Meditation Part 1: How to Meditate?

Lunatica
Aug 30, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Jan 30, 2021

"If God were to exist, he would definitely have sounded like music"

Hi guys, this is my first blog on the concept of believing and experiences, relating to spirituality.

To begin with, let me warn you, I have never been completely religious. Even as a kid, I believed God had to be here or else nowhere.

And then my believes kept me that way despite what I did to either please my ego or other's happiness.

Lets now start with the topic we are here for, without wasting any more time. This blog will be a three-part series and I will be revealing things I learnt while answering some of the common doubts. Also, I will add-in, the questions I have about 'Sound of Silence'. I am a learner who finally has begun her way. So, please don't consider this a guide but just a review and experience-based briefing.

We all have (at least once) either wanted to meditate or at least tried to. The rest of us? I am pretty sure had thoughts like, 'What does this even mean? To sit at a place and do nothing?'

And those who tried are definitely familiar with these

'I am wasting so much of my precious time.

Oh, God! I have so much to do. Life is so tough.

Tough? I can't believe my boss is so tough on me.

Me? He left me?'

And thus, the spiral of thoughts begin.

To tackle all this, I have a step by step approach to meditation and I have listed what I did and how it felt. Also, a disclaimer before I start the steps. I might contradict myself in the blogs. The reason for this is the perspective and depth to meditation should and will change as we get better.

Step 1: Have a look at Sandeep Maheshwari's video about basic meditation. You probably won't need my guide after that. I will list him down below. Honestly, that man is truly enlightened unlike the Guru's who pretend to be.

Step 2: Leave your notions about the kind of things you have learnt till now about meditation. The first step to learning is unlearning.

Step 3: Let us bunk the common myths.

There won't be any light
No supreme power will appear before you, despite whatever mantra you are saying. I saw this post from a famous organisation, it said that he (won't mention the name) will show up as you remember him. But trust me, nothing like that would happen. Why? I will explain in later segments.
You won't attain moksha despite the number of hours you sit in the same place and do this.
Your thoughts aren't going to die completely.
Not all days will be the same. Somedays you will not feel peaceful depending on the state of your mind and surrounding.

Step 4: Sit in a comfortable space where you will have the least outside distraction.

This step might not seem necessary at first and people would be like 'why do you want to be alone, do it with us' but trust me on this, the more the distractions and doubt, more difficult it is to meditate, especially for a beginner.

Step 5: Finding a comfortable seat or position is the next step. Now, you have a place to yourself but if you try some yogic postures like 'Vajrasana' (the one on the knees), you are going to have all your focus on it. So, find a normal position that you feel good in. You can even lie down. Be sure that if you are lying down, you are not sleepy. Though it isn't bad if you use meditation for falling asleep. I used it in the beginning for that purpose too and I do now as well when I am sick or don't have the time/energy to practice meditation actively.

Step 6: As in Sandeep Maheshwari's seminar, I will recommend that you take a few active breaths, to begin with. These can be lion's breath, nadi shodna practice (alternate nostril breathing), or simply counting the breath. If you have difficulty doing this alone, you can use good resources to practices breath control. (I don't necessarily use these now and I try to practice as much without the aids). I will link the video aids down below. Your breathing control exercise is to bring your attention to the one thing that stays with you from birth to death: breath and it is something that doesn't change much in your entire life. So a constant for anchoring your focus will reduce the number of drastic thoughts you are having.

But, breath is an anchor (using YWA Adriene's terminology) that helps sail the ship. It isn't something to get attached to. But for beginners, breath is everything.

Step 7: Using aids properly. Follow them but don't follow them. If you want to continue a practice further or do lesser than what is in the aid or video, go ahead. You are not a machine. These are named 'aid' for some reason.

Headspace is an app I would suggest for this exercise. Even without a subscription, you can access at least 10-15 days of meditation and that is enough, to begin with. You can use this twice to get a hand of it.

Step 8: A common distraction I had was the constant fan or AC running in the behind but you can't always put these off. Even if you do, you will start to hear your neighbours, a dog on the street, distant sirens etc. Because we have this tendency to look actively for sounds even in silence.

And to hear what's inside, you got to block what's outside.

This is where Sandeep sir's guide help. Using earplugs have changed the way I meditate. Sometimes I even shut my ears tight on the bed to meditate.

This sounds too drastic but it is true.

And if you don't have earplugs. Plug your earphones without any music. This helps to a great extend. The Bluetooth ones are better because then you don't need your device if you are looking for an electronics-free version. Otherwise, these plugs are readily available in the market for a few bucks.

Before I move to the last step, which is the ultimate step, let us talk about the most common question

'When do I meditate?'

There are no specific timings. As I said you shouldn't be mostly sleepy to get the entire benefit unless you are using this for sleeping. Morning is recommended because we generally have a clearer mind then. But for me, this isn't the case. I am very clumsy and tired in the mornings (night owl issues). I prefer to meditate as soon as I bathe because it feels like I have washed away all the excess tension. So, find what works for you.

Step 9: Hearing the inner sounds.

This is the final and most important step of meditation.

This sound will be different for everyone in the beginning. I am no expert and I have only heard the sound very recently with 2-3 months of continuous practice.

I am just a beginner too. But, I have reached a stage where I want to meditate. (Wholeheartedly)

I am not gonna mention what exactly I heard because I want to keep this as personal as I can and also I don't want to influence people into hearing things.

The sounds that are said to be heard: Buzzing of bees, waterfall sounds, the flow of air etc. I will reference a PDF by Sandeep Maheshwari that will help everyone have an idea about this sound. But you guys have to wait for the pdf. Because before I mention anything about this, I want people out there to start practising and see what they can actually hear.

So, thats it for this blog. Do try out and let me know how was your experience. Also, I would love to know about how and why you guys meditate or want to meditate.

Thank you

Love

Luna

#bekind #howtomeditate