What is the real purpose of meditation?
Emptying your mind of thought is not the purpose of meditation. The real purpose of meditation is self-reflection, which leads to self-discovery, which leads to self-realisation.
This process of self-realisation not only releases emotional blockages in the body, which are the precursors to disease, but also connects us with a deeper reality.
Our lives are very busy and the pace of life is fast. There is little time to think and reflect. For many of us, we have lost the connection with ourselves, our reactions and understanding how we feel.
Meditation understands and corrects the mind that created any imbalance
The purpose of meditation is to observe our minds, to understand what we do, why we do it and how to correct it. The mind can often work independently of time.
For example, when we think about a stressful past event, the body can start to produce stress chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol as if it occurred yesterday.
Re-visit past mistakes
Looking back at past mistakes, not in condemnation or blame, but to understand what we did or what others did to us (it is immaterial whether it comes from us or others, the mind responds the same way), is an important process to bring the mind to a state of balance.
Energy blockages are usually caused by our emotions. The mind creates them, the mind undoes them. As we reflect on ourselves and correct our minds, less repetition takes place. Many people talk of a repetitive pattern in their lives; this is because the mind is never corrected.
Achieve true balance
It is a simple process, but difficult to achieve as we don’t like to face our ‘faults’. For many years, we have been hard wired to deny or suppress our least attractive traits. It drives us deeper into ourselves and we try to suppress it. However, the true balancing act is to reduce what is plentiful and increase what is lacking. In other words, rather than suppress our least attractive traits, we should make the opposite stronger. For selfishness, balance with giving; for arrogance, practise humility; for anger, practise calmness or humour.
As the mind is corrected, the body is healed.
