A Meditation Journey for Beginners

by Cheryl Forrest

Overview

Meditation is a technique and a journey. This is a step-by-step, seven-week program and workbook.

You are about to begin a journey you are destined to succeed at. It is your true adventurethe adventure of you!

Throughout this adventure, you will discover and rediscover what you have always known: your own truth. It starts with your very own meditation journey.

Enjoy it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504343237
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	11/30/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	134
File size:	267 KB

About the Author

Cheryl Forrest is an internationally-known counsellor, artist, and teacher. Early in life, Cheryl became aware of her abilities and pursued a ministerial degree as well as a degree in humanistic parapsychology. She has been counselling for over forty years and teaching spiritual and intuitive classes nearly as long. Cheryls work has taken her into the United States and throughout Canada. Much of the teaching and lecturing is conducted privately; however, she does present to businesses, high schools, teaches, transition houses, and various groups and organizations. The workshops cover a broad range of subjects from stress reductions to psychic and spiritual development. Cheryl is known for her humour and down-to-earth approach as well as her loving, empathetic understanding, which prevails throughout her work. Cheryl lives in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada.

Love and Compassion.

Read an Excerpt

A Meditation Journey for Beginners

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By Cheryl Forrest

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Forrest
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-4321-3

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CHAPTER 1

Week 1 — Making Space for Meditation

Let's start, dear reader, by creating a space for your ten- to twenty-minute meditation. Make it quiet, sacred, and special.

The habit of going to the same place in your home or office space to meditate helps encourage the quieting process — especially when you are new to meditating. Later you will be able to meditate anywhere at any time. The time will come when you live your whole life in an altered, meditative state, quietly heart-centered in a state of love, peace, or appreciation, and greeting each wonder or disaster the same.

To create your space, you need to know what helps create feelings and thoughts of quiet, peace, beauty, harmony, and love in you.

Inner Awareness/Outer Awareness

For every outer experience or stimulus, you have an inner response. Most of us are barely aware of our inner responses, yet we make our decisions from that barely conscious state or response.

You choose your coffee cup by how it makes you feel. What you wear, what you eat, the names you call your pets, nicknames you give your loved ones, and the things you buy are all decisions made by how you feel. It all comes from your inner response to them. In our lives we are more outwardly focused. In meditation we strive for an inward focus.

When we become equally aware of our inner response to any outer stimulus, we experience "the present." Being in the present, in "the now," or in "the moment" allows us to disconnect from the presumptions of the past or expectations of the future. We often experience a kind of aha moment standing in the present. My students speak of experiencing freedom, peace, an undiscovered truth of who they are, or happiness in their present.

When you, dear reader, live like this, you will be able to choose your own wonderful response, no matter what outward activity you are participating in.

Exercise 1 — First Week: Creating an Awareness and Space for Meditation in Your Life

This exercise will help you to recognize your inner responses to outer stimulation.

1. There is a series of symbols on the following pages. Take your time. Look at each symbol individually, and become aware of your inner response to each one.

How does it make you feel? How does it affect your mind-set? Do you have a physical response to it? If so, what is that?

Note paper has been provided at the end of this chapter.

2. After you have reviewed the symbols, try this exercise with colors.

3. After colors, try textures; and after textures, try fragrances.

When you are aware of your response, you can use that response to create an environment just right for you, lovely reader.

For example, if the straight line "|" created or increased thought, list-making urges, or a feeling of physical restlessness, you would not put pole lights or wallpaper with lines in your bedroom. They may, however, be perfect for the office or family room.

If the horizontal line "—" brought a feeling of peace, then you could put furniture that created a horizontal look or pictures with horizons in your bedroom to encourage peace and rest.

Spend the week going through your coffee cups, dishes, furniture, pictures, candles, books, music, linen closets, shoes, and clothes, and discover what you have surrounded yourself with.

Get rid of everything that elicits a negative inner response. We are letting go of what is not you anymore and making room for new expressions of your true self.

1. Rearrange furniture into a new pattern. See how your family responds.

2. Create a space to meditate in. Even if it is a chair in a corner of the room, make that corner your peace corner.

3. Place in your meditative space objects, pillows, blankets, fragrances, pictures, and books that calm and delight you. Eventually just entering this space moves you to some level of quiet.

4. Have fun with this!

Suggested Reading: Xorin Balkes, Soul Space, Novato, Cal., New World Library, ISBN: 978-1-60868-037-5

Insights on Week 1

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CHAPTER 2

Week 2 — Breathing Meditations

Now that we have our special space, we can begin our first step. Guidelines:

* These exercises must be experienced in order to generate change, not just intellectually understood. Knowing the recipes doesn't change your hunger; cooking and eating does.

* Speaking of eating, avoid meditating within two hours of a heavy meal; you might fall asleep and miss the experience.

* Wear comfortable clothes. If you enjoy sitting cross-legged, in a lotus position, or on a meditation pillow, that is great. Choose a position you can easily hold for twenty minutes. If you are sitting in a chair, make sure your feet can touch the ground without strain. Use a footstool or pillow if needed. If you are lying down, a pillow under the knees can be helpful for the lower back, and a small pillow under the head. Mats are readily available in yoga and camping centers. Some people like to sit on cushions with their back against the wall for support, or they prefer to place cushions against the wall for more support.

* Use blankets and pillows to keep you warm and comfortable.

* Now we are free to focus inward.

* Soft, meditative music is also helpful. I will recommend some with each exercise.

* Maintain a passive attitude (by that I mean a lack of concern about how well you are doing; it means uncritically feeling yourself in the present).

* No expectations (they can limit the meditative experience).

* Meditate every day. It does not matter if you do it morning, noon, or night. Whenever you can meditate is the perfect time for you. Some people find doing it the same time every day helps to make it part of their daily routine.

* If your mind wanders — which it will — smile. Acknowledge it and then turn back to your focus. If your body gets sore or restless — which it will — smile, acknowledge it, and turn back to your focus. If emotions come up, whether they are lovely or scary — which they will — smile, acknowledge it, and turn back to your focus.

As you practice meditation, you will come to recognize you are not your body. You are not your mind. You are not your emotions. You are something more ...

Why Do We Use Smiling in Our Meditation Exercises?

Besides making you even more beautiful or handsome, dear reader, smiling also does the following:

* changes your mood (as studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin)

* reduces your blood pressure

* boosts your immune system

* relieves stress

* keeps you positive

My students have noticed that when asked to smile at nothing in particular (try it now), their hearts warm and they relax and find it easy to let go. In this lovely state, the heart and mind link and give you a new way of experiencing your life — even thinking becomes less critical and more creative. Try it again now.

Try it throughout your day. Notice the inward change with this outward action. You may discover with a smile that your outer situations appear a little different. You may also find solutions you hadn't previously thought of coming to your mind. Use your note paper at the end of the chapter to write out your experiences.

Breathing

Suggested Music: "Angel Love" by Aeoliah

All of our meditations start with some kind of breathing technique or focus. I have included a few for you to practice this week. Each of these techniques can be a meditation practice on their own.

Breathing Meditation 1

1. Set your timer for ten minutes.

2. Sit for this exercise.

3. Close your eyes.

4. This is very simple — just observe yourself breathing.

5. Notice the air coming into your nose and then notice it leaving through your nose or mouth. Notice the sensation of air coming into your lungs, and notice the sensation of air leaving your lungs.

6. Do nothing else.

7. If your mind wanders — smile, acknowledge it, and turn back to breathing.

Yeah! You have just meditated!

Questions to ask yourself after the meditation:

* What is my state of mind?

* What is my state of emotion?

* What is my state of body?

* What is different after this meditation?

* * *

Breathing Meditation 2

It sounds more complicated than it is experienced. Read through the instructions, and then read through while you practice the breathing. Once you have it, practice for ten minutes.

In this meditation "________" means pause.

1. Set your timer for ten minutes.

2. You may sit or lie down for this exercise.

3. Close your eyes.

4. Inhale through your nose; exhale with a soft whooshing sound through your mouth.

5. Take long, slow inhales and long, slow exhales.

6. As you inhale, fill your abdomen, your diaphragm, and your chest. Notice the ribs expanding.

7. Hold your breath ______ smile ______.

8. Exhale slowly ______. Pull your abdomen in, releasing all of the air.

9. Hold empty for a moment ______ smile ______.

10. Begin again.

After the meditation, do an inward check and make notes:

* What is the state of my body?

* What is the state of my emotions?

* What is the state of my mind?

* What is the difference in me since the meditation?

* * *

Breathing Meditation 3

This meditation is a ten- to fifteen-minute meditation — whichever you are comfortable with.

Breathing with a count can be very helpful for busy minds or when you find yourself distressed by something. The counting helps focus the mind, pulling it away from what's wrong and instead placing it into you in the present. Remember "______" means pause.

1. Set your timer.

2. Repeat Breathing Meditation 2. However, this time add a count to the inhale. ______ hold ______ exhale ______ hold ______.

3. Perhaps you may find as you start your meditation that you can inhale to the count of four and hold for the count of two. Exhale to the count of four and hold empty for two.

4. As you relax and get comfortable with this technique, it will lengthen perhaps to a count of six and hold of three.

5. Feel free to practice these breathing techniques with your eyes open while driving, walking, shopping, working, gardening, and just living.

Some studies have reported the discovery of a direct relationship between brain activity and the nasal cycle and with alternations of congestion and decongestion in the nasal passages (about forty-five-minute cycles). When airflow moves more freely in one nostril, the opposite hemisphere of the brain is relatively more dominant.

Forceful breathing through the more congested nostril awakens the less-dominant hemisphere. EEG responses showed a consistent relationship between nasal airflow and cerebral dominance in all frequencies (alpha, theta, delta, beta).

Remember the study of Buddhist monks, published in the New York Times in 2003, used magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) to view the effects of meditation on their brains. The brain scans showed that as a result of meditation, the left prefrontal cortex (the site of joy) predominated over the right prefrontal cortex (the site on anxiety) in the monks.

Becoming Aware of Nasal Dominance

Do this exercise on and off throughout the day, finding the timing of your cyclic rhythm.

1. Check inwardly for your state of being.

2. Check nostrils to find when you breathe out of both nostrils whether there a regular time to that cycle.

* Less congestion in left nostril suggests right-brain activities. At these times you will be in a dreamier, more intuitive, creative, and imaginative state. The right brain controls the left side of your body.

* Less congestion in the right nostril suggests left-brain activity. At these times you will be typically more alert — more prone to practical rational thinking, problem solving, and talking. The left brain controls the right side of your body.

* * *

Breathing Meditation 4 — Alternate Breath

When you first begin doing this meditation exercise, you may feel like you are out of breath or cannot get enough air. That passes as you relax with the breathing technique.

This is a great breathing exercise once you are comfortable with it. It can be used as a manual override. For example, if you can't sleep or wake up in the middle of the night with your brain determined to rewrite or reenact your entire past or make lists for tomorrow or solve all the world's problems, you know, dear reader, that you are breathing in through the right nostril, activating the left brain, and it's ready for action.

Doing this exercise can get you breathing from the right nostril, calming and relaxing the mind. And soon you will be sleeping.

Another example is if you are at work and your brain wants to sleep or is sluggish. Doing this exercise and switching to inhaling from the right nostril can wake up the left side of the brain and get you productive again. It is also great when you have a cold. Sit in the tub with a hot cloth over your nose, inhaling the heat and steam. Have plenty of tissues ready.

This does call for a little hand-eye coordination so you will want to practice first. Use your thumb and ring finger of the same hand to open and close nostrils. Your index and middle fingers rest softly between your eyebrows. Practice a few times just moving your thumb and ring finger to open and close the nostrils. When you are ready, begin.

If you are doing this in the morning, end the exercise by breathing in through your right nostril, so you will be ready for the day. If you are doing this at night, finish the exercise by breathing in through the left nostril. This will help you to wind down for sleep.

Do this meditation sitting. Read first, then read again and practice the exercise until you are comfortable with the actions.

Practice the second breathing technique while doing the alternate breath.

1. Use right thumb to close off right nostril. Inhale slowly through the left nostril, expanding your belly, your diaphragm, and your chest.

2. Close off both nostrils and hold full.

3. Open your left nostril by lifting your ring finger and exhale slowly out the left nostril.

4. Close off both nostrils and hold empty.

5. Repeat for ten times.

6. Breathe normally and do an inward check.

7. Now repeat the exercise, inhaling through the right nostril, exhaling through the left.

This is one round. Do one or two rounds per meditation period.

Good luck this week. Give yourself permission to enjoy these exercises. Take your time and savor the quiet that is you.

* * *

Notes and Insights on Week 2

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CHAPTER 3

Week 3 — Relaxation Meditations

Suggested Music: Any of the Reiki Massage musi* is good for this week's practice.

All of our meditations from this point on begin with some form of breathing and relaxation. Dear reader, you cannot have the feeling of warm well-being in your body and at the same time experience psychological stress.

Deep relaxation when successfully mastered can and has been used as a way of reducing your blood pressure and heart rate. It has been used to stop your fight-or-flight response, stop anxiety, reduce pain, and increase your body's natural healing response.

Progressive Relaxation

Sometimes we are so busy in our lives and our heads that we are unaware of the tension we carry or seem unable to let go of the projects, plans, work, expectations, guilt, and pain. This exercise is very good for releasing those tensions.

It can be done sitting, but most of my students find lying down for this the best. If you are lying down, support your head and use a blanket. Sometimes a pillow under the knees can help the back.

Read the instructions, then read and do the exercise. When you have the process memorized, as Nike says, "Just do it!"

Enjoy this one [??].

Rest in the relaxation as long as your time permits. Because we are beginners just starting out, aim for fifteen minutes, gradually lengthening that time. Setting a gentle timer eliminates the concern about, "Is it time?"

When you are at your deepest place of relaxation, do an inward check and name the emotion you feel.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from A Meditation Journey for Beginners by Cheryl Forrest. Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Forrest. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Welcome to Meditation, 1,
Week 1 — Making Space for Meditation, 13,
Week 2 — Breathing Meditations, 31,
Week 3 — Relaxation Meditations, 49,
Week 4 — Mantra Meditations, 65,
Week 5 — Visualization, 81,
Week 6 — Self-Hypnosis and Affirmations, 99,
Week 7 — Love, 111,