How to Meditate

Master said to Chester, "Its time you learned how to meditate. Have you ever meditated before?"

Chester's look said it all.

Master laughed and commented, "I guessed as much. As part of your training its very important you learn to meditate. We will start slow but you need to practice every day. I will also get you a copy of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it is the holy bible of meditation."

Chester sounded frustrated, "What good is sitting still for half an hour or so?"

Master paused as if trying to find the right words. He held up one hand which had become his way of telling Chester in the past to listen. "Meditation is the science of reuniting your soul with God. The soul, descending from God into flesh, manifests its consciousness and life force through seven chakras, or centers of light, in man's spinal axis.

Encased in a bodily prison, the soul awareness and life energies become identified with the physical body and its mortal pleasures and pains. Meditation awakens the soul awareness in the seven chakras. The soul remembers its God nature and origin. The various progressive states of soul awakening are accompanied by an ever increasing accession of inner peace and joy. In the most exalted states, soul and the Supreme Spirit become reunited in ecstatic, blissful communion, called samadhi. By meditation, then, you can connect the little joy of the soul with the vast joy of God."

Chester sighed and said, "Sounds a lot like concentration to me."

Master shook his head, "Meditation should not be confused with ordinary concentration. Concentration consists in freeing the attention from distractions and in focusing it on any thought in which one may be interested. Meditation is that special form of concentration in which the attention has been liberated from restlessness and is focused on God. Meditation is concentration used to know God."

Chester shrugged and asked, "How do I get started." He didn't look excited, instead he looked resigned to a boring task.

Master smiled and continued. "One of the first requisites for meditation is correct posture. The spine should be erect. When you seek to direct your mind and life force upward through the chakras to the centers of higher awareness in the brain, you should avoid stressing the spinal nerves caused by improper posture. If your legs are flexible enough you may prefer to meditate sitting cross-legged on a cushion on the floor, or on a firm bed. However, you might want to begin by sitting on a straight armless chair with the feet resting flat on the floor. Regardless of how you sit, you should hold your spine erect, abdomen in, chest out, shoulders back, chin parallel to the ground with your hands, palms upturned, resting on the legs at the juncture of the thighs and belly to prevent the body from bending forward. If the correct posture has been assumed, your body will be stable yet relaxed, making it easy to remain completely still, without moving a muscle."

The Master indicated to Chester he should try one of the postures. Chester sat on a pillow and used a simple cross legged position. The Master helped him form the proper posture. "When you are established in this meditation pose, inhale slowly and deeply through your nostrils to a count of 10; hold the breath to a count of 10; exhale slowly through the mouth to a count of 10. Practice this six to twelve times. Once you get used to controlling your breath in this way, as you practice every day, work up to a count of 20. As you gain mastery of your breath you gain mastery of your mind.

Next inhale deeply, tensing your whole body and clenching your fists. Relax all your body parts at once and, as you do so, expel the breath through the mouth in a double sharp exhalation. Repeat this six times. Then forget the breath. Let it flow in and out naturally as in ordinary breathing. With your eyes closed look upward, focusing the gaze and the attention as if looking out between the eyebrows. Do not cross your eyes or strain them; the upward gaze comes naturally when one is relaxed and calmly concentrating. What is in important is fixing your whole attention at the point between the eyebrows. This is the Christ Consciousness center, the seat of the single eye spoken of by Christ: 'The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light' (Matthew 6:22)."

Chester followed the instructions and then looked over to see what the next instructions were.

The Master continued, "Once you are focusing your attention between the eyebrows I want you to try to stop thinking. Its much harder than you think." Both Chester and Master laughed at the pun. "Let me give you three techniques that will help you to calm your thoughts and discover how to maintain a mind free from thoughts. First, every time you exhale, focus on the balance betwen the exhale and the inhale. At this perfect point of balance your awareness will find it much easier to be undisturbed by thoughts. Once you find you can calm your thoughts for just a moment, you can work on keeping the mind free of thoughts for longer and longer times. You can do the same for the moment of balance between the inhale and the exhale."

Chester asked, "What were the other techniques?"

Master smiled at Chester's impatience to learn. "When a thought comes unbidden, just observe it like you would watch a bubble disturb the surface of a lake or pond. Become aware of the gap between your thoughts. When one thought ends, just before another thought begins, there is a very brief but discernible emptyness that is your true nature. Try to find it and hold it. Another technique is as soon as you are aware that a thought has started try to slow it down until you never finish it and let it trail off and die because you give it no energy. Everytime you achieve the thoughtless state, hold it as long as you can."

Chester started to get up. The Master waved him back down. You stay here and practice, I'm going to take a walk before I begin my nightly meditation. Chester slumped back down and got back into position. Feeling kinda silly he started practicing what he had just been taught.



Advanced Meditation
Very Advanced Meditation

God (A Modern Perspective)

God's Sacred Name

Was Christ God in the Flesh?

God Talking To You

God's Creation and The Dance of Shiva

Buddha: Atheist or God?

Reincarnation: The Original Plan of God

Sabbath: The Amended Plan of God part 1

Resurrection: The Amended Plan of God part 2

The Sabbath is a Rehearsal

Sabbath and the Buddha

The Tao of Sabbath

Seven Sabbath Meditations

How to Meditate

Advanced Meditation

The Parable of the King's Diamonds

Chester's Oral tests

And God said...

Understanding God

The Aquarian Gospel of Christ

Jesus Christ

Is Krishna also Christ?

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Meditation Links

Meditation Postures

How to Meditate

MeditateTV.com

Meditation Handbook

Universal Meditation Instructions

Learning Meditation

Learning Meditation Techniques

Ananda: How to Meditate

Kriya Yoga Meditation

Babaji's Kriya Yoga Meditation

Ashram for Kriya Yoga Meditation

The Quan Yin Method

Supreme master Ching Hai Quan Yin Method

Sahaja Yoga

Introduction to Shabda Yoga Meditation

Shabda Yoga

Science of Spirituality

Trancendental Meditation

Vipassana Meditation