THE MEDITATION-OBSERVATION EXERCISE

by Lawrence Wilson, MD

Meditation is a very commonly-used word. It generally refers to methods of calming or stilling the mind. In some instances, meditation and prayer refer specifically to a religious or spiritual practice of some kind. However, in this article and in all articles on this website, the word refers to a specific type of mental concentration and observation at the same time. This is very important to understand, as otherwise one may think that meditation refers to any number of exercises that are offered today.

This exercise is adapted from the work of Mr. Roy Masters of The Foundation Of Human Understanding or www.fhu.com. I purposely include this reference so that anyone can go there and listen to his meditation procedure before moving on to the slightly modified version I will recommend in this article and perhaps in others on this website.

Mr. Masters calls himself a Judeo-Christian teacher, but the meditation, he says, is completely non-denominational. It also requires no religious training or affiliation, although familiarity with certain biblical concepts is helpful to understand it.

He says he learned it spontaneously as a child and just found it gave him a special kind of peace and perspective, so he just kept doing it. His religious beliefs came later when, though the insights he gained due to meditating each day, he realized the importance of some of the words and phrases in the bible. He says that you, too, will have similar insights once you begin meditating as he recommends. I have found he is correct about this idea.

For more of Mr. Masters ideas, I suggest his small book entitled How Your Mind Can Keep You Well. This is his basic book about the meditation exercise, and the most important of his 12 or so books. The others deal with specific issues such as parents, sexuality, food, medicine and other topics. They vary somewhat, and some are quite controversial and hard to read.

Reading is not the answer. Mr. Masters states clearly that reading will never solve your problems, so do not waste a lot of time reading books. Instead, learn to meditate every day and most problems will slowly disappear from your life. I agree with this, for the most part, and so I do not recommend reading a lot of books about meditation for this reason. However, Mr. Masters basic book on meditation is helpful to get started and for a basic understanding of the procedure and why it is different than all the others I have encountered.

A DEFINITION OF MEDITATION AND EVEN PRAYER

Moving on beyond the basics that Mr. Masters discusses, I will define meditation as a specific exercise or method for bringing into the body the maximum amount of subtle energy. This may seem unusual, as it is not the common reason why one prays or meditates. However, it is the specific intent of this particular exercise. I would also submit that it is the intent of most prayer, as well.

The subtle energy refers to a basic physical energy that animates all life on planet earth. The energy itself is unseen and unfelt for the most part, but is in fact the basic ‘stuff’ or ‘ether’ out of which all created matter is built. In other cultures and traditions, it is known as prana, chi, qi, vital force, life energy or perhaps zero-point energy.

The more of this energy that we possess or take in and pass through our bodies, the better we look and feel. Also, by ingesting or absorbing more of it, we can develop certain brain centers that otherwise remain dormant in almost everyone. These can offer new abilities such as telepathy, an ability to see the aura or energy field around an object or person, and much more.

Thus, the single goal of this meditation is to bring in more of this energy in a safe and simple manner. This can be done by anyone willing to spend the time to do the exercise. I have used this method for some 30 years on a daily basis. It continues to help me heal the physical body and it continues to develop my mind in ways I would not have imagined. This is the reason I continue to recommend it.

A SAFE EXERCISE

Safety should and must be a primary concern when one considers any meditative practice. This is because meditations, prayers and affirmations are quite powerful mental tools. Also, one can waste years with certain prayers and meditations if they are helpful. The Roy Masters exercise is very safe for the following reasons;

· It is easy to learn at home. It does not require any special training, initiation, paying fees, or trained teachers or a group to help you with it. This is a safety feature, since teachers and groups can corrupt meditations, especially.

· You can do it as often and for as long each session as you wish. This cannot be said of many other meditations. For example, please avoid any prayers or meditations that send your energy upward, as they may produce marvelous effects on the mind, but may not be safe in the long term.

· It will not lead you astray. Some types of prayers, such as affirmations, can easily lead people in directions that are not healthy. For example, some affirmations cause people to believe in things that are not really true, such as “I am happier and healthier every day.” This statement might be true, but often it is not and is just an attempt to brainwash yourself.

· It does not cause visions, hallucinations or other psychic phenomena.

· It is grounding and centering, which tends to be far safer than most others.

· It does not cause strain to the body or to the mind. For example, many prayers and meditation teachers suggest one assume uncomfortable postures that are not needed, in our view, and can even damage the body over time. This particularly applies to Oriental systems such as yoga and tai chi, unfortunately. These can be good, but one must have a teacher who continuously checks to be sure there is no strain on the ligaments and joints of the body.

· It is not hypnotic. In fact, Mr. Masters calls it the anti-hypnosis, as it will break many light hypnotic trances easily. Mr. Masters was a hypnotist before he taught meditation and states that this exercise can help break the effect of hypnotic speech, images, etc.

· No dogma or doctrines are needed. In other words, there is no need or attempt to inculcate certain doctrines in order for this exercise to work. It is a pure exercise in this regard. Dogma may help some people, but it is not needed and this is another safety feature since one is not forced to learn any particular information. The exercise is mainly about removing images, thoughts, and emotions that are revealed to be untrue as one progresses with the exercise. This is very different from affirmations that seek to influence the brain in ways that are sometimes not healthy, though the affirmations may seem benign.

· It does not develop “psychic abilities”. Some may see this as a disadvantage. However, in our experience, most people are better off without these abilities until they are sufficiently balanced to handle them properly.

· A slow, steady and safe way to open the energy centers of the body and heal the body. This is a great key and benefit of this exercise that cannot be said of most prayers and meditations, sadly. The reason is the exercise is non-specific. That is, it does not target any particular thought, body organ or area, or anything else. It might be called instead an exercise in pure energy awareness of the whole person.

Now let us discuss a few important topics and benefits of this meditation exercise.

EMPTYING THE MIND

The means of bringing in the new energy is most important. It is to empty the mind or self of as much of this world as possible for the short period of meditation. This is critical to understand. Roy Masters does not emphasize this enough, but it is at the very core or essence of this exercise if one is to succeed with it.

The concept is discussed in the bible, for example, in the phrase, “not my will, but Thine be done”. This is the concept of emptying the self of all that one thinks is important and instead opening the self, the mind, and the body, including the joints of the body in particular, to something new, something different, something beyond this physical world.

A NEW SOURCE OF ENERGY

The modified Roy Masters exercise can permit one to connect with a new source of personal and healing energy. This may seem like a strange idea. However, it is no doubt true, and one can feel it, first as a slight tingling and later throughout the body.

This energy is the primordial energy of life that promotes and provides health and long life. It is also associated with new abilities and powers that are not available when one is connected only to the physical and environmental sources of energy or physical reality. This is a key to understanding this meditation exercise and, to some degree, all prayer and meditation practices.

THE GOAL OF THIS PRACTICE

The goal of meditation is to activate your full potential. This is more than just calming the mind, or increasing one’s awareness, although these are among its benefits. It is a long, slow road, so it is best to begin now.

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

PHYSICAL HEALING

The effects of the new source of energy are many, and they occur on all levels of our being. For example, physical healing occurs because the subtle energy, as it enters the body through the head, automatically flows everywhere in the body and helps to deconstrict and decongest areas of the brain and body.

Many other subtle changes occur in the glands and other organs of the physical body. For example, the practice of sitting quietly and meditating as suggested inhibits the sympathetic nervous system. This is the fight-or-flight nervous system. Resting this system powerfully rests the adrenal and thyroid glands and assists the activity of the immune, digestive and elimination systems of the body.

Many other benefits flow from this one benefit to the nervous system. Breathing tends to automatically slow and deepen, bringing more oxygen to the body cells. As breathing changes, the body becomes better oxygenated. More oxygen in the body greatly assists the proper nutrition and metabolism in the body. This often brings healing all by itself and is the reason oxygen therapies are highly recommended for certain ailments.

Causing healing reactions. As the physical body shifts due to the effects of the meditation, you can expect some unusual or just annoying healing symptoms, at times. This is nothing to be concerned about and they will pass. Perhaps skip the meditation for a day if you feel your body needs to “catch up” or move through something one day.

On the other hand, at times, meditating more will move the reaction through faster. Some experimentation will be needed to learn how to best handle these situations. I may be able to assist you if difficulties of this type continue to arise. For example, you may be overlooking a procedure or aspect of your life that needs more attention.

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALING

So much change occurs on mental and emotional levels that a large section of this article will discuss just a few of the major ones.

Mental healing occurs for several reasons. Meditation is like a once or a twice-a-day mental checkup. Often you will find that you automatically review your day and plan for tomarrow without having to think about it.

Incomplete thought processes will be completed as the mind stops racing out of control. Most people do not realize that they are so busy with their momentary activities that they do not complete their thoughts, and many projects at home or at work. So during meditation, you will realize what you need to do and many thought processes will complete on their own. This not only relaxes the mind and the emotions in many cases. Often this also brings with it surprising insights and creative ideas for you.

Old mental and emotional traumas come up for viewing and are resolved in the light. This reduces stress dramatically. This is a very necessary process for many people’s physical and even more so their emotional and mental healing. It is not always pleasant, but if one will just observe whatever comes up with equanimity and an observing attitude, not judging whatever it is, then it will pass eventually. That is all that is needed in most cases. Rarely, it is wise to talk about your insights with a counselor or a good friend, but usually this is not necessary, nor is it always helpful since all that is usually needed is to let it go and move on. Talking for hours about it is not usually helpful at all.

Meditation also brings and keeps one in the present moment. This is where all wisdom and healing lie. Fear and anxiety are in the future, while guilt and remorse are in the past. You will begin to understand this much better as you meditate daily. This exercise is superb for keeping a person in the present time, something that most people have difficulty doing well and consistently.

The exercise is extremely grounding and centering. This is not true of most meditations, by the way. Grounding, which is the subject of an article on this website, is most important for healing for many people today. Especially as our world is changing rapidly, grounding and centering are extremely important for all healing processes.

Deprogramming, rather than reprogramming. The exercise deprograms the mind and even the body in many ways by upsetting and breaking up old tensions. That is, it slowly undoes your past traumas and issues.
         In contrast, affirmations, most visualization and concentration exercises only reprogram the mind. This is a vital difference between this meditation and almost all others that I have seen.
         Whitewashing Vs. Removal. This subject could fill an entire book. It means that other methods will tend to whitewash over your problems, fears, angers and the rest of the unwanted thoughts and emotions. Instead, the meditation I recommend here will often do the opposite.
         It will bring them up for review. If you are able to just observe them without too much reaction, they will then be released and you will be free from the original cause of the attitude, emotion or thought.
         This process of deprogramming takes a few years, but is well worth the effort.   Each level of traumas and hidden emotions and thoughts that you progress through clears more negative thought patterns and little by little you will be free and will function much better in every way.
         Deprogramming and Healing. Freeing negative energetic patterns also greatly opens the body for every kind of healing.

THIS MEDITATION IS:

· A Habit That Allows You to End Your Attachment To Mindless Habits.

· A Discipline That Helps Remove The Need For So Much Discipline.

· A Use Of Your Lower Will That Helps End The Reign Of Your Lower Will.

This meditation is a form of psychotherapy. It gently brings up hidden thoughts and attitudes so they can be examined objectively. It is a self-therapy that proceeds at your own pace and brings up issues in exactly the correct order. By cultivating the ‘witness’ in oneself, it shines the light of truth on every activity, relationship and event in one’s life. This has a powerful healing effect if one is willing to make needed changes that are best for oneself and best for others as well. While psychotherapy can be beneficial, problems with all psychotherapy are that one must interact with a therapist who is usually not completely clear about all of his or her own issues, so things become confused and distorted in all instances that I have observed. In other words, just interacting with another, while often helpful, also introduces other input and theories and so on that may not be relevant and often send the client off in random directions, many of which today are not helpful.

Negative and random, distracting thoughts suddenly are found to have less power. This is a mental effect that is quite startling to people. It has to do with observing one’s thoughts and the idea of bringing up and releasing old traumas. As this is done, the negative thoughts and feelings associated with the traumas stop coming into your mind.

You may find that oddly, you no longer feel sorry for yourself, for example, or you will strangely find you are less angry or upset with your family, perhaps. Automatically reducing this negative thinking is an incredible benefit for many people who have tried affirmations, prayer, other meditations and many methods to accomplish this goal.

This meditation is an anti-hypnosis. Roy Masters is a hypnotist by profession. He realized people did not need hypnosis to cure their problems. In fact, most are already hypnotized! Most people live in a light trance state that he calls “the hypnosis of life”. For example, television advertising, he says is just a way of giving many people a post-hypnotic suggestion to buy a certain car or brand of shampoo. Advertising may work because the population is already in somewhat of a trance state and are easily influenced by these silly ads. Advertising has other more spiritual aspects, however, which is to raise awareness and alert people to new products and services. However, many ads are aimed at unconscious and often hypnotic suggestions to lure people unconsciously. This is what might be called the dark side of advertising.
Meditation, by increasing awareness, very slowly assists one out of the hypnotic or very light trance state they are in and helps them come back to reality.

This meditation will help develop healthier attitudes. Emotionally, one slowly becomes more centered and balanced in one’s attitudes and approaches to life. One becomes more centered in oneself, which is not the same as becoming self-centered. The difference between these two states is enormous. Centered in oneself means that one has a place of balance and peace within. This allows one to be much less self-centered, which means preoccupied with the ego self or selfishness.
These physical, mental and emotional effects combine to reshape the entire person, top to bottom, into a more loving, more unselfish, more enlightened being. This is the beauty of this meditation.

HABIT CHANGE

With this meditation, bad habits will tend to drop you. Interestingly, you will no longer be compatible with them. Many such habits simply stem from unawareness. As your awareness grows, you will see the roots of your habits. This meditation allows you to understand yourself without becoming morbid or negatively self-conscious.

You will see the process of your thinking and why you smoke, drink alcohol or engage in other habits or activities that deplete you. As you begin to take more of your cues from the higher self or real self, you will be less often triggered by people or events. Common sense and a spiritual sense take over. Change then becomes much easier. Life becomes simpler and happier without exerting any special effort, except to keep meditating even if you think you have “arrived” or become “enlightened”.

THE WITNESS

The exercise offers a simple way to retrain the mind to watch itself without judgment or condemnation. It is not, in itself, a way to solve problems, but a way to increase awareness.
By increasing awareness, one understands oneself and others better. This understanding brings solutions for problems without struggle or effort. The only effort required is to practice the exercise regularly.

This is a unique way to solve problems. I first read about the idea years ago in the books written by J. Krishnamurti. I highly recommend reading one of his books. However, while he recommends meditation as the solution to all problems, he does not offer a specific exercise, so the results did not come. I believe he practiced this same exercise but either did not wish to share the details or perhaps did not realize the need to share them clearly. As a result, his books are wonderful to read, but will not produce the same results as doing the recommended exercise in this article.

USEFUL ANALOGIES FOR THIS MEDITATION

This meditation is:

· Taming the wild beast of the mind. At times, the exercise can feel like ‘breaking’ a wild horse or trying to tame another wild beast.

· Coming home. It is like deciding to stay home, so to speak, and spend time with your real self instead of just running out all the time with various distractions and activities. This meditation is a way of being with oneself in a relaxed way, of viewing problems without running from them or having to react in any way.

· Turning down the volume of a blaring radio, so you can hear the more subtle music within.

· Going to the movies every day. However, the subject of the movie is yourself. This may seem boring, morbid or self-centered but it is really none of these. You are a child of god and to explore and see yourself in this way is a wonderful exercise that helps you to appreciate yourself and then to appreciate others at deeper levels as well.

· Magnetizing a piece of iron. This particular exercise is like stroking a piece of iron with a magnet to magnetize the piece of iron. One simply strokes the iron over and over again in the exact same direction and way, and sooner or later the iron becomes magnetized properly. It may take thousands of repetitions, however, to form a strong magnet. Once done, however, it is quite permanent, and indeed, it builds upon itself.

· Inducing a current flow in a transformer. A more exact analogy for this exercise is that of a transformer that induces a current. The exercise actually induces a kind of electrical current in the body. In a transformer, one wire that is connected to a battery or energy source is placed next to another one, although they are not directly connected. The current and voltage from the first wire, when set up properly, is able to induce or cause a voltage in the second wire. This is somewhat of a good description of what is going on with the Roy Masters meditation. The energized wire is the energy that one moves through the body. The body itself is the other wire that becomes energized, as a result.

FROM EXTERNALLY CONTROLLED TO INTERNALLY MOTIVATED

This meditation helps enormously to shift the control or major influence on a person from the world and its hidden forces and agendas, toward control by the inner person. This makes room in the mind and opens the way, later, for receiving other excellent guidance that is not of this world.

Beware, however, any time the mind is made receptive to guidance. Change in this direction, however, takes time and occurs slowly and gently in most cases. If an opening occurs quickly, all the better. However, one must be on guard, at all times, against the intrusion of other beings into the mind who are not benign, or who are less benign. These are sometimes called negative souls or negative guides.

One must always use common sense in regard to following any possible guidance. It is imperative that one stay well rested, well-hydrated and well-nourished so the mind never is allowed to become unbalanced or too tired.

Meditation allows one to unfold from within, like a flower in the spring. In our physical development, we grow from the inside out, but mentally most people grow from without to within. That is, one’s education, friends, events and traumas shape the mind from the outside in. This meditation permits a different kind of mental and emotional development from within. It occurs according to one’s personal plan, not by accident or by the effects of others or random circumstances of ones life.

This is a fascinating concept of the unfoldment of the mental and emotional nature of an individual and few methods permit this type of unfoldment. I was told by Roy Masters and others that I might not even recognize myself as I begin to unfold from within. But not to worry, they said, because my positive qualities would be maintained. The only ones that would drop away would be those that were not truly mine, but instead had been “slapped on” by unthinking or just unconscious parents, friends, teachers and others. These need to be removed. Some may not like the “new you” but they are not your real friends, as the real ones will love that you are “coming into your own” in new ways.

THE ULTIMATE LIFESTYLE MODIFICATION

This exercise is the ultimate lifestyle modification because it will slowly shift a number of areas in your lifestyle, often in interesting and unusual ways as you keep meditating.

IMPROVED RELATIONSHIPS AND MORE LOVE

This meditation cultivates a relationship between the inner self and the outer self. In other words, it is a powerful way of cultivate a sincere, loving relationship with yourself, one that is not a relationship with the ego self. To cultivate a relationship with the ego self is easy, as the ego is always demanding things and one simply follows the impulses to eat some ice cream, perhaps, or buy some new clothes or put on some makeup to look better, perhaps.

This is a different kind of loving relationship that is not about the ego self or even about the mind. The mind is actually part of the ego. The mind might make demands, too, such as it wants to be entertained by going to a movie or perhaps it wants to be stimulated by reading a fascinating article or book, even this one. This is still of the ego self, though perhaps at a different level.

The relationship that is cultivated through this meditation is actually still at an ego level, but so subtle that it is far more health-producing and healing. It is actually a relationship with the most subtle aspects of the body-mind and spirit.

Because it is at this high level, however, it tends to straighten out and improve all of one’s other relationships with people, things, and events. By working on this relationship, all other relationships improve because one is in better touch with one’s deepest essence or higher self or God. For example, marriages often begin to work better, or perhaps one may realize that this marriage is not going to change much and another course of action is needed.

Children often begin to shape up and relate to your better because most children are more in touch with their deeper self, having had less time to learn and build up layers of ego defense mechanisms that adults have. All other types of professional and personal relationships also tend to get better. This does not mean they will all continue, since some are unhealthy and one will become more acutely aware of this fact. However, whatever happens, one becomes much more authentic, genuine, present, and not as easily fooled or manipulated by others.

While it is not discussed enough in psychology books, a key to relating to others is to not allow them to manipulate conversations and other activities. This may make others angry, but in the end it is best for them, as well, of course, as it is for oneself. Allowing others to control and manipulate oneself is just an ego game that is “par for the course” in most human relationships. When that comes to an end, some relationships will disintegrate or end, but that is as it should be. They will be replaced, inevitably, by better ones based upon deeper spiritual connections and real friendship rather than seeing if one can get one’s way with others, as is the more common style on earth.

As one learns to see oneself more clearly, one sees others with more clarity and discernment. Of course, not all your friends and family will like this. They may have been using your anger against you, manipulating you with praise or blame, flattering you to get what they want or intimidating you with idle threats. You will see all this more clearly and the relationship will change.

One becomes less influenced by images and illusions outside as you dissolve the images and illusions inside your head. One becomes less gullible and less vulnerable to other's attempts to deceive and control you.

If a couple meditates, it is like adding a neutral third party or mediator to the relationship. This reduces ego fighting and the battle of the wills that often occurs between partners. This is an extremely powerful way of doing marriage counseling, by the way, without having to pay counselors. However, both parties must really do the exercise correctly, and that, unfortunately, is rare today. Usually one will do it thoroughly, while the other is still stuck in what he or she believes is correct and cannot truly let go completely into the exercise for fear that perhaps one will see that the perspective was not correct, after all. This is the only problem with recommending that a couple meditate together, so beware of this possibility.

MEDITATION AND LOVE

By loving oneself through taking the time and trouble to do this meditation, one becomes less dependent on the love of others. Meditation allows you to practice true love. Many people want to be loving, but they don't seem to know how. By connecting to your higher self or real self, one is filled the love of the Creator. This can then be shared with others in endless numbers of ways. It can truly allow a person to do as the bible suggests, to “bless and forgive this world” in each moment.

This kind of love is detached, asks nothing in return, and is therefore more pure and unconditional. One can see what others really need, not what they think they need or what they say they need. It is the quality of compassion and not a bargaining session, as too much of “love” is on this planet, such as “if you love me I will love you. But if you do this or that, then I don’t love you any more”. This is purely an ego type of love, and not very spiritual at all.

By experiencing the “real thing”, one becomes aware of selfish motives and feelings that one thought were love. These include attachment, identification, projection, lust, ambition, sentimentality, enabling and pride. One will be able to let these go as one sees they are not very deep forms of love. This can help relationsips of all kinds in fabulous ways if a person can remember that love is always blind in that it just loves, and does not look for anything in return.

EMOTIONAL CONTROL

This meditation is about getting to "know thyself" at a much deeper level. It is an impartial way to study the self and the mind. As one understands the self more deeply, power and control over the self increases. As you gain control over yourself, your emotions come naturally more under your control and begin to even out. They just have less power and effect.

In a sense, the real Armageddon is fought inside your head. When you have conquered yourself, meaning your own thoughts and emotions, dealing with the world is much easier. The world situation, you will see, is often no more than a reflection of the struggle that goes on inside each of us. By changing yourself, the spiritual struggle is won and the world tends to shift in amazing ways around you.

POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER OTHERS

Interestingly, you may find yourself oddly more confident, even if nothing changes on the outside. You may also discover that you will have more control or authority over others. Some people will not like this, by the way, especially “old friends” and family who may have known you as you were before.

These people are often ones that are used to having you somewhat out of control so they can manipulate you in certain ways. This may sound negative but it is the truth, just one truth that you will learn as you continue to meditate.

You will see how people feign the truth, change their voice to manipulate and control others, and use a hundred other sly methods, often without realizing they are doing it, to control others. As you see and feel these, you will be less influenced by them.

This will place you in a superior position of authority, and they will be unhappy that their little tricks don’t work any more. You must be ready for this, as it will cause some anger on their part in most cases. But it is best, of course, as their manipulative actions and words hurt them as much as they harm others.

GREATER ABILITY TO LOVE AND HELP OTHERS

Many times, we wish to help others but it doesn’t seem to work out. By learning to love yourself using this particular exercise, you will have a greater understanding of how to love others. Without any conscious effort on your part, for example, you will cease to spread around your stress and your negative thoughts and emotions you didn't even know you had. This alone can have an amazingly calming and uplifting effect on everyone around you. They may not understand it, but will just realize that somehow Mom, Dad, Joe or Nancy is just nicer to be around these days.

You will have a greater sense of perspective and therefore become more knowing and compassionate. Compassion is a special kind of love in which you understand more. You will understand better what people need, when to intervene and when to leave people alone. Without even realizing it, you will start to manipulate people less and just allow them to be more. This also has a subtle calming effect on some people, though not all.

HAPPINESS

Positivity and happiness can tend to be of two basic types. This meditation tends to cause one to develop an honest positivity because one lets go of false negative ideas, delusions and useless emotions such as thinking that I am ugly, stupid, stubborn and worthless. One’s understanding and perspective begin to derive more and more from the high self or real self, which is happy, free, relaxed and okay all the time because it is unaffected by the world. This kind of happiness develops slowly as layer after layer of unreality or unhappy ideas and emotions are removed from your mind.

This is very different from the “happiness” and “positive thinking” that many people experience, especially adults. Theirs is dependent upon temporarily blocking out the negative ideas and emotions, usually by turning their focus to something else such as their new house, their children, their job or friends or family, perhaps.

While there is nothing wrong with any of these things, if they are used to ignore or block out negativity, this is called a co-dependent relationship and it is not healthy. But is the common way in most people’s lives. It is very different, for example, than the joy of a newborn baby. They don’t think much or need a new house or car or friend to feel good. When they are fed and dry, can just be happy without all these things, and they can often play by themselves for hours, as every mother and father knows, in harmony and peace, it seems, and without needing to run away from anything.

Increased awareness, or just knowing more, as a result of meditation, can be a great source of happiness. We all want to understand ourselves and others better. Awareness can bring that understanding and this is a source of joy for most people. Of course, awareness occasionally brings pain as one sees that the world is not as one thought it was. But that usually passes if one realizes that knowing the truth is best, even if it hurts, at times.

As you become happier inside, you will stop looking for happiness outside yourself, and this relieves a great amount of anxiety and stress, bringing even more happiness. This is another secret of meditation of this type.

Another way this meditation brings happiness is that as the body heals the cells begin to send messages of happiness and joy to the brain. This is a subtle type of happiness that may not be appreciated by some people, but it is the truth that a healthy body is easier to be happy within. Life flows more easily, one can sleep and digest and eliminate better and the hormones that make us feel good are available in abundance. All this contributes to a happy outlook on life.

A POSITIVE MENTAL FOCUS AND WAY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

This particular exercise can provide a new focus for one’s life – to calm down, and become centered and more self-aware. These are ancient ways to refocus the goals and purposes of one’s life that are not heard much today, but are nevertheless wonderful ways to refocus one’s life. Any shift of focus away from time-wasting and unhealthy ego pursuits has a healing effect.

Since meditation offers much greater clarity about ones life, this alone can result in new directions, new pursuits, new occupations and new relationships that are more healthful and satisfying.

Roy Masters likes to point out that this meditation is not a way to directly solve problems, but a way to increase awareness. This will slowly bring new insights that can help solve most problems. The principle is ‘the truth will set you free. J. Krishnamurti, a famous author, once said, “awareness brings its own action”.

Mental biofeedback. A principle used in the science of biofeedback is “anything you can monitor, you can change”. Meditation is a form of biofeedback in that one monitors one’s thoughts and other mental activities. As one does this, thinking and feeling habits will change. Confucius said “if you understand a problem deeply enough, you will have the answer”. Meditation is a way to study yourself ever more deeply. This will bring answers to many problems.

Becoming more objective. Meditation is like carefully a studying a friend from an objective perspective. Often it is easier to solve friend’s problems, because one is less involved. The same will occur with one’s own problems as they are seen more objectively. Common sense will take over in many instances and help you solve your problem.

Learning to observe objectively. This meditation is a way to “gather the facts” about oneself and one’s situation in a new way. The trick is not to judge what you see or observe. Don’t say, “Oh, but this can’t be. That person seems so nice”.

Just keep observing and ask only for the truth to be revealed. With enough insight, solutions to problems become apparent. There is no need or benefit to adding any new thoughts or ideas of your own. It is enough to see what is. The underlying premise is that you know the answers. They are just obscured by confusion and misperceptions. This meditation is, in fact, a removal process. This differs from many exercises that seek to “affirm away” or cover over negative or undesirable thoughts or emotions.

Meditating in order to solve a problem is not the correct motivation for meditation. One should not “meditate on something”. However, it is fine to begin with this motivation. Later you can change your motive to just wanting greater awareness, which will in turn bring answers in their own time. In the meantime, if you do not know what to do about a problem, often it is best to just wait. In your helplessness, help will come.

STRESS REDUCTION

When the head is filled with racing thoughts, one is often unaware of danger and stress until it becomes extreme. As one meditates regularly with this exercise, one becomes aware of stress sooner and can take faster action. One becomes more like the wild animals who sense danger and react quickly, as by instinct.

For example, it allows you to feel tensions in the body each moment, so one can change posture, habits or other causes rather than let the tensions build up.

This meditation reduces stress in dozens of other ways as well, such as reducing negative and illusory thoughts and feelings, reducing stress on the nervous system, and more.

A POSITIVE STRESSOR

Emptying the self of the old and bringing in a new source of energy functions as a positive stressor. This means it stresses one, but in a positive or beneficial way. It brings in more truth, along with the subtle energy, so one can say it is the stress of truth and awareness. This places a spiritual stress on one that can result in character development.

The stress of needing to change. This meditation exercise will show one the truth about many things. One is not forced to act on the information, but If one does not act, the truth will be brought up over and over again. This is an interesting effect of increasing one’s awareness. Sadly, it causes some people to stop meditating, as they do not want to be reminded of certain truths.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

The most important benefit of this particular meditation is that the new source of energy slowly develops the subtle or energy bodies of a person. Human beings are not aware of these bodies and in most people they never develop to any significant extent. This is sad, however, because the development of these bodies brings with it long life and health.

Human beings all have seven physical and energy bodies. Only the physical body is visible. However, the others can be felt and measured with the proper electrical instruments. This website describes them to a degree in an article entitled The Human Aura.

HOW TO MEDITATE

Below is a description of the Roy Masters meditation practice, with my modifications to it. However, it is far easier, especially at first, to learn it while listening to a compact disc program. Mr. Masters offers this exercise on a cassette tape or CD, and I believe you can download it from his website.

I also offer a CD with a few improvements, in my view. This CD is described on this website and available by clicking here for the meditation CD.

The Basic Meditation Procedure:

Sit in a straight-backed chair, with your arms hanging loosely at your side. A variation is to lie down and place your hands at your sides. Close your eyes.

Become aware of your right hand. Just notice it. Do not concentrate on it or visualize it, exactly. Just be aware of it and notice it. Do not force anything to happen.

It is often easier to be aware of one finger at a time rather than the whole hand at once. Move your awareness from finger to finger, but do not move your awareness to the rest of your body. Keep your awareness on your hand. It should start to tingle a little bit.

At the same time, look through the middle of your forehead, as though you were sitting inside your head and looking out. It should feel like you are sitting inside a cave with nothing much to look at, so you just look straight ahead. Do not roll your eyes up in your head or do anything else. Just look out of your head through the middle of your forehead.

Allow and assist energy to flow into the top of the head and down the body to the right hand. Encourage this energy to flow by drawing it down into the body and them move it to the right hand. Slowly this flow and the tingling of the right hand will increase. Eventually, you will allow and move the energy down from the head into both hands and then into the feet as well. This is more advanced, but is another excellent aspect of the exercise.

To enhance the exercise, empty the body and mind and imagine the energy flowing into the void or emptiness of the body. You can imagine a giant vacuum cleaner or force pulling the energy down from the top of the head and into the right hand and down to the feet. You can also imagine standing under a giant shower or waterfall with the energy cascading down into the body and down the front of the body. These visualizations may help a process that is real, namely bringing the energy down from the head to the feet as forcefully as you can.

Advanced ideas. Ways that an help move more energy through the body include:

· Pushing the body down, mentally, sort of like it is a sponge and you can squeeze the body downward. I am not sure why this works, but it seems to move more energy through.

· Moving the attention from one finger to another. This was mentioned earlier.

· Thinking of magnetizing a metal rod by continually stroking it in one direction only.

· Thinking of inducing a current in a wire (the body) by moving energy through and around the body.

· You can either or both push, or pull or draw the energy down the front of the body. Any visualization that you can think of to help with this may move more energy down the body.

· Move the energy not just down to the feet but somewhat beyond or below the feet. This also appears to help.

Distractions. You will probably find you cannot do the exercise for very long without becoming distracted. Thoughts arise, as may songs, memories or things you have to do later that day. Your body may itch or hurt, or you may even fall asleep. Just observe the thoughts and feelings without judgment and then bring your attention back to your hand.

Bring the attention back to the right hand thousands of times, if needed. Slowly, your mind will learn not to stray quite as much. You are training part of your mind to observe at all times. Some days will be easier than others.

Results. You may notice results within a week or less, or results may take longer. You may feel calmer, more detached, and you may gain insights. Often the insights will not come while meditating. They may come while you are doing the dishes or driving your car.

Each time you meditate, you alter the way you perceive the world. You will see things slightly differently. Some of what you see may not be pleasant. Just watch it all from a neutral place.

PROCEDURAL MATTERS

· Do the exercise as much as you can and, if possible, at least twice a day. You can do it anytime and anywhere, although certainly do not do it while driving or some other dangerous activity. Roy Masters teaches that eventually you will be doing the exercise 24 hours a day.

· Each time you practice it, do the exercise as though it were the first time. It should never become a habit or mechanical. Do it a little deeper each time.

· Make meditation part of your lifestyle. Schedule it into your day so you don’t overlook this important new part of your life.

· Be patient. Benefits come in their own time, not when you think they should.

· Some days it will be easier to meditate than others. Several months to years may be required to refocus your mind. Just keep at it. It is something like training or retraining an old dog or cat. It may not be easy and the old reactive mind or ‘monkey mind’, as some call it, will fight you hard at times to stay in control, and to keep you out of control.

· If at all possible, be open to seeing the truth about everything, and to waking up and seeing yourself as you really are. You will see your faults and shortcomings. You will also become aware of many qualities and abilities that you didn't know you had. This is all part of the process as you become free of your past and all the false notions that you learned from your environment.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE MEDITATING

It is perfectly normal to have difficulty meditating with this exercise at times, particularly when starting out. Here are several suggestions:

· Make meditation part of your daily lifestyle.

· Set things up so you have the time to do it in peace.

· Turn off the phone and, if needed, arrange for someone to watch children.

· Go to the office early if you cannot meditate at home.

· Ideally, set up a special room and chair that you use just for meditation.

· On difficult days, think of disciplining an unruly child who has been spoiled for 40 or more years. Sometimes it will resist a lot. Don’t worry about it. Just say, “OK, we’ll do our best and perhaps better tomarrow.”

· If you are an athlete or train at anything, you know that training involves good and bad days. Just take it all in stride. Meditation involves discipline, which comes from the same root as the word ‘disciple’. It is not about forcing things. It is about gently staying with or following your path and the results will come.

Gimmicks. Use gimmicks to help you stay with meditation. An excellent gimmick, if it can be called that, is to use a CD or cassette tape to help you maintain your focus and to time your sessions.

Another gimmick is to do the exercise while walking slowly, if you cannot sit still, as I have had trouble doing. I also learned to meditate while doing a coffee enema that was part of a physical healing program I undertook. It was a perfect time to meditate, as I was forced to lie still for 20 minutes or so while retaining the enema.

Any place you are confined to a chair such as during an airplane flight or at a pleasant concert can be an excellent place to meditate. Meditate in the bathroom stall if that is the only peaceful place where you find yourself.

MEDITATION GROUPS

Some people function better alone, while others prefer a group setting for prayer and meditation. Therefore I will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of each situation.

Benefits of groups. These are many. Among them are:

· Social networking and social interaction. This may ease tensions, spreads friendships and love, and relaxes some people.

· A positive group setting. For some people, getting out of their home or work environment and going to a clean, happy group setting is a wonderful benefit, especially if the home is chaotic, noisy or lack moral and other types of support for the person.
However, this usually involves more time, driving, and some disruption of one’s regular schedule, so a balance must be struck.

· Dealing with meditation problems. Groups can sometimes bring up and deal with problems that occur during meditation better. These have been discussed in the paragraphs above.

· Help with discipline and consistency. Groups definitely help those who are not as good with discipline.

· Group love and healing. This means that there is an energy is a good group that can relax, ease tensions and help heal everyone in the group. Some need and want this more than others. Very advanced students may be held back by this energy, however.

· More learning. Group settings can be good for spreading more knowledge.

· Spiritual development and healing, especially for beginners. Group energies can be extremely beneficial and positive for new members, especially. This has to do with the field of energy that is created by any group process.

· Easier for some guides to work with groups. Guidance is real and present always. Guides can often work more easily with some prayer and meditation groups because there is a common, shared bond of energy. This is most important, once again, for beginners. Later, guides prefer working on one person at a time in a more isolated setting such as at home rather than in a diverse group with many levels of imbalances and energies.

Problems with groups. These include:

· Slows the more developed people. The energy of the group is often not clean and pure enough for a more advanced person. Thus groups are usually best for beginners.

· Inadequate leadership can disrupt or even ruin a group.

· Distractions. For example, socializing and networking at group meetings is fun, but can waste time and be distracting for the more serious participants.

· Power and control issues, at times. Struggles often develop in groups for leadership, for time spent talking to the group, and other things. This can dilute the benefits of the group.

· Logistics problems. One must drive and spend extra time going to and from the group, and often wait for the group, and go at the pace of the group, wasting time. Group meetings may be at inconvenient times or places

· Going off course. Groups easily may deviate somewhat from the stated purpose of the group. This is often led by beginners who don’t understand the purpose of the group well enough and must be stopped gently but firmly or the group transforms into something different than it was intended.

· Safety. Sometimes groups are not safe, as predators may join to pick up women or men, or for other selfish reasons. Leaders need to be sensitive to such issues.

· Advanced students generally make faster progress on their own, though not necessarily.

HOW TO COPE WITH WHAT COMES UP DURING MEDITATION OR PRAYER SESSIONS

One reason some do not continue with meditation is the fact that, at times, negative thoughts or feelings from within a person arise and this can be very disconcerting. If possible, learn to just observe whatever comes up during meditation.

Be grateful for seeing the truth, even if it is unpleasant. You do not have to react in any way. Definitely do not judge yourself or others. If you wallow in your thoughts or insights, it will keep them around. It is best to view all thoughts, emotions and insights as you would view clouds in the sky. As they arise, just observe them and let them go.

HOW DOES THIS MEDITATION DIFFER FROM THE OTHER EXERCISES?

Prayer is not so different from this meditation in some ways. Both involve asking and emptying the self, for example. However, many times prayer is a more rote exercise for people involving just the repeating of various words and phrases. This is not the same. This meditation does not require or involve any words or phrases or mantras at all. In fact, it is purely energetic and if you add any words, prayers or mantras to it, you will either negate it altogether or at least weaken its effect.

However, to say a prayer at the beginning, and even for a while at the end to help with closure, is fine. But realize the exercise is very specific to bring in a new energy by emptying the self of the old.

Prayers also often specific rituals and doctrines. This meditation requires no doctrine whatsoever. The only ritual is to empty the self and allow and even force the energy down from the head into the hand and eventually the feet. That is all. One’s religion, nationality or belief systems do not matter in the least.

In fact, this is a danger with this meditation, in that anyone can use it for his or her benefit, even if the person is not the most honest or high integrity person. This is a danger with this method. I am not too concerned, however, because the exercise takes a fair amount of work and dedication to receive the benefits.

Is it a religion? This exercise is certainly not a religion, and can be done by anyone, as stated above. However, I see it as the basis for a new religion, perhaps. The reason is that it is a way to get in touch with oneself, which is the real meaning and desire of religions. The danger, of course, is that someone will design a religion around the exercise and fill it with other rituals and doctrines until the basic exercise is forgotten. This has happened before in history.

Is it relaxation, visualization, self-hypnosis and concentration? The exercise does involve some visualization and some concentration. However, these are not the goal or the central focus of the exercise. That is how it differs from most of these other exercises. This meditation is certainly not self-hypnosis, a concept that is the very opposite of wanting to remove or eliminate all hypnotic tendencies of the mind.

Repetition of words, phrases or mantras tends to produce a somewhat hypnotic state, and this is one reason this is not employed with this exercise.

What about breathing with the exercise? This is not required. Adding special breathing, such as counting to 10, or holding the mouth or tongue a special way, can definitely distract one and slow progress with this exercise.

If one wishes, a very simple breathing method called circle breathing may be used an might enhance progress. One simply moves energy up the back during the inhale and down the front of the body on the exhale. That is all there is to it. However, recall that one is supposed to be moving energy down the body at all times, so this should be done as well. In fact, energy will circulate this way – up the back and down the front – to some degree. However, pushing the energy or drawing the energy down the front is by far the most critical and important.

MEDITATION AND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

This exercise concerns some basic qualities of life on a metaphysical level:

· Self-awareness. This is a purely human trait, one not shared much by animals or other life forms. This meditation directly assists anyone to increase self-awareness.

· Healing. While diet, lifestyle, nutritional supplements and detoxification are all critical and never to be overlooked, the mind is also very important for healing. It is either your friend and ally or, in many people, it just gets in the way. Worry, fears, desires, racing around all the time and other things use up most people’s energy. This meditation can do a lot to bring the mind under your control and learn to use it to assist healing on many levels.

· Spiritual development. The development of the subtle bodies is everyone’s birthright as a human being. Very few, however, make much progress with it. This meditation allows it and assists it easily. This can extend life and allow achievements that most people cannot even imagine. We have all read about these types of unfoldment of super-human abilities. This meditation may allow this in your personal life journey.

Most people live the ego lifestyle, going from goal to goal, often trampling others to achieve their goals. Meditation allows you to grow from the inside. You will find, if you do the exercise regularly, that your outer life, work, relationships, family matters and more will change for the better, often in unusual ways. As you meditate, you let go of the blocks that are in the way of your happiness and success.

References

Masters, R., How Your Mind Can Keep You Well, The Foundation of Human Understanding, Grants Pass, Oregon, www.fhu.com.

To obtain a CD from us with the enhanced meditation exercise and its explanation, click here.

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