This seemingly simple and often ignored act can actually be very profound and even a breakthrough in your quest for learning how to meditate. But what does it really mean?

Nearly all other forms of meditation are geared towards focusing on getting you to perform some cognitive task, mindfulness is the most significant of them. Others ask you to focus or concentrate on something. Still others get you to reduce or eliminate your thoughts gradually using some technique.

Sahaja meditation is almost entirely the opposite of all these. You sit down for meditate and allow that inner energy inside to do its work. Yes, in fact, after you’ve prepared yourself for meditation with a basic starting step, there’s very little you should try to do.

In fact, you should actually get out of your own way.

And by this “you” we mean your physical, cognitive and emotional self and associated processes. Instead, allow the inner energy to rise and bring your spiritual inner self into your central nervous system.

Now, what does that mean? You can actually experience the deepest inner self or Spirit as a tangible sensation on your central nervous system. It can be in the form of a cool breeze, or in form of an energy flow in your fingertips. A lot of people also feel their central energy channel opening up and being able to perceive the energy flow on the top of their heads. The most common sensation is the stillness or absence of thoughts and this is the unique experience of Thoughtless Awareness in Sahaja, the state of true meditation. The absolute best, highest quality of meditation you can ever experience. Period. Why? Because it is the very ancient method and experience of meditation being followed by mystics and yogis but now made available in the 21^st century to people like you and I.

How to Fall into The Meditative State

First, you’re most likely to come into any meditation session, at home or even at our online group meditation sessions with a few inevitable mindsets – that you’re here to do something, accomplish a task and try to feel something. Instead, think of meditation as an act of surrendering and letting go – to the inner energy inside you and allowing it to do the work.

Second, it’s also likely that we bring a bunch of feelings and thoughts carrying over from our busy day, so much so, that they’re hard to shed when we’re sitting for meditation. Yes, even the best of meditators bring a lot of “mental baggage” into their meditation sessions. So, humble down by telling yourself that you’re not these thoughts and emotions and you’re ready to sacrifice and let them go. Even if you’re feeling happy or having a sense of accomplishment, just tell yourself that those aren’t yours, what’s real is just your inner self that you need to now nourish.

Third, when meditating, try to separate your attention from your thoughts, set yourself up as if you were watching your thoughts silently. As they come, just watch them go away without reacting or getting involved with them. Stay alert and keep checking every few minutes that you’re not suddenly immersed or lost in your thoughts.

Fourth, resist the urge to look at the clock or watch, or think about how much longer you need to sit down in your meditation. Try to immerse yourself in the experience. Even if you aren’t feeling much, just be patient and sit still, allowing the opportunity for your inner energy and the connection you have to the universal energy around to manifest and do its work.

Finally, after a deep enough experience, don’t be in a hurry to conclude your meditation. Preserve the state of calm and deep experience, extend it for a few more minutes. Tell yourself that you’ll be back soon for the next sitting rather than thinking about the next activity you’re going to get into. This way, you’re secretly training your attention to come back to nourishing it in the next meditation session. In fact, it’s best to make a mental note and reminder for when your next meditation session is going to be.

Keep going through the above routine for longer and longer durations each day, till you work up to about 20 or 25 minutes per session. As you go through this, try reinforcing your desire to be one with the universal energy. Make that plea stronger each day.

Be Aware of Regression

Going in the opposite direction compared to the above progression is quite easy. Most of us do so without trying. In fact, every experienced meditator will tell you that they go through periods when they regress. This means their meditation sessions get shorter progressively due to various reasons like lack of time, wavering attention or just having to deal with too many things or crises in their lives. The quality of the sessions also dips, they find themselves thinking more than being in meditation. Sometimes, they find themselves impatient, looking at their watch waiting for the session to end. So they actually end up spending some time sitting rather than going through the deep experience of the meditative state.

You’d think how sitting in silence without doing anything can be so hard, but it actually is for a lot of people. Especially, if they’re the type to always feel the need to stay active in their waking hours. Or more commonly, those of us who exercise our brains and mental faculties every second that we’re awake. This is what Sahaja practitioners commonly refer to as “right-sided” behavior, meaning an over-influence of the right energy channel.

On the other side are those of us, who find it very hard to get up from the couch and spend the 20 minutes of time for our meditation. Even if we manage to somehow do this, our attention ends up drifting to some past events or recollections during the meditation. “Being left-sided”, we call this.

Others will tell you how they’re beginning to lose their humility and it begins to show in other ways – to people around them. They seem angry and irritable of late and reacting a lot more than they would normally. It’s strangely coincidental that the decrease in their meditation time and quality often matches the increase in negative emotions.

But the only thing that separates experienced meditators from others is their ability to be aware of this and make concerted attempts to reverse the regressive trend to move back towards deeper meditative states and experiences. And once again, consciously increasing the duration of time for meditation. Most importantly, they make time for more collective or group meditation sessions. They realize that they can’t reverse this on their own and the first thing they do is to seek collective support.

In the case of Sahaja Online, that’s just a simple tap away on their devices to enter into a group meditation session online.

So are you aware of whether you’re progressing or regressing with your meditation? Write to us. If you haven’t started your meditation yet, you’re probably better off and equipped with a lot more knowledge right out the gate. But mark your calendar soon to get started on your meditation routine.

“An unexamined life isn’t worth living.” – Socrates.