About Meditation: The Basics

Spiritual Seekers have been practicing meditation for eons in order to achieve – Divine Wisdom, Illumination and Enlightenment. However, you don’t have to be a spiritual seeker of any sort to derive the countless benefits of Meditation. In fact, of all the gifts you can give to yourself, Meditation practice is of the highest value.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a simple but systematic technique by which you can get greater illumination and Self-Love. While most people don’t understand Self –Love, I believe that “Self-love is the mainspring of a man’s (woman’s) actions and the raison d’etre of his love for others”. Meditation is one of the highest acts of self-love which leads to greater health, self-esteem, intelligence and peace. It allows you to feel (meet) that part of you which resides deep inside, but is often lost to understanding or recognition in our day to day life. It is only when you come in contact with, and start communicating with this part of you, that the ultimate flowering and blossoming of the unique you starts to take place.

Ways of Meditation :   

There are many different forms and ways of meditation. Here, I will seek to cover meditation forms that are more relevant for a beginner.

The first and foremost objective of mediation is Stillness – of both body and mind. The “monkey mind” is the single biggest cause of stress, depression, disillusionment and despair. If you are feeling any of these emotions, it is a good indicator that your mind is controlling you. Meditation aims to teach you to control the mind instead of the mind controlling you. When you can manage the thoughts that are occurring in your mind at any point, you become an active participant in creating your Life’s Destiny instead of being a victim of life.

As a starting point, Meditation is a form of Concentration. Stilling the mind, requires the ability to hold your focus on a single point for an extended period of time. When you start attempting to meditate, the first realization of how ineffective you really are in telling your mind what to do!

Below are a few steps to starting a Meditation practice:

1. Choose a quite space/ room where you will not be disturbed in person or by noise.
2. Switch off/ turn to silent all gadgets that may potentially cause you to be distracted.
3. Give yourself a starting objective. Eg. – To be still for a minimum of 15 minutes to start with
4. Set an intention – NO matter what, you will not get up from your meditation practice position for those fifteen minutes.
5. AIM ONE – for those Fifteen minutes – Be physically still. (You will be tempted to scratch, itch, fix your hair, turn on/ off the fan – RESIST)
6. AIM TWO – Choose a single point of focus. Breath is easiest for beginners. Feel the cool breath go in to your nostrils, and the warm breath flow out of your nostrils. Count after every breath.
7. AIM THREE – Mentally chant along with your breath. The SO HAM technique is very prevalent and easy to follow. As you breathe in, simply say “SO” in your mind. As you breathe out, simply say “HAM” in your mind. Count (if possible) so you can see how far you get each time.
8. Whenever you get lost in thought, Start over but don’t give up. Resist all agitation and anger you feel. Remember, you are learning to train your mind.

As your practice improves and you can keep focus on your breath for extended periods of time, you will start receiving the myriad of gifts that meditation has to offer.

 Below is a list of a FEW Benefits of Meditation:

• Increasing Peace of Mind
• Reduction of Stress and Mental Chatter
• Better Sleep, Better Health
• Increased self-love and love for others
• Increased Will Power and Focus
• Increased concentration and focus
• Increased feeling of joy
• Improved problem solving skills
• Expanding awareness (Self)
• Expanding Consciousness (Epiphanies)
• Increased Manifestation Powers

If you want a great online course to learn Meditation, please sign up here: