A beginners guide to Meditation
Back in college, studying physiology in the pre-med program at UC Davis, the competition was fierce. The intensity of 500 ‘red hot’ students, striving to become the next doctor or veterinarian, invigorated me. There was so much information to learn. I needed something to help give me an edge, to improve my ability to concentrate, focus and retain information. Really, do not remember who it was, but someone mentioned meditation as an important tool to help. Therefore, I began practicing for at least an hour every day. At the same time, I was also taking a course on Biofeedback. Did not know it at the time, but the combination of these two disciplines changed my life forever.
Meditation is so important for creating the space for growth. It helps to maintain our psychic, emotional and physical balance and opens up an opportunity to use imagery. Biofeedback is a scientific technique used to train the control over autonomic functions that are happening in the background subconsciously– like galvanic skin response, blood flow, heart rate and electrical brain functions. This new science was originally developed to study and tries to understand what the Yoga masters in India where doing.
Biofeedback
An EEG can measure electrical brain activity or states of being. Gamma, Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta are the names given for each state. Each state of being represents a certain level of consciousness. When we are fully awake and working at full capacity it is Gamma state. Delta is at the opposite end when we are in deep REM sleep. Each of these states is important and reflects our overall health and wellbeing.
Now, let us get back to our yoga masters and nirvana. The state that these masters where exhibiting while in a trance was Alpha which is now known to be the state of many amazing attributes including relaxation, visualization, pleasure, joy and most of all, increased psychic and artistic development and the expression of these.
In college, I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Lawrence, who at that time was the authority on biofeedback and using those tools. I began training with him using both biofeedback and meditation. After about a month I was able get into a deep Alpha state in minutes and stay in it for a very long time. As a result, my studying improved, my grades went up and my gymnastics scores increased.
I am sharing this to inspire you to look into meditation as a viable tool for you to use in your daily life, especially if you are an artist of any type. Following is short video for you to use. Please feel free to get in touch with me if you would like help or more explanation.
