Meditation: Important Things You Need to Know

By Dr.King

Meditation is a powerful means not only to enhance general well being, but also as a practice that can lead one to peaks of human experience.
But unfortunately, there is lot of mystery around it and many practices propagated today don’t have a clear explanation on how they work. Such clarity is needed to make meditation not only effective but also safe without adverse consequences.
This book provides lot of insights into various aspects of meditation, explained in an easy to understand manner. An ideal book for anyone who wants to take up meditation seriously.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr.King
• Release date: Dec 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370167388

Dr.King

Dr.King is an avid writer in the nonfictional category. In the past 3 decades he has written several books in the areas of philosophy, Yoga, religious practices, sculpture, gardening, and so on. His books often blend scientific outlook with traditional faiths and practices. His books especially in the area of ancient philosophy succinctly showcase volumes of ancient literature in a condensed form, providing very authentic, insightful and unbiased portrayal. These books are generally characterized as thought provoking, giving an incisive look at the otherwise difficult to understand topics. One can expect to find reliable information, devoid of glorification and hype that is typical in this category.

Book preview

Prologue

I have always strived to explain Yoga or Meditation in a scientific manner rather than cloak it in mystical terms. In many ways, it is important that we know the science behind meditation not only to avoid confusion but also to practice it in a more effective manner. 

In this book, I am going to look at meditation from various perspectives and provide scientific explanations to the extent possible.

Keeping the limitations of this short book in mind, I don’t intend to provide detailed discussions. I will be giving only some pointers and defer the details to my books. Some of my books that are already published have lot of information on these aspects (for example, "How and Why of Yoga and Meditation, Psychology behind Yoga, Hata Yoga : Myths shattered, Neurological basis of Patanjali’s Ashtänga Yoga"). 

As far as possible, I restrict my focus to Patanjali’s Yoga and Buddhist form of meditations. Many of these ideas may even apply to Hata Yoga as well.

For those of you who may prefer to listen to this book, there is also a free audio version entitled "Meditation: The science behind it". It has almost identical content.

Next let me start with preparatory steps for meditation that are essential to achieve success.

F:\my_books\amazon\end_of_chapter.jpg

F:\my_books\amazon\am_ancient_wisdom\cover_design\cover_logo_old.jpg Whether it is driving a car or learning to play a musical instrument, you need to practice before you do the actual act. Any learning is a cyclical process of successive corrections till you achieve perfection. 

In meditation too you need to first learn how to focus. This is a conscious and effortful practice that needs to be done regularly and frequently till you get the ‘hang of it’.

There are various ways you can do this. The one suggested by Patanjali is to practice controlled breathing or Pränäyäma. Buddhist meditation also is preceded by attentive (or mindful) breathing or Änäpäna sati.

I have discussed some of these and other techniques in my book "How and why of Yoga and Meditation".

For more body conscious people, learning to focus may need some explicit physical acts. Many modern meditation teachers make you go through an elaborate sequence of physical acts : some body postures, some mysterious breathing, making some sounds, and so on. 

Though these sequences are hyped as some secret mystical techniques (often used buzz word is Kriya), these are just some permutation and combination of various well known Hata yoga steps. If you are a very body conscious person, probably you find them beneficial. But they are not really needed. A simple controlled breathing or mindful breathing would do as well.

What is essential though is the regularity, frequency, and duration. Why is that so? We will see that next.

F:\my_books\amazon\end_of_chapter.jpg

F:\my_books\amazon\am_ancient_wisdom\cover_design\cover_logo_old.jpg Let me once again go back to learning to drive a vehicle. You probably remember how