Mindfulness Skills - VIDEO 14 - QUIZ

The Benefits and Essence of Meditation

• Meditation can lead to a calmer and more peaceful mind, and a sense of freedom and lasting happiness that is not reliant on external circumstances.

• The author has been involved in meditation research since 2002, and has found that the brain has neuroplasticity, meaning it is capable of change through meditation.

• Meditation can lead to changes in neural pathways and gene expression in the brain, resulting in a more stable and lasting happiness.

• The best way to change one's baseline is through meditation, which can take the form of awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom.

• The experience of meditation includes peace, joy, and pliability, but the essence of meditation is awareness.

• The mind has an innate quality of awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom, but often people do not recognize it.

• The author's meditation lineage emphasizes subject-oriented meditation, where awareness is important and anything can be used as a support for awareness.

• Common mistakes in meditation include thinking it means thinking of nothing or expecting peace and joy.

• The goal of meditation is to make the mind more pliable and walkable, and to gain freedom from the mind's out-of-control nature.

• There are three states of meditation: the waterfall experience, the river-like experience, and the lake-without-a-web experience, which occur step-by-step through meditation practice.

• Meditation can lead to a sense of freedom and liberation by connecting with one's innate qualities of awareness, love and compassion, and wisdom.

• Meditation can be learned through experiential lineage and step-by-step practice, beginning with techniques such as knowing the breath, sound, and sensation.The Three Stages of Meditation: A Journey Within

• During the monsoon season in Tibet, the river becomes muddy, making it impossible to see the fish. However, when the season ends and the river becomes clean and calm, the fish become visible, just like in meditation.

• At the beginning of meditation, one may experience rough and peaceful experiences, which are both part of the journey.

• Rough experiences may manifest as agitation or dullness, while peaceful experiences may bring clarity, joy, and non-conceptual awareness.

• One should not fear the rough experiences, but rather embrace them as part of the journey.

• Like physical exercise, meditation should be practiced gradually, with small increments of time every day.

• The second stage of meditation is when one becomes more familiar with their inner awareness and experiences a vivid and salient awareness that is not tangible but can be felt.

• In the second stage, one can experience peace, pliability, love, and compassion without effort, and the ups and downs of the journey do not affect them.

• The last stage of meditation is when one can remain in awareness almost 24/7, even during sleep. Awareness becomes a continuous state that is not affected by external circumstances.

• In the last stage, there is no fear, and emotions can still arise, but they can be transformed through awareness, love, and compassion.

• Through meditation, one can discover unlimited potential within themselves and find the answers to everything within.

• Real freedom, enlightenment, and liberation are found within oneself, not outside.

• Online meditation workshops are available to connect with inner awareness and benefit from the teachings of meditation.