Several people have asked, “Why meditate?”

First let’s understand, in simple terms, what exactly is the act of meditating.

Meditation is the act of focusing – with complete attention & concentration in a relaxed, yet alert mental and physical state — on the singular, present, still moment you are in.

Meditation, when consciously and regularly practiced, has benefited human beings of all faiths. Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Humanists, the remaining, and all non-aggressive, sincere, actively truth-seeking beings are practicing the art of meditation whenever they pause to commune — humbly and completely — in silence, with an all-knowing energy, as they attempt to align with their own truth… their own spiritual compass. Meditation is accessing the now — where divinity sits to greet us — the marvelous wisdom within and without. Prayer is putting our thoughts, feelings, desires, gratitude, etc. to a divine energy, then sometimes awaiting a result. Meditation is a process of aligning ourselves with this divine energy (within and without) to receive both guidance and results directly, by opening ourselves up to deep inner healing, cleansing and receiving through the pure silent language of stillness. It is the process that clears out the wax build-up, so to speak, so that we can hear the answers to our prayers… so that we can allow for the manifestation of what we want and deeply desire. And so we can with clarity, like never before, see what these understandings are that we require to feel whole and complete, positive and joyful.

Ø Princeton dictionary: The habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge.

Ø A medical definition: Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.

Ø The Brahma Kumaris: Meditation enables an integration of your spiritual identity with the social and physical realities around you, restoring a functional and healthy balance between your inner and outer worlds.

The practice of meditation is our way of saying yes to working toward bringing those wonderful experiences into our lives that we keep saying we want. Allowing for wonderfulness to arrive and sustain in ones life is possibly the most challenging and necessary act for experiencing true peace, progress and love. One can ask, “Why wouldn’t one allow for wonderful?” The answer is simple, we are psychologically too attached to what we have not liked in our past experiences, and our thoughts about these experiences, consciously and especially subconsciously, to allow ourselves to consistently believe that we can have WONDERFUL. Some of us may even say we believe we deserve and will have wonderful, and we do, but sooner or later the rampant, out-of-our-control (often automatic and unnoticed) negative and doubting thoughts that incessantly flow through our mind are the culprits that do not allow wonderful to sustain in our lives. They eventually bring on the opposite experience in our reality. Even if we manage to put away ‘active negativity’ with diversions, for some time, and attract wonderful… sustaining, allowing or growing it in our journey becomes a challenge because we have not eradicated the dormant negative thoughts in our mind — our fearful ego’s antics. And they will rear their ugly heads undoubtedly and increasingly again and again. Hence, the repetition of suffering in our own reality. Here is where lies the benefits of meditation – the practice of attention to now which allows for healing, conscious, weightless, thoughtless presence. We thus instill in our own self the awareness and capability to rescue our self from our own past… our destructive thoughts…our defense mechanisms…our false identities based on deep subconscious fears and blockages… our ego-controlled conclusions and diversions… our unrealized rigidity and closed-mindedness. And we are delivered to our only real truth… the baggage-less present. The beautiful pregnant opportunity in the now to create what we desire and nothing less. Thus, we are saved from our own reckless or careless actions. We are then free from our own blindness, and our own shackles, so that we are ready to receive (attract and allow) the reality we claim we want for ourselves: the capability to be deeply happy, the clarity to attract and to recognize inner beauty, the knowledge to attain and maintain peace, the wisdom to understand and experience true progress, the sensitivity to appreciate and utilize divine opportunities, and the ability to practice true love. In order for this, we must prevail over our culprit, the scared and/or arrogantly behaving ego… and the only place this culprit cannot exist is in the now… which is where meditation takes you. The more “now moments” in your awareness, in your deliberate attention, the less opportunity for your feelings and actions to be a result of wax build-up or past projections… and here in lies your ability to create and sustain the fresh and wonderful life experiences you want, in every area that you want them in. Meditation changes YOU for the better… thus freeing you to truly and absolutely believe in the gift of a beautiful life beyond your limited imagination today.

And so it shall be.

It’s all up to you. It’s all within you. It’s all yours for the having.

Point of Light Meditation

Make an appointment with yourself for 5 to 10 minutes each morning and/or evening and follow the instructions given below:

1. Sit comfortably upright on the floor or in a chair or any comfortable platform.
2. Keep your eyes open and without staring, gently rest them on a chosen point somewhere in front of you in the room.
3. Don’t try to stop thinking; just be the observer: not judging or being carried away by your own thoughts, just watching.
4. Now, create one thought about yourself; for example, “I am a peaceful, or loving, or whole, or wise, or pure or joyful being, made up of light.” (One of these qualities at a time.)
5. Hold that thought on the screen of your mind; visualize yourself being peaceful, quiet and still.
6. Stay as long as you can in the awareness of that thought. Don’t fight any other thoughts or memories that may come to divert your attention. Just watch them pass by and return to your created thought, “I am a peaceful being.”

The porthole to Your experience of Truth through Breathing Meditation

This simple meditative exercise will help you re-establish calm breathing. It is an important deep healing exercise to see you through difficult emotional situations, both passed and those that will arise.

1. Sit in a quiet room with your eyes closed. Visualize your thoughts as a mass of bubbles. Exhale slowly through your mouth. As you do so, imagine all these thought bubbles being blown away. Away away away… allowing you to feel lighter. Repeat this as many times as you require to get every bubble out.

2. Now re-direct your entire attention to your nostrils. Breathe in and out through your nose, and as you do so, visualize the air passing through the nostrils at your command.

3. If your mind starts to wander, don’t give up. Without frustration, kindly and simply, re-focus your attention on your nostrils and try to let the sensation of breathing fill your consciousness.

4. If too many thoughts re-emerge, you may repeat removing them as bubbles, then return to conscious breathing with awareness of air entering and exiting through your nostrils.

5. Practice this exercise for as long as is comfortable. Repeat it daily until you feel yourself breathing naturally with focus and presence.

Being The Stillness Meditation

Being the (rich) stillness is the essence of you. And being in the now through this meditation practice brings you the experience of the amazing wonders of your true nature. The daily practice of this meditation enhances deep self-realization, affords clarity and is truly life transforming.

(This meditative exercise is sometimes easier to practice after warming up with either of the previous meditation practices.)

1. Make sure you have set aside at least 10 to 15 minutes for this meditation. (You may set an alarm if this helps you to not be concerned about the time in case you have other things to do later.)

2. First clear your mind using step 1 of the breathing meditation technique (visualizing the bubble-thoughts being exhaled out of your mind.)

3. Now, either with eyes closed or open, whichever makes it easier for you to focus, re-direct your attention to the stillness and the silence in the moment. This will take your undivided effort in attention. Be alert and attentive to every moment in your now. No thoughts.

4. Again, never be frustrated with thoughts that interrupt your focusing on the silence in the now. Just move them compassionately away, or let them pass, like you would a little child acting out for attention.

5. If there are some sounds in your surroundings, keep focusing on the silence that holds these sounds. You will hear the sounds, but, with focus, you will also hear the silence that exists between them and beneath them. Where ever you sense the silence and stillness, be with it in full attention.

6. Continue this. This silence is your road to and also the container of your pure truth. Be still with it. Be it. Nourish your magnificent truth with attention. Be one with it.

Eckhart Tolle explains in The Power of Now:

Paying attention to the silence outside, brings about the silence within. Silence without, stillness within. Nothing in this world is so like God as silence… pay attention to it.

What you pay attention to makes for the foundation of your life. Your all-knowing is in your stillness. Befriend it every day. You will find your strength, your security and your journey within. It will deliver you your purposes in life. The stillness is you, and by empowering yourself with deep attention, you will bring to yourself your vast world of all power and possibilities. You will thus create your destiny.