Books

The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford. George Mumford is given credit for introducing Phil Jackson to meditation. Phil Jackson credits meditation to his success as a player as well as a coach.

Recovery 2.0  (Move beyond addiction and upgrade your life) by Tommy Rosen.

The Untethered Soul : (The journey beyond yourself) by Michael Singer. A fascinating read on one man’s journey with meditation and yoga. A must read for all who are seeking.

The Four Agreements:  A Practical Guild to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dreams, By Paulo Coelho

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are By Brene` Brown

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate`

What the heck should I eat? by Dr Mark Hyman. Or any other book by Dr Hyman.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (at least the first 164 pages)

12 Steps and 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous

Drop the Rock: Removing Character Defects – Steps Six and Seven By Sara S and Todd W 

11 Rings by Phil Jackson : All time winningest coach. Credited with mindfulness and meditation to Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant , Shaquille O’Neal and the LA Lakers. 

This is That Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras pandas 1 and 2  By Anand Mehrotra; also worth noting his film The Highest Pass (2011)

Divine Alignment a guide to improve yoga practice & life through correct posture & breathing by Guru Prem Singh Khalsa; I met Guru Prem K for the first time in Joshua Tree, California. in September of 2019. It can be viewed as a “how to manual”. It does not matter what type of yoga you practice. Your foundation is important. This is your access point.

Podcasts

https://www.osirispod.com/podcasts/comes-a-time/

Dhru Purohit Podcast

Rich Roll Podcast 

Mark Marion Podcast 

 

www.midwestrecoverycenters.com

Types of Meditation Practice

Meditation is simply any practice that puts us into a meditative state.  A meditative state is generally considered to be a fourth state of consciousness (sometimes called Turiya or fourth state in Sanskrit) that underlies the three “normal” states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep.  Meditation puts us into a transcendent state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation, expanded awareness, a sense of deep connection to all beings and things, and a profound sense of peace.  By transcending our normal state of consciousness of a busy mind and stressful emotions, meditation creates a “witnessing” awareness that can become part of our waking state.  If we can stay in this witnessing waking state of consciousness, we are able to “edit our own lives” as they are happening….by slowing down thoughts and calming our emotions, we can more easily “see” the consequences of our impending actions so that we can adjust before they result in undesirable results.

Although there are many types of meditation, they all have the following aspects as described in the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali:

1. A turning of attention inward (Pratyahara)
2. A focused and relaxed concentration (Dharana)
3. An absorption into a meditative state (Dhyana)
4. Which can result in a state of bliss and deep contentment (Samadhi)

The most common types of meditation are:

 

• Vedic or Mantra Meditation  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made this form of meditation popular in the West through the practice of Transcendental Meditation or TM.  In Vedic meditation, we silently repeat a short mantra (a word or phrase like So Hum used for its sound and not just for its meaning).  The mantra acts like an anchor which slows down thought, stills the mind and allows us to experience the more subtle nature of our consciousness.  In addition to TM, this form of meditation is taught by the Chopra Center, the Art of Living and other spiritual organizations.

 

• Focusing on the Breath This form of meditation is similar to Vedic meditation but we focus on the breath as an anchor to keep us present rather than on a mantra.

• Mindfulness Mindfulness meditation comes from the Buddhist tradition.  Most mindfulness practices use the breath to settle the mind and body.  And then we scan our bodies, emotions, thoughts and senses to become aware of what is going on around and within us.  This awareness creates both presence and a kind of Witnessing consciousness that can lead to Awakening or Liberation (freedom from our identification with Ego).

• Loving Kindness or Metta Meditation  Loving Kindness Meditation is used to open our hearts to feelings of kindness, compassion and acceptance of other beings and our selves.  Usually, we first focus our compassion on our selves, then on friends and family, and finally on all human beings and life forms.

• Zen or “Just Sitting Meditation”  In this type of meditation, in its purest form, we simply sit in Presence and Awareness without necessarily focusing on the breath or a mantra.  We simply allow our attention to be on our own “I Amness” or Witnessing Consciousness and “abide” or rest in that Awareness.  In some practices, we can use the breath or a mantra to arrive at Awareness but it is suggested that we devote as much sitting time to complete focused silence as we can.

• Guided Meditation  All of the above practices can be aided or facilitated by a guided meditation.  The most common guided meditations ae mindfulness ones as we are guided through the process of scanning our bodies, emotions and thoughts.  But guided meditations can also be used to help us with focusing on the breath, introducing a mantra into our awareness and even zen meditations.  

 

 

The above are some of the most common forms of meditation.   There are other types of meditation like walking meditation, chanting, Kundalini and Tantra forms which also are proven vehicles for facilitating a meditative state in us.

Written and updated on May 1, 2021 by Thomas Taylor who has been meditating for 45 years and is a certified Chopra Center Meditation Teacher and Coach, yoga teacher and yoga informed Recovery Coach.  Tom can be reached at tom.taylor@dragonflyawakened.com or his website at www.dragonflyrising.com.

You are receiving meditation information as a gift from Eric Perowsky CPS, Y12SR, Yoga Informed Recovery Coach with Tommy Rosen’s R20 Community.

If for any reason you have questions please feel free to get in touch with Tom Taylor (information provided by) or Eric Perowsky e.p.kcmo@gmail.com or 913-707-3061