Concentration, Contemplation & Meditation

Awakening - Daniel B Holeman

The difference between Concentration and Contemplation is that in concentration you imagine an object very concretely in front of you. You are different than the object that you project or imagine in front of you. In real Contemplation, you experience yourself as the object, so you are there; you are experiencing from the inside.

Try practicing these exercises for a least 1 minutes several times each day which will develop your concentration and focus with your eyes closed. When you are adept at these then try with your eyes open. It's good to do all of these exercises but start with the ones that appeal to you at first. Later as you become more comfortable you can do the others.

1. Look at a flower and nothing else. Start by concentrating on the outline, the colour and gradually get into the sepals and petals. Close your eyes and create the image of the flower in your mind. 

Open your eyes and compare the picture you had in your mind with the flower.

Close your eyes and recreate the image, correcting the differences. 

 Open your eyes and compare again. Repeat this process until your mental image is exactly the same as the physical flower.

Do this same exercise with a variety of objects, for example a stone or rock, a twig or another plant, a bird or animal, a book, a coin or a picture.

2. Imagine the outline of an equilateral triangle made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold the image as long as you can. This practice will give you a sense of balance & poise.

3.  Imagine the outline of a square made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold that image for as long as you can.  This practice will give you a sense of strength and foundation.

4. Imagine the outline of a circle made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold that image for as long as you can. This practice will give a blocked person a sense of flowing.

 

5 Imagine a cube drawn out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Keep one side of the cube facing towards you. With your imagination as you inhale push that face backwards so that another face comes forward. 

As you exhale bring that face forward so that the other face comes backwards. 

This practice will give you control over your visualization and develop your inner power.

6. Imagine a tetrahedron {a pyramid which has 4 faces that all equilateral triangles} made out of pure crystal hanging in the air in front of you. Keeping the crystal tetrahedron perfectly still imagine that you are able to move around it, so you see from one angle, then another, then the top, then the bottom.

7. Imagine you are sitting inside of a crystal tetrahedron, an angle to your back and facing a face. This gives you a sense of poise, peace and security.