Learn Meditation

 3. The Plane: Taking Flight.

You want to take flight and feel yourself leaving the ground, but this will only happen if you gain momentum and speed. It is no surprise that many people try meditation one day, wait a few days, try again for a few minutes and then complain that it isn’t working. We start & stop, start & stop until we find we are at the end of the runway. It is at this point that most of us say we have “tried” meditation and then quit.

But you can turn the plane around and try again. To get off the ground, you need regular daily practice, and you are the best judge of your own regularity and dedication. Just like we commit to going to the gym, then once we are there we have to have a serious workout, we can commit to meditating regularly with full attention and enthusiasm. Then we will build momentum and with our increased speed we will take flight.

The secret to regularity: JUST DO IT! When you meditate each day at a particular time and place, it creates a natural biorhythm that makes it easier to meditate. You become more receptive to meditation at that time, and the energy reinforces your will power and determination to stick with it.

We have a natural instinct to eat everyday to feed our bodies, traditionally three times a day, however we should consider that meditation is food for the soul. In fact, we will begin to see that it is much more lasting and fulfilling than the pleasure we get from eating. We don’t have to become monks and nuns and remove ourselves from society, however we can meditate daily and feel the benefits of regular practice. Otherwise, like the plane that starts and stops continually on the runway, you will never get airborne and feel the joy of flight. Remember: JUST DO IT! It’s must easier than you think.

The best time to meditate is early in the morning while the world outside is still relatively calm and peaceful. That way you can also fortify yourself and carry the poise of your meditation throughout the day.

4. Be Happy: Don’t Judge.

You can judge your own commitment, but you are not in a vantage point to properly judge the quality of your meditation. As the famous spiritual master Sri Krishna said, “Thou hast the right to act; but claim not the fruits thereof.” Sure we want to meditate to feel peace, light and bliss, but we often forget that “failures are the pillars of success”.

Each meditation brings us closer to our soul, closer to awareness of how to properly meditate. So at times you may feel like you are stuck in a maze, but each wrong turn builds awareness and eventually leads us to the correct way. Not trying, not making an attempt gets you nowhere.

You can also think of the act of meditation as slowly removing bricks from a wall that separates you from your soul. The humbling truth is that we have quite a wall built up, so we have a lot of work to do. Sometimes the light seeps through and inspires us, and we continue removing these bricks. The more we remove, the more access we gain to our soul. One day we will have removed the obstruction and have free access to our soul. So every meditation is meaningful and thus successful.

5. Raising our Sails (Aspiration & Grace).

When setting out on your journey, you must raise the sails on your ship in order to catch the wind. Otherwise the ship will not travel or simply succumb to the random currents of life (and the turbulent thoughts of our mind). So when you meditate you can raise the sails by meditating in your spiritual heart.

When you fix yourself there, a very special phenomenon happens – it’s as if the antenna goes up and starts to receive the frequency of the soul. The soul is always broadcasting, just like the wind is always blowing, but we need to raise our sails in order to catch that wind. Raising the sails is a motif for the yearning of the heart for the winds of Grace to fill the sails and carry us forward on our journey. This yearning or cry for the winds of Grace is essential to our spiritual progress, and this “aspiration” is activated by meditating in the spiritual heart.

4. Develop a Pure Vessel.

Many, many people who try meditation are unaware of the habits and actions outside of meditation that nullify any of the progress made from meditation. The “inner” life goes hand in hand with the “outer” life, and each can either help or hinder each other. We want our meditation to help us in our daily life, but our daily life may be draining all the benefits of our meditation. Inside us we all have what has been referred to as an “inner vessel” which holds our spiritual energy or wealth. Meditation seeks to enlarge this vessel to hold more and more peace, light and bliss. The problem is that this vessel is often fragile and easily damaged by the impurities of our own ignorant actions. If we honestly look at the traditions of spiritual practice throughout the ages, we come to see practices and lifestyles that fortify spiritual growth and plug up any holes in the vessel.

By: Natabara