continue practicing. Read more about the benefits of mindfulness and awareness meditation here.
5: unwavering commitment
When you’ve been practicing meditation for some time, you naturally discover a potential for awareness that you hadn’t known was there. Your mind now settles itself with little effort; distractions have lost much of their power over you. If you’re watching your breath, your mind happily follows your wonderful breath. If you’re drinking tea, you’re fully present while drinking tea. If you’re driving a car, you’re fully present behind the wheel.
This presence continues outside of your formal practice as well. The boundary between “sitting” and “other activities” is less distinct. When mindfulness and awareness have become second nature, you can engage in the world with honesty, kindness, and humor. You experience a joyful plenitude that no longer depends on outer circumstances. Now that the results of your practice are apparent, your commitment to working with your mind and making the world a better place is unwavering.
In the Mindworks program, we teach both mindfulness and awareness practices. Mindfulness provides relief by calming and settling the mind. Awareness develops clarity and understanding, resulting in genuine personal transformation. When practiced together, they result in lasting positive change.
There you have it: five essential points that will help you get the most out of your meditation practice. Let your practice be natural and truthful… and enjoy yourself!
If you’ve read this far, you must be interested in the practice of meditation and its result: the experience of enduring joy and well-being. You’ve come to the right place.
Genuine meditation practices nurture our innate potential for happiness and awareness. Clear and progressive instructions are essential for successful practice. Mindworks created its 9-level Journey to Well-Being and other inspiring courses so you can enjoy the full potential of a regular meditation practice.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient system from India. This system includes asanas (postures) that help you to become healthier, balanced and can create the opportunity to enter deep states of meditation. The yogic system helps you become flexible, release tension, and burn toxins so that you can experience peace, calmness, relaxation, and clarity. On the surface, yoga can be merely perceived as exercise, though the philosophy and spirituality behind yoga goes much deeper. For thousands of years, the Yoga system was taught to help purify the body and mind, so that a practitioner can burn karma and awaken their soul. This included breathing techniques, concentration, meditation, practicing nonviolence, discipline of mind and body, fasting, truthfulness and non-attachment among others.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient system from India. This system includes asanas (postures) that help you to become healthier, balanced and can create the opportunity to enter deep states of meditation. The yogic system helps you become flexible, release tension, and burn toxins so that you can experience peace, calmness, relaxation, and clarity. On the surface, yoga can be merely perceived as exercise, though the philosophy and spirituality behind yoga goes much deeper. For thousands of years, the Yoga system was taught to help purify the body and mind, so that a practitioner can burn karma and awaken their soul. This included breathing techniques, concentration, meditation, practicing nonviolence, discipline of mind and body, fasting, truthfulness and non-attachment among others.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient system from India. This system includes asanas (postures) that help you to become healthier, balanced and can create the opportunity to enter deep states of meditation. The yogic system helps you become flexible, release tension, and burn toxins so that you can experience peace, calmness, relaxation, and clarity. On the surface, yoga can be merely perceived as exercise, though the philosophy and spirituality behind yoga goes much deeper. For thousands of years, the Yoga system was taught to help purify the body and mind, so that a practitioner can burn karma and awaken their soul. This included breathing techniques, concentration, meditation, practicing nonviolence, discipline of mind and body, fasting, truthfulness and non-attachment among others.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF MEDITATION?
Meditation is an ancient method of employing the mind-body connection to achieve specific developmental goals. Over the four thousand years since the beginning of Yoga, the developmental goals have shifted, and so have the methods.
All meditation methods effectively reduce stress, but they do so differently. For example, the earliest forms meant to explore the field of consciousness beyond the physical universe, as the material world was seen as illusory and limiting. As a by-product, these methods eliminate stress by creating detachment. In contrast, modern meditation methods honor the physical world as the final step in spirituality ad honor life’s problems as the growth stimuli. They do not create detachment; they create creativity.
The defining characteristic of meditation is conscious breathing. Here’s what Dr. Andrew Weil says about conscious breathing:
The single most effective relaxation technique I know is conscious regulation of breath.
In many languages – the words for spirit and breath are the same (Sanskrit prana, Hebrew ruach, Greek pneuma, Latin spiritus). Breathing is the bridge between mind and body, the connection between consciousness and unconsciousness, and the movement of spirit in matter. Breath is the key to health and wellness, a function we can learn to regulate and develop to improve our physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Breathing is unique in several respects: it is the only function you can perform consciously as well as unconsciously, and it could be a completely voluntary act, or an utterly involuntary act, as it is controlled by two sets of nerves, one belonging to the voluntary nervous system, the other belonging to the involuntary (autonomic) system. Breath is the bridge between these two systems.
Most people do not know how to breathe to take full advantage of the nourishing, health-giving properties of the act of breathing. Learning to perform simple breathing techniques can help lower your blood pressure, calm a racing heart, or help your digestive system without taking drugs. Breathing directly connects to emotional states and moods – observe someone angry, afraid, or otherwise upset, and you will see a person breathing rapidly, shallowly, noisily, and irregularly. You cannot be upset if your breathing is slow, deep, quiet, and regular.
You cannot always center yourself emotionally by an act of will, but you can use your voluntary nerves to make your breathing slow, deep, quiet, and regular, and the rest will follow.
Beyond conscious breathing, which all meditation methods share, there is a wide variety of intentions and corresponding techniques. In the following table, several distinguishing characteristics of meditation are contrasted. Heart Rhythm Meditation, a form of heart-centered meditation which focuses on the heart, has all the attributes on the right, in rose color:
Relief From Life
The quiet stillness with conscious breath can relieve life’s stresses. Returning to a place where one can control one’s rhythm and quiet one’s mind and emotions is most pleasant. Everything looks different, with the detachment of separating yourself from regular life, like taking a vacation.
Rehearsal for Life
As you enter your heart, you find the whole world within. In love, there is no wish to escape and no objectivity. You bring your issues and concerns into your meditation instead of shutting them out. Realizing your connection to every heart, you can practice how to affect the world by tuning yourself.
Upward
Upward meditation aims to lift consciousness out of the body, an imperfect container for the pure light of consciousness. To reverse the “gravity pull of consciousness,” a powerful upward force in the spine, called “Kundalini,” is used. By triggering Kundalini, Samadhi may be attained, which is an awareness of non-physical reality at the cost of physical consciousness. Detachment and dissociation results.
Downward
Heart Rhythm Meditation aims to pull the richness of the universe into the person and anchor it in the heart. The downward flow of energy, called “Love,” collects in the heart and causes an expansion of the heart faculty. This results in massive creativity, courage, and compassion. It fosters the descent of blessing and grace upon the person.
Mind-Centered
This type of meditation does not use emotion. The goal is sometimes described as having no thought.
Heart-Centered
Heart-centered meditation is emotion-rich. The goal is to experience all emotions simultaneously, which requires and causes an expanded emotional capacity (heart).
Monastic
The motivation for these meditations is to explore the great mystery of death before death to overcome all fear of death and suffering. These meditations were developed in monasteries or ashrams for solitary use. They can make a living in the world more difficult as sensitivity increases.
In-Life
These meditations can be done in life and pertain to life. They come from the desire to explore what it is to be human and the purpose of life. They overcome the fear of being fully alive. While they increase compassion, they also increase the power and creativity to solve problems.
Observer
“Watch your thoughts, watch your emotions, watch your consciousness.” — this is a Buddhist precept. Becoming adept at this causes an observer attitude toward yourself and life.
Lover
The first stage of practice, called “Concentration, ” focuses attention on the heart, while the second through fifth stages are performed through direct experience of physical sensation, emotion, and vision. The goal is to be a fully-engaged lover, not a detached observer.
Passive
The meditator tries to do nothing. The mind is unfocused and neutral, making no judgments. Most beginning meditators assume this is the objective and the method. This is a complex method that usually lapses into daydreaming or sleep.
Example: Listening to scientifically-produced tones to induce brain waves that mimic meditation. (This does not have the same effect as when the brain produces these waves within itself.)
Active
The Heart Rhythm Meditator is actively pursuing a goal in meditation. The mind is used as a lens to focus the infinite into the finite. The objective is to be in a self-produced meditation state all the time, everywhere. What comes out of you is more important than what goes into you. Peace is not to be found; it is to be made. The meditator generates waves of peace that bring situations and other people into harmony.
Turning on the heart is much easier than turning off the mind.
Fantasy-based
In fantasy, you imagine you are in some other place or are a different type of person or being. This is done to make the conditions for meditation more promising, although it deprecates one’s actual situation.
Reality-based
magination is limited to what can be verified as accurate but cannot be sensed directly, like the magnetic field and the light of the stars in the daytime. This meditation aims to discover reality, so no fantasy is used.
Trance
An altered state of consciousness in which sensory awareness, alertness, or memory are diminished can be induced by rhythmic chanting, suggestions of deep sleep, or demands of submission. This can be a dramatic shift from ordinary consciousness, demonstrating that different states exist and producing a calm emotion.
Examples: Hypnosis, long sessions of mindless chanting.
Awakening
Sensory awareness, alertness, and memory are heightened as inspiration and revelation spring from the heart. When chanting, the rhythm is frequently changed to improve the sound and coordination with others constantly. Submission is never demanded. Sleepiness is overcome by increased oxygenation.
Denial or Dualistic
“My body is not me.” “My true being is not suffering.” “I battle with my ego.” “I want relief from my mind.” “The good in me overwhelms the bad.” “I want to stop my negative emotions.” Divisions are made within the one universe to create contrast, but the divisions distort the unified nature of reality.
Inclusive
There is only one reality, and that reality is unified. “There is nothing I am not. All parts of me have a purpose and a contribution. My mind is a wonderful servant. Without my ego, I could not take responsibility. My distortions push me forward while my ideal pulls me forward. My objective is to be fully human, not angelic.” The heart contains all joy and all sorrow — hide one, and both disappear.
Religious
Specific religious leaders — masters, saints, and prophets — are used for inspiration and devotion.
Heart-Centered
Loved ones and all inspired and devoted human beings are used for inspiration and devotion in Heart Rhythm Meditation.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient system from India. This system includes asanas (postures) that help you to become healthier, balanced and can create the opportunity to enter deep states of meditation. The yogic system helps you become flexible, release tension, and burn toxins so that you can experience peace, calmness, relaxation, and clarity. On the surface, yoga can be merely perceived as exercise, though the philosophy and spirituality behind yoga goes much deeper. For thousands of years, the Yoga system was taught to help purify the body and mind, so that a practitioner can burn karma and awaken their soul. This included breathing techniques, concentration, meditation, practicing nonviolence, discipline of mind and body, fasting, truthfulness and non-attachment among others.
Self hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness are growing in popularity. It’s not surprising when these self-help disciplines can be used to reduce stress and anxiety, and even help you achieve your goals. When you have mastered one or all of them, you can be in charge of easing the symptoms of some serious underlying health issues.
Self hypnosis, Meditation & Mindfulness: which one is right for you?
When teaching self hypnosis to my hypnotherapy clients, I have often been asked if there is a difference between self hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness. Purists may not agree, but I believe that each discipline can take similar paths but they do have some distinct differences too.
If you want to take “de-stressing” matters into your own hands, which one should you develop? Let’s compare and contrast each discipline so that you can decide which one to take on your self-help journey.
Let’s discuss hypnosis first
It is a fairly common misconception that “hypnosis” is something that can only occur with the help of some external or professional guidance using a hypnotic induction. It may be hard to believe, but you cannot be hypnotised unless you want to be hypnotised, even though it might look like mind control in those hypnosis films. You ultimately choose which suggestions to accept or reject; the “power” exists within you and not the person hypnotising you. Externally guided hypnosis happens then, because you allow someone else to guide your “self hypnosis”. And during a state of hypnosis you are more receptive to a hypnotherapist’s suggestions that you have agreed are part of your treatment goals.
Hypnosis, in its broadest definition (no, not the one used by authoritarian styles), is a state of altered awareness and you are constantly drifting in and out of hypnosis throughout your day. It happens nearly always by accident, when a person is doing some routine and repetitive task, such as doing the dishes or walking the dog. One moment you’ll be at the park with your dog, and next you’ll be at front of your house door without having any conscious recollection of how you got there. Your mind decided to take a stroll down memory lane while your legs carried you home.
This is an example of hypnosis when your mind is “zoning out”; it goes into subspace and retreats into some peaceful place within itself. This state of awareness is similar to daydreaming. Everyone has done this as some time in their lives. Can you remember doing this in school?
Depending on your priorities, your subconscious mind may want to put aside a calming daydream and solve a problem or anxiety, something that is open-ended and needs to be closed for you to then feel relaxed again. You might do this on the commuting to work, preparing and prioritising your working day ahead of you.
The process of altered awareness can also happen when you “zone in” and concentrate on something so intensely that you shut out external distractions. An example is when reading a good book; you block out those house noises that you may otherwise hear and disturb you (the ones that irritate you when you are struggling to get to sleep). You can also “zone in” when you attend a live performance of your favourite artist and are so taken by the show that you lose track of time and forget about your worries. In this situation your subconscious mind is prioritising the external situation over other “internal” issues, allowing you to be fully absorbed in the show.
What is self hypnosis?
Self hypnosis is an intentional, self induced state of heightened suggestibility.
The situations above describe how hypnotic and self hypnotic states can happen incidentally. In a formal context, self hypnosis can be defined as using a process, usually involving relaxation techniques, to intentionally induce yourself into a state of concentrated, heightened suggestibility. Affirmations, your imagination and visualisation may then be used to access a present or future desirable state. It may also be used to reframe the meaning and the emotions of a past event.
How do you perform Self Hypnosis?
First identify some affirmations that are the positive form of your negative state that you wish to change. For example, if you are anxious about giving a presentation, your affirmation could be “I am feeling more relaxed and confident with my presentation as I rehearse my content”.
- Find a comfortable location away from irritating noises (it takes a well-practised self-hypnotist to work with these!) Find a supportive posture such as sitting down in a comfortable chair or lying down on a bed in a slightly inclined position (so you don’t fall asleep too easily).
- Relax by using breathing techniques and then focus on parts of your body feeling heavy in sequence e.g. from head to toe. You can keep your eyes open or closed. Focus on a few words that assists your mind to drift down into a pleasant state of heaviness e.g. with each out breath let your inner voice say “relax deeper”.
- State and repeat your affirmations (internally/silently or externally out loud). Visualise the positive situation and the positive feelings more intensely with each repeat of the suggestion for a period of time e.g. ten minutes.
- Exit your hypnotic state by counting upwards, feeling more alert with each count until you feel alert. Gradually open your eyes if you closed them. Your session of self hypnosis is complete.
Meditation
In the simplest terms, meditation can be explained as a participative activity in which you silence your thoughts, tune in to your inner self and find peace and tranquillity. Meditation itself is a wholesome activity in which you induce a mode of consciousness; it is not meant to lead to anything else.
How is meditation done?
There are certain steps that you can follow in order to meditate successfully. In its most basic form, these steps include:
- Finding a nice, quiet place in which to settle down in and feel comfortable.
- Then, you close your eyes and begin a basic breathing exercise that involves slow, full and deep diaphragmatic breathing.
- After this, you focus on nothing but the sound and pattern of your own steady breathing. Cleanse your thoughts and empty your mind of any other thought. You can continue for as long as you like staying focused on your breath.
- When you have achieved this for a period of time, you can open your eyes. Stand and stretch your limbs and then carry on your day as planned.
How is self hypnosis different from meditation?
By following these stages in self hypnosis and meditation, it can be easy to mistake one for the other since the first few steps in each discipline are very similar. You will notice that in order to be able to focus into your affirmation more intensely the first three stages of meditation can be used. Both self hypnosis and meditation also involve an end process or awakening.
Self hypnosis and meditation are clearly not the same disciplines however. There is no phase of ‘directed positive change’ in meditation, unless you consider the shift from an active state to a passive quietened state sufficiently directed. Meditation is an activity with no ulterior purpose other than to find inner peace and tranquillity. Some styles of meditation achieve this by visualisation, contemplation, chanting a mantra or focusing on something external or on an energy point (chakra) during the third stage. Some styles of meditation also incorporate movement such as walking meditation or during the practice of martial arts.
The main purpose of meditation is to find inner peace.
Self hypnosis is different in this regard. During self hypnosis there is a goal in mind; an end purpose of transformation. Hypnosis and self hypnosis is nearly always induced in order to make some sort of change so that the person being hypnotised can achieve something*. The goal can be relaxation, but most self hypnosis usually goes beyond this. For example, one might want to use self hypnosis to break a bad habit, quit smoking, dig up an old half forgotten memory to reframe it, boost self confidence, control pain, lift depression, overcome insomnia, reduce anxiety, and so on.
*I say ”nearly always” because on rare occasions, I have had some clients who just wanted to experience what “directed hypnosis” felt like. I asked them if they wanted to change any aspect of their lives and they said no. The hypnosis session ended up being a relaxation session (sometimes called “relaxatherapy”). Instinctively, I integrated suggestions of confidence and ego boosting into their consultation. At the end of the session they were relaxed and appreciative of the experience. They were able to tell the world that they had been “hypnotised” today! So was this relaxation session a “directed meditation” or “guided visualisation” sometimes used in Yoga? I think that this type of session was common to all of these processes.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be described as a state of non-judgemental, heightened awareness in which you consciously and deliberately pay attention to something in the present. What you pay close attention to can be internal processes like your current thoughts, emotions or sensations in your body. You can also pay close attention to external processes that are occurring in your surrounding environment.
Through the practice of mindfulness and focusing on the present experience, you can access an enhanced state of calmness, concentration and clarity. Mindfulness helps to temporarily create distance from the default functioning of the mind that can be overwhelming. The mind is constantly connecting with the past in order to anticipate the future, but it may not always connect with it in a way that benefits you. It can easily exaggerate the emotional learning of past events, predicting catastrophes that rarely happen. Mindfulness sidelines these distractions, capturing the essence of just being, feeling, thinking, sensing and existing in the present.
As a perceptual style of processing then, mindfulness can be therapeutic. The (physical) past is put to rest from a perspective that it cannot be changed, so why ruminate over it? Whilst anxiety about the future can be threatening and remains uncertain, so why try to control it? The only time to exist is “in the now”. Mindfulness enables you to take heed from this philosophy and channel your attention, your energy and your desires on to what is happening to you “right there and then”.
How is mindfulness done?
Mindfulness can be practised in many situations and during various activities. You can be mindful when walking, gardening, painting, eating, travelling on a bus, whilst sitting in the park observing nature around you etc. You can also practise mindfulness during more passive activities. Here’s one mindfulness activity, focusing on breathing:
- Choose a peaceful place in your house away from any distractions. Get comfortable in a chair with your body supported and your eyes closed.
- Imagine your breath being visible. As you inhale with your abdomen, follow the flow of your breath as it gets inhaled through your nose, past your windpipe and down into your lungs. Notice the changing sensations in your abdomen, diaphragm and ribcage.
- As you pause before exhaling, observe the air resting at the bottom of your lungs, circulating for a few moments. Then as you exhale follow the air being breathed up through your chest and out through your nose. Notice the air circulating just outside of your face as you pause, before inhaling the air again.
- Repeat this process with several breaths.
- Then allow your mind to roam, observing your thoughts at a distance. Accept these thoughts as they fade in and then fade out, being replaced with the flow of your breath once again.
- Your mindfulness session is complete. You can open your eyes to return to your day.
How does mindfulness compare to self hypnosis?
Whilst relaxation may be experienced at some point during or after having practised mindfulness, it is far from being a technique in which you “relax” the mind. Instead, during mindfulness, you are aiming to arouse your senses, being more aware of those subtle processes that mostly tend to happen in the background. In other words, you are “zoning in” to whatever is happening in this moment, such as your tuning in to emotions or feelings. This might involve examining the tension within a part of your body right now and having felt it, you can now readily release it. This is a different approach to pushing something aside, even suppressing it, for it to come knocking at your door at a later time.
Certain sports with closed skills like archery have mindfulness built in
So how does mindfulness compare to self hypnosis? In many ways, they complement each other and by developing one technique, you may find that it helps the other one.
They both help you to “zone in”: Mindfulness’s perceptual style of focusing your attention is very similar to the “zoning in” state of altered awareness used in self hypnosis (mentioned above in the description of hypnosis). Zoning in would benefit you in areas if your life such as increasing your concentration levels at work and helping your listening abilities during conversations.
They both improve your mind-body connection: Thoughts and emotions create physical changes in your body and you may not always appreciate at the time of which thought is causing which sensation. Generally speaking, positive thoughts can create relaxed sensations, whilst negative thoughts can create sensations of tension. By zoning into these negative thoughts and emotions, mindfulness can be used as a diagnostic tool to establish which unconscious thought is triggering this physical tension. The tension in your shoulders might relate to you being anxious about giving a presentation next week and is the source of keeping you tense, irritable and awake at night. Having established this, you now have a goal for the self hypnosis. Using self hypnosis you can then create affirmations to help you visualise confidence in your presentation, reducing your anxiety-related tension in your shoulders and helping you to sleep better at night.
How does mindfulness compare to meditation?
When you consider the mindfulness breathing practice above, parts of it could be used as a lead into meditation (and self hypnosis). In this specific context, it has many similarities. Some people advocate that “breathing mindfulness” is a type of meditation activity.
This is perhaps one of the main general differences. Mindfulness is a state of mind or quality of awareness that can be applied anywhere. However, meditation is an activity or action; something that you do whilst sitting, focusing, chanting or walking etc.
Now consider a mindfulness practice when you drink a cup of tea. How you are holding the cup, the weight of the cup, the movement of your arm and hand as you bring the cup closer to your lips, the look of the tea, the steam rising from the tea, the initial smell of the tea as you bring it closer, the increased salivation, the slight inhalation of breath to sip some tea, the feeling of the tea (liquid) in your mouth, sensing the temperature in your mouth, the taste of the tea, where you taste it, the changing smell, the feelings as you swallow the tea, the changing taste and aroma in your mouth after you have swallowed it.
There are lots of sensory experiences to be aware of in this mindfulness activity of tea drinking!
Mindfulness tea drinking would not be considered a formal meditation for the purists however. But some informal styles of meditation state that you can meditate during absolutely anything – if you insist that you are meditating when knitting for example; then you are meditating!
Self hypnosis, Meditation and Mindfulness
In this attempt to explore differences between self hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness, it can be recognised that each discipline has features that overlap with another discipline. The practice of one discipline is likely to benefit the practice of another, if only from the awareness and practise of breathing techniques and postural changes.
Breathing techniques are common to self hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness
The individual experience or benefit derived from each discipline however can be varied. Your definition of each discipline will ultimately determine how you approach and participate in each activity. Societies (whether Eastern or Western, secular or religious) have different cultural and philosophical values that can emphasise how to approach each discipline and the potential gains to be achieved from it.
In hypnotherapy as a treatment, the hypnotherapist can integrate many approaches that can still be classified as hypnotherapy. For example, some hypnotherapists will actively promote that they teach self hypnosis. Or the way that suggestions are formed may teach aspects of meditation or mindfulness whilst in a hypnotic state. There can be many benefits of incorporating a broad treatment approach as this evidence suggests when treating stress and anxiety.
From the discussion, I would summarise the following benefits:
Self Hypnosis: helps you to achieve a change or personal goal through the internalisation of suggestions.
Meditation: helps you to still your mind to bring you inner peace.
Mindfulness: helps you to heighten your senses and makes you more aware of everything inside of you and around you.
The Self-Healing Benefits Of Meditation
We all know that regular, moderate exercise is good for us. But imagine what it would be like if all you did was exercise: if you ran, walked, jumped, or lifted 24 hours a day. After only a very short while, exercise actually wouldn’t be that good for you because without rest and self-healing, exercise becomes counterproductive and even risky…and so it is with your mind. We spend all day (and sometimes all night, too!) in a whirlwind of thought. When there isn’t something particular to think about (what to eat for breakfast, the tasks of the day, or what you’re going to say in an upcoming meeting), we search restlessly for something to fill the gap-worries, hopes, television, and so on. We never allow our minds to rest. And without this precious self-healing time, our minds become exhausted and thoughts less trustworthy. Just as we need to stop moving our bodies every once in a while, we also need to stop moving our minds. But how? The idea can actually seem terrifying, not to mention impossible.
But it is quite possible. The practice of self-healing meditation is just this: resting the mind in silence and space, allowing it time to recover and rejuvenate. Healing meditation does not mean sitting in a perfect state of peace while having no thoughts. Big misconception! Instead, meditation for healing is about establishing a different relationship with your thoughts, just for a little while. Instead of attention being drawn off by whatever thought happens to present itself, in meditation, you watch your thoughts from a different, more stabilized perspective. You’re training yourself to place your attention where and when you want. This is very powerful. It gives you the ability to direct your thoughts (and mood) in more productive and peaceful directions. And, as has been demonstrated in the last few years, this ability has profound self-healing implications for physical and mental health.
Over the last 10 years, Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama has been engaged in formal top-level dialogues with leading scientists and brain researchers from M.I.T., Harvard, the University of Wisconsin, and others. Until several years ago, these annual conversations were held in private as simple but powerful inquiries into each other’s methods for understanding the mind. Recently, the results of this dialogue, and resulting studies into meditation for healing have been made public, and they’re fascinating.
When studying the brainwaves of meditating monks, Dr. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, found that brain circuitry is different in long-time meditators than it is in non-meditators. Here’s how: when you are upset – anxious, depressed, angry – certain regions of the brain (the amygdala and the right prefrontal cortex) become very active. When you’re in a positive mood these sites quiet down and the left prefrontal cortex – a region associated with happiness and positivity – becomes more active. In studying meditating monks, Davidson found they had especially high activity in this area.
One of the things that is so amazing about this finding is that for a long time, scientists thought that each individual was wired with certain “set-points” for happiness, depression, and so on. This study shows that the brain can rewire itself and alter its set points – simply by the self-healing power of thought.
We’ve all read reports that stress can affect health and immunity including the body’s abilkity for self-healing; Dr. Weil has emphasized this repeatedly. An ulcer, for example, has direct correlation with emotional stress. An ulcer, simply defined, is the presence of certain bacteria in the stomach, plus stress. Other conditions have a noted relationship to stress, such as heart disease, lowered immunity, diabetes, and asthma. The acute stress that results from almost being hit by bus or thinking your house may have been broken into is not the kind of stress that has deleterious affect. This kind of stress mobilizes your emergency responses and capabilities. But, according to neuroendocrinologist Dr. Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biological Sciences, Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, chronic stress is a different story. There is evidence that it shrinks neurons on the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning capacity, memory, and positive mood. The self-healing hippocampus has the ability to regenerate, if stress is discontinued. And healing meditation reduces stress, as shown in Dr. Davidson’s research.
Medical research has shown that there are two main contributing factors to depression: a genetic predisposition, and environmental factors such as stress, loss, and trauma. The first factor, genetics, is not within our control. The second, however, is. We can’t prevent loss and difficulty, but we can significantly alter our reactions to them. Zindel Segal, Chair in Psychotherapy in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a pioneer in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has shown that MBSR participants are 50% less likely than other patients to relapse once depression is alleviated through medications and other therapies. This is because meditation teaches us, thought by thought, to alter our responses to stress, thereby increasing serotonin production, a neurotransmitter that influences mood, sleep, and appetite. Anti-depressants such as Prozac and Paxil, so-called SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) are drugs that increase serotonin.
As mentioned, meditation is often viewed as a way to relax — and it is. But it’s also a very precise strategy for maintaining health and training the mind in keen observation, increased power of concentration, and emotional stability.