Meditation

• Meditation is the seventh limb of yoga (dhyana). It is the journey from activity into inner silence.
• It is a purification process that helps us release tension, stress and toxicity from our body and mind.
• Meditation is a powerful tool for cultivating physical and mental health. It helps us connect with our true self, which leads us to discover and become who we really are.
• A daily meditation practice helps to cultivate a more present, peaceful and balanced lifestyle, which ripples out to every other aspect of your life.

The benefits of meditation include stress relief; improved health, including improved immune function; greater clarity of thinking and focus; increased happiness, contentment and joy; expanded creativity; more harmonious and improved relationships; and the enrichment of all aspects of your life.

• Find a comfortable, quiet place where you can meditate
• Commit the time to meditate 

There are several different types of meditation. The best type of meditation is the type that works best for you. Below are a few of the most common forms of meditation:

Breath Meditation

• In breath meditation, you bring your awareness to your breath. Each time that your mind wanders, you bring your awareness back to your breath.

Guided Meditation

• In guided meditation, you allow your awareness to follow the voice leading the meditation. 
• Types of guided meditations include body scans, progressive relaxations, visualizations and chakra meditations.

Mantra Meditation

• In mantra meditation, you utilize a mantra (vehicle of the mind) to transcend the activity of your mind (your thoughts).
• There are many types of mantras of varying lengths.
• A simple mantra to try is "So Hum," which translates to "I Am."

Visual Meditation

• The object of attention in a visual meditation is any natural and nourishing sight that captures your attention for a sustained period of time.
• Examples: Gazing into a candle flame, watching the ripples on the ocean, or looking up at the moon and stars.
• Sri Yantra is another form of visual meditation. A Sri Yantra is a diagram consisting of a beautiful visual pattern that has a balancing and calming influence on the mind.

Walking Meditation

• Walking outside in nature is a wonderful way to experience meditation.
• While you are walking, shift your awareness to each step you take, or to observing the wonders of nature, including the blades of grass, the colors and scents of plants and flowers, the clouds in the sky, children laughing, etc.
• Looking at natural beauty has a profound healing effect.

• "Mantra" translates literally to "vehicle of the mind." 
• The word "mantra" can be broken down into two parts:
  • Man = Mind
  • Tra = Transport or Vehicle
• We silently repeat mantras in meditation to help transcend the activity of our mind (our thoughts). 
• Mantras have no meaning so that the mind isn't focused on any particular quality or outcome.
• Mantras are tools that help you access heightened levels of awareness.

• You can't have too many thoughts in meditation. The point of meditation is not to not have thoughts; rather, it is to quiet your mind from those thoughts and access the space between your thoughts, which is where all possibility lies.
• There is a space between in each thought and in that space is the possibility for any other thought.
• The space between our thoughts, known as the "gap," is always present; however, it is essentially squeezed out of existence in our every day busy lives.
• Meditation helps us access the "gap," and when we do, we're able to bring the joy, love, compassion and infinite possibilities from the "gap" into our every day lives. This ultimately helps us make more conscious choices that best serve us and those around us.
• We will always have thoughts. While we cannot necessarily control our thoughts, we can change our relationship to our thoughts, choose those we assign meaning to, and ultimately create space for new, more fulfilling thoughts. 

Primordial Sound Meditation, or PSM, is a healing practice that allows us to experience inner calm and deep relaxation. It is rooted in the Vedic tradition of India and is based on primordial sounds, the most basic sounds or vibrations of nature. There are 108 Primordial Sound mantras, derived from the work of ancient sages who recorded the vibrations of the universe in relation to the position of the moon. Deepak Chopra rediscovered this powerful meditation technology and made it accessible so that people all around the world can easily practice and receive its benefits.

When you learn Primordial Sound Meditation, the personal mantra you receive is the sound that the universe was making at the time and place of your birth, when you emerged from the non-local domain of pure potentiality into the manifest world.

According to the Primordial Sound Meditation tradition, the vibration that took you from the non-local domain into the local domain can also take you back, allowing you to journey from activity into silence—into an experience of pure awareness.