Meditation and Attunement with
the Divine
Meditation opens the door to the spirit world and to spiritual experiences. It is the fuel for mediumship. Indeed, without meditation you will not develop your mediumship. Spiritualist mediums, including those who were mediums from a tender age, meditate at least once a day. In addition to my morning meditation, I also prepare myself for each client reading with a twenty-minute meditation. For mediums, meditation is as essential to our spiritual well-being as food and water is to our physical body.
Meditation increases your awareness of and sensitivity to the subtle, gentle presence of the spirit people. Daily meditation leads to greater self-understanding. When you have insight into how your mind operates, you will become better at distinguishing true spirit communication from your imagination (chapter 8 , “Is It Spirit Communication or Imagination?” ). Meditation also teaches you to keep your mind focused. This is an essential skill for a good medium; spirit communication is often fleeting, and you will miss most of it if you cannot hold your focus.
The purpose and promise of meditation, however, is much grander than and goes far beyond spirit communication. Its aim is nothing less than your attunement with the Great Mystery, a process that allows Infinite Intelligence to express itself through you and touch the hearts and minds of all you come into contact with. As a medium, you want to be a hollow reed for the expression of a higher power.
Catholic nuns and monks have long known that meditation ultimately leads to communion and union with the Divine. For hundreds of years they have practiced a form of meditation called contemplative prayer. Contemplation is only taught in cloisters and monasteries. For instance, Teresa of Ávila, a Spanish saint who lived during the sixteenth century, was gifted time and time again with union with Christ during contemplation.
Lifelong practice of meditation provides you with greater levels of spiritual awareness, understanding, and compassion for yourself and others. Meditation brings us into contact with the Divine and leads to experiences of love that are beyond anything that can be experienced among humans on Earth.
Whenever you sit down to meditate, always seek out and merge with the divine presence. It does not matter whether you call the Divine presence God, Allah, Infinite Intelligence, Great Mystery, Source, All that Is, or Great Spirit. Your connection with the spirit world flows from this attunement with the Divine.
How to Prepare Yourself for
Meditation and Mediumship
At its core, meditation is as simple as sitting down, closing your eyes, relaxing the body, and breathing in and out. Yet a little bit of preparation goes a long way in creating optimal conditions for meditation and mediumship.
How Much Time Should
You Invest in Meditation?
It depends. When you first begin to meditate and practice the steps listed below, you are going to need more time, simply because the processes will be unfamiliar to you.
Also, each meditation is different. Some mornings you might meditate for fifteen minutes, other mornings for thirty minutes. Occasionally you might come out of meditation to find that an hour has flown by.
Give it enough time so you can settle into your meditation and enjoy the experience. I would suggest that initially you allow yourself thirty minutes to practice the various steps. Spend as much time as you like in your attunement with the Divine. There is no reason to rush through it.
If you are someone who absolutely cannot sit still, or has a deep-seated aversion to meditation, don’t give up. Instead, buy or borrow Victor Davich’s book 8 Minute Meditation: Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life, and commit yourself to his recommended practice. You will soon find yourself hungering for meditation.
Meditation Posture
Meditating in a chair with a firm seat and a fairly straight back works best, because it allows your body to stay most comfortable, even during a long meditation. It also promotes an energy flow that is most conducive to spirit communication. Sit upright and put both feet on the floor, legs uncrossed. Let your hands relax in your lap, palms facing upward and open to receive. I do not recommend meditating in the prone position, because you are more likely to fall asleep than to successfully meditate.
Opening Prayer
As in my other spiritual work, I open my daily meditation with an invocation. I recommend that you do the same. Please note that I do not ask to be connected to spirit guides or deceased loved ones during my morning meditation. I simply reach out to the Great Mystery. I like to use the following prayer:
“Infinite Spirit, Great Mystery; thank you for this beautiful day and for this opportunity to commune with you. I have missed you, and I long for your Divine Presence. Please join me in my meditation. Surround me with your love and light. Please share your wisdom and your teachings with me. Let me be what you would have me be, so that I may serve you. Amen.”
Basic Meditation
I listed the elements of a basic meditation that I have found to be helpful for anyone, including those who have no prior experience with meditation. This meditation works whether you are meditating alone or with others.
You might want to create an audio recording of these guided meditations so you can listen to them. Be sure to go slowly, and pause for a few seconds between each sentence, and longer between paragraphs. Give yourself plenty of time to concentrate on each step. I have broken the meditation down into three steps. Each one builds upon the previous one, so take your time to become proficient with each step before you move on to the next one.
Step 1: Relaxing the Body
Close your eyes. Take a couple of nice, deep, cleansing breaths. Inhale all the way into your abdomen, and gently release. Adjust your posture, so that you are comfortable. Begin to relax your brain and your mind. Let thoughts drift away like clouds on a sunny day, becoming peaceful and serene; let go of all expectations. Let all external sounds in your environment take you to a deeper level of calm and relaxation.
Begin to relax your feet. Release all tension in your toes, ankles, shins, and calves. Relax your knees and thighs, buttocks, and abdomen. Relax your lower back and your tummy. Relax your lower back and your chest. Relax your upper back. Let go of all tightness in your shoulders and in the back of your neck. Let the relaxation expand down into your arms and hands. Relax your wrists and fingers. Relax your throat, mouth, and tongue. Relax your ears. Soften your face and the tiny muscles around your eyes. Unfurl your forehead and your scalp. Each breath becomes more peaceful, relaxed, and calm.
Step 2: Centering
Now bring your awareness to your spiritual center inside your body. You might locate this center in your heart center in the middle of your chest. Or perhaps you feel this spiritual center in your belly or in your head. Take your time to experiment and learn where you feel most balanced, most centered. Feel your energy gather in this special place and notice how you are beginning to feel more vibrant and alert.
Step 3: Focusing on the Breath
Now gently focus your attention on your breath. Feel your chest expand as you inhale. Notice how the air gently leaves your lungs and how your chest falls as you exhale. Breathing in again, feel the expansion of your chest and exhale, unwinding your mind.
With each inhalation let your heart center, that loving, caring place in the center of your chest, expand and become softer and more loving. As you exhale, breathe out love. Notice how your love radiates through the universe. Take another breath.
Notice the air flowing through your nostrils, down your windpipe, and into your lungs, gently expanding your lungs, chest, and abdomen, filling your heart with a wonderful energy. Gently exhale, letting go of all emotions and energies that no longer serve you, going into deeper and deeper relaxation as your chest rises and falls: rising as you breathe in, falling as you breathe out, like waves rolling in and out. Thoughts come and thoughts go; just let them go, and continue to focus on your breath.
Meditation to Facilitate Spirit Communication
Once you have become familiar and comfortable with the basic meditation, you will be ready to add two additional steps that are fundamental to your ability to connect with spirits. Step 4 and step 5 will help you achieve a perfect balance and harmony between yourself, Mother Earth, and Infinite Intelligence. Over time, this balance helps you become a clear conduit for spirit communication. Please note that you are not yet seeking to connect with spirits.
Step 4: Blend Earth and Divine Energy
Once you are relaxed and your mind is calm, take a few moments to greet Mother Earth and thank her for all her blessings. Next, imagine you have little roots attached to the bottoms of your feet. Imagine these roots extend all the way into Mother Earth. With the next breath, draw up the earth energy through the bottoms of your feet, just as a tree drinks up the moisture of the soil through its roots. Let the earth energy flow up your legs, through your thighs, and into your body.
Next, reach up through the top of your head to the divine presence. Let the divine energies descend upon you, enveloping you in a bubble of love and light. Let the divine energies flow into your body through the top of your head, blending with the earth energies.
Step 5: Attunement with the Divine
Become aware of the eternal spark within you, that divine spark that animates you and gives you life. Let the divine spark ignite your chest into the magnificent flame of the God presence within you. Gently notice how your chest rises and falls with each breath.
Now let the divine flame within you merge with the Divine Presence all around you. Bring yourself into attunement, into alignment with the Divine Presence. Just as an instrument is tuned to the sound of a tuning fork, attune yourself to the presence of the Divine. You instinctively know how to do this: It is as natural as breathing, because you are part of God. Nothing is more natural than to come into harmony with the Divine.
Spend as much time as you like enjoying your communion with the Great Mystery. Do not rush this process. Let divine love enfold you, and fill you, and surround you, touching your heart and your soul.
Never skip your attunement with the Divine, whether you are meditating by yourself or in a group. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this step; spiritual phenomena and spirit communication flow from this process.
This process is also beneficial for all aspects of your life. If you seek your attunement with the Great Spirit on a daily basis, you will come to realize that your life begins to run more smoothly, that you will begin to choose your battles more wisely, that you have much greater compassion for other people as well as for yourself.
Additional Tools
People often complain about how hard it is to stay focused during meditation. Their minds are like small children, drawing attention to all sorts of distractions no matter how much they want to relax. If this describes your experience, you may occasionally wish to add the following exercises to your meditation. Used regularly, these exercises will help you hold your focus for longer stretches of time.
Exercise: Counting Backward
Once your body is relaxed, continue to breathe slowly and evenly. Begin to count backward from one hundred. Really see or imagine the number in your mind in nice, big, bold print. See 100 … 99 (see or imagine 99 in a nice big font) … 98 (envisioning 98) … This sounds easy, but here is the caveat: when you notice that you’ve lost focus and have started to think about something else, go back to 100 and start again.
Exercise: Chanting Om
Inhale deeply, and as you exhale, chant “Om.” You really want to draw out the “Om” sound for as long as you can maintain the exhalation. Really feel it resonate throughout your being. It’s a powerful way to clear the mental chatter and connect you with the sacred realms.
Exercise: Incorporate a Mantra to Stay Focused
Silently repeat an affirmation, or a verse from a psalm, prayer, or favorite poem that addresses your favorite distraction. For example, if you find that you are distracted by worries about money during meditation, you might want to repeat: “I am open to abundance.” If you find yourself rehashing the argument you had with your spouse or colleague, you might want to counteract the distracting thoughts with, “Love is patient, love is kind,” and let the thought go. If you find yourself regretting choices that you’ve made in the past as you are trying to meditate, repeat: “I took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference.” Keep your mantra short and meaningful.
Questions & Answers
I just can’t meditate.
Try giving yourself a three- to five-minute period before meditation where you sit quietly in your meditation chair. Keep your eyes open and let them rest on an item that is deeply meaningful to you, perhaps a crystal, a candle, a feather, or a beautiful plant or bouquet of flowers. Begin to take a few deep breaths and let your mind and body settle down before you begin the meditation process.
I keep getting distracted.
Author Jack Kornfield4 recommends a technique called naming the distraction. Instead of getting upset that you keep getting distracted, identify the distraction and give it a name: For example, if you are distracted by feeling restless, quietly say to yourself: “Restless. Restless. Restless.” Or if you are angry about something, quietly acknowledge: “Angry. Angry. Angry.” Naming the distraction creates a space of acceptance. I find that once I name the distraction, it quickly disappears.
I fell asleep! Is there something that could help me stay awake?
Make sure you sit upright during meditation, and be sure you don’t have a lot of food in your stomach. A fairly empty stomach makes it easier to stay awake. You might also schedule your meditations for a time of day when you are fairly alert. I find that after exercise and a shower, my body is usually ready to sit still, but there is still enough activity in my system to keep me awake. Finally, try to get enough sleep so your body won’t try to usurp your meditation time.
I just can’t seem to stop my mind from thinking.
Everyone who meditates encounters distracting thoughts. Don’t let this upset you. When you realize you’ve been distracted, just go back to focusing on your breath. With time, you will experience fewer distractions.
I keep going in and out of meditation. I can’t stay with it for long.
Going in and out is quite normal. With time, patience, and practice, you will be able to retain deeper levels of awareness for longer periods of time. Meditation is very much like swimming: you come up to take a breath, and then you put your face back in the water. When you get pulled out of meditation, just take the next breath and return to it.
I meditate, but nothing happens!
This is very typical for all of us. Most of the time, our meditations are quiet and uneventful, with a purpose of increasing our connections with the Great Mystery. Although spirit communication might occur during a meditation, this is not the primary purpose of meditation, and should not be expected or sought. Just trust that meditation has a cumulative effect that builds over time. Be patient and keep meditating.
I tell my spirit people to show up in my meditations, but they don’t.
Let go of your expectations and the need to control what happens in meditation. Meditating with expectations is very much like watching that proverbial pot come to a boil: it is a miserable experience. Let go of your need to have a specific goal for your meditations. By having a goal, you set yourself up for a challenge. Spirit communication develops at its own pace. As mediums we really cannot force our development. The best we can do is to get out of our way and trust that everything is as it should be.
I have been meditating for weeks, but
I’m not sure that I get anything out of it.
Then change your approach to meditation. Instead of looking to “get something” out of meditation, approach it with an attitude of giving yourself over to something larger than yourself. Think about what it is that you can bring to meditation. What can you give to your time with the Great Spirit?
Perhaps what you can give to meditation is your discipline. Perhaps it is your patience and your trust. Perhaps you can bring a loving heart. Perhaps what you bring is your prayer for the well-being of all life. Perhaps your gift to meditation is a desire to be a light in the world, intending and trusting that by sitting in silence you contribute to peace and harmony on the planet. My students usually find that once they focus on giving instead of taking, their struggle with meditation disappears.
Why do I need to meditate when I already
experience spontaneous spirit contact?
Regular meditation creates a permanent change in your vibration as it draws you closer to the Divine Presence. Meditation makes us more sensitive to the presence of high-level spirit beings and enables us to practice high-quality mediumship. If you want to progress beyond your current level of mediumship, a meditation practice is essential.
4. Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through The Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life, Bantam Books, 1993.