Meditation has been shown to have many benefits.  Relaxation is one of the most sought after benefits of meditations, however improved cognition, better memory are some of the other benefits.  It is only recently that studies such as the UW-Madison study regarding brain changes induced by meditation, have gained prominence.  This has brought many people who had previously not considered meditation into becoming avid mediators.   They are many forms of meditation: chakra meditation, transedental meditation, breathing awareness, thought awareness etc...  All these meditations have one thing in common.  They all require a conserted effort to direct awareness onto something, it may be an object a chakra, or a thought.  This conserted focus of awareness is at first done by focusing the the mind and thoughts on the object of meditation, as one advances they discover they are more than the mind and thoughts.  However, meditation can be quite difficult.  Here are some tips to to stack things in your favor and boost your meditation.

The biggest challenge in all meditations is the need to quiet the brain.  Most people after starting out meditation realize they are like a chipmunk on caffeine and steroids and it is quite difficult to quiet the brain.  All the random thoughts which dominate the day to day mental activity become quite obvious and a realization slowly grows.  These random day to day thoughts generally remain present even though much effort is being used to quiet the mind.  It is almost like these thoughts are being placed into the brain.  As one goes deeper into the meditation practice it also becomes appartent they are many forms of distractions.  They are the general everyday thoughts, the emotional trigger which may be experienced as pure emotions or thoughts and ofcourse there is the distractions from the body.  Sometimes the distraction is a pesky fly that knows exactly when to get on your nerves.

One can use breathing exercises to slow down the brain.  Slow rythmic breathing while focusing on the air moving quiets the brain and brings peace.  Avoiding coffee is also always good, don't want to feed the chipmunk.  However, understanding that they are some energetic influences which affect the brain and using the appropriate tools to remove them can be extremely helpful.  During a normal meditation after a long days work, the thoughts generally alternate between moments of calm and thoughts regarding the daily difficulties.  However, if you go into a deep forest with old trees the thoughts are more peaceful even after a long days work.  Going to a deep forest is like going into an ocean of peace, and the internal storms are quickly brought to rest.

The same effect can be created in a special room in your home where you meditate regularly.  To assist with this process various tools can be used.  Crystals are like mini scared geometry devices, in addition they have an amazing ability to store pranic energy and information as well as thought forms.  Large Amethyst crystals can be used to clear the energies in the room.  However, for a noticeable effect a crsytal with a height of a foot or more is needed.  Another approach is to get a crystal in the shape of pyramid.  Constructing a crytsal in the shape of a pyramid amplifies the affect by making use of earth energies.  A radionics device can also be programmed to clear all energies that are percieved as negative from a room; however these devices tend to be quite expensive.  They are many more options but these should give you a good start.