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RAMAKRISHNA ANANDA

Four Approaches to Meditation

Which meditation style brings the most peace?

Meditation is an excellent tool for discovering the inner self. Yogis seek to center in their true nature and abide in that consciousness. While there are many ways to meditate, there are four main approaches. Try each of these basic approaches and see which one works best for you.

Keys to Higher Yogas

Meditation Is a Treasure

Patanjali described meditation as controlling or directing the waves of the mind stuff. If we don’t deal with our thoughts and feelings, they continue to occupy our mind and come and go as they wish. Meditation is a great treasure once you gain the skills to focus the mind.

There are many ways to meditate. On Yoga World.org alone you can likely learn a hundred or so methods. There are, however, four general approaches which are fascinating and worth trying. They may help you when you are having trouble focusing. The four main approaches are:  positive-positive, positive-negative, negative-positive and negative-negative. Let’s explore these and see which one works best for you.

  • Meditation comes from the Latin meditari:  to center your awareness in the true self
  • Patanjali describes meditation as controlling or directing the waves of the mind stuff
  • Positive-positive meditation:  choose a specific object to meditate on and give it positive attention
  • Positive-negative:  attempt to focus on a positive object but deal with distractions as they occur; then return to the positive focus
  • Negative-positive:  focus on a vast object (such as the sky, the ocean, the endless prairie) with positive attention
  • Negative-negative:  direct the attitude of neti, neti (not this, not this) toward whatever comes into your awareness until the mind becomes and remains perfectly clear. Gradually the soul reveals itself to the undistracted mind

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