If you have done some reading on this topic, you will notice that there are very many kinds of meditation some religious based, some not. Some use mantras or words repeated over and over again, some don't. The reason it is so hard to describe meditation is that it is different for different schools. I would define it as a state of heightened awareness and deep relaxation, which is arrived at in a very personal way.
So then, let me describe what meditation has been for me. It is a gradual letting go of my traditional "busy thinking." I stop trying to solve problems, analyze situations, and make lists. I turn off that part of my mind that is constantly reviewing the day's events and passing judgements. Instead, I set aside some time, anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, find a quiet setting, eliminate distractions such as phones and quietly begin to listen…either to music, or a bird chirping, or even a clock ticking. I listen to the sounds of wherever I am. Then I begin to help myself to disconnect from my mind, which really needs a rest, by reconnecting to my body.
Sometimes I flex and relax my muscles as you will learn to do on the recording, or sometimes I just scan my body for points of tension. I gently let my thoughts roll over me as if they were waves rolling over a rock. I begin to observe them, slowly distancing myself from them rather than cooperate with them.
I am quiet within, hearing my breath, observing my body release its tension and gently I am letting go. I close my eyes and drift but I am aware. I do not sleep. That is what meditation feels like for me. It's as if my mind were a blackboard that my thoughts kept filling and I just temporarily erased it and cleaned it off.
Sometimes this is not so easy to do by yourself in the very beginning. And so the use of a guided meditation tool to get you used to getting to this place of relaxation and peace can be temporarily helpful.
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