Hello Yogis.

As some of you know, I am running free online meditation classes on a Saturday morning at 10.15am for 15 minutes, via zoom. The aim of the sessions is to give people the gift of meditation.

Meditation is always a popular topic, and you can get apps to help you by guiding you through. You can get teachers like me who aim to show you how to do it, but in reality, to truly meditate; you have to do it alone. All I and the apps can do is sign post you to some things that may come up and give you techniques on how to begin. The rest is over to you.

So what do you need to do to meditate and why bother?

According to yoga philosophy, you must first move through concentration, in order to obtain a single focus, resting your awareness on one point, before you can even expect to be able to move into meditation; which is the state where you will find a connection to the deep inner stillness that is consciousness itself. This isn’t easy because your awareness is always moving towards thought, sensation and distraction. All of these things keep you rooted in the experience of the mind, where you’re moving between the future and the past, which your body and nervous system then reacts to.

Why meditate?

When you are able to find this single pointed awareness, there is the chance that you will be fully present (single pointed) without thought, momentarily. It is here that you connect to the deep stillness or your consciousness. In that moment, you move away from everything you identify with that keeps you in fear for your life…you find realisation that there is consciousness beyond the things we usually identify with, the body, the stuff we own, the money we are trying to earn; these things are all perceived as threat to your very existence, even if they appear to be wants, and not needs.

How does this benefit you?

By moving into this altered understanding, you begin to recognise how it feels and eventually, when practiced enough, you can also find it when you are in your every day functioning state. It resides as a feeling, or knowing that oversees everything you are doing, and feeling, experiencing and creating. You can begin to then use this place to give you insight and understanding, discernment and knowledge that help you to live your life with a greater sense of peace and tolerance. Your inner feeling, focus, and understanding, literally direct the quality of your life, so you can solve problems more easily, create more easily and therefore, your life literally becomes more conscious and the reality you feel will reflect that.

The health of your mind and body improves.

Because you have mastered some control over the reactions in your nervous system, your body is calmer and you feel a greater sense of connection to something other than the chaos of this world. The reassurance this new understanding gives, allows the body to rest in a deeper way and as a result the immunity you have is improved.

Have I convinced you to give this a try?

If so let me help you further…

Find a comfortable seated position, this can be in a chair, or on the floor with legs out front and supported by cushions or of course the classic crossed legged pose. You don’t really want to lie down because it spoils the stillness as you will be more likely to fall asleep.

Once you feel settled, allow any urge to move to pass through you, taking a few gentle breaths until it subsides. You will eventually train your body to sit completely still. This is important because the stillness of the body is reflected in the stillness of the mind.

I prefer to meditate using just the natural sounds around me, rather than a guided meditation because to me, that is just more distraction and my aim is always to ‘disappear’ into the quiet and stillness of my consciousness, rather than to be doing what is asked of me through guided words.

Allow your awareness to move around as it wishes. Towards a sound or sensation that arises, or maybe a passing thought, that you allow to flow through. As your awareness moves around, you can choose to let it settle on each of the reflections it is showing you, but don’t dwell for long, once the particular reflection is seen, let it float away and a new one will arise. Just like bubbles popping in the air, your awareness is rising and falling, coming and going.

You may have an inner dialogue, just keep returning to what your awareness is resting on, something that is present with you, such as sound or sensation. If a thought draws your attention, bring it gently back to the sounds or sensations around you.

Keep doing this process over and over again and you will eventually find your awareness rests for a moment where there is nothing to perceive except consciousness itself.

To me, consciousness feels like the deepest stillness, yet at the same time, it is expansive, present, knowing and alive.

You may rest in this place for only a moment or it may be longer, but it will feel timeless. You will have no idea how long you were there for.

If you can allow 30 minutes to sit still in this way, you will get more benefit than if you split it into shorter time slots, twice a day. Even if you can only give 30 minutes once or twice a week, the longer you can be still for, the more chance you will have of disappearing into this wonderful realm.

I am always happy to answer questions and to guide you!

Sending you love and strength.

Carrie-Anne. x