How to Meditate

Meditation is not a single, linear process, but rather a discipline involving any number of technique choices. However, generally meditation has three parts: relaxation, internalization, and merging with the broader comic consciousness. You will find hundreds of variations and techniques across the world, including those rooted in religious and non-religious practices. As the topic is so unmanageably large for a beginner (in my opinion), I’m going to focus on a simple beginners itinerary, if you will, for meditation, that provides a simple description of each step and the techniques used. It is critical to note that this is NOT the only way to meditate; rather, this is an entry-level starting point to serve as the basis for future experimentation with other techniques from different meditative traditions. I tend to lean more into the Hindu meditative tradition (at least at the time of writing this blog post) and the guide that follows pulls from those traditions.

Relax the Body

Begin by practicing two simple yoga poses: Standing Deep Breathing Pose and Corpse Pose. Practice the standing deep breathing pose first, then the corpse pose second.

• Standing Deep Breathing Pose (Pranayama Breathing)

  Stand, feet together, spine straight. Interlock your fingers and place your interlocked hands directly beneath your chin, elbows extended downward and touching. Make sure your chin is parallel with the floor. Exhale completely in this pose. Inhale as your raise your elbows up along the sides of your head, keeping your interlocking fingers beneath your chin and using your knuckles to gently push your head back. This should not be painful. Rather, this stretch allows you to inhale completely. At the top of your inhale your elbows should be extended forward, head back.

  Now exhale slowly as you return your chin and elbow to their original position. This is one cycle of the standing deep breathing pose. Repeat this cycle four times.

• Corpse Pose (Savasana)

  Lie down on the floor with your legs comfortably separated and your arms at your sides, palms up. Close your eyes and inhale deeply through your nosed exhale through your mouth. Continue breathing in this manner. While in the corpse pose begin a systematic scan of your body, beginning with the feet, eventually moving upward to your head, covering all the various elements of your body in the process. As you focus on each body part, imagine that you are inhaling positive life-force, and exhaling tension. I like to imagine this as a cumulative exercise where I inhale positive life-force while imagining it as a wave of energy, first touching my toes, then my ankles, shins, calves, and so on until each successive wave of positive life force gently ebbs and flows up and down my entire body.

Relax the Mind

We relax the mind by further employing breathing techniques. We do this by practicing a Pranayama breathing technique called balancing the breath, or Samavritti.

• Balancing the breath (Samavritti)

  This technique involves balancing the three phases of breath: inhalation, retention, and exhalation. While lying down (you’re already in corpse pose), inhale through the nose to a count of 4. Hold your breath to a count of 4. Exhale to a count of 4. The ratio between inhalation, retention, and exhalation can vary depending on what is comfortable for you, but, generally, the longer the better. Repeat this cycle 9 times.

  As you complete each cycle, focus entirely on the breath, feel it flowing in and out of your lungs. As you inhale, imagine you are inhaling vitality and peace. As you exhale imagine you are exhaling negative thoughts. If your mind wanders, bring your focus back to your breath. Once you have completed this cycle 9 times, gently sit upright into a cross-legged pose, hands in your lap at the point where the abdomen meets the hips, palms facing upward.

Internalize Your Mind and Energy

Next, we want to concentrate our mental and physical energy inward with deep concentration. To do this we will leverage yet another breathing technique called watching the breath (Anapanasati). It is a technique used to channel your energies to a focal point in the mind.

• Watching the Breath (Anapanasati)

  For this exercise breath through the nostrils. Exhale completely. As you begin to inhale again, focus on the breath as it enters your body then exhale, again focusing on the breath as it leaves your body. Simply observe the breath; do not try to change or manage it any way. Observe your breath as you would observe an ocean wave crashing on the shore and receding, focus on the ebb and flow of breath in and out of your lungs. Try to feel your breath in the nostrils.

  As your breath becomes calmer, gradually shift your attention to the location of the breath in the nostrils, as it passes higher in the nasal cavity. Then, transition your awareness to the point between your eyebrows; concentrate your focus at this point. Do not become alarmed if you notice that your breathing slows dramatically; this is freeing energy for the next stage of meditation. Continue to practice Anapanasati until you feel calmly collected and focused at the point between your eyebrows. It is here, at this point, where you have focused all of your physical and mental energies, that we begin the next phase of meditation.

Merge Into Cosmic Consciousness

Once we are relaxed and intently focused inwardly, meaning our energies have been redirected to the point between the eyebrows, we can use that energy to lift us into a broader consciousness, the cosmic consciousness. We do this through focusing on ourselves as a broader piece of the whole of existence, realizing that our sense of self is an aspect of the Infinite and the Infinite is an aspect of ourselves, losing our ego in the process. All the good of existence is at our finger tips.

Choose a positive aspect of life that either resonates with you or you are attracted to; focus on it one-pointedly at the point between the eyebrows. You may be wondering why this point is so important. It is here, at the point between the eyebrows, that our brains possess the power of intuition, and intuition is the way we communicate with the Infinite.

By focusing with all our energy on the positive aspects of existence, we can interact and commune with the Infinite, often receiving insights greater than we had previously thought possible.