Initial Steps - Begin Your Meditation
The steps we go through below are a good grounding for anyone wishing to begin meditation. The key here is not to become discouraged when the results are not quite what you imagined them to be. It takes time and practice to reach the higher levels of a meditative state, but you can rest assured that the end results are well worth the effort.
The very first thing to do is to find a comfortable and preferably quiet place where you can meditate. You don't need to fold yourself into two or three, to achieve a perfect posture such as what you frequently see being done. This isn't your goal here. Instead, your goal here is to learn to meditate, to learn to marshal your thoughts and control them.
More Detailed Information
A brief look at what starting with meditation entails and how it can improve your life.
>> Initial steps in meditation.Here we outline some of the basic steps and methods you can utilise to start meditation.
To achieve this, comfort is of the utmost importance, otherwise you will forever be thinking about how cold and hard the floor is, how much your knees hurts, and how soon you can get out of this position, which can be very distracting to your meditation. Don't however, get so comfortable that you fall asleep this sort of defeats the purpose!
When you're finally ready to begin, settle back comfortably into your chosen position, and close your eyes. Slowly Inhale, Exhale. Feel your mind relaxing already, letting go of all of its burdens.
If you feel your mind wandering, if a stray thought or two comes knocking at the door to your mind, don't worry, this is normal especially in the beginning stages of learning to meditate.
Just give it a loose leash, acknowledge to yourself that your mind wandered, then draw it back in. Acknowledge the stray thought for what it was, then let it go. Come back to the here and now, come back to your meditation.
Continue on in this vein for as long as you can. The first few times that you begin to meditate you will find that it is very difficult indeed to keep your mind on one point long enough for you to even acknowledge it. This is also normal. Perseverance however, is what is crucial at this point if you are to continue any further down the path of meditation.
Don't become discouraged at your initial inability to control your mind and your thoughts, you will be able to control them soon enough, all you need is a little time (and patience) to get there.
At this point a word of caution is necessary. As you progress through to the deeper levels of meditation, as your mind becomes more and more focused, you might find yourself experiencing breathtaking visions of things unimaginable, or even seeing bright lights.
These are not anything out of the extraordinary they are merely a projection from your own mind, which occurs as you go into deeper meditative states. This is also very normal, and nothing to worry about you are not losing your mind!
The cautionary word comes at this point, because you will find that it is very easy to become mired in these strange sights and sounds. But if you are to continue going down the path of meditation in the right way, or if you want to continue down the path of Nirvana, you will need to let go of these things. Treat them the same as if they were a stray thought you had; acknowledge it, then discard it to go back to your meditation.
You will find that with a continued regular effort at this level of meditation, you may reach a stage where you will be able to stay focused on the here and now, for at least 15 minutes, maybe even 30 minutes. This is the ideal stepping off point for the person who wishes to travel further along the road to achieving Nirvana.
Depending on your abilities and the effort and commitment you put in towards your meditation, you might even find that you can come to this level of focused meditation, in as little as 3 months.
But if it takes you longer, don't worry. It doesnt mean that you are any less committed than the other person. Each of us are individuals and the most important thing is not to give up. Learning to meditate properly brings numerous benefits so it is well worth persevering.
If you find though you do need help or guidance, then please contact us via the Dhamma Query board. Remember we are there to help you.