{"id":2231,"date":"2014-11-25T00:41:27","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T00:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/what-is-meditation-and-how-does-it-work\/"},"modified":"2014-11-25T00:41:27","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T00:41:27","slug":"what-is-meditation-and-how-does-it-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meditationmag.com\/blog\/what-is-meditation-and-how-does-it-work\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Meditation and How Does It Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is meditation and how does it work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are many, many forms of meditation. From tai chi, to raking sand, to sitting and watching the breath, to physical sports\u2026 the term \u201cmeditation\u201d spans dozens, or even hundreds, of different types of activities. The one thing that all of these activities have in common is their profound effects on the human brain.<\/p>\n

We use meditative techniques to develop, and strengthen, our brain\u2019s ability to concentrate<\/em>. (Before you say \u201cI don\u2019t care about that,\u201d read on to see how increased concentration makes every moment of your life infinitely more powerful).<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cAttention Control Muscles\u201d<\/h3>\n

Activities that can be described as \u201cmeditation\u201d or \u201cmeditative activities\u201d train the brain to modulate its attention. The most effective forms of meditation train the brain to be able to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. consciously notice where<\/em> its attention is focused at any given moment<\/li>\n
  2. consciously choose an object on which to focus its attention<\/li>\n
  3. hold its attention on one object for an extended period of time<\/li>\n
  4. notice, but not be distracted by, other phenomena while maintaining full attention on one object<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These four fundamental faculties of the brain\u2019s \u201cAttention Control Center\u201d are the power-tools that evolution (or God, if you prefer) has given you to consciously control your thoughts, emotions, behavior, and overall experience of life.<\/p>\n

    One thing that I want you to understand about these four tools is that they become more powerful every time you use them. In this way, they are similar to muscles; they get stronger when you exercise them. For this reason I have decided to call these faculties the \u201cAttention-Control Muscles\u201d all throughout this website; I want you to remember that these \u201cmuscles\u201d get stronger when you exercise them.<\/p>\n

    Benefits of Developing The Attention Control Muscles<\/h3>\n

    So, what\u2019s the point of developing your brain\u2019s ability to concentrate?<\/p>\n

    Aside from its obvious benefits for people with ADD\/ADHD (and those who are merely \u201cscatterbrained\u201d), your brain\u2019s ability to concentrate has extremely powerful effects that permeate every area of your life.<\/p>\n

    Before we get into details, I want you to understand what \u201cconcentration\u201d really means.<\/p>\n

    The word \u201cconcentration\u201d isn\u2019t only used in terms of the mind. We also use it when we talk about liquids.<\/p>\n

    If you mix a little bit of orange juice into a big glass of water, the juice will be very un-concentrated; in other words it will taste weak, diluted, and \u201cwatered down.\u201d If, however, you pour orange juice into a glass with little or no water in it, the taste will be much richer, much stronger\u2026 much orange-juicier.<\/p>\n

    When your attention, your awareness, your consciousness, is \u201cun-concentrated,\u201d your experience of life is \u201cwatered down.\u201d When you allow your consciousness to become \u201cconcentrated,\u201d it gathers strength, and your experience of life becomes much richer, much deeper\u2026 much life-ier.<\/p>\n

    When your mind is concentrated, everything is just better<\/em>. Love is warmer, sex is hotter, food is tastier, water is quenchier, colors are brighter, music is richer, skydiving is awesomer, work is workier, productivity is productivitier, etc.<\/p>\n

    When I use the word \u201cconcentration,\u201d this is exactly what I mean. Your \u201cattention\u201d \u2014 your \u201cpsychic energy\u201d (as Carl Jung liked to call it) \u2014 your \u201clife force\u201d is powerfully concentrated<\/em> in one spot. This is what the ancient Indians (and modern Buddhists) called \u201cSamadhi\u201d (roughly translated as \u201cconcentration\u201d).<\/p>\n

    Development of Samadhi<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Meditation is the formal exercise in which we develop samadhi, or concentration. It strengthens our attention-control muscles by giving them the difficult task of focusing on something extremely boring.<\/p>\n

    This is similar to the way we lift weights in the gym to strengthen our physical muscles; we challenge them to do something that is more difficult than what they are used to doing. Through this challenge, they grow.<\/p>\n

    We may feel good from endorphins released during the workout, but we notice the real benefits outside of the gym, in our daily lives. We can lift things easier, walk farther, jump higher, run faster. Everything is just smoother. Life becomes easier as the body becomes more powerful.<\/p>\n

    You may feel good from dopamine released during meditation, but you\u2019ll notice the real benefits over time, in your daily life.<\/p>\n

    As our minds become more and more concentrated, everything becomes clearer<\/em>. Anything that we decide to focus on comes into \u2014 what we might describe in computer terms as \u2014 higher resolution<\/em>. We are able to see the details of reality that were previously just a blur. It\u2019s like putting on the right pair of glasses after wearing the wrong prescription for years. You never realized that you couldn\u2019t see\u2026 until you could.<\/p>\n

    This enhanced resolution applies to just about everything; sensations, thoughts, emotions, concepts, people, physical objects, etc. Let\u2019s start with sensations because that\u2019s something that pretty much everyone can relate to: pleasure and pain.<\/p>\n

    Sensations<\/em><\/strong> become clearer, both pleasurable and painful. This might sound like an undesirable increase in sensitivity. Who in their right mind wants to experience pain more clearly? On the contrary, however, when you are able to clearly see the nature of the sensations of pleasure and pain, you begin to develop what\u2019s called \u201cequanimity.\u201d You accept reality, seeing it clearly without being disturbed<\/em> by it. With a more concentrated mind, you will see your painful sensations more clearly<\/em>, and accept them for what they truly are \u2014 simply: sensations.<\/p>\n

    With this perspective, meditators throughout history have transcended pain to the point of lying on beds of nails, sitting naked in freezing caves, and meditating without eating or sleeping for days on end. When you have mastered pleasure and pain, you move through the world without fear.<\/p>\n

    Thoughts<\/em><\/strong> become clearer as you shift your center of consciousness outside of the whirlwind of your thinking mind. Most people walk through life \u201csurrounded\u201d by thoughts, almost drowning in them. It\u2019s like standing in the middle of a tornado, with its thick grey clouds swirling around you, as you stand in the middle, confused. You can\u2019t see out of the swirling vortex; all you can see are rough outlines, distorted by the clouds.<\/p>\n

    When you concentrate your mind, you pull together your attentional energy and shift the center of your consciousness to the faculty of perception itself. You step out of the tornado, and into your \u201cAttention Control Center.\u201d From the safety of your Attention Control Center, you look out the big plate glass window.<\/p>\n

    Now you can see the tornado clearly, like a controlled experiment in the laboratory of your brain. You can see it churning away, picking up objects from the ground of your unconscious mind and throwing them into the air of your conscious experience. You can use the Attention Control buttons at your disposal to zoom in on certain areas of the tornado if you want to, to understand certain thought patterns\u2026 or you can just sit back and watch the tornado tire itself out. When the tornado dies down, it puts down all the cows and minivans it picked up. Then you can see everything laid out on the ground, as you look out the window of your Control Room. When everything comes to rest; that\u2019s when you can see your thoughts really<\/em> clearly.<\/p>\n

    When you can see your thoughts clearly, instead of getting caught up in them, you can use your thinking process as an extremely powerful tool for understanding.<\/p>\n

    Emotions<\/em><\/strong> become clearer as you learn to separate between your thoughts and your body\u2019s sensations. When you feel pain, for example, it gets swept up in the tornado of your mind, not just as a sensation, but also as a concept. \u201cI feel pain. This is bad.\u201d This creates powerful emotions of \u201csuffering\u201d that sweep through your mind, body, and overall experience.<\/p>\n

    When you step into your Attention Control Room and watch the tornado die down, you see everything scattered upon the ground. Among the cows and minivans are concepts, ideas, plans for the future, and also your mental reactions to your bodily sensations. When you are able to clearly see which items are important and which items are simply unnecessary, you naturally tend to zone in on the things that are important, and the things that are unnecessary (like emotional suffering) simply don\u2019t bother you anymore. Devoid of your attentional energy, they dissolve back into the Earth from whence they came. The more often you let something go and allow it to dissolve back into the Earth, the more easily it can do so in the future. Your attention is the food of your emotions. When you direct your attention elsewhere, the emotions disappear.<\/p>\n

    This ability to clearly see your emotions (their relative importance, their desirability, and where they are coming from) gives you extreme power over your inner world. When you are in touch with your emotions, but are never disturbed by them, your inner life becomes deep, rich, and stable.<\/p>\n

    Concepts<\/em><\/strong> become clearer as you develop your mind\u2019s ability to hold its attention on one object for an extended period of time. This particular faculty is important when analyzing an idea, as it allows you to peer deeper and deeper into the depths of understanding. The longer you look, the more detail resolves.<\/p>\n

    This gives you the ability to understand things very deeply, sort through ideas more efficiently, and learn new things astoundingly easily. Some people say knowledge is power, but I think understanding<\/em> is far more powerful.<\/p>\n

    People<\/em><\/strong> become clearer when you are able to pour your psychic energy into their souls. In other words, you pour your attention into the subjective world of another human being. You see what life is like for a person, what his world is like, and you begin to connect with people on a much deeper level.<\/p>\n

    When relating to others, most people experience some level of self-consciousness. We think about ourselves; how we appear to the other person, what to say next, etc. This self-consciousness is a flow of attention toward the self instead of toward the other person in the interaction. This is the opposite of concentration; this is a dilution, a watering-down of attention. Instead of experiencing another person with 100% of your attention, your focus keeps jumping back and forth between yourself and the other. You don\u2019t get a clear picture of the other person, or yourself; only choppy images and a bit of a headache. After a while, it all becomes a blur.<\/p>\n

    If, however, your Attention Control Muscles are strong, you will tend to hold that person in your attention for the duration of the interaction. Instead of constantly bouncing back to yourself, the flow of attention is steady and uninterrupted. Just as a video camera with a higher frame-rate captures more fluid motion than a camera with a lower frame-rate, you experience this person with as much fluidity as can possibly be perceived by the human brain. Life is constantly moving; when you look at someone in this perspective, you can see the true-life fluidity of his subjective experience. You can see what it\u2019s really like in his world.<\/p>\n

    When your attention control muscles are strong enough to maintain focus on one person for an extended period of time, it changes the depth of all your relationships. Instead of just noticing people (or even conceptualizing and analyzing them), you truly see<\/em> them for the first time.<\/p>\n

    Physical Objects<\/em><\/strong> become clearer when you are able to maintain focus on them for an extended period of time. Ancient Buddhist texts liken this type of attention to a \u201cstream of oil, pouring onto an object, without any breaks in the stream.\u201d In normal consciousness, the oil simply drips onto the object. Drip, drip, drip. In concentrated consciousness (samadhi), the oil pours onto the object in a flowing, unbroken stream.<\/p>\n

    Sometimes, during or after meditation, I am struck by the aspect of physical objects that we call \u201cmotion.\u201d The leaves of a tree, swaying in the wind. A duck turning its head, and waddling down a mossy hill. A cloud, drifting across the sky. There is a beautiful kind of fluidity<\/em> there that I could never notice in a \u201cnormal\u201d state of consciousness. Real life motion is not a series of frames like in a movie; it\u2019s a flow, like water flowing in a river. Have you ever seen the difference between a video shot at 15 frames per second and one shot at 400? Play these two videos. Can you see which one has a higher frame rate?<\/p>\n