learning to meditate

spiritualgrowthadventure

FAQs about meditation and online meditation

What if I’m new to meditation?

Meditation is fairly straightforward and in an online meditation you will be given verbal prompts as to what to do. You will soon pick it up.

What does meditation involve?

This depends on the kind of meditation. All meditations have a beginning and an end sequence, and these can be similar for each meditation.

For the beginning, you make yourself comfortable, and close your eyes. You can then focus on your breathing. Just notice your breathing, and observe it for several breaths. This relaxes you, calms your focus, and reduces mind chatter. You can then become aware of the energy of the meditation, relax, and just observe that.

What happens then depends on the kind of meditation. If it is a meditation held in silence and stillness, you allow yourself to notice the peace and calm. Or if there is an energy flowing while you are being silent and still, you relax, and just notice or feel the energy that is flowing in the meditation.

If the meditation is a guided visualization, you relax, listen and go with the flow of any images, feelings and sensations you might notice. It is like being taken on a journey, where you can relax and enjoy.

Towards the end of a meditation, you once again become aware of your breathing, and stay with that for a few breaths at least. You then become aware of your body, and perhaps notice your fingers and your feet and toes. Then when you are ready, you open your eyes.

What clothes should I wear?

The general idea is that you are comfortable. People will often wear loose clothing. Sometimes people like to wear some clothes that for them means they are going to meditate. It’s rather like having a protocol to follow that tells the mind, “Right, this is a special time, it’s time to step away from distractions, the outside world and busy thoughts and feelings, and meditate.” The clothes set the tone for some people.

How should I sit?

Some people like to sit in a traditional yoga lotus position which goes with Indian based meditation techniques. They would also hold thumb and (say, middle) fingers together to allow the flow of prana through the body. It is worth bearing in mind there are other meditation traditions where this won’t be considered a necessity. Some people like to have their hands, palms up, in their laps.

Some people like to kneel, partly sitting on a cushion, and other people are happy to sit in a chair. I find that sitting in a chair works for me as when the energy comes in during meditation, it accesses various chakras in a way where the lotus position and hand positions aren’t the important factors, whereas just being comfortable and open to the energy are important.

Should I eat or refrain from eating before meditation?

It is personal choice. However, in some kinds of meditation, there can be a lot of energy flowing through, and the body responds by using up resources. Generally it is helpful to make sure blood sugar levels are high enough, and having enough minerals in the diet is also helpful. It is better to feel stable and grounded rather than weak and faint, so a decent diet helps as does food after a meditation if it seems to be necessary. The type of diet depends on what helps your body feel nourished.

How long should I meditate?

As a beginner, 20 minutes or so is a good start for a week or so. Then 40 minutes, then an hour. It depends on the kind of meditation.

Working with energy though, it is possible to notice a start, when the energy starts coming in, a period where the energy of the meditation keeps flowing, and then the energy recedes. In this situation, the amount of time for the meditation then depends on when the energy stops, rather than being a set time.

In everyday life, a maximum of an hour a day is OK, as life is for living and loving and learning, and meditation can be used to support this, rather than be a way of avoiding life (with the caveat that sometimes meditation might be required as an escape and a healing respite for a while).

What benefits are there to meditation?

Once you have a feel of how much meditation to do a day feels right to you, meditation can be beneficial. There has been a fair bit of research done on the beneficial effects of meditation. It has been found to reduce stress and anxiety, and physically to lower blood pressure. People seem to become calmer and more relaxed, and happier. Being more relaxed supports creativity and focus, and so improves effectiveness.

I have found that meditations with a focus on self-esteem improve self-esteem. Also with meditation it is possible to improve body image. People can feel better about themselves with the help of meditation, though this can be achieved in other ways, too, (e.g. doing something you can do well at such as sports, singing, a hobby, learning a new skill, public speaking, finding a job you enjoy, and therapy if required).

As I work with chakras and the aura, I have found that meditations that focus on these help to clean up a person’s energy (so they feel better), and I have found it is possible to improve intuition (we all can do it, just needs a bit of preparation and practice).

Meditation can open up someone to the layers of their spirituality, and there is a lot to explore about spirituality through meditation.

Can children meditate?

Yes, though perhaps for shorter times than for adults.

When is the best time of day to meditate?

Any time that suits you or that you can fit into your life if it isn’t possible to prioritise a time. It helps to do meditation when you are not too tired as you might just fall asleep otherwise. Some people like early morning, some people like to meditate at noon, at lunchtime. It is what suits you and when meditations are available if you are doing them online.

There are meditations and articles about meditation and spirituality available on my blog through this link.

spiritualgrowthadventure

How I Got Into Meditation by Jonathan Barber

The author, Jonathan Barber, chilling out.

I started on the path to meditation in the middle of the 1980’s. The first step came about because I was a science teacher in inner-London interested in ways of learning. I came across a book that took a powerful learning technique from Eastern Europe and added in Western style ideas, including creative visualization.

I tried out some of the creative visualisations, liked them and incorporated guided visualization into my science classes. The students loved them, saying they helped them deal with stress. The guided imagery helped too, with learning. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s you didn’t need a certificate or a diploma from some organisation in order to use guided visualization or meditation, and the organisations didn’t exist then anyway.

For myself, I found the techniques really useful for working with the subconscious mind for creativity, and for accessing good ideas.

For the next step, a healer suggested that I should do some Om-ing. I did this, and found that my ability to meditate was deepened. From then on I meditated by sitting in my attempt at a lotus position with eyes closed. First of all I focused on my breathing, become silent, before going into the flow of the meditation.

The meditation work changed me. It opened up my intuition. Along with doing T’ai Chi it helped me become aware of spiritual energy, and it opened up my healing ability.

I started doing healing work, and using breathing techniques and visualization with drug users who wanted to overcome the addictions.

I also accidentally started giving Tarot card readings but without the training. After a while, as I was giving the reading faster than I was looking at the cards, I stopped using them which was somewhat freeing. I put the development of intuition down to the meditation.

Working with people and the energies they brought along which they would release, meant it was necessary to learn and use guided visualizations to clear my aura, polish up my chakras, learn how to protect my aura and chakras, and see off any negative energies, and stay grounded. I would then teach these techniques to others when required.

I found that working with the heart centre helped all the other centres and I worked with the third eye centre, too. This led onto giving Develop Your Intuition workshops, since if I could do it, so could others. Teaching people to use their intuition was a great way to help people find their purpose if they needed to, make better decisions, assess situations, people and their own timeline ahead.

Moving out of London, I kept on meditating and learning more about spirituality, energy, and the possibilities of meditation. I would teach meditation techniques as and when required. I found that the right guided meditation, along with the requisite energy would flow in as I worked with people at that time on a one-to-one basis.

Now in the present moment, wave after wave of new energy is flowing in, which can be expressed through new guided visualization techniques in the moment, brand new; fresh.

I found that spirituality is not static or stagnant. Like a flowing river it is always changing, and each wave of spiritual energy coming in is different just as each wave coming in to the shore is different, and always original. Spirituality is always changing, always fresh. Truth is many layered (think of an onion as a basic analogy). People as spiritual beings are many-layered and always developing spiritually. Newer and newer energies are coming in, and guided visualization and meditations are a way of working with these energies, as the same energies impact on the world around us, bringing change.

I find that using meditation, it is possible to have healing, the right energy and an intuitive sense of the steps to take in life, and an understanding of the order within apparent chaos. Makes life more like surfing a wave rather than falling in it!

For FAQs about meditation, click here.

If you would like to know about online meditation and courses that are available, click here.

spiritualgrowthadventure

You want to learn to meditate, where do you start?

Meditation can mean lots of things depending on what resonates with you.

You can meditate to experience calm inside you, or to calm yourself with feedback. Or you can meditate to watch your mind, or to discard thoughts, and stay present and not have your attention wander (or wonder). You can be mindful. Or go for an empty mind.

Minds are tricky, and with each lifetime you get a different mind, well, a collection of minds; the unconscious, the personality mind (which is based very much on personal preferences, your culture and language, and experience, and how your feelings are wired up, so it’s quite personal). Then there is a body mind, and a higher mind. Which mind to focus on then?

Or after lifetimes you give up on those minds and start meditating on other things, and there are plenty of other things for a human to meditate on. It very much depends on what you think it means to be human. So, what does it mean to be human?

You can think of yourself as a human and that all that is spiritual about yourself is your mind (or one of your minds, if you see what I mean). But there is much more to people than that.

Now when you incarnated, and came into the fused egg and sperm (the zygote is the biological term), or when your soul touched that physical material with its energy, will and intent, the first part of you to start up was your heart centre or chakra. The heart centre is very much a point of connection for the soul.

The heart centre as it happens, is a very good place to meditate on. What happens there, spreads out into the other centres. These developed after the heart centre.

The heart centre isn’t like the mind in that it’s like the origin, rather than an effect, which the mind is like. So the heart centre is truly a great place to meditate on.

It is also possible to meditate on the full set of centres or chakras as a whole, as a system, including the centres of the head.

What else does it mean to be human? It boils down to sensitivity and openness, which can lead on to personal experience from which you can learn consciously, and also subconsciously. Having another person tell you about something is no substitute for personal experience. Even an advanced spiritual master would get you to test out what you hear from them (and then later, when you figure out the quality of them you may find it is really a good idea to accept their word as it really moves you along spiritually).

Humans have a physical body, an etheric body surrounding this (when people have amputations they often still feel the limb is still there – it is etherically), an astral body, and a mental body surrounding the whole lot. There is a sheath of energy around the these and the centres called the aura. when all these parts are locked into the physically body, a person will feel solid and grounded. If they are not locked, they will feel, and sometimes look spacey and ungrounded. There’s a fair bit to meditate on here.

Then in all of this, there is a physical elemental that drives to keep the physical shell alive. There is a personality which matches a persons karmic package for that lifetime and which can help spiritually as a motivator and anchor, or not. There is a person’s spirit which is a fairly complex mix, the minds as mentioned, and the soul. The soul is very much not as smart or amazing as people think it is, though that is another story. Once again, there is quite a lot to meditate on.

Then a person’s soul, and therefore the person, exist on one of the planes of consciousness, from the lowest, zeroth, to the sixth plane. Depending on the plane, there is physical light, and also astral light of varying frequency, and mental light of varying frequency and speed. “The light” can most definitely be something to meditate on, but it depends on what light.

When people take drugs what they experience is the astral light on the zeroth and first plane at the most. Definitely not where it’s at spiritually. Dullsville.

Meditation can be used to access light from the fifth and sixth plane, which can certainly be something. On these planes there are some wonderful energy which can be in the form of light, which can have very positive effects on you.

Beyond, the fifth and sixth plane energies and light, there are energies and light of a Divine nature, such as the Paramatman light, or first, second and third Divine Journey energies and light. These are amazing to meditate with.

To work with these requires a connection with, say, a Perfect Master or an agent that they can work through, or some other person with access to these energies. There needs to be a connection so they can oversee what is going on and ensure that not too much light is given, or the one on the receiving end is toast! It can take several years to come down to earth from an overload of light, or it can overload the heart and the physical body can’t handle it. So common sense means that a person meditating with this light needs to looked after.

This Divine light has an intelligence, a spirit, so when it goes into the various levels of your being, it can interact with you in ways that are required and allowed at that time. It really is quite amazing, and the Silence and Stillness that comes with Divine light is something else, and can take you into other levels of what it means to be human.

There’s lots more that I haven’t mentioned here, which I’ll leave to later.

For FAQs about meditation, click here.

If you would like to know about online meditation and courses that are available, click here.