The most popular, widely adapted, and widely researched meditation technique in the West is known as mindfulness meditation, which is a combination of concentration and open awareness. Mindfulness is found in many contemplative traditions, but is most often identified with the practice of vipassana, or “insight meditation.” It’s practiced by media moguls like Russell Simons and Richard Branson, athletes like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, actors Hugh Jackman and Cameron Diaz, leaders and people just like you and me.
Instead of eliminating problems, Vipasana, just like any other form of meditation works to activate your PNS or parasympathetic nervous system, which slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure and relaxes your mind. By doing this consistently, you become less reactive and while the problems may not go away (thats a whole other blog post on karma) your reaction to those problems will be more relaxed and non-reactive.
Ultimately problems and challenges will never completely go away, which is good because they function to help us grow, and growth unlike kicking back on the couch and doing nothing leads to deep fulfillment and happiness. Of course if we can take up some form of meditation practice, when problems and challenges do arise we can insulate ourselves from any negative effects like a vast ocean absorbing the minuscule effect of a pebble being dropped from the sky.
How it works: The practitioner focuses on an object, such as the breath, bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings, or sounds. The focus is not as narrow as in concentrative meditation, for there is a simultaneous awareness of other phenomena. This mindfulness practice can be extended to daily actions, such as eating, walking, driving, or how you interact with people. If anything it enables you to clear out the clutter of disempowering beliefs, stress, fear and other harmful emotions.
How to do it: check link below for a full detailed description or watch the video.
