The Ultimate Guide to Basic Meditation! (For Everyone)

 

Most people find MEDITATION to be super boring and an out of fashion thing. Even I was one of them, but everything has changed for me now, and it isn’t gonna remain the same for you too if you carefully read this article with an open mind and unbiased heart.

Basically, the people who refrain from this don’t think it’s cool or easy. They are of the opinion that it’s some super convoluted activity done only by priests and monks, which is of course nonsense. 

So the basic aim of this article is to make meditation refreshing, easy, and fun not just for the millennials but for everyone. Because it is actually damn cool. So stay with me and rejoice.

That’s an awesome video btw, do watch it once!

 

What is Meditation?

Meditation is basically a tool to free yourself from the grip of the past’s haunted memories and future’s futile worry and take control of the present moment.

Everyone knows theoretically that the essence of meditation is to improve your health and your mind. Still, we don’t do it. It’s actually the society that fed you the belief that meditation is boring or out of your grasp.

Well, the thing is, 99% of the methods to meditate are boring and monotonous. But hey hang on, that’s what I am here for. To tell you about that one method that can make it fun.

Meditation is not being lazy or unconscious or just dwelling in your own pool of thoughts. It is definitely not the ‘quick way out’ to your problems or some ‘get out of the jail free card’.

Some schmucks who couldn’t understand that meditation is not merely escaping your current challenges meditated in such a way that they fell in love with it and now can’t stop meditating.

What they are missing is the very basic reason to meditate; which is to be free from all kinds of attachment. What happened instead? They got attached to meditation only.

And why wouldn’t they? If you can forget all your worries and stress somehow then you will be ready to do anything, right? But the problem is that while meditating they may break free, but the moment they go back, which they will, reality will strike them like a thunderbolt.

Such kinds of people simply didn’t get meditation. It doesn’t promote ignoring your problems and becoming attached to meditation.

It’s actually a way to clear your headspace so that you can prolong a more healthy state of mind throughout the day to improve your life by becoming more efficient problem solvers.

 

Whenever you get attached to do something or not do something, that means something is wrong.

It’s true that most of us only do something when it becomes absolutely urgent to do it. Till then we keep on procrastinating until the situation finally becomes a do or die one.

WE have to, have to start doing things that are freaking IMPORTANT! And not just the urgent ones. But, alas, I know you are not gonna listen to these smartypants.

So, being the big-hearted person I am, now I gotta create a sense of urgency of meditation in you. WATCH & LEARN.

 

MISSION: CREATING URGENCY

Whatever you are doing in life, from anything to everything; What’s the reason for that? For happiness, right? (hopefully) This is the essence of all problems. The whole world thinks the same way, if I will achieve ‘this’, then I will be happy.

When you are a college student, you think when I will graduate then I will be happy, you graduate and then you say when I will get a job then I will be happy, you got your dream job, you may be happy for a day or a week but then you think when I get this promotion then I will be happy, you get the promotion but still it’s never enough for you, and the cycle of ‘when I get x y z, then I will be happy’ continues.

So, what to do? Nothing! Yeah, you heard me.

HAPPINESS is here only, not in tomorrow, not in objects, and not even in goals. Right here.

This is the real meaning of meditation, to make you realize the power of now. Okay now, time for some action. Let me share with you how to meditate the right way.

 

The Easy Steps To Get Started with Meditation

1. If you are a beginner, then first find a suitable pair of earplugs to cut off any outer noise. (I will tell you why)

2.  Now how to sit? People have a number of myths here as well. All the poses are good as long as your back is straight (don’t lie down on the bed though, for obvious reasons). Don’t choose a pose that is uncomfortable to you because then your attention would keep going there.

You don’t have to be at the top of a hill

3. Even a chair or bed will do.

4. Straighten your neck.

5. Close your eyes. Now after closing, you don’t have to move your eyeballs up or down. If you look up, it will start to pain, if you look down you will go to sleep.

6. After you settle down, take 10 deep breaths. Slowly. Deeply. Thoroughly. 

7. By the time you go to 0, you will notice that your mind will be blank, for a moment, but it’s not the end.

 

Heads UP, Peeps!

There are two kinds of sound in this world. One is external, any sound that comes from outside of your body. Traffic, your gf screaming, your neighbor cursing, those kinds. The other is the internal sound, which comes from within.

We all have both the experience and knowledge of the outside world. But when it comes to the inner sound, you may have subconsciously experienced it but probably wouldn’t have the knowledge about it. Well, you are about to. (Don’t worry if you have no idea what I am talking about)

 

Discovering the Inner Sound

Some sounds are inside us out of which some you know and some you don’t. Like the sound of a heartbeat and the sound of breathing.

These sounds you must have felt but now let’s discover the sounds which you haven’t. How will you find it? Remember I asked you to put on earplugs, well this is why. Once all the sound from the outside is cut off, any other sound that you hear is the inner sound. 

Your brain will automatically go to these inner sounds. You will hear the heartbeat. And slowly you will begin to notice that there’s a second sound coming from behind it. This sound will become thin progressively. Our brain always picks up the heavier sound first and then the lighter one.

Here too, it is quite the same; you will start by listening to the sound of your breath, and steadily you will hear a voice which some may perceive as the sound similar to that of a cricket, or sound of the waterfall, sound of a breeze, or even sound of a conch.

Now the basic difference between all the other meditations and this one is that in those meditations you had to put your mind towards it, which means you had to put in some effort of your own.

Here the mind will automatically do things, effortlessly. In the other techniques, the mind wanders here and there and you have to put it again back to the meditation consciously.

Here once you start listening to those sounds, they will automatically draw your attention. You will become absolutely stable and will start wondering what the hell is really happening?

 

Living In the Present Moment

Ever noticed that the moment you don’t understand something you suddenly come into the present moment. If you ever visit a new place you will be present there completely, trying to observe everything.

And what happens when you are home? You don’t bother with all this crap and keep your attention to your work or whatever it is you were about to do.

So, once you start listening to those sounds, which you have no idea about, your mind will automatically start paying attention to them. You will come to the center and will start seeing things as it is. When you keep doing this, the last step will be to hear a sound coming right from the center of your body.

The sound will be similar to that of the clap but the twist is that this clap is made by a single hand; to put it simply it will be the sound of INFINITY.

Try imagining it, you must have heard the sound of a clap which you make by striking both of your hands. Now the sound I am talking about is the sound of a clap made by a single hand. Can you envision it?

 

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

Once you listen to this sound, your mind will become absolutely peaceful. So why can’t most of us hear it? Because there’s a lot of noise in between. (I mean no one even talks about it!!)

But hey you can argue that you have controlled the noise to some extent by staying silent and putting on earplugs. Well, the thing is that there’s this one another irritating sound too, a rather pestering one.

The last kind of noise is the noise we generate inside us. If you look closely in your mind, you will notice you keep on saying something or the other inside your mind non-stop all day long.

“I gotta repay John’s favor or he will go back on his words. Dang! My weight has gone off the charts, maybe it’s time to go back to keto. Oh shit, I just remembered that I had to complete the assignment my grumpy boss assigned me 4 days ago. Why doesn’t someone tell guys that girls also want to be independent? Uhh, my relationship is at its last phase.” And so on.

Some random thoughts keep floating inside your head all the time which is a really persistent noise. One needs to get rid of it, in order to listen to the SOUND.

Once these unsolicited noises are overpowered by the sound coming from your heart, the brain will get smaller, and the heart will become bigger (of course metaphorically!).

 

All the LOVE is in your HEART.

The compassion, the creativity, peace of mind, everything is in your heart only. Peace of mind, meaning when the mind is at peace and when exactly is the mind at peace?

When it’s observing something it has no idea about, since it has no past inputs or experience about it, it will have no idea what to comprehend of it.

And what if it’s something that’s absolutely unfathomable?

Then the mind can be at peace forever. So, meditation is not boring or dull, in fact, it’s exciting af; because there’s something new all the time to be discovered from this sound.

It’s not just one or two sounds that you hear, there’s a whole orchestra down there if you have the patience and excitement. The sound’s totally formless, shapeless, and boundaryless, so your sweet little mind won’t be able to put a label on it. Every time will be like the first time, totally new and fresh.

There’s a world inside us which we can’t even imagine in the wildest of our dreams. Only slowly and steadily you will start discovering things and the dots will connect which will lead to a picture bigger than all of us.

 

Slow & Steady Wins the Race

First, start slowly by paying attention to your breath, then your heartbeat, then the low-pitched sound behind it, and as you keep looking the whole thing starts making sense.

You will discover something that’s truly superior and magnificent. Something that is deeper than the deepest of oceans, and more enormous than any other thing you ever imagined in your lifetime.

That sound is called OM. All the Vedas came from OM. The essence of all Vedas is OM. Now you can call it RAM, RAHIM, ALLAH, JESUS it doesn’t matter. They all are the same chapter, just written in different languages.

 

Less is More

The more the person’s mind is clear from all the untidiness, the sooner he will receive this sound. As simple as that. The more you try to listen to this sound and the more endeavor you put in, the more will the sound get pushed further and further away.

The fewer efforts you put in to listen, by simply sitting at one quiet place and observing, the faster you will perceive it. You don’t really have to do anything to listen to this.

The ear is the first organ to get developed, and the last one to leave; which is why in Hindu religion, during a person’s funeral, it’s a ritual to slowly start preaching RAM RAM RAM near the deceased person’s ear.

This is the highest form of prayer, where you are absolutely silent, from the outside and from the inside. When one completely surrenders himself, then that’s actually the real prayer.

Whoever you have been looking for, on the outside all this time, you will realize it’s actually inside you. Don’t ask for anything from it, the minute you do, it will get farther from you. 

AS you start getting better at meditation, these sounds will automatically draw your attention towards them. You can achieve anything because there’s nothing that is outside of you. You can lose everything, because even after losing anything outside, what you actually got inside will be everything.

Now everything has its positives and negatives. So is the case with meditation.

Meditation is just a tool or a weapon to help you hunt your meal. A boat to help you cross the river. But after crossing the river if you didn’t leave it then there is no treatment for that. Don’t become greedy; a time will come when after reaching the final stages of meditation you automatically won’t need it, so don’t try holding on to it after that.

 

FAQs related to the “Inner Sound Meditation”:

 

Q1: Should I use earplugs every time I meditate?

A: No. After a few weeks, when your mind becomes calm, you can stop the use of earplugs.

Q2: Wanna know more about the Inner Sound?

A: Simply click on the link given below to download a Free E-Book:

THE ONE

This E-Book is about the Inner Sound which has been developed as a spiritual path or reference point in almost all religions, traditions, and philosophies worldwide. Interestingly, almost all religions and spiritual philosophies have been giving various names to THE ONE that cannot be named.

Q3: When is the best time of the day to meditate?

A: While meditation is beneficial at any time, most people who meditate agree that early morning is the best time to meditate.

Part of the reason is that it is said that in the early morning the hustle and bustle of the world have not yet begun and so it is easier to establish a meditative atmosphere as it is relatively quieter.

Having an early morning meditation also lets us carry some of the energy and peace of the meditation into our daily activities. But at the end of the day whenever it’s the most suitable for you.

Q4: Should I control my thoughts during meditation all the time?

A: There is absolutely NO NEED to control your thoughts.

Whenever your mind wanders off, simply bring your attention back to hearing. You will find that once you start to hear your inner sounds, gradually the mind will cease its activities.

Q5: How to Meditate Whenever, Wherever?

You can meditate anytime and anywhere. (Oh wait, that’s what I just asked) In the sense that whatever is happening at this particular moment and if you are aware of it, then you are in meditation.

Doesn’t matter if you are stuck in a traffic jam, playing with your kids, or even doing your work; you can meditate. You can try it right now.

Just sit back, with your back straight, and observe. Listen to the sounds coming in the room you are sitting in, see the colors of the wall, feel the energy of the room, look at the curtains swiftly gliding due to the wind coming from the fan, the bed’s texture, or anything.

You will start noticing things that you probably haven’t before. You will start seeing things in a different light. Don’t think anything; if thoughts come, let them come; don’t kill them, they will go themselves.

Just be aware. Once you get better at this, there will come a stage where wherever you go, immediately everything will reveal itself to you. You will comprehend anything and everything within seconds.

If you meet a person, you will understand him immediately. You can see right through it just by increasing your awareness.

You will know what a person actually wants just by essentially looking around the situation. This is the Real Essence of Meditation, to be completely aware of everything happening both inside and outside you.

 

 

 

MEDITATION is not to torture you. It ought to be fun and cool. Take baby steps. Even five to ten minutes a day is a great way to get STARTED!