KHOẢNG HỞ GIỮA Ý NGHĨ

GETTING IN THE GAP

Japa Meditation
How to Reduce Stress

Japa meditation will not only teach you how to reduce stress, but it will be one of the most effective ways to meditate.

I first came upon this meditation technique through Dr. Wayne Dyer and his book called Getting in the Gap. Japa meditation is all about learning how to focus your attention in the space between your thoughts. This space the "gap" as Dr. Dyer calls it, is the silence which allows the creation, imagination, and manifestation of your thoughts.

Dr. Wayne Dyer uses music as an example, he writes: "Without pauses for silence, the music would be one infinitely long note of noise. What we call music would be impossible." So that pause that silence between notes in music is what creates the beautiful sounds.

Universal sound
Japa meditation is the repetition of the sound Ahh! It is the universal sound found in the name of God from all cultures for example: Allah, Krishna, God, Buddha, Ra. Each one of these names for God holds the sound of Ahh.

Think of how you use this sound in everyday life. When you find something pleasing you might express your feelings with a satisfying Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

How to reduce stress using this meditation.
This technique teaches you how to reduce stress by giving you access to the part of you that is free from all worldly worries, the space between your thoughts. This space is silence, it is beyond all material things, the place of your origin, where you began before physical form.

There are no worries in the space between your thoughts, in the "gap" as Dr. Wayne Dyer calls it. Focusing your attention in the "gap" lets you truly let go of all stress and allows you to just be a part of the peaceful calm in the silence between your thoughts.

The Japa meditation technique
In Dr. Wayne Dyer's book he uses the words from the Lord's Prayer for visualizing, others have used the alphabet, using numbers will work as well, you can find whatever is comfortable for you.

For this process I will use the letters of the alphabet, feel free to substitute what you prefer visualizing. I highly recommend Dr. Dyer's book Getting in the Gap it is a small book but covers this technique in greater detail. It also comes with a CD which contains a guided meditation by Dr. Dyer.

Here are the steps:

1. Close your eyes and visualize the letter A directly in front of you. Hold this vision for a moment or two.
   
2. Now to the right of the letter A visualize the letter B. Hold the vision of the letter B for a moment or two as you just did with the previous letter.
   
3. Next you will move your attention back to the space between the two letters, it is here in this space between letters A and B where you will do "Japa" by making the sound "Ahh" for as long as you can. Keep focused on the sound, experience how it feels to make the sound. If your thoughts stray, gently bring them back to focusing on the sound.
   
4. Now put your focus back on the letter B. Hold it clearly in focus for a moment or two.
   
5. You will now visualize the next letter. To the right of the B you will visualize the letter C. As with the previous letters you will hold it clearly in your minds eye for a moment or two.
   
6. Next you will move your attention back to the space between the two letters, B and C. it is here in this space where you will do "Japa" by making the sound "Ahh" once again for as long as you can. Keep focused on the sound, experience how it feels to make the sound. If your thoughts stray, gently bring them back to focusing on the sound.
   
7. Put your focus back on the letter C and continue this process through the rest of the letters up to the letter G.

So this is the Japa meditation process and as I mentioned before this is not only one of the best stress reduction techniques it is also one of the most effective ways to meditate.

Getting in the Gap Meditation

I came upon this meditation by Dr. Wayne Dyer many years ago, it was one of the first meditation exercises I did on a regular basis. As a beginner, I found it an extremely helpful way to quiet my mind. It felt like I’d made a great discovery – a true awakening.
As Dr. W Dyer describes: “The gap is an exquisite place! It is a place where miracles occur. The gap is owned by everyone on this planet. It’s yours to enter at will. What awaits you in the gap is the experience of activating the higher human dimensions of insight, intuition, creativity, and peak performance; as well as coming to know relaxation, enchantment, bliss, and the peace of making conscious contact with God.”The gap is the space between our thoughts, it’s where all action and manifestation originate. This is the place where synchronicity begins to unfold and where the seemingly impossible takes place.
Firstly, Dyer asks that you find a way to simply observe what it feels like to be in this gap. Begin to get that feeling by starting with the first 10 words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name”. This is not a religious exercise but simply as a method for entering the domain of Spirit.
In a quiet space, in whatever posture is most comfortable for you, close your eyes and put all of your attention on the word Our.See it appear on the inner screen of your mind. Repeat the sound to yourself several times while focusing all of your energy on this word.
Shift your attention to the word Father, see it appear in your mind and think only of this word. Repeat it over and over.
Now for the exquisite part: –
Make a quick adjustment in your mind, and follow this with an ever-so-slight movement of your head as if you were looking to the left.
Put all of your attention in the space in your mind between the words, Our and Father.Stay in this space between the words for 10 to 15 seconds, and note how it feels to rest your mind on nothing but that space.
Picture the Gap, and experience the peaceful and nurturing quality of being in it.
Due to the mind’s habit of focusing on a thought, rather than the gap between your thoughts, you’re likely to find a thought arising. If you get out of the gap for a few seconds, immediately but gently pull your attention back to the first word Our, then Father, and ever so slightly move your head to the left and reenter the gap.
From then on use any thoughts as a clue to move forwards and repeat the technique.
Turning your head slightly to the right and back to the left between each word, holding it in the space of the gap.
Repeat this gap exercise until you’ve meditated through the first ten words.
By going within, entering the gap and simultaneously practicing ancient methods for staying there, we have a greater potential than we realized.
Try out this simple exercise to access that divine space you now know as the “gap”.
In the next few days I will share the second part of this powerful meditation technique for staying in the gap, guiding you towards a healthy, happy and purposeful life.
Until then, with love

Ella