What is Meditation?
Meditation is the means by which we experience the love, peace, and stillness that is within ourselves. It is the process of experiencing God’s love for ourselves by taking our attention away from the world outside and focusing it within. Doing so, allows us to defocus from the turmoil of our surroundings and connect with the Source of all love, all joy, which is God. Meditation is the highest form of prayer and unlocks the gates to the reservoir of untapped love that we carry with us.
Meditation is the means by which the soul expresses its love for God.
What is SOS Meditation?
SOS Meditation, the technique of meditation taught at Science of Spirituality, focuses on experiencing the inner Light of God. It is taught as a science that anyone can practice no matter one’s age, faith, or beliefs. In this form of meditation, the attention is focused on what is called the spiritual eye, or the seat of the soul, which is between and behind the two eyebrows. This seat of the soul is the gateway to the inner spiritual regions. As our sensory currents are raised to this point and focused there, it opens into the inner realms, which are spiritual in nature.
What Happens During SOS Meditation?
Those who receive the complete meditation instructions from a spiritual Master see various forms of Light and spiritual realms unfold for them. By concentrating the attention into the middle of whatever appears before you when your eyes are closed, the consciousness or soul begins to journey on a stream of Light into higher regions. There are regions after regions of higher and higher states of Light. The ultimate step on the journey is when the soul returns to the source of all-consciousness and all-Light from where it originally came. These states bring with them knowledge and wisdom of all that is and answer our questions about the mysteries of life and death. We are then filled with peace and bliss beyond any that we can know in this world.
Can Meditation Be Adapted to Modern Life?
Yes, it can. Meditation can be practiced within the confines of our everyday life. We live a normal life in the world, but the difference is that we add time daily for meditation and try to become more ethical so as to accelerate our progress. We do our best at our jobs, attend to our family obligations, earn an honest livelihood, and try to help others. While doing all this we keep our eyes on the spiritual journey and the spiritual values of life.
Benefits of Meditation
While it is a trending topic these days, meditation is an ancient practice that is only now becoming widely popular for its many benefits. Over the last few decades, the scientific benefits of meditation have been studied by numerous clinical and research groups around the world. To varying degrees, systematic reviews and meta-analyses have found evidence of the physiological benefits of meditation.
Meditation Reduces Stress and Anxiety
People around the world have been turning to meditation to release stress, as research has shown that spending regular, accurate time in meditation can reduce stress and anxiety. This in turn alleviates stress-related ailments such as high blood pressure, insomnia, chronic pain and fatigue, while reducing the risk of diseases aggravated by stress, such as heart disease, digestive disorders, and headaches.
Meditation Increases Immunity
Meditation also increases resistance to disease and improves recovery time after surgery and illness. These health benefits of meditation are attributed to the fact that meditation helps slow down the brain waves to a state of calm, which allows the body to also become calmer and more relaxed.
Meditation Reduces Pain
Many medical centers and hospitals now offer classes on meditation to reduce stress, eliminate certain illnesses, and improve health outcomes in patients. Meditation can heal our physical body by healing our mind and our emotional state. By becoming absorbed within, we divert our attention from feeling the effects of illness. There is a healing power of the Divine that we can tap into when we shift our consciousness from the physical body to our spiritual side. We can rise above physical pain by connecting with the power within in meditation.
Meditation Relaxes the Body
We receive more rest in meditation than the same amount of time spent in sleep. Why? In sleep, we dream. We may have good dreams or stressful ones. The sleeping body may react to dreams as if awake. We may toss and turn in sleep. In meditation, though, the body and mind are still. There are no stressful thoughts or dreams in meditation to which we can react. Thus, it is a time of peace for our bodies.
Meditation Calms the Mind
Meditation is a way to eliminate the lack of balance caused by mental stress. By spending time in meditation, we create a calm haven to restore equilibrium to our mental functioning. Researchers who record brain activity find that our brain waves measure from 13—20 Hz when we are involved with stressful situations at work, driving in traffic, or in a fight-or-flight mode. In meditation, brain waves register between 5-8 Hz, a state of deep relaxation. In meditation, stress levels are reduced. The mind becomes calm, and, in turn, calms the body. Through meditation, we bring about healing of our mental state. We can then function more effectively and peacefully in this world.
Meditation Improves Concentration
As our stress levels decrease, we gain more mental clarity, equilibrium, and a sense of balance as we go about our daily activities. Our concentration and ability to focus are enhanced, and this boosts our productivity in all endeavors. We are more in control of our reactions and can face conflict and adversity with equanimity and in a calm manner. Our angle of vision shifts. We see the panorama of life for what it is, and the little things stop bothering us.
