Meditation
What is the importance of meditation?
Meditation has many forms and many definitions. We will define from our perspective what it is we believe you mean by the term. For some, meditation is simply spending quiet time with oneself, or indeed, even being involved in an activity such as painting or some other creative form. Meditation is about focus; as you quiet your mind and let go of all that which is unfocused, you are in a meditative state. So many of you have heard that in order to meditate you need to be in a state of ‘no thought’. We do not share this view. You can, if you wish, choose just one thought, perhaps the thought of beauty, love, peace, or a visualisation of a condition that you would like to bring about in your life. This is meditation. We offer this because, as you focus on one thing, you still your mind sufficiently to allow your Inner Self, your Greater Self, your Soul, to come forth. If then, you choose your focus to be your Soul, then focus upon that desire, and that deeper connection will manifest within you.
As we have said many times, you are a finger of God protruding into your physical reality, you are an extension of that which is non-physical into the physical. Meditation, or focus, allows you to tap into those broader, greater, more expanded parts of yourself and you can do this simply by setting the intention to do so. Prior to entering into the physical, your non-physical self had an intention to live as a joyful being, in alignment with the Four Principles of Creation.
Through meditation and your intention to become aware of your non-physical self, you open an upward channel through which your Soul’s energy, inspiration, and encouragement can flow. Your Soul has an intention towards love, health and well-being, abundance, and creation itself. As you align your energies with the energies of your Soul through meditation, you will come increasingly under the influence of your Soul, and thereby be assisted to create more harmony in your life. There is much celebration in the non-physical realm of your Soul when a person like you reaches upwards for inner guidance and for conscious connection. As you do this, your Soul responds with love, for it is delighted at the opportunity to work directly with you, for this fulfils its greater purpose of creating a soul-led life in the physical world. We speak at this time as if your Soul and you are separate entities, but that is not so. You are a multidimensional being, and the ‘you’ that you know, the one reading these words, is but a small part of your entire being. You may even hear your Soul’s guidance as words, or you may feel a rush of inspiration, or feel peace about a certain aspect of your life or love where you were previously troubled.
It is important to have an intention when you meditate. Set the intention to merge with that which is greater and broader, with your Soul. As you set this intention, you summon forth your Soul, that eternal part of you that contains within it the lifetime experience of all of your lifetimes, both physical and non-physical, and much more than all this. As you tap into the broader consciousness of your Soul, you tap into the universal mind and the source of all life. Daily connection to the source of all life will greatly assist you to create a life that is more joyful and fulfilling.
Exercise:
Set aside 20 minutes and ensure that you will not be disturbed in any way. Unplug telephones and inform anyone with whom you be living that this is now your quiet time to be with yourself.
You may want to put on some soft melodic music, light a candle, create an atmosphere that is relaxing, nurturing and calming for you. Loosen your clothes, or change into those that are more comfortable.
Find a comfortable place to sit, and get into a position that you can hold for at least 15 minutes.
As you sit there, ready for your meditation, take three deep breaths, and on the exhale release all that you do not need to be with you, all thoughts that are not necessary. As you clear your energy in this way, then feel within you your intention to align with and merge with your soul. As you feel your intention to do this, state it. You can either say this out loud, or within your mind, but do state it: “I now intend to merge with my Greater Self, with my Soul.” Once you have set this intention, let it go.
Close your eyes and focus on your breathing, allowing it to become restful but fairly full. Allow yourself to relax, letting your lower jaw open slightly. Now we would like you to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. If breathing in through the nose is difficult for you, then it is all right to breathe in through the mouth. Simply continue this breathing, and focus only on the breath. Bring your attention to your breastbone in the centre of your chest, and focus on it as you feel it rise and fall with the breath. Become breath. Breath is all that you are, you are breath. Continue to focus on the breath. If any thoughts trundle across your mind, then consciously re-focus on your breathing. Eventually, you will slip away into your inner realm.
Continue this meditation for at least 15–20 minutes. At some stage you may sense movement. This movement could be a sense of rotation within you, or your arms may feel as if they are lifting, or you may have an ‘involuntary’ movement of the neck. When you sense this, you know that you are deeply connected with your Soul and the movement is your Soul adjusting your energies so that you may accommodate more of it.
Do this mediation each day. Perhaps in the morning, or just as you return from work. Meditate when you feel energised, not when you feel tired, as then there will be a tendency to fall asleep. The goal here is the conscious merging with your Soul Self.
I have tried to meditate, but all I ever do is either I fall asleep or my mind starts to wander, thinking of all sorts of things that need to be done.
The mind is like any other part of your body that you intend to use for a specific purpose. It takes practice to train your mind to focus. You see, if you have never run a marathon, you would not expect your body to be able to complete the race without building up to it, would you? And so it is with meditation. As you go about your day, you are a human doing, instead of a human being. You have become accustomed to processing multiple levels of information. You drive cars, you watch the road, you listen to the radio, you speak on the cell phone, and you try to do it all at once, so your mind has little practice at simply focusing on one thing only, and you have little practice at simply being.
When you fall asleep during meditation, it is simply because you are reaching those levels of consciousness that you are not accustomed to interpreting in the awakened state. As you fall asleep, you withdraw your focus from the material into the inner world. Some have called this the dreamscape. Through meditation, you begin to pierce this veil and venture into the dreamscape, into the inner world. However, your conscious mind does yet not know how to interpret this information for you, so you experience blackout. If the blackout lasts for any longer than a few seconds, or a minute or so, you generally fall off to sleep.
You simply need to train your mind to focus, for that is all that is needed in order to meditate, even if it means focusing on the void or on silence. You can train yourself to focus on an object, such as a candle or a flower. You can perhaps time yourself. First try for 3 minutes, then 5 minutes, then 7 minutes, working your way upward to 15 minutes. Each time you are able to quiet your mind chatter and simply focus on one thing, you allow the influence of your Inner Self, your Soul to come forth.
Another way to practice focus is to focus on something you want to create. Creative visualisation is an excellent way to pave the way for deeper meditation. You can simply select something that you would like to have more of in your life, sit, and focus on that thought for a minimum of 15 minutes. As you do this, observe how the thought has a natural evolution to it. Notice how the original thought changes and the vision becomes bigger and new ideas become added to the subject of your focus. This is conscious daydreaming, something we recommend that each of you do daily. Set aside time for yourself each day, at least 15–20 minutes. Sit in a comfortable chair and choose the topic of your conscious dream. Perhaps it is a dream about drawing a new love into your life, or of adding more health and vitality, financial abundance, a new home or job. Once you have chosen your subject, begin to visualise the best-case scenario. As you do this, allow your feelings of excitement to well up within you and see how the dream changes. This kind of visualising is not only good for training the mind to focus on one subject and one subject only, it is a powerful way to launch new creations in your life.
If your mind wanders, simply refocus back on your dream. If the wandering persists, write down the things that have come up in your dream, so that you can rest knowing that you can return to them.
Meditation is much easier than most of you suppose. Not only is it much easier, it is a powerful and fruitful way to forge links with your Inner Self. As you forge stronger links to your inner world, your outer world will begin to change. You will be in closer contact with your dreams, with your desires, and you will have a sense of purpose. Meditation will accelerate your spiritual growth and will create a space for many new things to come to you.
Some are tempted to use meditation as a way to withdraw from the physical world. Although there is great value in doing that momentarily, the purpose of meditation is for you to strengthen the connection to your Soul, so that your Soul may be fully present on the Earth plane. We would suggest that 20 minutes once or twice a day is sufficient. There are many aids available to you, guided meditations, meditation music, and courses of all kinds. Choose your time and the method that suits you. Simply remember the spirit of what you are doing, which is to form a stronger connection to your inner world, to the greater part of who you are.