It’s so easy to forget the simplicity & ease of our day practice. After we meditate on a twice daily basis for some time we can easily develop a few little habits that may disallow us to experience the fullness of the benefits of our simple and effortless technique. We can tend to make it a little difficult for ourselves & much like anything we do on a regular basis, we can normalise this experience for ourselves. This may leave us feeling a little frustrated or underdone and its good to check in to make sure we’re practicing correctly & most importantly with the right approach.
1. Meditate First Thing in the Morning
This is meditation 101. We can easily be tempted to pick up the phone, turn on the TV, or start jumping into the pile of emails that await us. Our morning meditation is most effective while our minds are still relatively unstimulated. Its our morning meditation that really sets us up for the day ahead. It’s also the sitting in which we really start to get into the backlog of stress & fatigue that can weigh us down & make things a little foggy. We stabilise ourselves in higher states of consciousness and allowing any decisions we make and actions we perform from here to be done with the most intelligence, creativity and clarity. A great way to launch into our day!
2. Remember that thoughts in meditation are GREAT!
In Vedic Meditation, we are so very blessed to have such an incredibly effective and effortless technique. One of the biggest challenges for a Vedic meditator can be disspelling the myth that meditation is all about silence. In Vedic meditation we use that sweet & subtle sound, our mantra, to allow the mind to effortlessly dive into the increasingly quieter and more blissful levels of our minds, but it doesn’t stop there! As the mind dives so does the body & when the body gets a chance to experience rest this deep, it automatically starts to release STRESS. This causes a wave of activity in the body and because the mind and body are connected in such a seamless and symbiotic way, this effects the mind. It pushes the mind back up into the realm of thoughts, and before we know it we’re thinking again. Mostly nonsensical, bits of conversations or lists of things we haven’t yet completed… a kind of daydreaming experience. We don’t want to get involved in our thoughts in meditation – they are merely stress release. If a thought or idea is meant for us to act on it will reappear in our consciousness AFTER meditation when we are in a settled & creative enough state to act on it with intelligence and clarity. Action from this place bears great fruit.
3. Be as effortless as you possibly can be with your mantra
Vedic meditation brings a great challenge for most of us because the simple instruction we are given goes against the grain of what we are told daily in the media, by our work colleagues & bosses and the theme of the collective consciousness – that we must work hard in order to get results! Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to our practice. When we start to use effort, force, or control we can get in the way of this very simple, natural and effortless process. The natural intelligence of our mind & body knows exactly what it is that needs to be done here, it wants to let go of the stress that’s locked in our nervous system, that cause the background static disallowing us the stillness & clarity of mind that we can have as a stable background even with our eyes open, in the face of daily demands. When we stabilise this experience for ourselves, we feel that we can tackle mighty tasks without becoming overwhelmed.
Be playful with your mantra. See how effortlessly and faintly you can be with it. If we find ourselves attempting to repeat a previous meditation experience – let that go and take it as it comes.
4. Be aware of stimulants
It can be lovely to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning at the right time, for the right mind/body type or Dosha (and for the right Dosha times), and I always enjoy a good cup of tea. What can happen is that we can tend to over stimulate ourselves throughout the day & when we go to sit in meditation in the afternoon we find ourselves too scattered & rattled to sit effectively. Listen to your body, allow yourself to think more inclusively about the things we put into our bodies. i.e. is this good for me now AND in coming hours?
When we limit the stimulation that can carry into the 2nd phase of our day we can find greater, deeper, & more nourishing experiences in afternoon and evening meditation.
5. Attend group meditation sessions
When we meditate in a group, that’s with at least one other than ourselves, we find our experience deepens and becomes more enhanced. This is because the more people you have diving into the more subtle and blissful states of our mind, the greater the conscious mass and the pull towards deeper and more restful states increases. Its like we all ride in the slipstream with less getting in the way of us diving effortlessly into meditation. This also increases the event horizon of the “stillness zone” we create when meditating. The more people we have meditating together, the greater the effect on the surrounding areas of our least excited, calm, & happy states of consciousness. People around us will simply feel the effect and may not even know the reason why. We can call this our meditators social service.
Use these handy hints today, and even if only a few apply to you right now – I guarantee you’ll instantly have a better meditation experience.
Please email me with any other questions & I look forward to seeing you the 1st Sunday of next month for group meditation at The Meditation Centre.
With love,
Jai Guru Deva!
