Welcome to part 3 and the final part of our meditation series; Yoga meditation
The next stage in our process of learning to meditate is to select a single thought or object of your own choice and to hold the thought or image of it in your Mind for as long as possible. This process is part of yoga meditation.
This might for example be a memory of a place you enjoy visiting, a memorable holiday or any other happy memory. It might be easier at first to visualize a familiar object such as a favourite picture or an item of household furniture, or the image of a loved one. It does not need to be something you are actively involved with or interested in, any object will do as the object of your visualization such as a fruit, candle, cup or other such familiar
item.
Having decided on the object of your thought, assume your chosen meditation posture by sitting in your chair or on the floor with back totally straight, and, after any relaxation and breathing exercises, bring the thought or image firmly into your Mind as realistically and with as much presence as possible. Ideally your thought or image should fill your entire Mind. If any other thoughts attempt to intrude then with all the will power you can
summon reject that extraneous thought immediately and bring your Mind firmly back to your intended thought or image.
It is very important indeed to immediately reject any intruding thought the very moment it tries to join your chosen thought or image. You will find this exercise will become progressively easier over time, with your thought or image becoming stronger, and with less and less intruding thoughts which will become easier to reject.
When you can hold your thought or image vividly and solidly in your Mind for ten minutes without wavering, or any intruding thoughts, the final stage is to be able to dismiss that thought or image at will right at the end of your meditation session, leaving you with a full vacancy of Mind where the image once existed. Hold you Mind empty of your chosen thought or image for a few moments before gently raising your Consciousness back to the physical level.
After this has been fully accomplished, for future sessions you can proceed to an important Yoga meditation stage; full vacancy of Mind.
This step involves assuming your meditation posture and rather than holding a thought or image in your Mind, hold your Mind totally devoid of all thoughts not allowing any thought to intrude. In the beginning you might find the occasional thought attempts to intrude into your silence; if it does simply use all of you willpower to reject it immediately. When you can achieve this stage you are now ready to meditate effectively.
As an interim stage in your meditation learning process, you can commence your meditations with a single chosen thought or image, and then after a couple of minutes or so remove the thought or image and proceed with a complete vacancy of Mind. After a time you will find it will be possible to omit the thought or image of the scene or object altogether and proceed immediately with a complete vacancy of Mind from the outset of the meditation session.
Having achieved this level of concentration and emptiness of Mind you can now proceed to meditate effectively. A meditation session should ideally be at least twenty minutes, but less will suffice initially. This however is only the beginning as you will discover naturally as you progress; each meditation session will progressively deepen your inner awareness.
Remember you are focusing inwards towards The Source and not to some "higher" level relative to The Source. As previously mentioned, when we refer to the "higher" worlds and states of life and being, these are actually inner states relative to the physical world and physical body, with the highest vibration of The Source, The First Cause of God at the very center, and the lowest vibration of Energy at the outermost level, the physical, material level from where meditation commences. Your focus should therefore be inwards towards the Astral and Spiritual worlds, your Higher-Self, and ultimately with the highest and most Divine, God.
With time and dedicated daily practice Yoga meditation will come progressively deeper and with more profound levels of inner awareness, soon becoming a very blissful experience, bringing with it the potential for the profound benefits described earlier.
Ideally while meditating you should reach a stage where you completely lose contact with the feeling of your physical senses body and surroundings, being totally focused on the inner states of Consciousness. This is an ideal state to reach and should be your immediate objective.
Meditation should become a daily habit, and one that you should always look forward to. There is no fixed duration of time for meditation; some people meditate for up to thirty minutes each day, while others might meditate for several hours at a time or even for a full day, completely absorbed in their inner Consciousness.
During the process of deep meditation situations might occur that you should be aware of. These situations often involve imagery to varying degrees and intensity. One of these is often known as the "TV screen", or "cinema screen" effect. This is exactly the same effect as frequently occurs during the Astral Projection process.
This "screen" is actually a "window" into the Astral planes. Should this situation occur you have two choices; either to observe the screen and to simply learn from these visions and what they mean to you, or you can alternatively convert the meditation into a full Astral Projection by imagining yourself moving towards the screen as it becomes larger and larger, eventually passing straight through the image in the screen into the Astral worlds.
It is also quite possible, and quite often occurs with some people in particular that the meditation can become a full out of body experience. The first signs of this would usually be the ability to "see" through your closed eyelids. This means that your Etheric body has already moved out of phase with your physical body as happens during a normal sleep cycle. You are actually viewing your surroundings with your inner senses rather then through your actual physical eyes. Should this occur you can maintain an absolute concentration and remain in a state of meditation, or you can simply decide to leave your body in order to enjoy the out of body experience. If you do decide on the OBE, then proceed as for an OBE. If you decide to remain concentrating on your meditation, then your Etheric vision might either remain, it might fade, or very often, as your vibrations rise it will give way to the "viewing" of the Astral worlds, in which case you might proceed as described above.
As this is a meditation session it is preferable to choose the "viewing" option rather than converting to a full Astral Projection or an OBE, but the choice is always yours. It is always the best to follow your inner guidance, which can be much more powerful during meditation, being much more closely in touch with your Higher, or more accurately Inner-Self. Much can be learned by simply observing the Astral images displayed before you, and in particular any associated symbolism.
While meditating and focusing on your inner awareness your Mind is also tuned into the inner worlds of the Astral and Spiritual planes; this can be at any level depending on your level of vibration that will always correspond to the level of the Universe your Consciousness is focused within. This focus and awareness can frequently result in communications with beings such as Spirit guides, deceased relatives or even your Higher-Self. These
possibilities are one of the most valuable aspects of meditation. Should you make contact with these Beings you will clearly "hear" their voices in your head, often just as clearly as if they were speaking to you in the physical world.
You might also "see" the beings you are communicating with by means of clairvoyance. It is most useful to engage in two-way communication when these opportunities arise; much can be learned about the inner realities and in particular about yourself and your life situations, but always depending on the precise nature of the Being you are communicating with. Communication is performed mentally by telepathy, either in the form of words, images or both. You can ask questions simply by thinking or imagining your questions as clearly as possible, and the answers will arrive back
in a similar way. So as you will no doubt realise; Yoga meditation and similar techniques are valuable tools for all inner contact.
As you progressively absorb yourself into your meditation your brainwave frequencies will progressively slow down. This also happens quite naturally from time to time during the day according to the type of activity you are engaged in at the time, but more usually occurs before going to sleep at night where the brain passes through all of the decreasing frequencies until you go to sleep completely. The highest brainwave frequencies occur in the normal waking state; this is known as the "beta" state characterized by very fast frequencies of between 13Hz and 40Hz. If brainwaves slow down somewhat, as often happens while for example daydreaming during the day, and which will usually happen as meditation progresses, the "alpha" brainwave state is reached. This alpha state is characterised by brainwave frequencies in the order of between 7Hz and 13Hz.
During meditation or trance work, after sufficient practice and experience, brainwaves can slow down even further to the "theta" state, characterized by brainwaves of a frequency of 3.5Hz to 7Hz. Theta level is the most profoundly clear and focused state; many people experience profound inspiration, intuition, ideas and other thoughts while in the theta state, originating both from beings of the inner spheres and from the Higher-Self. Theta is also the state of vivid imagery where the powers of imagination and visualization are particularly profound.
For answers to questions, manifestation, healing, to be discussed within Our Ultimate Reality, this book, theta would be the ideal state to achieve.
There have been famous scientists in the past who would place themselves into such a deep state of concentration and depth of thought that they would reach the theta state. Indeed, many such famous scientists have intentionally invoked the theta state for maximum inspiration and creativity. This has resulted in many important inventions and theories, a notable example being the "special theory of relativity" which was postulated by Albert
Einstein while in a deep thinking theta state of Mind.
Meditation in general, and in particular deep, highly focused meditation with a high degree of concentration is an excellent way to achieve answers to almost anything at all. These answers will often originate from your Higher-Self, or more accurately your Inner-self, that part of you that is in the most direct contact with God, and these are all messages that are totally reliable. The Higher-Self is sublime, it knows everything that "Is", and is
mostly concerned with your evolution.
Any inspiration, intuition or message from the Higher-Self is unmistakable for what it is, and must always be acted upon without question, always. Failure to act on inspiration from the Higher-Self will either lead to no result, or sometimes, worse, suffering.
These are just a few of the numerous possibilities and benefits resulting from deep meditation. For many people, particularly of the Far Eastern cultures, the ultimate objective of true meditation is to achieve such a profound level of inner Consciousness as to become one with the very highest of the Spiritual planes, a state mystically known as "Samadhi". Those who achieve this state of extreme bliss, approaching the innermost levels of Energy and vibration know beyond any doubts that everything in the Universe is indeed one, and that everything and everyone is an integral part of
"everything that Is", The Source, God.
One of the most important aspects of the practice of Yoga meditation is to remain totally focused with maximum possible concentration, while maintaining your Mind free of all thoughts and external influences, and to accept and to learn from any inner situation arising. These include all of the possibilities previously discussed, but there are indeed many other possibilities. Maintain clarity of Mind and be prepared for any experience occurring during meditation from which valuable lessons can be learned and information or intuition gained. You will very soon find that your daily meditation is something you look forward to, and your meditation sessions will become progressively longer and more profound with practice. Dedication, commitment, and daily practice are keys to the practice of successful meditation.
I hope you have enjoyed your 3 part series on meditation. The important thing to keep in mind is that meditation is not, or at least should not be perceived as some sort of mystical and/or oriental process while in some obscure, contorted position, but rather a profoundly beneficial experience that everyone can and should practice.
Yoga Meditation can help you to achieve anything, but most of all it places us in communication with the true source of our Being, and therefore of who we really are; infinite, immortal, unlimited aspects of The Source, The First Cause, "God", with exactly the same Divine potential, powers and capabilities.
Just as "God" is the creator the Macrocosm, Everything that "Is", as Divine, individuated but integral aspects of The Divine we have unlimited potential to achieve anything; all we have to do is to realise that potential, and meditation is an excellent way of helping to achieve that.
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