Ancient

Loving-Kindness Meditation and the Gamma Wave – A Marriage of Ancient Tradition and Modern Science

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Article by Richard M. Frost

Of all the brainwave frequencies displayed by the human brain, perhaps the most fascinating is the Gamma wave, around 40 Hertz. When in a Gamma state, the brain seems capable of remarkable synergy, exhibiting a high level of holistic functioning that unites multiple senses, perceptions, and memories. In short, we become almost super-human. Interestingly, this state is commonly observed in experienced Tibetan monks engaging in a “loving-kindness” meditation. As we shall see, Gamma waves are not the only benefit of this practice.

What Is Loving-Kindness Meditation?

Loving-kindness, or Metta Bhavana in Buddhist terms, is an ancient practice intended to teach us that happiness comes from loving others and empathizing with them. It is actually the foundational meditation in a four-part series, with the next steps being compassion (empathy for the suffering of others); empathetic joy (rejoicing in the well-being of others); and equanimity (acceptance of both joy and suffering, whether our own or of others). Loving-kindness creates harmony in our relationship with ourselves as well as with others, replacing anger, resentment, and hurt with patience, consideration, and forgiveness.

Since we are looking at the effects of loving-kindness from a more scientific viewpoint as well, it is worth noting that no less a scientist than Albert Einstein essentially prescribed the same practice: “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

How to Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation

The cultivation of loving-kindness starts with what should be the easiest subject – yourself – and works up from there in the following progression:

* Yourself * A good friend * A neutral person, like someone who serves you in a store * Someone with whom you are having problems * All sentient beings

Various techniques are employed to cultivate the feeling of loving-kindness. Visualize yourself or the other person being happy and smiling back at you. Reflect upon that person’s positive qualities. Use your own affirmations to reinforce feelings of warmth towards yourself and others. And use mantras, repeating words or phrases like “loving-kindness,” pausing between repetitions to observe the impact on your emotions. It is advised that you refrain from thinking about people to whom you are romantically attracted, since lust is not the emotion we are seeking to arouse!

The ultimate objective was expressed beautifully by one of the leading websites on Buddhism, wildmind.org: “Eventually we want to become like an emotional bonfire: a steady blaze of emotional warmth that will embrace any sentient being that we become aware of.”

A New Twist

While several prominent guides to Buddhist meditation recommend guided meditation CDs, they do not seem to have grasped the potential of adding brainwave entrainment techniques to the audio soundtrack. This is almost certainly because they are approaching meditation from a traditional, Buddhist perspective, including the recitation of prayers written by the Buddha himself. But we should not necessarily allow respect for traditions that are over 2,500 years old to blind us to the teachings of modern science. If we can see from EEG scans of experienced meditators that loving-kindness gives rise to Gamma waves, would it not make sense to encourage their formation? Listening to brainwave audio designed to entrain Gamma waves need not distract in any way from the familiar processes of visualization and affirmation. In fact, I believe it enhances the process tremendously by both increasing focus and encouraging whole-brain thinking and feeling. And that has to be good news, for the world really doesn’t need to wait one day longer for more love and compassion.

About the Author

If you’re interested in amplifying the power of your meditation sessions, you need to know more about brainwave entrainment. But you also need to be careful, because not all brainwave entrainment audio will deliver on its promises. To find out which producers know their stuff, visit Meditation Audio Reviews.

Historic Deep breathing Abilities – The Ancient Meditation Skills

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Report by Smartbzs

You’ve got almost certainly often heard the previous saying “the outdated sorts function best” and that applies to tons of points in each day daily life, even with the fact that we like to imagine that we are contemporary and benefiting from a greater-tech way of existence. Deep breathing is just one of individual’s locations in which you can pick historic or even modern-day skills. The stop end result is the identical. It may get fairly lengthier employing ancient approaches (even even though modern-day deep breathing applications for example Centerpointe aren’t overnight quite possibly) nevertheless, you remain in total control of your head, which numerous folks choose.

A single of the most historic meditation tactics is to use a rule – usually either a solitary phrase or even two diverse sounds, one when you breathe in as properly as another when you exhale.

Most likely the most common deep respiration mantras may be the term “Om”. No doubt you have noticed this in films where this virtually seems as however the true monks are humming aside.

One more mantra option is known as “hamsa”. Right here, the intone is split into two parts. The “Ham” portion is made when you breathe in and also the “sa” syllable is made when you breathe away.

Select a rule that functions for you – 20-four hours a day experiment throughout their pay a visit to or even a lot more to see which method makes it possible for you to peaceful the thoughts possibly the most.

It is the quietening of your thoughts that is most likely the principal aspect result of employing the rule. A person focuses your thoughts about the phrase or even two that you are duplicating to the exclusion of other ideas. The considerably deeper you decide to go into this concentrated state, the genuine considerably much less room there is in your thoughts for added thoughts and you need to gradually uncover these other thoughts decreasing even though you retain duplicating your chosen mantra.

Yet another historic meditation technique is to use a inhaling and exhaling deep respiration.

This can be since lively or as lazy as you would like it to be, which seems form of abnormal when you at first meet that statement. Following all, how can inhaling and exhaling be lively?

Nicely, the larger lively breathing relaxation methods involve physical motion as well as basically taking respiration. Which signifies you are almost shifting the atmosphere in to your personal lungs getting a downwards movement of your arms and the physique following which exhalation while you continue to be upright the moment once more. This just isn’t the meditation technique for the faint hearted but it has been utilized as a sort of deep breathing not less than so long as we’ve skilled information, probably much lengthier.

The actual gentler form of inhaling and exhaling deep breathing is almost certainly that which you 1st imagined of when I mentioned the topic. It is a far better organized edition of your mother suggesting to take into account the deep breath gradually.

Inhaling and exhaling deep breathing – because of its nature – is definitely an historic meditation strategy.

Personally, we discover it easiest to follow alongside with a guided deep breathing which requires me with the breathing process and then assists me to emphasis on whatever topic I am organizing to improve during my existence, no matter whether that’s rest or a bodily or even mental situation that I am dealing with.

But at its most standard, all you need to have to do is take in deep breathing, maintain all of them for a while of time and then lightly breathe out. That almost certainly can make this the most historic of these historic meditation methods.

About the Writer

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