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Meditation
Support: Additional Instruction in Meditation
If meditation
is relatively new to you, we encourage you to read the following
suggestions by Swami Kriyananda for meditating successfully:
Meditation
Keys for Beginners
by Swami Kriyananda
from Awaken
to Superconsciousness
 How
long should you meditate? The first rule is, Don't be ruled by what
others do. What works well for them may not work for you. Accept
that in certain ways you are unique. Here are a few general guidelines:
Intensity of
effort is far more important than the time spent in meditation.
Never meditate
to the point of mental fatigue, strain, or boredom... If you feel
joy in meditation, stop meditating when the joy begins to diminish.
One rule for right eating is to leave the table a little hungry.
Apply this rule to meditation. In that way, you'll always look forward
to your next time for meditation.
On the other
hand, make an effort to meditate a little longer at least once a
week… Gradually you'll break the habit of thinking you can
meditate only for short periods.
In longer meditations,
imitate the ocean tides in their ebb and flow. Let periods of intense
concentration alternate with periods of relaxed effort and peaceful
receptivity. Like waves coming in to shore, high intensity will
alternate with low intensity in long meditations, and there may
be pauses when no waves come at all. Until you can transcend body-consciousness
in superconsciousness, it is unlikely you'll be able to meditate
deeply for very long. Think of your thoughts as dirt that has been
stirred up in a glass. Stop stirring it, and it will gradually settle.
The greatest difficulty, in long meditations especially, is physical
tension. Make an extra effort to keep your whole body relaxed...
As a general
guideline, I suggest you try to meditate at least half an hour twice
a day-in the morning after you get up, and in the evening before
going to bed. An hour and a half twice a day is better. But if you
are a beginning meditator, more than one hour a day may be extreme.
It is better to meditate a few minutes with deep concentration than
a whole hour absentmindedly. Moreover, I don't mind bargaining with
you! For although five minutes, let's say, isn't much for anyone
who has developed a taste for meditation, it may be all you feel
you can spend in the beginning. So be it! Think of meditation, if
you like, as daily spiritual hygiene. You brush your teeth, bathe,
and brush your hair every day: Why not add to that routine five
minutes of meditation?
You'll come
to enjoy meditating, in time. Then you'll find yourself meditating
longer because you want to, and not because someone is nagging you
to do so. But if you think you're too busy, here's something to
think about: You can always find the time for something you enjoy
doing, can't you? In time, you'll wonder how you ever lived without
meditating daily. And the answer, of course, will be: You didn't.
What you did, that is, wasn't really living.
Be natural in
your efforts. Make haste slowly, as the saying goes. Don't force
yourself to meditate when you'd very much rather be doing something
else.
At the same
time, don't stop meditating altogether with the excuse that you
have other things to do. Remember, there's only one direction to
go that makes any lasting sense: toward your own Self, in superconsciousness.
No substitute will ever work for you; it's never worked for anyone.
No appointment is more important than your appointment with-not
death: life.
Be a little
stern with yourself. Success won't come to people who never try.
Only bear in mind that tension is counterproductive. In meditation,
concentrate first of all on relaxation.
Remember this also: The more you meditate, the more you'll want
to meditate; but the less you meditate, the less you'll enjoy doing
it.
Another rule:
As soon as you sit for meditation, get "down to business."
Don't dawdle, as if telling yourself, "Oh, I have a whole hour,
so what's the rush?"
Be regular in your hours and practices of meditation... It is a
good practice to meditate at the same hours every day. Routine conditions
the mind. You'll find yourself wanting to meditate whenever those
hours return. It will be much easier, then, to set all distractions
aside.
As soon as you
sit to meditate, pray for depth and for guidance in your meditation.
Pray also for peace for all humanity. Don't isolate your sympathies
from others; embrace all in your divine love.
We develop intuition,
Paramhansa Yogananda said, by prolonging the peaceful aftereffects
of the meditation techniques... After meditation, don't strip your
mental gears by plunging hastily into outer activity. Try to carry
the meditative peace into everything you do. To develop this habit,
it may help to begin with outward activities that don't involve
your mind too much. While doing them, chant inwardly to God.
As a focus for
your devotion, you may find it helpful to set up an altar in your
place of meditation. Include pictures on the altar, if you like,
of saints, or of images of God, or of infinite light and space.
A helpful practice
also, if it pleases you, is the burning of incense as a devotional
offering. The sense of smell is closely related to the memory faculty.
You may recall, for example, catching in some fleeting scent a reminder
of some childhood episode that awakened a host of associated memories.
Incense, when used regularly in meditation, will help to create
meditative associations in your mind, and bring you more quickly,
therefore, to inner calmness.
Above all in
meditation, be happy! If you want to experience peace, meditate
peacefully. If you want to know love, offer love first, yourself.
From Awaken
to Superconsciousness, by J. Donald Walters
(Swami Kriyananda)
More on the
Art and Practice of Meditation:
• Be
Still and Know: The Importance of Meditation
• Practical
Hints for Meditation
• How to Sit Comfortably
• Creating a Routine: Steps
to Deep Meditation
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