Meditation - a basic technique

Here are some guidelines on how to silently meditate on the kingdom of heaven within, and feel God's love.

Preparation:

After a busy day, do some aerobic exercise to get the stress out of your system. In the morning do some stretching exercises or Hatha Yoga to help you get going.

Shower to freshen up.

Where and how to sit:

In a quiet room with fresh air. Choose a room, or a part of a room, as your meditation area, and keep it just for this purpose. As much as possible, meditate in the same place each time, and it will come to have a meditational feel or "vibration" after a while.

Face east if you can, though this is not vital - it is more symbolically important. So whichever way you face, imagine you are looking eastward to the "bright morning star," the consciousness of Christ.

Sit on a firm chair with a level base such as a dining chair, with the back held straight and upright, your body relaxed, and your mind alert. Place your hands in your lap, in a comfortable position - palms up if this is comfortable for you. Close your eyes gently, and focus your attention slightly upward through your closed eyes, rather than straight ahead (which will stimulate worldly thoughts) or down (which will tend to make you sleepy). After meditating a while you may see a light at this point, between the eyebrows - it is the so called "third eye."

The technique:

Say a brief prayer to God, inviting him to be with you during your meditation.

Practice deep slow relaxed breathing for a few minutes. Count the breath in (to a count which suites you), hold the breath for a few seconds while it is comfortable to do so, then count the breath out. Feel the peacefulness of the slow deep breathing.

Then let the breath flow in and out naturally (without counting). Mentally watch the breath as it is coming in, just observe what you feel in the few seconds between breaths (probably a peaceful, even joyful feeling, especially after you have been meditating a while), and, again, mentally watch the breath as it flows out. Don't daydream - make a decision not to think about things. Many thoughts will still invade your peace and stillness; acknowledge these thoughts and let them pass on by - don't fight them, or you will just spawn a whole new batch of thoughts. Practice the technique, enjoy the peace you feel, and just observe what you are feeling in an almost detached way. Don't try too hard, just "be," and after a while your thoughts will quieten down and your awareness of peace and joy of being with God will increase. For a while, be a "human being" rather than a "human doing."

Add a mantra such as "OM," "Ah-men," or "So-hum" to help keep your mind from wandering. In your mind say one syllable in a long drawn out, aspirated (whispering) way as you breath in, and the second syllable in the same way as you breathe out. During the moments you are not breathing do not say anything - these are the ultimately quiet moments.

Meditate for about half and hour in the morning and half an hour at night before going to bed. Remember when you wake up to say "Good morning God," and not "Good God, morning!" And remember at night time, just before you go to bed, when all is still and quiet, that, as Bob Dylan put it in one of his songs, "Night time is the right time to be with the one you love."

In Search of the Loving God.

To find out more about living the spiritual life, and coming to personally know God, I invite you to visit the site for my book In Search of the Loving God, which includes three complete chapters from the book, links to useful sites, and more. To do so, click on the following link:

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