Meditation: What to Expect and What NOT

 

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Meditation, in my understanding, is a path. It’s a path to absolute peace. Meditation leads us to the unexplored part of ourselves. While we are always connected to the external world, practice of meditation helps us connect to the inner world within us. It makes us realize that the physical world is not the complete reality. Thus, meditation helps us see the reality that’s beyond the reach of the five senses.

As far as my experience is concerned, I haven't reached that level where I can claim that I have the authority to give tips and advice on how to do a proper meditation. However, I do have the experience of failing to meditate properly. So, I probably have the authority to share my experiences on what mistakes one could avoid while getting into the path of meditation.

First of all, the experience of meditation differs from person to person. What I experience may not be similar to what you experience. It’s because my level of consciousness may be different from yours. Moreover, people who have the ability to focus on a single point for a longer period of time can experience better and more positive results compared to those who struggle in maintaining focus even for a few seconds.

Another thing I have learned about meditation is that it’s not just about sitting cross-legged for some minutes and ignoring it for the rest of the day. An essential part of meditation is awareness. So, we must practise being aware of our actions each and every moment. Meditation is not done to escape reality. Instead meditation should help us to be aware of the truth and accept it as it is, rather than making up any kind of subjective perception on it. I had to mention this thing because a lot of people think that people who meditate are those who want to escape reality and live in a dreamlike world.

Next very crucial thing I need to talk about is the goal you set when you enter the world of meditation. I don’t know if I should mention this thing or not, and also I don’t know if I’ll be able to articulate it properly or not, but I will try to explain it in a simple way so that everyone can understand the gist of meditation. In a way, you have to know where you are going, in order to achieve success in whatever you do. So, setting a goal is very important. However, when it comes to meditation, you must be able to change this perception. If you are someone who knows nothing about meditation and if I have to explain meditation to you, then I can tell you that you can achieve inner peace and overcome fear by practising meditation. However, if you are really trying to explore the world of meditation, then I must be able to make it clear to you that setting a goal can be a big mistake in the path of meditation. When you set a goal, you have an expectation of achieving that goal. On the contrary, the purpose of meditation is to let go of any expectation. If you keep expecting that you’ll achieve this and that by doing the practice of meditation, then you’ll reach nowhere. Let’s say you are sitting down for a 30 minutes of meditation session. During this 30 minutes, if you are repeatedly asking yourself why you are not experiencing anything wonderful or different, then your session is not being fruitful. This 30 minutes of your day should be dedicated to meditation without any expectation, and there should not be any kind of feeling of regret once you are done with your session.

I didn’t know all these things when I first got introduced to meditation. I was so excited and was curious to know what I could achieve by meditating. As time passed, I studied a bit more about meditation and I also got more experience compared to my first attempts. And I’m still in the process of knowing meditation better and clearer. I’m still a very ordinary person. I never had an out-of-body experience. I haven’t been able to balance my chakras. I haven’t had my third eye opened. And I never had a lucid dream. However, I’m definitely a happier person now. 

And one thing I must mention once again is that the experience in meditation is not the same for everyone. What you experience in a month can be something I won’t be able to experience even after years of practice. That means you may experience a moment of bliss in a single day or maybe you won’t notice any change even after years of practice. So, you should be ready to accept this fact. This might make you a bit hopeless. However, on the brighter side, you should know that meditation teaches you to live in the present. It’s your mistakes in the past that can make you sad and wistful. And it’s your apprehension about a possible consequence in the future that keeps you anxious. If you meditate and observe your present, you won’t have anything to be sad about. And meditation makes you realize that happiness is a state of mind, which means that you should be happy because you know that you should be; not just because some external force is pleasing you. So, there are three major things I have learned from my experience in mediation - be aware of every single action you do; live in the present moment; and let go of any kind of expectation.  

(I wrote this when one of my friends asked me to write about my experience on meditation for research purpose. Now I'm posting it on my blog after some months.)

Observing My Thoughts: A 30-day Meditation Challenge

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Starting Date: 6th March 2018

I recently completed my 30-day meditation challenge. I am familiar with more than 5 ways of practicing meditation. And as far as possible, in this 1 month long practice, I used one particular method i.e. observing my thoughts as they come to my mind. The objective of this type of meditation is to become consciously aware of one's thoughts. So, I also practiced this meditation with the same intention. Now let me share how my 1 month long meditation practice went:

Day 1: 10 minutes

As I set the timer, closed my eyes and began observing my thoughts, the first thoughts were about my body posture. So, I consciously adjusted my posture, trying to have my spine straight. Then the random thoughts began popping up. Images of few people came up in front of my closed eyes. Behind my eyelids, I looked up towards my forehead so that I would be able to focus on my thoughts instead of my body parts or my soundings. Besides the people I know, I could see some places I visited and things I did recently. I could hear a song or two playing in the background (in my thoughts - not in reality). As some of the thoughts stayed a bit longer, I would say to my mind, "What next?". Then a new thought would come up. However, I felt quite positive and surprised about the fact that I had very few thoughts during this session of 10-minute duration than I had thought I would come across. The Timer beeped which gave me a little jerk.

Day 2: 10 minutes

So, it's the 2nd day. I set the timer, closed my eyes and sat up straight. Like the first day, at the beginning of the 10-minute session, my mind was being occupied by some recent incidents and people I recently met. Then came other people and events one after another. For some reason, my mind was occupied by more thoughts compared to yesterday. I realized then that I was instructing myself to observe those thoughts without being carried away. While observing the thoughts from a distance, I happened to think of a television where my thoughts were being displayed. A moment later, the TV showed some programmes and some scenes from movies that I had no any idea about. I noticed very few of my bodily sensations. Then I was having some self-talk. I was observing my thoughts neutrally but some of them brought a bit of emotions for few seconds. Though it was not a very deep meditation, I was below the surface - into my thoughts. So, the beep after 10 minutes was still twitching.

Day 3: 10 minutes

It's third day of 30-day meditation. I set the timer and began observing my thoughts. With spine straight and spontaneous breath, I observed all the random thoughts. The first thoughts were about the people I met recently and the events that happened recently. While observing my own thoughts, I was frequently being concerned about the fact that I had to write about my experience after observing all those thoughts. So, quite a few times, I was thinking "what was the previous thought?". Getting back to observing my thoughts, I came across thoughts of random places and people. Again, thoughts of people and events from recent days came up. Compared to day 1 and 2, it was noisier today. However, the density of thoughts was lower than day 2. I noticed a moment or two of bodily sensations. In the middle of the session, the noise from the street gave a little jolt. While for whatever reason I was trying to notice what was going on my left and right sides of my brain alternatively, the timer beeped and it still gave me jerk.