The goal of meditation is to be able to focus attention on ourselves, following perceptions, sensations, thoughts and emotions in order to reach a level of greater awareness and inner calm.
Through meditation it is possible to reduce stress, anxiety, fear and anger. There are numerous researches that support the effectiveness of meditation in the management of different forms of pain, such as the studies conducted by John Kabat-Zinn. In association with visualization techniques (Simonton method), meditation has proven efficacy for the reduction of pain related to oncological diseases and for the containment of the side effects of chemotherapy. Other studies testify to the importance of applying these practices in the preoperative phase, to reduce hospitalization times and the pain resulting from surgical procedures.
How to start meditating
First of all, you need a quiet place that allows you to concentrate without interruption.
Silence is not necessarily a requirement; including background noise within one's awareness and paying attention to occasional ones can become part of our meditation practice.
Before starting, determine the amount of time you will devote to practice. Although experienced practitioners recommend two twenty-minute sessions per day, it is sufficient to start with one five-minute session per day.
When we meditate, we need to feel extremely comfortable while maintaining good posture. The most important feature and need to meditate in the best possible way is undoubtedly that of keeping the back straight, in order to prevent drowsiness and make energy flow more easily.
To help you achieve this, make sure that the support you are sitting on has the back higher than the front, tilting your pelvis slightly forward. It is not necessary at first to sit cross-legged, but it is a good idea to take this habit to get to the classic position of Vairocana, which is the basic posture of meditation recommended especially for beginners, as it helps mental and physical stability making clearer and more lucid our thoughts.
If you are not in a position to assume this position, however, try to sit in the way that is closest to you, without ever neglecting your comfort.
A good starting point is to focus on your breath, perhaps using mental images (eg the movement of the belly that rises or the air that fills our lungs with each breath).
Some variations of meditation involve the repetition of a mantra, that is a sound, a word (eg "peace", "tranquility") or a phrase ("Sat, Chit, Ananda" which means "Existence, Consciousness, Bliss").
There are many forms of meditation. An example is the body scan, through which attention is progressively placed on the various parts of our body, looking for sensations or simply observing their state, walking meditation, meditation on daily life, etc.
The six characteristics of the Vairocana posture
1. The right hand is placed in the left hand, palms facing up, with the tips of the thumbs slightly raised that touch gently. The hands are placed about four fingers below the navel. The right hand symbolizes method and the left hand symbolizes wisdom, which come together in the course of the meditative process.
2. The back is straight, but not tense, to help keep your mind clear and allow energy flows to flow more freely.
3. The lips and mouth are relaxed, but the tongue touches the back of the upper dental arch. This expedient prevents both excessive salivation and excessive dryness of the palate at the same time.
4. The head is tilted slightly forward, with the chin slightly attached to the neck so that the eyes look down, to prevent any state of mental arousal.
5. The eyes are half open and look down along the line of the nose. If you keep your eyes completely open you risk developing too many distractions, while if they are totally closed you could otherwise alienate yourself to the point of falling asleep.
6. The shoulders are level and wide, but relaxed, and the elbows set aside from the side of the body to circulate the air better.
A further characteristic of the Vairocana posture is the preliminary breathing, which immerses the mind in the right state and "teaches" the body how to meditate. When we approach meditation, our brain is almost always overflowing with inappropriate thoughts, and we cannot immediately convert such a state of mind into the peaceful and serene one we need. A disturbed mind is like a black cloth: we cannot dye it any other color unless we remove all the base black first.
We must therefore clear the field of all negative thoughts and distractions before dedicating body and soul to the meditative process. You will be able to achieve this temporarily by practicing controlled breathing.