Sitting for meditation and relaxation begin the same way, but it’s your intention that’s different.  For relaxation your objective is to get rid of stress so you can find the stillness in your mind and the natural joy that’s underneath all of your distracting thoughts.  Meditation is to immerse yourself in a pool of stillness so you can hear God, if He chooses to speak. 

*Note:  Please try to be tolerant of my references to God.  Some may call this force ki or chi, some Goddess, some Allah, some “Higher Power”, some as She or Her.  For simplicity’s sake in our largely Judeo-Christian society, I am refering to this force as God and He.  (I hold the belief that God is enlightened enough not to be offended by my potential gender and grammatical shortcomings.)

For both relaxation and meditation, find a quiet spot that has good feelings for you.  If you are not sitting with other people doing the same thing, it’s good to be alone for this.  Doing it in a group is nice though, there’s a group energy that gets going and that can bring you great peace.

Meditating outside is nice, as your mind settles, your spirit joins with nature (an expression of God).  Once you find stillness, it’s fairly easy to come back to it,  but finding it in the first place is the challenge. 

As you sit for this, if you have questions about yourself or the universe, set in your mind the question you want to ask. Remember that the answers you get depend on the questions you ask.

*Note:  Beneath the many questions you may have, is usually one question that addresses them all.  You’ll find each of your questions has a common theme, or a common thread.  Ask that question that contains the common thread…you want to ask the most profound question that you can so you can get the most profound answer that will infuse you and your life in a thousand tiny ways.

(I’m doing a lot of explaining here, it’s best to do this one on one.  I’ll make a list for you at the end and you’ll be able to understand the steps thoroughly.)

Make sure you have no time constraints , that you have plenty of time to sit, otherwise there can be that basic distraction.  Time goes very quickly when you meditate, so try to give yourself that freedom, you deserve it.

Personally, I like to ask for protection while I am in such a vulnerable state of mind.

A lot of my students ask about silence, “There’s so much noise in my house, I can’t think half the time.”  I tell them there is no such thing in life as silence, even in the deepest parts of the universe.  Rather than trying to fight the noise, let it move over you, like a river over a pebble.

So, you’re sitting somewhere that you are comfortable.  Now, close your eyes and breathe in through your nose, slowly counting to 5.  Gently hold your breath for a couple of seconds, then breathe out through your mouth for a  slow count of 5, allowing yourself to expel all of the air in your lungs.  Then  hold your breath for a couple of seconds again.  Do this repetition 15 - 30 times, however many times you need until you get into the meditative “zone”.  Deeply breathing oxygen will help you get there by itself.

*Note:  Don’t lock up your throat when you hold your breath, just gently contain your breath.  Also, by breathing this way, your lungs massage your heart and you get more oxygen which feeds and relaxes your brain, calming your thoughts.

As you breathe in, feel your chest and stomach expand like a barrel.  Feel the air coming in through your nose, down your throat, into your chest.  As you hold your breath, feel the fullness and energy of your body completely using the oxygen.  As you breathe out, feel your chest and stomach contract and relax, getting rid of all the used air, getting ready for a big, fresh new breath.  At the bottom of your breath, as you hold it, you’ll come to find perfect stillness there.

Now that you’ve begun to feel it in your body, it’s easier to bring your mind there too.

Continue to breathe slowly, as you hold at the bottom of your breath, begin rest your mind in that stillness.  Don’t hold it so long that you gasp for air and don’t rush your breathing so you can come back to the stillness  Like a bouncing ball settling to the ground, your mind will bounce away from the stillness less and less, it will gradually just want to settle on that stillness.  Your mind will begin to relax and expand into your breathing as you begin to breathe unstructured breaths again.  Breathe as your body asks you to breathe. 

(You may find your breaths are quite shallow here, only drawing in the air that you need.  Once in a while you’ll want to take a nice big breath, do that and enjoy it, it becomes part of the experience.) 

God knows what you need to know, He can hear it clearly in the stillness of your mind.  Here, begin your prayer.  You can ask Him your question, tell Him you’ll wait for His answer but you need Him to make His answer clear to you. You may find you really don’t have any questions at all and just enjoy being in His presence…you’ll find your dialogue with God comes naturally in this stillness, after all, it is He who is your core being.

When you are done, come back slowly and gently.  Thank God for His presence and guidance, and begin to focus on your breathing again.

Begin to smell the air around you (incense is nice here), hear the natural sounds around you (either noises of the house, or nature).

Slowly wiggle your fingers and toes then gently rotate your hands, feet and shoulders.  Slowly open your eyes and begin to get in touch with your body again.  When you get up it’s good to rotate your head and your hips, it stabilizes you and reconnects your body to a peaceful mind.)

It helps to make a commitment to meditate at the same time every day and do it no matter what , it must have first priority, otherwise your mind will start to come up with all kinds of excuses.  (The mind isn’t fond of being harnessed at first, but once it’s trained, it craves the freedom it has found in meditation.)  Also, that way it becomes a habit for your body, so it makes meditation easier. 

In the beginning a lot of weird things may happen, but don’t believe any of them.  Shocking images may pass before your eyes, you may hear sounds that frighten you, you may feel cramped and edgy, difficult emotions may arise…ignore these and trust that your asking God for His protection is in place.

It may be helpful to have someone you trust read the following list to you the first few times.  If you are alone, print it out using a large font and have it in front of you for easy reference.

Remember it’s really important here to be gentle with yourself.  Don’t reprimand yourself for needing to look at the list.  It will be committed to memory soon enough.

1.  Get comfortable, begin deep breathing and gently close your eyes.

      A. Breathe in through your nose, expand your lungs, slowly and count to 5.

      B. As you breathe in, feel your chest and stomach expand.  

      C. Feel the air coming in through your nose, down your throat, into your chest.

      D.  Hold it gently

      E. As you hold your breath, feel the fullness and energy of your body completely using the oxygen.

      F.  Breathe out, count to 5 and feel the air push out of your body.

      G.  As you breathe out, feel your chest and stomach contract and relax, getting rid of all the used air, getting ready for a big, fresh new breath.

      H.  Hold it, allow yourself to find the perfect stillness there.

2.  Soon you will feel your spirit contained in your body, noting the stillness at the bottom of your breath.

3.  Rest your mind in that stillness, let it expand naturally.

4.  Begin to breathe as your body asks you to breathe.

5.  When you are ready to come back, wiggle your fingers and toes gently, rotate your hands and feet, rotate your shoulders, open your eyes, rotate your head and your hips a few times.

6.  Let your visit with God stay with you and walk away in peace.

I look forward to your comments as you try on these concepts.

Until next time,

Tiger