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The Latin word for meditation is 'mederi' which means 'to heal'. To meditate is to develop an understanding of your inner self, to know yourself better, so that you can improve your life, by watching yourself as a witness to control anger and be more retrospective towards your behaviour and relationship with others.

• meditation is getting in touch with your inner self.
• The dictionary defines meditation as continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature; "the habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge" .
• meditation is a way of life.
• meditation is getting in touch with the vast reservoir of energy within us.
• meditation is a state of being.
• To me, meditation is thoughtlessness.
• Gurumaa says that meditation is being aware.

However, experience says that real meditation cannot occur without the grace of the master. meditation starts with repetition of mantra and concentration of breath. Once the seeker starts meditating regularly, the mantra slowly fades out and the breathing becomes so slow that keeping count of it becomes difficult.

According to doctors, the best stress relief technique is meditation. many patients have been cured of their mental as well as physical problems by meditation and related breathing techniques.

The eight-fold path of yoga as described by sage patanjali leads to meditation. The first one is yama which is social behaviour which tells us to be non-violent, truthful and honest, not to steal, not to be lustful or possessive. niyama i.e. discipline tells us to be pure, content, austere, study the sacred texts and live with the awareness of the divine. The next point is asana, where we must learn to sit erect so that the energy generated within us can move up the spinal cord from the muladhara chakra towards the head. Once asana has been mastered, we go on to pranayama or controlling or balancing the breath. after the breath is controlled, pratyahara or withdrawal of the senses occurs. Dharana allows the mind to fix itself on an object or sound or within oneself. Uninterrupted meditation is known as dhyana which is the next step. Samadhi, the eighth and final step is the very goal of meditation, which is absolute bliss and union with God. In Samadhi, one realizes the pure consciousness and unites with the absolute.

Visit Anandmurti Gurumaa site for a number of amazingly simple and effective guided meditation techniques. You would also like the great soothing meditation music cds from Mystica Music.