Understanding Meditation and Levels of Mind

To truly master and receive the full effects of the Silva Method, it’s very important that you understand the basic fundamentals of Meditation and Levels of Mind so that it would be easier for you to bring about the changes that you want in your life.

So I’ve written about meditation techniques and posted it up below. Hopefully it will be helpful and I’ve also written a little about brain frequencies and how it influences us.

Understanding Meditation

More and more people are taking up meditation and in America alone, 10 million people are now meditating daily. I won’t be surprised if this number grows everyday.

We know for a fact that meditation is good for both your body and your mind. Even the doctors are recommending it! I’ve compiled a few news headlines that talks about this. It’s from 2003… but they’re still very good reads!

From the Washington Times – Aug 14, 2003

A new study shows [that] people who underwent meditation training produced more antibodies to a flu vaccine than people who did not meditate. Those who took part in the meditation study also showed signs of increased activity in areas of the brain related to positive emotion, as compared to people who did not meditate.

CBS News – Aug 27, 2003

People who meditate these days come from all walks of life and aren’t necessarily weird New Agers or pretentious actors. Students, lawyers, West Point cadets, athletes, prisoners, and government officials all meditate. It’s supposed to help depression, control pain, increase longevity, slow down cancers, invigorate the immune system, and significantly reduce blood pressure. Time magazine recently reported that “meditation can sometimes be used to replace Viagra.”

Time Magazine – Aug 4, 2003

Not only do studies show that meditation is boosting their immune system, but brain scans suggest that it may be rewiring their brains to reduce stress. It’s recommended by more and more physicians as a way to prevent, slow or at least control the pain of chronic diseases like heart conditions, AIDS, cancer and infertility.

As you can see, meditation provides many benefits even when done by a beginner.

Now to help deepen your understanding, I will explain the two different types of meditation and their functionality.

The Two Types of Meditation: Passive and Active

When we meditate, several important things happen physically and mentally. First, we are “focusing internally” and letting go of the outside world (similar to going to sleep, but without losing consciousness).

This allows our brains to shift into more stable, stronger brain frequencies (called alpha and theta by scientists) normally reached during sleep.

When we can reduce our brain frequencies to these levels while staying awake we are able to bring the unconscious mind to the conscious level. This allows us to control and harness the power of the unconscious mind.

There are two types of meditation.

Passive Meditation

All meditation systems, such as Yoga, Zen, Transcendental Meditation ™, Silva Life System and others have similar benefits.

By “passively” letting go and going within, we “deactivate” our survival mechanisms and allow our body’s natural health and rejuvenation abilities to be activated.

Each method has its own way of reaching the inner state of mind, and each has its own goals.

Active Meditation

Jose Silva’s techniques allow you to use the relaxed, healthy state of mind that occurs during meditation to solve your day-to-day problems.

Silva found that by “actively” utilizing brain languages (kinesthetic, visual, and auditory thought processes), we can use this higher energy state to improve memory and learning skills, change unwanted habits, enhance health, and healing.

He also developed techniques to achieve what many people call “tapping the super-conscious” to solve problems, reach goals, come up with new ideas and solutions to problems. Some students use the Silva Life System to enhance their spiritual growth.

Using such techniques within a meditative state is called “active” meditation.

But what exactly happens when you meditate?

Your brain functions on a small amount of electricity, much like a computer. This electrical current vibrates and pulses at various speeds. When you are wide awake, with your eyes focused, your brain vibrates 20 times per second – what scientists call 20 cycles per second or the Beta frequency.

You are probably at this beta level of mind right now as you read this.

When you go to sleep, your brain frequency slows down, all the way to about half cycle per second in the deepest levels of natural sleep. This is known as the Delta level.

In between Beta, the waking state, and Delta, the deep sleep state, there are two other levels of mental activity.

When you are in a light level of sleep or in meditation you are in the Alpha range, which is 7 to 14 cycles per second. This is the center range and this is what we mean by saying “going to your center”. Going to the alpha level or centering is essentially the same thing as meditating. When someone meditates, scientifically, they are simply reducing their brain wave frequency to Alpha. The Alpha level is the level we use to activate our minds. Theta is a level of deeper relaxation or sleep, when your brain waves are at 4 to 7 cycles per second. The table below summarizes the 4 states of brain frequency.

State	Brain Wave Frequency	Associated With
Beta	14 – 21 cps	Waking State, the five senses. Perception of Time and Space
Alpha	7 – 14 cps	Light sleep, meditation, intuition. No Time & Space limitation.
Theta	4 – 7 cps	Deeper Sleep, Meditation.
Delta	0 – 4 cps	Deep Sleep. You are unconscious at Delta.

There are many benefits of “going to the Alpha level” or meditating. Jose Silva found that people who can remain in the Alpha level while analyzing information have access to more information than those who remain in Beta to do their thinking. Feelings of intuition, creative ideas, inspirational thoughts and ideas come to people while at this Alpha level. Going to Alpha is also good for programming your mind. At the Alpha level you can learn to overcome all kinds of problems, such as insomnia, tension and migraine headaches, bad habits, and much more. You can also program your mind to help you achieve your goals and make your dreams come true.

Now that you understand meditation and the different levels of the mind, why not give Silva Method’s Centering Exercise a try? (You can access it from the right navigation panel.)

Better and Better,

Laura Silva Quesada
and the Team