How to Meditate Like A Zen Monk In 30 Days

In these times of stress the average person may feel trapped in a hectic world that never slows down. A world that is always moving carries billions of people, who must periodically stop to rest, onward forever into deeper and deeper levels of stress and strain that good old fashioned sleep can't fully remedy.

Worse yet is the fact that many of these people feel that the best releases from these stresses cost money. Movies, game consoles, sporting events. All of these things are great but there is a source of relief that is free and fun to learn. Enter meditation.

Things You'll Need

• 15-30 minutes a day to dedicate to your practice.
• A willingness to allow yourself to slow down.

Instructions

1. 

   The benefits of meditation are many. The following list highlights just a few:

   1)Lowers oxygen consumption, which means less damage from those nasty free radicals.

   2)Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.

   3)Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.

   4)Reduces blood pressure

   5)Builds self confidence

   6)Increased learning ability and memory

   So, how to meditate like a Zen monk in thirty days? I'm about to take you through a process that will get you there. You may want to monitor your blood pressure throughout the thirty days and pay attention to your moods so that you can prove some of the above benefits to yourself. So, that said, lets get to it.

   Purchase a notebook or find one that you have laying around. Just make sure that it has at least 30 pages available to use. Throughout the 30 days you will keep a daily journal of your experiences.

   On day one you will sit with legs crossed on the floor without the aid of pillows. Don't worry, the other twenty nine days won't be anywhere near as brutal. This is just to show you how meditation is typically learned.

   Day one consists of a minimum of one fifteen minute session in which you simply breath deeply and watch the random thoughts that enter your mind. If you've never meditated before then this should be an illuminating experience.

   You may not realize just how much junk you have floating around in there! One such session in day one is the minimum, but two is better.

2. 

   On day two you will begin your real training. Find a space on which you can lay down comfortably. A bed is fine. Lie down on your back with your arms flat by your side. Now raise one arm so that it forms a ninety degree angle at your side.

   Now allow yourself to relax completely. At the point that you ordinarily fall asleep your arm will fall, causing you to wake up. Becoming aware of the line at which you fall asleep is critical to your meditation practice. This exercise should be performed for at least fifteen minutes a day for the remaining 29 days.

3. 

   On day 5 you will begin a mental exercise that is to be performed as you are falling off to sleep for the night. This is in addition to the daily exercise above.

   Get into The usual position that you use to sleep. For simplicity I will assume that you sleep on your back. Imagine that a sphere is floating above your chest. This sphere is purple, magenta and orange. As you are falling off to sleep set the sphere spinning. The goal is to fall asleep while you are still imagining the sphere.

   Don't panic if you can not visualize the sphere. Visualization is a separate skill that takes time to learn unless you are a rare 'natural' at it. It is enough that you pretend that you can see it.

   This exercise is an ancient primer into phenomena that you will not otherwise experience in every day life. These phenomena, once experienced will change your perceptions and expand your awareness. The experiences that this exercise can induce are:

   1) Sleep Paralysis
   2) Out Of Body experiences
   3) Lucid dreaming

   The Zen Monks consider these experiences as distractions to be acknowledged and put to the side. We, however, may find these experiences illuminating and beneficial.

4. 

   On day 10 you will begin a powerful exercise known as "tending the garden". You will perform thirty minutes of this every day from day 10 to 30.

   Tending the garden consists of observing your thoughts. Turn your attention inward and say, "I am now thinking...". If you happen to be thinking about having to pay the bills you will say "I am now thinking about paying the bills."

   You will find that your mind will immediately find something else to think about. Continue to follow your mind around. Examples:
   "I am thinking about paying the bills" becomes,
   "I am thinking of getting a different insurance company" becomes,
   "I am thinking of washing the car" becomes,
   "I am thinking of buying car wax" and on and on.

   By the end of the thirty minutes you will find that your mind has become calm, like a lake in which the silt has settled on the bottom. You will find that you are ordinarily operating from these stale thoughts that you've picked up over the years. Once you pull these weeds new, exciting, productive thoughts will take their place. This exercise by itself will increase your brain power.

5. 

   By day thirty you should become proficient in hovering at the awake/asleep threshold. Your post 30 day meditation regimen should consist of fifteen to thirty minutes a day of hovering on that line.

   In that place your every day existence, including your daily concerns and worries will be forgotten. You simply exist. This is the place from which you will receive health and mind benefits.

   By continuing the spinning sphere exercise you will continue to experience illuminating experiences such as Lucid dreaming.

   By persevering in "tending the garden" you will remove old, stale thoughts from your mind and continually make room for new ones. You will learn faster and have access to an improved memory.

   In the resources section I have listed books that contain more great meditation practices and make for essential reading. It is my hope that this thirty day meditation primer improves the quality of your life and frees you from some of the stress that we are all feeling.

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes it can be helpful to state your intention to your family before beginning a thirty day program. This will help you maintain your daily practice.

• Sleep paralysis can be scary! If you experience this it will be scary the first few times. You will feel vulnerable and may even feel a presence in the room. This is normal and will pass with practice. It is possible that sleep paralysis is the true cause of "alien abductions". Once you get passed the fear you will learn to enjoy this state of being.

Resources

• Meditation For Dummies
• Guided Meditations: For Calmness, Awareness, And Love
• A Step-By-Step Course On How To Meditate