THIS darksome burn, horseback brown, His rollrock highroad roaring down, In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam Flutes and low to the lake falls home.
A windpuff-bonnet of fawn-froth Turns and twindles over the broth Of a pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning, It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.
Degged with dew, dappled with dew, Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern, And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.
What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Hi. Meditation has been around for thousands of years. Meditation came from India. East Indians, the Hindus and the Buddhists practiced meditation as a way of cleansing the body and the mind. The stretching kind of yoga is called hatha yoga. This sitting meditation kind of yoga is called bhakti yoga.
There are many methods of meditation and this is just one of them. You can search online for different methods, so you can choose one that is best suited to your temperament.
Posture: There are many sitting positions for meditation which include the classical lotus poses, the half lotus, and the full lotus. Those positions are difficult on the legs. You can also choose to sit on a regular chair to meditate. I have chosen a kneeling position because it is low to the ground so it has a certain Oriental look and feel to it.
When meditating I make sure to place a small timeclock on the floor so I can look at it and see when the time is up. I usually choose to meditate for a minimum of 20 minutes. I often meditate for 30 minutes. However, YouTube does not like videos more than ten minutes long so I will have to make this video a seven minute meditation.
Breathing: At the end of the video, I will include an animated clip about the ideal breathing method for meditation.
Thinking: Some schools choose to think of a mantra repeated over and over again. Some schools choose to think of no mantra at all but to just allow for a free flow of thoughts. The best way is to think of anything you want as long as it is good. Whether to use a mantra or not is up to you, but the thing is, if you all of a sudden think of something bad or disturbing or unpleasant, to instantly neutralize that thought and turn it to something pleasant; to think of something good.
Meditation has a lot of advantages. If there is a karma or a reaction to an event in which you are moving around, think of the karma or reaction to an event where you are not moving at all. In that way, meditation is life changing. Meditation cleanses the liver. One feels better after meditation. There is a liquid, floating kind of feeling that is incomparable with any other kind of feeling.
A person does not need to belong to any kind of religion to meditate even though meditation is most usually associated with the East Indian religions. A person can be a Christian and still meditate.
It takes awhile to "get" meditation, but once a person does, it is an activity that really helps them a lot in their lives to find calmness, inner peace and reassurance.
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Breathing: The best way to breathe during meditation is to employ a circular breathing method. Inhalation: As one inhales, one imagines a circle and one breathes starting at the pelvic area with the line of breath going up along the spine and over the top of the head. Exhalation: As the inhalation of breath describes an imaginary line, it reaches the top of the head. It is at that point, exhalation begins and as one exhales, they imagine that line of breath going down along the front and then finally joining at the pelvis where it started and the cycle continues on again from there.
Additional notes:
Hand position: There are several to choose from. Look on the internet. The hands folded, right hand over left or vice versa, thumbs touching or not, choose one. I use left hand on top of right hand, thumbs touching.
Eyes closed or open: It is up to you. I use mostly eyes closed but often open my eyes when I meditate sitting on the bed watching television.
Facing the wall or not: A person can meditate anywhere. Facing towards the wall like Bodhidharma or away from the wall. Next to a lake, or on a beach, a person can meditate anywhere. Refer to above; I often meditate sitting on the bed, kneeling, and watching television. I used the facing the wall in this video to give this video a Japanese Zen Oriental kind of feeling.
