Components of meditation

The four components that contribute to successful meditation: 

1. Quiet surroundings.
2. Devices, facilitates concentration.
3. Passive installation.
4. Comfortable posture. 

The first condition, which we recommend - a peaceful environment. Quiet surroundings - is the absence of external stimuli that could affect the process of meditation. Many patients will be assured that such a place can not be found. If so, you need to show some ingenuity. The patient may use any music or imitation record for "camouflage" distractions. In our laboratory experiments, we found that the smooth hum of a fan or air conditioner is an efficient masking noise. Noise Level low or moderate intensity can indeed provide the relaxing effect. If this is not possible, the patient may be blindfolded, and (or) use earplugs to reduce the level of external stimulation.

The second condition (in the case of physically passive meditation) is a comfortable posture. Muscle tension can interfere with the process of meditation. At the beginning of training the patient should be in a position where most of the weight of his body is supported. An important exception is the head and neck. If you keep your back straight in the head and neck without support, it supports muscle tension, sufficient to prevent the patient's sleep. If the patient is still asleep during meditation, you should use a pose that requires greater muscle tension.

The third condition is the existence of the object of concentration. This component is a connecting link between all forms of meditation (even physically active methods), as mentioned above. Device for concentration, apparently, allows the brain to change their usual way of functioning.

The fourth condition is a passive unit. This setting, some called "passive will" or "passive attention". Benson argues that such "passive setting is perhaps the most important element."

With such a setting, the patient "can" be a meditative process, rather than seek to control it. According to the statement Grinslena, "The patient can start winning only ceased its resistance and allowing ... process to evolve. "

If the patient is unable to accept this setting, it will ask questions such as:

"Do I do this?" - Usually a sign of concern about the external performance of meditation.

"How long will it take?" - Said usually of concern with respect to time.

"What is a good indicator of development?" - Usually indicates a patient's focus on external results, rather than the process itself.

"Should I try to remember all that feel?" - Usually indicates over-analytical approach.

The more the patient reflects on such questions, the less successful is his work. Distracting thoughts are perfectly normal part of the meditation process and they should appear. However, adopting a passive unit will allow the patient to recognize the distracting thoughts and simply return attention to the object of concentration. Excellent description of passive setup can be found in Eric Peper.

The fifth and last condition that we set is psychophysiological sensitivity of the environment. By this we mean a series of internal psycho-physiological conditions, the presence of which enables the patient to meditate. We noted, for example, that attempts to meditation in patients with high levels of psycho-physiological excitation are highly inefficient. Therefore, we deemed it necessary to educate patients lead a more "receptive state for meditation (this also applies to biofeedback, hypnosis, and the method of guiding the imagination). To achieve this, the patient can use several methods of nerve-muscle relaxation to reduce excess muscle tension. We also recommended that patients take a hot bath before meditation. In some cases, patients have reported achieving good success in meditation, when they meditated, sitting in a hot tub. We found that this one little condition referred to psycho-physiological susceptibility is a critical variable in our own clinical work. Therefore, we are expanding the meditative continuum to include this option.