Just like experienced practitioners, your first experience with Sahaja meditation will be uniquely your own. Some practitioners describe an immediate, noticeable experience while others describe a more gradual discovery of energy and vibration. Whether it happens in your first session, or further into your journey, your experience of Sahaja meditation can be a powerful one.

Peace, a gentle transformation, a joy with no cause.

When Jennifer Snow, sales trainer and experienced Sahaja practitioner, first experienced Sahaja meditation, she didn’t have many expectations. She had not planned for it ahead of time and hadn’t given it a lot of thought. While she read books about spirituality, she hadn’t read anything specifically about meditation and did not have any previous knowledge.

She was introduced to Sahaja meditation through a friend. She had watched her friend go through a challenging time personally and remain balanced. Jennifer was attracted to her inner peace and had a desire to learn what she was doing.

Jennifer attended her first class with her friend who practiced, and after a brief introduction, the class settled into the meditation. Even as the instructor gave a brief introduction, she could feel herself settling down. She remembers, upon finishing the meditation, feeling that her state was completely different than it had been when she walked in. Jennifer explains that the state of being she felt was hard to describe, something like a joy with no cause. Upon opening her eyes after the meditation, she felt a sense of peace that did not go away for three days. She felt pleasant, like something was coming alive and softly transforming. For the first time, she felt aware of her own cells, her own inner processes. Jennifer was completely surprised at the gentle transformation she experienced after just one meditation.

A quenched thirst, a sense of being, soothing peacefulness.

As a 22-year-old, Leslie Aiken, an experienced Sahaja practitioner, wanted to know the purpose of life. She wasn’t satisfied with the mundane daily routines of going to work and coming home, day after day. She began asking everyone she met about the meaning and purpose of life. Leslie found that most people didn’t have an answer, and even took the concept lightly. She couldn’t find the answer.

While traveling, she met someone in NJ that was going to be attending a lecture about meditation. As it turns out, the founder of Sahaja meditation was there and it proved to be a very memorable evening for Leslie, one that she will never forget. Without any previous knowledge, she learned about thoughtless awareness, the subtle energy system, and being in the moment. For the first time, Leslie felt that her thirst for deeper knowledge of the purpose of life was quenched and she had found her answer. Inside, she felt a soothing peacefulness.

Even as a child, a distinct lightness, thoughtless awareness.

About 10 years old, Dr. Ashish Pradhan had his first experience of Sahaja meditation. At that age, he remembers being busy with school and activities, and meditation sessions were not daily affairs. On one particular day, there was a seminar occurring north of Mumbai, where the founder was bringing people together for an immersive experience. During the meditation, Dr. Pradhan remembers feeling an energy moving up his spine, shooting up through his vertebrae. He recalls feeling light. Even though his life was not complicated at 10-years-old, he recalls a tremendous lightness, his head full of air, a fantastic sensation. He later learned to describe this as thoughtless awareness.

Peace, energy, a long-awaited opening.

At first, Shankar Ramani, an IT professional and experienced Sahaja practitioner, found his initial experiences with Sahaja meditation surprisingly uneventful. Not knowing what to expect, Shankar saw an advertisement for a Sahaja meditation program while in college in India. When he visited the center, he met a few people who introduced him to Sahaja meditation. While he was eager to learn, Shankar recalls not feeling much until the ninth month of regular practice. Without a frame of reference, Shankar explains that he did not feel much in terms of vibration or energy.

He did, however, feel extremely peaceful inside and happy to be in the company of nice people eager to help right away. Somewhere around the 9^th month, Shankar sat down for meditation and felt a blast of energy, something inside finally opening up. It was as if a clogged pipe was suddenly cleared. While it took time for Shankar to feel the vibration and energy, from that point onwards, he never looked back. A whole new world had opened up.

External transformation, internal shifts.

Shamik Ghosh had his first experience with Sahaja meditation about 15 years ago when a friend of his introduced him to meditation while in college. Shamik saw that his friend had been going through a rough time personally, and had watched his life transform as a result of Sahaja meditation.

For Shamik, he initially sought Sahaja meditation as a way to improve his studies and better absorb the information he was learning in his engineering program. At first, Shamik describes his experience with meditation as half-asleep. Interestingly, Shamik explains that the first transformations he experienced as a result of Sahaja meditation were external, rather than internal. While he did eventually notice internal shifts in his attitudes and outlooks, changes to his external environment and personal life occurred first. Over the years, Shamik has come to appreciate the subtler nuances of the practice and enjoys the subtle, internal shifts Sahaja meditation offers.

A day at the shore, persistent effort, a gradual opening.

Mar’yana Svarknyk’s first experience with Sahaja meditation happened while on vacation. While vacationing at the beach, she noticed people were gathering together in the mornings to meditate. Eventually, this group offered a public program. Mar’yana attended the program, where they worked through a typical set of practices where the instructor guided participants to place their hands on different energy centers and make statements. After the program, Mar’yana recalls her friends asking her how she felt. She had to be honest, she felt nothing.

Having time, she and her friends went down to the water, sat down on some warm rocks, and meditated and talked for the rest of the day. They went through the steps of self-realization again and thoroughly enjoyed the day. That night, Mar’yana distinctly remembers feeling a gradual tingling sensation at night as she fell asleep, with cool air blasting from her hands, head and feet. With some persistent effort throughout the day, Mar’yana experienced the activation of her subtle energy system.

As you can see, everyone’s experience with Sahaja meditation is different. Some experience the energy and vibration immediately, while others describes a subtler experience. Either way, awakening your subtle energy system is well worth the effort.