Video Games for Meditation

Maybe a week ago I was impressed by reaching level 9 playing Bejeweled 2 Hyper mode. Then a couple days ago I reached level 11. After some thought I realized it was through a variation of active meditation, something I'd read about in a fiction novel.

Now, first off I would like to specify the variation I'm talking about. It is reaching a calm and clear mental state like that reached through martial arts. Continuous action without being slowed by seperate conscious thought. Separate is an important word in this case because there is thought, but it doesn't slow down the actions. Yet the value is learning to control ones mind and emotions.

So, let's take a look at the benefits of this and then the means to reaching the goal.

Frustration is a big problem in playing games, studying and the rest of life. Being able to manage frustration is very helpful in those cases. Yes, all of our lives. It helps reduce stress and there-by can improve your health. For the purposes of this post, it's the mental and emotional control that is important. Such control helps in not over reacting and flipping out while under stress. It also helps in activities like studying and paying attention in class.

Now, with the basic benefits out of the way, I'm sure most of you readers can see the general possibilities.

The question is of course, "How?" How do we get that to work? With my recent experience with it through a game, and realizing it, I might have some answers. So here are my observations.

1) Be good at the game.

While I had noticed a while back how I played when I played at my best, I didn't get the understanding of how to practically apply a meditative state to the game till I was fairly proficient. This is so you can play the game semi-unconsciously. I don't mean necessarily mastering the game. How good you need to be depends on you. I had to come close to mastery to use enough of my mind, which brings me to the next observation.

2) Be at your functional limit.

The natural way people grow is to come to the functional limitations of a certain method and practice at that limit. I did this when I learned to read word-by-word from letter-by-letter. The same happened when I was playing Bejeweled. Looking for a my next move after things have settled. It was just too slow at the levels I'd get to while playing. Little by little I would slide into the meditative state until I stopped paying attention to the level and speed required. Next thing I knew, I was at level eleven, about twice the level I normally stop at.

3) Play a game like Tetris or Bejeweled.

This is to facilitate observation #2. With Tetris and Bejeweled, there is a level of difficulty where you have to get into the "zone" to go farther. That means it doesn't matter much who you are, how smart you are or how good your are. The game will work for this exercise.

4) Be willing to fail.

This is not simply saying that you are willing to, but a serious willingness to try hard and fall flat on your face several times. That's part of why I think games could be used well for this effort, and why games like Tetris and Bejeweled work best of all. When you expect to fail, such as in those two games, the question is about what you can do BEFORE you fail. If you are concerned with failing, you will not put it out of your mind enough to reach a meditative state.

Why this works is simple. Most people who can use normal meditative methods can sit still and be calm. So, it's those that have trouble sitting still, staying calm and so on that have problems with normal meditation.

With that in mind, the people who don't like sitting still and so on usually have something else like sports, games or martial arts that require them to calm their mind and focus. When they understand that to be a moving meditation, they can become familiar with that state through exercises like shown above. As they become more familiar with that state of mind it becomes easier to reach in other situations.

I commonly use juggling at home and Bejeweled at work for this reason; they work for me. I like to do those things and they help me clear my mind. The fact that I can calm myself and meditate normally doesn't detract from learning more about calming myself. In fact, I see the lack of it in many too serious individuals who are not willing to play such games, and those who insist on only thinking about winning. Back to that old phrase, "It's whether you win or lose, but how you play the game."

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan

Video Games for Meditation

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