Penetrating into the depth of sub-consciousness mind.
Meditation is an essential attempt in nearly all contemplative religious and spiritual traditions.
Various systems whose backgrounds and methods are quite different, (e.g. Zen meditation, transcendental meditation, Vipasana meditation) are placed collectively under the umbrella term of Meditation.
Hence meditation is a family of techniques which have in common a conscious attempt to focus attention in a non-analytical way and an attempt not to dual on discursive and ruminating thoughts.
This family of techniques is divided into
a. Concentrative meditation.
b. Mindfulness meditation.
c. Contemplative meditation.
a. Concentrative meditation - There is an attempt to restrict awareness by focusing attention on a single object in order to directly experience the object of meditation which could be external or internal (eg. mantra, breath, a single word, etc.)
b. Mindfulness meditation - Attempt is made to attend non-judgementally to all stimuli in internal and external environment, but not to get caught up in any stimulus. It is also called as opening-up meditation.
c. Contemplative meditation - It involves opening and surrendering to the large self. It pre-supposes a certain degree of skill in both concentrative and mindfulness meditation, as both the ability to focus and the ability to open are essential.
Meditation is not a static category but a dynamic process, it is a developmental process beginning with concentration and continuing with the ability to open and contemplate.
Each level transcends and include the previous one. The core and the centre level is the intention which is the pre-requisites to all meditation.
It is very important for us to learn ways to free ourselves from the artificial and un-necessary limits we impose as well as to learn and expand our world views and consciousness's.
This liberation involves recognising and letting go of old structures and boundaries and evolving to more complex world views.
Meditation provides road maps to reach optimal openness, awareness and insight. The ultimate aims of meditation practise are the development of deep insight into the nature of metal processes, consciousness, identity, reality and development of optimal states of psychological well-being and consciousness.