Negative self beliefs, positive thinking and compassion – An Interview with A Monk

Negative self beliefs, positive thinking and compassion – An Interview with A Monk

We hosted an interview with a Buddhist Monk Pasura from Thailand. Monk Pasura is one of the Monks who trained Samavira’s founder Lauren when she lived in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand.

We spoke about negative self beliefs, positive thinking, compassion and more. Enjoy the read! 🙂

First of all, I’d like you to introduce yourself a little bit and say who you are, what you do in life, which is quite obvious, but nonetheless. And what should we know about you?

Well, my name is Monk Pasura and I’ve been a monk for 17 years. I became a monk at 28, but I also had the chance to practice meditation at a very young age and ongoing until I became a monk. But after I became a monk, I also got the chance to conduct meditation sessions in many countries across the world, more than 70 countries so far.

So generally, my part would be to introduce and also explain how meditation really works so that everyone can benefit from the practice of meditation, regardless of their race, religion or belief. Because it emphasizes how to develop the state of mind for being conscious and more aware.

The mind versus the body. Some people say that our minds are more tired than our bodies are. Would you agree or how do you see this? And what do you say about this?

Actually, I totally agree with that statement because you use your mind and when you feel tired, you just sit down and rest. You just watch Netflix, YouTube, and you think you’re resting, but your mind doesn’t rest at all. In this case, you’re actually still using your mind.

Not to mention, when you have a lot of stuff in your mind and you go to sleep, you actually have this crazy dream that makes you feel even more excited because your mind keeps on working all night long taking all of those thoughts into account, into working all night. So basically your mind doesn’t learn to rest or to slow down at all. So that makes your mind even more tired.

But our bodies when we feel exhausted, you can decide to take a deep breath to kind of settle it out a bit, take a shower, take a hot bath and that’s a lot easier. But as for the mind, we tend to forget it. The thing is that we don’t see the mind, so it’s easy for us to neglect taking care of our mind because we don’t see it. Then you forget we have it.

The body is kind of easy to feel, but the mind, the hard part of that is we don’t see it and it becomes a habit to have an exhausted mind. When you have a lot of troubles and you just keep adding them up without resolving them, it’s kind of like suppressing and pressing them in a can. 

So it keeps adding up until you become unhappy. Some people think it is normal for us to be stressed out, depressed, or unhappy. While it’s actually not. We are supposed to be happy. This becomes easier when we establish a mind-body connection.

So would you say that the actual natural state of the mind is to be calm, content, happy, peaceful, right?

Yeah, exactly. That is the spiritual state of mind when there’s nothing involved or interrupting. It’s just like when you stay still, you don’t really do anything. You feel relaxed, at ease. That should be the normal state of the mind. Whenever the mind gets tense, that means that the mind has woken up.

Then the mind starts to jump around, catching stuff and grip on things without letting go. So that’s what happens with the mind. It now acts like an octopus rubbing all these tentacles, and holding on to things and never letting go. So it becomes tense the whole time.

Whenever you meditate, you start to feel like everything’s kind of unwinding. You notice that you’re feeling like your insides are loosening up, feel kind of hollow and kind of broaden it within yourself, that is actually the sign that your mind is already sort of like releasing the grip.

But we can’t do it consciously at first, and as days go by, we have more responsibilities and more things to do, and whenever you let go of one thing, there’s still something else to grab on anyway. So you, you kind of need those kinds of practices in order to tell the mind, ‘hey, this is the time. I just want to lay it down, let it go’, so that you can place them all up front and then see whatever needs to be worked on later.

When you face a challenge, what do you do? How do you go about finding a solution for that?

Pause first. A lot of the time we like to react. You know, reaction is like when you throw a ball against the wall it just bounces right back. So the harder you throw it, the harder it bounces back. So that’s the reaction. And it tends to come back with a lot of strength, a lot of emotions, a lot of energy going right back at the problem.

And that doesn’t really solve it, it’s more like you’re just pointing an arrow straight into the problems. So what I really do when things really get rough is to sort of pause and step back a bit. So, just instead of it becoming a wall, it’s like you have a perforated wall, something that’s softer and it really softened the impacts.

Then things tend to bounce back a bit softer. When you’re no longer part of the puzzle, you start to see things in a different perspective. That way your thoughts become more logical. You start to see the answer in different ways. Things become more responsive rather than reactive. And that for me, is really helpful.When things get really, really rough.

Sometimes, some problems actually don’t need to be solved much at all. We just need to wait a bit more for things to resolve themselves. A lot of times, we want to take control of every little aspect and want everything to turn out the way we expect it to be.

And that’s tough because we end up being overworked unnecessarily and sometimes we make it  even worse.

In other words, if you want to have a better idea, you have to think outside of the box. But as long as you’re in the box, you can’t think ‘outside of the box’. So if you want to think outside of the box, you’ve got to step out of the box first.

You know, as long as you’re part of the things in the box, you won’t see anything else. You’ll still see the frame, so you have to step away and look at it from the top. And be like ‘I’m not in the box now. I see all the players in the box’.

And it’s also like sometimes we try to really convince someone of our viewpoints, but we talk to them while they are still in their box as well. So it’s the same principle.

Would you say that meditation is, for most people, the most powerful modality that can help with this? Or would you say meditation and other modalities, or does it depend on the type of person that you are? How do you see that?

I know that meditation sounds kind of like a serious practice. I want us to think a little bit back to the days when there wasn’t much technology. Every culture around the world had these kind of silent moments to yourself. In every culture, in every civilization, you’d pray, chant, meditate and have some silent moment before you go to bed.

You know, like when you tuck your kid in bed, you read a nice story for them to focus on something positive. That should be the time that we have for ourselves. Basically, in the old days that was what we had. But these days, we are bombarding ourselves with a lot of media, from the phones or the tablets, televisions, until we don’t really have a silent moment for us to reflect.

And when we don’t reflect on what happened to us or what we should do in future, or what am I standing for right now at the moment, we can’t let go. So we can just keep adding it up and it never gets resolved because we have to reflect on what we have been putting out.

And we think that by just putting it in the back of our own mind, just like under a carpet,  we pretend it doesn’t exist and everything will be just fine. But it’s not! Because I know that it’s right there in the back of my head.

Whenever I’m down, whenever I’m vulnerable, that’s when it comes back and that’s when it hurts me the most. So if we get that chance to have that silent moment to look inside to, just to make a little reflection of things that need to be let go, things that need to be resolved, that need to be dealt with later on.

We categorize them. Now I’m settled. I know where I stand. I know where I need to go next. And that makes life more stable and peaceful.

What do you believe are the biggest causes of negative self-beliefs? Where do you believe it comes from, that negativity? 

It’s just like when you were born, there’s already a lot of bacteria in your stomach. There’s a lot of fungus, bacteria on your skin. If you put it into a microscope, you can see them. So it has always been something that we accumulate over a lifetime and it’s there waiting for when we are weak.

Whenever we are weak, it means that our immune system is low, which affects us. It makes us sick. Same as our mind. It has this for a long time throughout our lifetime, we keep adding up and each time we let our mind wander, be affected by people, situations, circumstances, until our anger, our frustration, our jealousy, egos start to stir up, we’re adding up more and the more that we make a stir up, the more we cash on them, we are adding up more. It leads to having low compassion for oneself.

So that’s how we accumulate and carry it to the next life. That’s the thing. Whenever our mind is negative and we have negative self-beliefs, let’s say if the water is blue, everything I see will be blue, right? Which means I perceive the world in a blue color, instead of seeing the world according to reality.

So basically if the blue color is anger, that means I will see the world based on my anger. So my thoughts, my words and actions will be based on my anger, which is going to be a bit more violent, more hurtful, more spiteful.

And that will of course create a negative effort on me. When they say something bad to me, like they don’t like me, instead that will stir up my mind even more. Then it can generate more negative actions. So it’s kind of a vicious cycle, it keeps going on and on.

That’s why we focus on going back to the source. How can we actually keep our minds all steady and become more aware so that we can keep ‘the ink’ intact. And then when that ink is intact, it starts getting clearer. Now I can have clear thoughts and that leads to better words and better actions, which means it leads to more positive thinking, more positive consequences and a more positive self-image, so I kind of reverse the cycle with that.

Basically meaning that it doesn’t really matter as much where it comes from, because we are actually born with it. What matters more is what you do with it. It’s like you try to complain that you have fungus on your body and be like, ‘who put it in my body?’

It doesn’t help you if you know who put it in there, but it matters if you know a way to kill it.

So how should we deal with it mind-wise? 

Technically, each time you’re meditating those things (the ink) get filtered out. We call it the purification process. You actually get to filter out each time you’re meditating. But the problem is that the moment you open your eyes after meditation, the mind tends to go out and capture more. So this leads to the next part, which is the lifestyle I was talking about. Because a disciplined lifestyle will help you keep your mind more mindful, by becoming more aware and at least making it less distracted.

Which means, let’s say you have a hundred percent of ink and you filter out, let’s say 5%, so when you go on the day, that 5% is already added back. But if you become more mindful, you probably add back like 2%. So when you meditate again, you reduce under the five and then you add more tools.

So it’s kind of reducing overtime. But if we don’t do this, we’ll keep adding up just like before, or even more. But if you keep meditating, eventually you’ll eventually win. That’s actually what it is. And of course it is going back to the way your lifestyle is. That’s why meditation is one part.

It helps you get deeper and become more aware. And then if you carry that awareness outside, your interaction with others will be from a place of peace, kindness and compassion. And eventually, there will be no more ink added as you continuously clean out the ink.

What about negative habits, like bad habits, impulse, all those things? How should we deal with those? Is it a similar process? Is it different?

Similar, but a bit more action oriented because all habits come from repetitive actions. Everything that we say, do or think repeatedly becomes a habit, and the moment it becomes a habit, it’s kind of an automatic program that we already install.

So the moment it is triggered by the stimuli it’s activated. Just like when you see someone that you don’t like, you just get irritated automatically. Even if that person doesn’t do anything, they’re just sitting right there. Their breathing is enough to make you irritated, which doesn’t make sense at all. Right? And that’s because it’s the habit of the mind that we have already developed.

Which means I have to consciously change the cause of the action when I have been in contact with that trigger. And if I keep changing that direction repeatedly, it will create a new part of the habits or a new part of the program that will be activated the moment I see the triggers. So that will change.

Actually, there’s a science behind that. Habit is basically created by two neurons in our brain. So whenever this neuron is triggered, it will send some sort of connection to the other neuron for action, so they become a path. And the more often you trigger, the more often you will create the path and they become more liquidated.

And this moment that we created in our brain is there for a lifetime. It doesn’t get erased, that’s the thing. So, you can never erase your old habit. You can only create a new path. And you just need to make this new path become more liquidated than the first one until the neuron’s signal will automatically jump to some other one instead of this initial one.

Which is quite interesting because some people say that you can weaken that path but you have to replace it instead so that it still weakens, but more because the new one becomes stronger than the initial path.

That’s actually research from people with alcoholic associations, shows that even people who are sober for like 10 years, when they hit a really big bomb that they can’t solve, they can go back to drinking because that old path is still there. So basically it means we have to be really careful with which bad habits or negative habits we fall into because they may bite you in the ass.

They can come back anytime and certainly when the trigger is very strong. But it doesn’t go away. It means that if you become more mindful about what’s going on, you can always stick to the new path.

Why do you think that people these days mostly seek quick fixes? To improve, get better, get rid of things. Why is that?

Generally, humans love to have quick fixes because that’s easy. But what my master explains is that now we live in the world of everything industrialized.

So it’s not like in the old days where you lived in an agricultural society and you didn’t have a lot of facilities, where you just had to learn how to wait. You learn to wait for the season to come, for the rain to fall, for the crops to grow. So you cannot speed up the process. But these days we tend to rely so much on everything around us that we want the outcome to happen immediately, and life’s getting more comfortable and we create a new habit as well.

Like I remember back then, I had to use the old telephone which, unlike today, took quite some time to dial in the numbers to make a call. So, I learned to be patient. But now when I see a text loading as the circle is running, I get frustrated, because of all these advanced  technology around us that slowly developed into a habit of wanting the result immediately.

So that means we just have to reverse the habit in order to learn to wait, because everything in life does not happen spontaneously. There are things that we have to plant the seed and wait for it to grow.

Everything around us is speeding up, so we are trying to speed up as well, including when it comes to wellness and introspection, reflection.Which is tough because people confuse information, knowledge, skills, and wisdom.

They’re not the same. People tend to believe that information they search on the internet is everything. As long as it does not transfer into who you are, it will never become your wisdom. If you cannot practice it, it will never be your skill. So information is something that anyone can get, but wisdom and skills are individual.

If you’d like to read the other parts of the interview as well, you can find them here:

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How To Control Your Inner Voice

How To Control Your Inner Voice

The mind is an incredible phenomenon. It has the power to innovate and make new paths in life for us to follow. But the mind can be as frightening as it is creative. There is one factor of the mind that displays this dichotomy of scary and interesting. This factor drives all of the mind’s decisions and influences your thoughts and actions. It can promote people’s ambitions, or keep you stuck in limiting beliefs.

But the good news is – you can control this one factor and establish a robust and stable mindset. You can maintain a positive attitude towards life and change your perspective on the nature of the world. The more you understand this one concept, the more self-control you can build.

Today, we are going to be talking about the inner voice – also known as self-talk – and how it can affect the mind if not controlled. We’ll also discuss how to control the inner voice and use it to your advantage to prevent harmful things such as mind viruses, which we will explain later on.

The Inner Voice

What is the Inner voice?

The inner voice is a constant stream of thoughts that we carry throughout our minds that influences how we think. We listen to our inner thoughts more than anything else. 

Your inner voice acts as a bridge to connect the mind and body. It’s the mind’s way of communicating with you through your thoughts. And those thoughts usually reflect how you feel about your life at the current moment.

What Causes Inner Voices?

Our inner voices are the loudest during positive or negative events that happen throughout our lives. 

Let’s take a job as an example. You walk into your job and ask for a promotion – in one scenario, you get fired, and in the other, you get promoted. The time you get fired may bring out some negative self-talk. Your inner voice may tell you things such as “I’m not good enough” or “I’ll never be successful”. 

When you get promoted, it may inspire some positive self-talk. Your inner voice may instead sound like “I’m great at my job” or “I am a huge success”. 

The experiences we have and have had dictate the way our inner voice speaks to us. If we incorporate positivity and seek goodness, we can develop a helpful inner voice that guides us in the right direction. Research from Mayo Clinic has shown that incorporating positive self-talk can help reduce stress and improve your health. 

If you spread negativity and disregard the truth, you can create a harmful inner voice that distracts you. A negative inner voice endorses chaos for you and everyone around you. It builds an illusion by deceiving you into accepting limiting beliefs that keep you from being your best self. Studies from Very well mind have found that constant negative self-talk can lead to feelings of depression, increased anxiety, and lower motivation.

Why Controlling Your Inner Voice Is Important

Most people tend to ignore the inner voice which allows it to become wild and impulsive. We must understand and manage our inner voice so it does not get out of hand. A lack of control can generate all sorts of harmful things such as internal conflict, limiting beliefs, faulty perceptions, and mind viruses. 

Mind viruses can build a foundation for bad habits. We all know how tough it is to eliminate a bad habit. 

Mind viruses also disrupt the natural state of the mind – peace. Peace and tranquility are our natural states of being because humans make the most progress when they are aware and relaxed. Anything that gets in the way of these states can lead to a loss of focus, stress, and a clouded mind.

One effective way to control your inner voice and bring it over to the good side is to identify and remove the viruses of the mind. Our favorite method to clean the mind is a consistent meditation practice. But before we get into any of that, we have to know what these viruses are.

The Viruses Of The Mind

1) Craving

Craving is the most influential virus of the mind. This craving feeling awakens your impulses, temptations, and desires. It also leaves you unsatisfied with life, always wanting more. 

“What I have is never enough”.

Craving comes from the constant unfulfillment and lack of contentment that someone feels from everyday things or events. The unfulfilled feeling provokes an urge to try to fill that void with more of whatever the mind wants. 

They desire more and more until there is either no more to give – or no more of them to ask. 

The mind of a craving person is detached from reality and is extremely clouded with their temptation. All they see is what they want – and they will do whatever it takes to get it. It could be money, items, power, sex, or whatever else can distract them from real life. They feel the need to attach themselves to unimportant things to continue the facade that these distractions promote. Research from Medical News today shows that more materialistic people are more likely to be miserable, depressed, and unsatisfied with life.

2) Anger

Anger is a very forceful virus of the mind. When we are clouded by anger, we are blinded by our emotions – especially frustration. Frustration causes us to act in irrational ways if we are not careful. You become upset with the world around you as you blame everything else for your faults. The Harvard Business Review also supports these findings by mentioning how angry people impair their decision-making by relying on cognitive shortcuts. 

 

“I want a solution now, the world owes me one”.

The virus of anger stems from impatience. We want the world to cater to us as we are, so we do not have to change. 

People living with anger in their hearts walk this world with unrealistic expectations. That is why they become so upset with the world. They create false expectations of how everyone should be under their worldview. An angry person assumes that the world owes them something – while the world owes them nothing. 

We all create our paths and earn the lives we live. The world does not owe anyone anything – but YOU owe yourself the best possible life YOU can reach. 

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3) Ignorance

Ignorance is the most subtle virus of the mind. Ignorance occurs when we misunderstand the difference between truth and falsehood. This causes a strand mentality shift. This new mentality is arrogant and clouds the mind to believe that you are always right and everyone else is always wrong. The line that separates fact and fiction begins to disappear in the mind of someone that grows in ignorance.

“I know everything and you know nothing”. 

There are two types of people in this world: 

People who know that they don’t know – and people who don’t know that they don’t know. 

Ignorance usually arises when someone avoids or misunderstands the truth. There are always three sides to a story: your side, the other person’s side, and the truth. A person that shows ignorance tends to only view the world through their subjective lens rather than an objective one. They ignore facts and logic – resorting to personal biases and judgments for every decision. 

Ignorance is stronger than we realize. This is because ignorance can affect your moral foundation. Not only do we misunderstand the world around us, but the world within us becomes confusing as well. We lose a sense of right and wrong and create shaky morals. These morals can be unstable because they are made from ignorance and false perception. A study from Carnegie Mellon University has shown that information avoidance and will-full ignorance can lead to selfish or immoral actions.

Your morals can remain resilient to ignorance by engaging your mind, learning, and seeking truth. The more we learn, the more we can understand and put lessons into practice. 

Awareness Can Cure The Viruses Of The Mind

All of the viruses of the mind have one thing in common. They can all be cured with one simple thing that you can practice daily. 

Awareness.

When you develop awareness, you can easily notice the things that damage your mind and eventually your body. In this sense, you can identify the viruses before they become too overwhelming and clear them for good. 

Remember, our original mental state is peace. When our harmony is disrupted, it leaves room for psychological or physical troubles. Awareness helps us maintain that state of serenity and relaxation for the mind to stay balanced. 

So, how can you increase your awareness? Well, the most common way to do so is through meditation. 

Why Is Meditation Helpful?

Meditation is a self-reflective practice that allows you to focus on whatever aspect of life you choose. A proven benefit of meditation is that it helps you to stay present. Research from the EOC Institute also supports this – they show that meditation helps improve awareness, boost sensory perception, and contributes to other things that positively impact your consciousness. Sometimes we can have trouble staying present when we are constantly distracted by everyday events and have no time for ourselves. We love meditation because it helps you relax, slow down, and establish a starting point for harmony within the mind. The inner peace we develop through meditation practice can lead to a clear mind. It’s important to recognize the difference between a clear mind and a clouded mind and what comes along with each one. They can both affect your life in interesting ways. Let’s explain these with a simple analogy.

Clear Mind vs. Clouded Mind

Imagine your mind as a glass of water.

Initially, the water should be clear and we can see everything that is going on in the water. The water is transparent, as our minds should be. With a clear mind, we see our problems, goals, challenges, and dreams. We also see the solutions and best directions to follow for a fulfilling life. This is where meditation comes in – it is the key to maintaining the clearness of our mind. 

Now, envision your mind as a glass of cloudy water.

This glass of water has been injected with ink. The ink clutters the water and makes it cloudy. When the water is clouded, nothing is visible but the dirty surface that blocks everything out. We cannot see anything so we assume everything is okay underneath. We have to rely on assumptions to guide us in decision-making, which can lead to faulty perceptions. In this instance, the ink is made from the negative experiences that alter your perception of the world. The link is your biases, judgments, stereotypes, and negative beliefs.

Meditation Purifies The Mind

A good meditation practice can help clear the mind of the black ink that stains our perspective. Think of meditation as a life dye that cleanses the mind. This is because meditation can build curiosity and creativity – these things can encourage you to ask questions about your life and what you believe. A clear mind is one full of curiosity and drive.

So, how does one incorporate meditation into their life? With some help of course! And Samavira Meditation is here to help you. 

Meditate with Samavira

Samavira is a global community of people just like you. People are interested in meditation and want to learn more or start practicing. Samavira hosts beginner-friendly training that is built around the style you desire. Yes, you create your meditation style. At Samavira, we promote creativity and flexibility. Meditation doesn’t have to be boring or difficult – it should be fun and relaxing!

We want to help you maintain calmness and clear your mind of its defilements. You do not have to go through hardship alone – join an uplifting group of other individuals who love wellness! Samavira has been an effective starting point for so many people looking to start mediation. It can be for you too! 

If you’d like to know more about Samavira and how we can help you get started with your meditation practice, visit our website. Also check out our Instagram: @samavira.meditation, for daily inspiration and wisdom.

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The 4 Main Meditation Types That Exist In The World

Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

The 4 Main Meditation Types That Exist In The World

Meditation is ever-growing in popularity. Over time, it has developed into a wide array of different meditation styles and different meditation techniques, while most of us are unaware of how many actually exist ‘out there’ these days. We’d like to bring back some of the ancient knowledge around meditation. In this article we lay out the 4 main meditation types, so you can learn more about the origin of some of the most known meditation practices that still exist to date.

Dhammakaya Meditation

Dhammakaya meditation, originating in Thailand, is probably the most original and purest form of meditation surviving in the history of meditation. “Dhamma” means “pure nature”, while “Kaya” refers to the “layers of the body” in the ancient Pali language. Put together, “Dhammakaya” means the “body of enlightenment”. Dhammakaya meditation is also called “The Middle Way Meditation” and you will understand why when you keep on reading.

Dhammakaya meditation focuses on calmness, which is believed to lead to insight as an inherent result. In Dhammakaya meditation various techniques are used with one main focus: ‘dropping into the center’. Meditation techniques are seen as merely tools and are supposed to be let go of once they’re not needed anymore.

The center is seen as the home of mind, the most natural place for the mind to be – where the mind can be fully still. In Dhammakaya it is believed that the center of our body is where the mind comes from when we are born, and goes back to when we die.

The location of the center is 2 fingers’ width above the navel, inside the middle of your body. If you were to split your body in half, horizontally and vertically, the center would be located in the middle of the middle – hence the name “The Middle Way Meditation”.

Dhammakaya meditation Types center of the body

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Observe your breathing
  • Gently guide your mind to the center of your body by following the air flow past the 7 bases of the mind: the nostrils, the bridge of the nose, middle of the head, roof of the mouth, throat, behind the navel and (back up to) the center located 2 fingers’ width above the navel
  • If you like, you can recite a mantra at the center of your body, and/or visualize an object at the center of your body to help keep your mind centered
  • Once the mantra and/or object are fading away, let them go – this means you don’t need the tools anymore to keep your mind centered
Dhammakaya meditation 7 bases of the mind

Vipassana Meditation

The term Vipassana means “seeing things as they really are” and is therefore also called “Insight Meditation”. Vipassana meditation originated in Myanmar (Birma) and refers to one of the oldest Buddhist meditation practices used for enhancing mindfulness of our state of being.

Though interchangeably used with Mindfulness meditation, Vipassana is more specific. The purpose of Vipassana meditation is to achieve a higher level of awareness of your bodily sensations.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Observe your breathing without changing your breath. Feel the sensation of the breath inside your nose and touching your nostrils
  • Scan your body from head to feet, and from feet to head. Observe all sensations of your body with equanimity (neutrality)
  • Accept everything that you observe as it is – thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Do not crave more of the pleasant sensations, and do not create aversion against the unpleasant sensations
  • Deepen the layers of the bodyscan more and more, until you can feel the sensations of the inside layer of your skin, your organs, and your spine
  • Ensure to take enough time before you advance with the next step(s) mentioned above

Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental meditation or TM originates from India. TM focuses on ‘relaxed awareness’. Transcendental meditation uses a technique that allows you to settle your mind and helps to avoid distracting thoughts. You require a specific mantra to recite during the meditation practice. You will receive this mantra from your teacher, which will be a “meaningless vibration” word, and which will help you start your journey. Because the mantra needs to be received from your teacher, it is said you cannot start with Transcendental meditation by yourself.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Repeat the mantra given to you by your teacher silently in your head
  • Do not think about your breathing
  • Allow your thoughts to float by
Becoming More Mindful Through Meditation

Zen Meditation

Zen meditation, also known as Zazen, originates from the area of Japan, Tibet and China. Zen meditation focuses on calmness and being in the here and now, while trying to think of nothing, and without being judgemental when thoughts do arise. This is done by letting every emotion or thought pass by without engaging with them.

In Zen meditation, you meditate to concentrate, introspect or simply sit and let the emotions and thoughts pass by. Some Zen meditation experts meditate with their eyes wide open, though gazing is not allowed. If you’re a beginner, it’s recommended to start with your eyes closed. Observe your breath and notice any of the sensations inside, outside, or on your body.

How to do it?

  • Sit down comfortably and close your eyes
  • Breathe through the nose
  • Follow the breath, one inhalation and one exhalation at a time
  • Each time a thought arises, don’t follow the thought and return to the breath

So – that was a lot of information, wasn’t it! Let’s sum it all up once more:

Type
Zen meditation
Vipassana meditation
Transcendental meditation
Dhammakaya meditation
Origin
Tibet / China / Japan
Myanmar (Birma)
India
Thailand
Focus
Being calm & in here and now
Awareness / Insight
Relaxed awareness
Calm → insight
Main technique
Breath observation
Bodyscan
Mantra
Centering technique

Wondering where to start?

As you can see, there are many different meditation types and different meditation techniques. And in this article we’ve only talked about the 4 main meditation types!

Remember, none of these meditation techniques are inherently good or bad. Paths are different, but the destination is the same. All meditation techniques help you to expand your consciousness, increase your awareness levels, reduce stress, open your mind to endless possibilities, and much more. However, to unlock these benefits, it is important to use a meditation technique that really works for you.

We don’t believe in a one-size-fits all approach. None of us are the same, so neither should our meditation practice be. Therefore, our trainings teach all the different meditation techniques that exist, to help you create your personalized meditation style so you can develop a practice that really works for you!

Whether you’re a beginner meditator, or have already been meditating for a while – finding that perfect “meditation formula” will help you deepen your practice.

This does not only shorten your journey, but also helps you to reap the benefits of meditation more powerfully.

Join us to develop your own personalized meditation style!

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7 Ways Meditation Increases Creativity

7 Ways Meditation Increases Creativity

Meditation is a great tool to boost creativity as it supports all the elements needed to surface creativity within you. The added advantage of “Meditation and Creativity” comes with confirmed results for calmness, peace, and emotional balance. You may wonder – how does meditation help boost creativity? In this article we list 7 ways in which meditation helps to stir up your creativity. Enjoy!

Where does your creativity come from?

Contrary to popular belief, creative people don’t have one side of the brain more active than the other. The creative process involves communication of the entire brain and several brain’s regions are lit up whenever imagination and creative thinking are required.

That’s exactly where meditation for creativity can play a crucial role: your creativity comes from within – and meditation strengthens your connection with self. In stillness, you learn to reconnect with the sensations in your body and with all the emotions and feelings that arise. Observing these emotions allows you to find your authentic voice which makes it easier for you to express yourself through your creativity.

You may find inspiration in a variety of ways such as appreciating art, connecting yourself to nature, intentionally looking for beauty around you, observing beautifully designed buildings in the city, or simply connecting with self while practicing meditation for creativity. Meditation and creativity are tightly connected. So let’s dive in the 7 ways that meditation helps you to unleash your creative genius!

1. Meditation allows you to be more intuitive

Meditation allows you to be more intuitive
The more you listen to the sensations in your body, the more you will awake your intuitive self. Your intuition is your authentic voice speaking. When choosing meditation for creativity, you will fine-tune your authentic voice, thus becoming more intuitive. This way meditation and creativity can help to strengthen each other.

2. Meditation enhances your observation skills

A Dutch psychologist, Matthijs Baas, conducted a series of studies in 2014 on mindfulness skills used during meditation that could potentially enhance our creative process.

His studies demonstrated that during meditation our enhanced ability to observe internal phenomena in our body, such as our sensations and feelings, as well as the ability to perceive external stimuli like sounds and smell, can be considered the one skill you need to develop that is the strongest indicator of your creative success. This makes creativity one of the proven benefits of meditation.

As mentioned earlier, you can get inspired in a million different ways, but you do need to have great observation skills to be able to perceive the beauty around you in the first place.

3. Meditation improves your working memory

meditation improves your working memory
Enhanced working memory is another effect of having great observation skills. Dr. Matthijs Baas’ studies also concluded that when you meditate and become a great observer, your cognitive flexibility increases. And, your short-term working memory improves as well – which is a highly necessary part of the brain during a creative process. Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can temporarily hold information.

4. Meditation allows you to become more open to experiences

One more reason why it is great to practice meditation for creativity is that you will likely open yourself up to new experiences. The more you become a better observer, the more you see new opportunities ahead of you, and the more open to new experiences you will be. As a result, this helps to become more creative.

5. Meditation teaches you to be non-judgmental

As you develop your self-awareness and learn to embrace all sensations that arise during a meditation session, you become more and more accepting of yourself and the world around you. With practice and time, you end up developing one superpower in which you observe everything but judge nothing. That alone will allow you to express your creativity in a much more expansive way.

6. Meditation trains you to be less strict

Once you set aside intentional time to practice meditation, you will notice that as you become more open to experiences, you also allow yourself to be less strict with your creations. You start exploring new and different ways to express your full creativity.

7. Meditation teaches you to accept vulnerability

Meditation teaches you to accept vulnerability
Creativity and vulnerability always need to go hand in hand so that your creation can spark emotion in whoever appreciates it. Through meditation for creativity, you learn to embrace all your emotions instead of wanting to hide them. Being vulnerable and accepting all parts of your being are unique characteristics that will be reflected in anything that you create.
When you choose to meditate, you are not just choosing a relaxing and calming activity, you are deliberately opening the doors to your most authentic voice and welcoming it to guide you in all creative endeavors you decide for. In this article we have explored how meditation and creativity are connected, and why creativity is one of the many proven benefits of meditation. So, are you ready to unleash those creative powers within you?

Next steps

If you’d like to boost your creativity further, here’s a meditation that will help you do just that!

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