Q & A on How to Meditate – Useful Suggestions:

Can I change meditation?

If you want to learn how to meditate, it is highly recommended that you do not change your daily meditation, until you have learned how to get into a state of meditation and what meditation is really about.
If you keep on changing and experimenting with different meditation techniques e.g. mantras, sounds, meditation music etc, you are likely to get lost and not go far. Persevere and focus on the breath.

How do I sit for meditation?

If you want to learn how to meditate, ensure that you are really comfortable in your seat whatever that means for you – e.g. on a comfortable chair, sofa, etc. It is a good idea to support the spine against a wall, cushion, chair, etc. Muscles should not be tensed. Ensure that you are not interrupted by sudden noises – in time you will learn not to engage with any background noises.

Are there any obstacles?

There are no real obstacles. However, if you have not been on this journey before and you do not know the road and where you are going, you perceive things happening on the journey as obstacles.
Also it is normal to experience some resistance when a change is introduced. Start now and keep the journey your focus.

What might happen along the journey?

Learning not to dwell with external stimuli might take long time. In the current society we are trained to engage with external stimuli and to satisfy any desire and want as it comes to our mind. The advice is to keep on going back to the breath, 'return to your seat'.

Learning not to dwell with negative thoughts and emotions might take a long time. In order to meditate there has to be harmony in the body, mind, spirit system. Until you get to a place of harmony, you are just practicing concentration and sense withdrawal.

Meditation starts when there is a sustained flow of awareness, which comes not by applying will power or by controlling the thoughts, but by experiencing a space of harmony and freedom. When you are in this space there are no thoughts and feelings.

It might seem a contradiction. This is why meditation must be practised. It is beyond what I can express with words.

Are there physiological changes?

As you learn how to meditate and practise regularly, physiological changes can occur in your body. As the body is not used to them, a feeling that the heart rate is jumping or stopping, a feeling of trembling or being beyond time and space can be experienced for fleeting moments during meditation.

Why do I have bad feelings and thoughts?

This question is not helpful as it keeps you emotionally aroused and caught up in thoughts and feelings. 'Why' is not important; what matters is that 'you have a choice' not to go down that road.
In meditation, you are rewiring your brain not to follow the same pattern over and over and over. You might need to win over the initial resistance, after which meditataion feels the most 'natural' thing.

What about if I experience intense negativity?

If you want to learn how to meditate, you need to come from a place of acceptance and love. If you experience a phase of negativity towards yourself or others, which is really interfering with your meditation, then use the following (or a similar affirmation): I deeply & completely love & accept myself. Keep on repeating it until you feel you are in a neutral state, then return to the breath.