What is meditation?

Meditation is a multi-faceted discipline with numerous modes of practice. It is used in both spiritual and non-spiritual ways around the world. One need not follow any particular religion to meditate, nor does one need to follow any prescribed religious dogma at all. All that is required for meditation is an open and inquisitive mind. Meditation is an art and science concerned with learning about the nature of consciousness, both our individual consciousness and the consciousness from which all thought originates: the cosmic consciousness. This education affords the practitioner many benefits along the way.

Routine practice of meditative techniques has profound impacts on all levels of our being: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Some leverage meditative techniques to gain mental clarity or silence the mind and gain control over their emotions during periods of stress or anxiety. Some focus on the physical benefit of meditative practices, including well-documented impacts to our neurological and cardiovascular health. Other focus on the spiritual attainments made possible through meditative disciplines. While all of these ends have inherent value to our total wellbeing, meditation is neither medicine nor merely a method of relaxation. Most of the benefits mental, physical, and emotional benefits of meditation can be achieved without ever actually entering into a true meditative state. Meditation is more than breathing exercises and concentration, it is an act of devotion and an attempt to find union with our higher selves.

Meditation is the practice of focusing one’s physical and mental energies single-pointedly on ourselves as part of all existence. Along the way we relax our bodies and minds as a preparatory step, releasing energy to deepen our concentration on ourselves as part of the cosmic consciousness. The deeper states of meditation are where we find a pathway to union with the Infinite. It is here, in the presence of and as part of the Infinite that we gain access to the cosmic consciousness and the boundless possibility it provides.