The Clinical meditation consists of four methods
01
“Loosen meditation”
(relief / concentration)
Loosen meditation aims at relaxing the mind and body, and concentration. The first method of relaxation is to harmonize your intentional breathing with the rhythm of your body. How do you feel when you soak in the bath-tub after busy work? You are certainly calm, aren't you? You can experience this loose feeling in “Relaxation meditation”. While you might breathe without awareness in daily life, you breathe consciously in “Loosen meditation”. Intentionally long breathing out leads on activating parasympathetic nerves and generating alfa waves, which work serotonin neurons and increase neurotransmitter like endorphin. Even if you are nervous in a condition of excessively sympathetic nerve ascendant and beta wave in the brain waves emerges, deep and conscious breaths create a state of mental and physical ease, free from tension by mediating the brain wave and autonomous nerve. The relaxed mind eventually develops into a focused state of consciousness, which transits into the next observation form of meditation. Observing rhythms of breaths closely attains concentrated consciousness.
02
“Observation meditation”
(watching / insight)
“Observation meditation” (watching/insight) is for watching and penetrating insight. Concentration improved by sufficient relaxation lets you observe yourself and others in good spirits. Observation is, as the name suggests, maintaining objective awareness of the object without becoming too self-conscious.
It is a meditation based on concentrated awareness, maintaining a third-person view. That is famous for mindfulness meditation now. Mindfulness originates from “Sati” of Pali which developed in primary Buddhism. It was translated Pali into English and exported to Japan.
“Sati” is explained as awareness and so mindfulness is generally known as “awareness”. In Buddhism, “Sati” meditation means moderate and bare perspective that is free from bias. It allows to divide subjective yourself into objective yourself who is objected.
The observation translates into insight. Insight resembles analysis but different. Analysis means subdividing objects to make it clear in a dualistic manner. While, insight means grasping overview and examining essence of objects carefully. When you penetrate into the apple, you not only observe color and shape, but also smell, bite and taste. To have full knowledge of the apple is insight.
In case of bringing attention to one's own upbringing and background, you carefully and concretely examine how you foster relations with someone and your related thoughts and actions while looking at your entire family system and structure in “Observation meditation”. In Buddhism, the insight meditation of the Four Noble Truths 四諦 (Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cession of Suffering, Path to the Cession of Suffering) and Noble Eightfold Path 八聖道 (Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Memory, Right Concentration) is inherited as ultimate method.
03
“Energizing Meditation”
(creation / reverence)
“Energizing Meditation” (creation / reverence) is an intentional consciousness to enhance the functions of the mind and body through meditation. This style of meditation refers to being conscious of our whole body and our five senses while improving its overall functions.
Energizing Meditation approaches both body and soul. It works on enhancing health based on Salutogenesis for a body and improving spirituality, which is an ultimate goal of this meditation, based on humanistic psychology which started in 1950s and transpersonal psychology, and training methods in Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism for mental.
Especially, yoga and Esoteric Buddhism see the five elements of the human body (lower abdomen, stomach, heart and lung, neck and face, head top) in accordance with the five elements of the universe or Chakra (energy spots in human body), that is, the earth, water, fire, wind, and universe, respectively and aims at enhancing each function through breathwork, physical movements and alteration of consciousness. We can balance and condition each function by activating holistically the endocrine system, the autonomic nervous system, and the immune system.
Your mood rises more when you sing your favorite songs in Karaoke than when you stay home and spend an idle time, doesn't it? Vibration to body by singing loudly induces sense of fulfilment to mind, which causes by secreting dopamine in brain by means of stimulating dopamine neuron. Secreting happy hormone makes your feeling refreshed and lung capacity increased. You repeat short sutra and mantra in "Energizing Meditation" and once enthusiasm is generated. After that, serotonin is secreted by deep breaths and you regain your composure and meditate deeply.
Also, ``Compassionate Meditation'' toward others can also be ``Energizing Meditation''.
04
“Unifying Meditation”
(integration / unifying)
“Unifying Meditation” (integration / unifying) can occur in conjunction with Energizing Meditation. It is difficult to divide them strictly because unifying meditation condition occurs in executing energizing meditation. Energizing meditation aimed at enhancing our physical functions, followed heightening spiritual status, consequently aware of unifying grows. It transforms big-hearted mind called altered state of consciousness in transpersonal psychology. Through meditation, higher states of spirituality can emerge.
A woman who practiced meditation in our Hida-Senkouji temple said that she could feel happy mood like as expanding her consciousness and floating in outer space for a long time. Unifying meditation leads to a state of transcending self-consciousness and merging or integrating into greater consciousness.
In a religious context, that means having ties with gods and Buddha or heavens. In Buddhist terms, this relates to a state of awakening or liberation. It does not mean that this state can be attained by everyone, but this clinical meditation may lead people in this direction.
This is a profound world of the heart of meditation. Let’s explore the world of your own mind with meditation.