Concentration while meditating is defined as the faculty of mind which focuses single mindedly on one object without obstruction. True concentration is a complete one mindedness which comes after a lot of dedicated practice and hard work. It is situation when you are free from sins like hatred, greed, etc. It is free from contaminations and is a state where your mind is gathered together to gain power and intensity. We would now go through a few ways to know how to retain concentration while meditation.
Meditation for Concentration:
Understanding What ‘Concentration’ Means:
Understanding the term concentration is the first thing you need to do. It is the realization that you need to take your mind off a lot of things which you usually keep thinking about and resting it all upon one particular object, visual, sound, mantra, etc.
[Read: How to Perform Meditation]
What would you concentrate on?
You need to decide on what you want to concentrate on. There is an important fact that you become the person who you focus on. You might not have realized but there are times when married couples start looking like each other after years of marriage. People often resemble their pets, cars, hobbies or the work that they do at a usual basis.
See Other People Concentrating:
Whenever you start something new you should always take some sort of expert help or observe the situations around people which would help you understand how you need to work at it. While you watch an action movie in the theaters try and look at someone around and see their eyes. They would be hardly blinking and they would breathe slowly. Their physical gestures might give you the idea to concentrate better.
Keep Calm:
Concentration is a way of increasing your consciousness towards cosmic energy. The more you can get these sorts of energies the better you would feel. Getting diverted can scatter the energy which won’t come to any use. Thus you need to keep calm while you concentrate. Take in deep breaths whenever you feel a little diverted, this will help you regain your concentration.
[Read: How to Perform Chakra Meditation]
Take Breaks:
Sometimes you should take breaks in between your meditation. If you meditate for a long time this would be important because too much of overdoing would not be beneficial. Take deep breaths in between or take a brisk walk and then get back to your task freshly charged up. This would help you focus better.
Keep a Tab On Your Breathing:
Don’t stop deep breathing or control it while meditation. It helps you to focus one thing at a time on your mind. As you concentrate on your breathing you will slow down and so will your mind, this has been scientifically proved. You would move to a peaceful state of mind but you won’t be sleepy. As you end you would be feeling energetic and fresh.
Meditate in Isolation:
For proper concentration you need to be mediating in a place where you would have very less noise around. You cannot have loud noise in your surrounding as that would never make you a good meditator. Choose a proper place where you can be left undisturbed for the time span while you meditate.
[Read: Guide for Light Meditation]
Be Comfortable:
You need to be comfortable while you are meditating. It could be a big obstacle as until you are comfortable you can never concentrate. Wear lose clothes and do not forget to remove your shoes. Try to have suitable place where you would be meditating, a yoga mat or an asana or a meditating chair if you posses. Keep your back straight and sit in the lotus posture which suits best for this. You could also go with just crossing your legs and placing you arms on the lap.