Meditation: It's Simply A Journey... - Part 1 (The Beginning)

So why did I start to learn to meditate? Well, I wanted to start something completely new in my life, and it was the start of the New Year. So I really wanted to stick with something, not just start something and then give it up a few months down the line. I already knew the benefits of meditation and how it can pretty much change your life, so I wanted to give it a shot. The only thing I had in mind to compare it to was self-hypnosis, but I can say that it's pretty different from that.

 

 

So I learned very quickly that meditation is simply not as straight forward as I hoped. What I mean by that is that the core principal of meditation is exactly the same no matter what, but there are so many other things you need to consider, such as hand positioning, breathing techniques, the way you sit, the way you place your feet etc. So at first it was pretty damn annoying to say the least, and I pretty much tried lots of different combinations, until I found something which worked best for me personally (I'll get to that at later date).

 

So the first time I meditated I took a traditional meditation method of sitting on the floor with my legs crossed, keeping my back straight, and holding my hands in the Sacral Chakra (Swadhisthana) position.

Sacral Chakra (Swadhisthana) 

Now when I started meditating one of the first things which I was concerned with was the time, and selecting the perfect time was also a problem to me. I thought 10 minutes was too short and 30 minutes was too long, so I decided to go straight bang in the middle with 20 minutes.   

To be perfectly honest, I really didn't do that much background research on meditation, so I pretty much jumped straight in at the deep end without a second thought. Obviously now I know that was a mistake, but I kind of just wanted to do it and experience it for myself.

Now, the first time I meditated I can pretty such say I absolutely HATED IT! And the main reason for that was because simply I had no real idea of what I was doing, or should be doing; to be honest I was just sitting there breathing wishing the timer would go off.
 
If I'm honest at that point I just wanted to give up and find something else to do with my life, but I thought of it kind of like Jiu-Jitsu. When you start Jiu-Jitsu it's tough, and I mean tough! You constantly get your ass handed to you by everybody, and the thought of "will I ever be good at this?" runs through your mind all the time, but if I thought like that about Jiu-Jitsu I most probably wouldn't be doing it anymore, so that encouraged me to carry on.

The main problem I was having was that I was worrying about everything, and if I'm doing everything "the right way". In reality I was trying too hard. The fact was I was trying to be really good at something which I had no idea about or any guidance in, so the thought of being phenomenally good at something on your first try was kind of impossible. All I knew was that I so wanted to be good at it, and if that meant trying everything under the sun to see what worked best for me then so be it. To be honest I just wanted to continue the journey pretty much like I did with Jiu-Jitsu.

Let's just say things started to look up from here!

Part 2 will follow tomorrow.

 

Catch you later,

 

Giordano

Read More »

Meditation: It's Simply A Journey... - Introduction

So today I want to talk about something which is pretty different from my typical Jiu-Jitsu content, and if you couldn't guess it already, today I shall be talking about meditation. Now, this is probably going to consist of a series of different posts as I want to go into quite a lot of detail on this subject, so each day I'll try and cover a different topic or two. I really want to share with you guys about my experiences meditating and the effects it’s had on my life thus far, which hopefully some of you guys might find interesting.

Now some of you guys might be wondering has this series got anything to do with Jiu-Jitsu? Well, I will however talk a little about Jiu-Jitsu in this article, as meditation affects nearly all aspects of your life, and Jiu-Jitsu is a major part of my life, so we will touch on a little bit of Jiu-Jitsu here and there. But this article is definitely not a "meditation for Jiu-Jitsu" kind of post.

So like I said previously, this is going to be the start of a series of different posts, and today is just a little introduction into what you can expect over the next few days. Now before this series starts, I just want to say that this is not going to be “Meditation 101" and I am not a Zen Buddhist and everything I shall talk about is mainly from my own personal experience.

So hopefully a few of you will enjoy what I write, and part 1 of this series will be published tomorrow.

Catch you later,

Giordano

Read More »

Binaural Beats: Experimenting with eDrugs

So at the start of this year I wanted to start some completely new things, so I thought of the classic new year's resolutions that everybody attempts to do for a month and then gives up on, but to be perfectly honest most of them don't really apply to me, so I tried to think of things more outside the box. What I decided to do was firstly to start blogging, which I can safely say I LOVE, and secondly I wanted to learn to meditate, which I can easily say is one of the greatest things I have ever done in my life. So anyway searching the internet as you do, looking up different meditation techniques, postures, hand positions etc, I eventually came across binaural beats, which if you couldn't guess already is what I intend to talk to you guys about today and my overall experience using them.

So what exactly are binaural beats? Well it's actually something which is created by the brain when it is presented with two sounds of similar frequencies, and with each of these frequencies being played separately to each ear your brain will then begin to integrate each of these frequencies and thus create a third sound which is referred to as a binaural beat.

For example, if for instance a frequency of 100Hz is played in one ear and a frequency of 105Hz is played in the other, then a binaural beat of 5Hz will be created. Brain waves will then shift in order to match this frequency or binaural beat.  

Okay, but what does this have to do with meditation exactly? Well if you take a look at this chart it shows us various brain wave frequencies corresponding to consciousness levels:

Beta (13-26 Hz) - Alert concentration and problem-solving

Alpha (8-13 Hz) - Alert relaxation

Theta (4-7 Hz) - Deep relaxation and increased learning

Delta (1-3 Hz) - Deep sleep

So basically what a binaural beat does is it can induce the listener into various levels of consciousness, but its most frequently used by listeners to induce them into a state of deep meditation.
 

So is it legitimate or is it just another load of BS? Well from my experience I can say it works pretty damn well, but only if you allow it to, don't expect to stick on some headphones and all of sudden turn into a Zen Buddhist. Like everything with meditation you have to completely let go and fully focus on the sound itself in order for a deep state of meditation to be successfully achieved.
 

So can they be used over traditional meditation techniques? Personally I don't think so, I personally can reach a much deeper state of meditation by using traditional mediation techniques than solely just relying on binaural beats. Don't get me wrong you can reach a decent level of deep relaxation with binaural beats but personally I don't think they offer as much as normal meditation does.

From personal experience, the best way to use binaural beats is to use them in conjunction with your normal meditation, so sometime throughout the day I will listen to binaural beats in conjunction with my daily morning and evening meditation sessions. As a result of doing this I have noticed a MAJOR improvement in my meditation, since using them I find it easier to focus on my breathing, my concentration levels have increased etc. I guess its kind of like a pre-workout supplement, its not essential to take one before you workout but it can definitely help, and the same is true with binaural beats, they are not essential but if used correctly you will see great improvements in your meditation practice.

 

So where can you get binaural beats? Well they are all over the internet, you can listen to them on YouTube, download free MP3's or buy them. Personally I bought mine, but I've tried others on YouTube and they all work reasonably well. But you MUST listen to binaural beats, wearing headphones, preferably over the ear headphones.   

So I imagine you're probably wondering by now why in the title did I refer to them as "eDrugs". Well some people say that binaural beats mimic the effects of drugs such as LSD and marijuana, and essentially you can get 'high' off them. Well in regards to that, I've never personally taken any of these drugs (or any drugs for that matter) and although they can make you feel very relaxed I really do doubt that sound frequencies can really replicate the effects of a drug.   

So I hope you guys enjoyed this post on binaural beats which is little different from my traditional Jiu-Jitsu based posts, but I wanted to introduce you guys to something completely new from me.
 

Catch you later,

Giordano

Read More »