How to Sustain Your Meditation

(Image: Ralf Kunze from Pixabay)

Sometime back, I had written a post titled How to Sit Down in Meditation. Well, I tried following my own advice – and discovered that I was able not only to sit down in peace but do so for a longer period than before.

I understand that a lot of people do take the plunge into meditation but find it difficult to sustain their poise. They either get distracted easily, become fidgety after only a few minutes, or exhibit downright impatient behavior. Yet others, who can sit down longer, feel bored and keep wondering if they are indeed progressing in their meditation practice.

Before I proceed further, a disclaimer is in order: I’m no expert on meditation and do not advocate any particular type of meditation. What I’m sharing here is based on my own simple practice – one that I have been experimenting with and self-checking on for the past six years or so. Sometimes I wish I had a guru who I could look up to and who was accessible to me for accelerating my own path – and since I don't, I content myself with taking guidance from the inner light each one of us has.

Maybe this post will nudge some fellow seekers and practitioners to offer their own tips and suggestions.

As for me, I have usually observed three phases to my meditation routine. The first one is indeed sitting down quietly and comfortably (to the extent possible and that you can accept in your heart). In this phase the focus is on kind of “settling down” amidst the turmoil around – and within – you. In my experience, this phase can be as little as a few seconds to as much as five or even ten minutes.

The second phase, or the middle phase, begins with longer, steadier breaths, accompanied with fewer and less distracting thoughts.

Here, let me take a little detour into the human mind that is like a non-stop factory of thoughts: before you’ve dealt with one, another thought emerges. Even in sleep, our mind keeps fabricating all sorts of thoughts in real and surreal scenarios. So it’s quite a feat to “empty your mind” of all thought.

As such, the “strategy” I personally adopt is not to vigorously fight the onslaught of thoughts. Doing so makes you unnecessarily agitated, making the quietude of meditation even more slippery. Instead, what I do is “engage gently” with the thoughts. Why did such and such thought occur? Why now? What does the thought “want” from me? Can I lay it to rest without dwelling too much on it? Such “thinking about thinking” often takes me to the root cause or a better understanding, allowing me to retire each thought to a gentler, rather than violent, end. Alongside, I also bring my attention back to the process of meditation – sitting comfortably, and breathing gently and deeply.

Sometimes, I just let the thoughts be and merely nod or smile internally in their direction: gradually, they become fewer in number and fade away of their own accord. Perhaps they realize that there’s no further nesting ground for them “in here”!

This middle phase is rather tricky and may take up a significant portion of your meditation time. My personal goal has been to keep it within 10-15 minutes – but sometimes a rogue thought or two get the better of “me” and keep me in their tangle much longer.

Let us now come to the third phase – perhaps the whole point of why we are meditating in the first place.

In the second phase, you have a fairly good awareness of and, possibly, concern about your environment. A noise here or there bothers you, the thought avalanche has subsided but the mind is still fizzing in its Ego-bubble, and your body demands to be adjusted every now and then to ease out any discomfort. However, the third phase of meditation is when you surrender yourself wholly to the beauty of your being. At some point of the second phase, you hear a voice in your head: “Now is the time – to stop time in its tracks, as it were.” Somewhere inside, you realize that your mind-body-soul is ready to go deeper in its meditative state.

So you say goodbye to the last approaching thought – of bodily or mental discomfort, of your social life, of your surroundings… – and turn completely to your inner, here-and-now reality. Sitting. Breathing. Unthinking. Even the image or mantra you were using to concentrate should ideally dissolve into what I can possibly call your “meditative consciousness.”

At this moment, your senses become keener and your awareness, clearer. A feeling of peace and deep love begins to spring forth from every atom of your being. From deep within you, a realization sweeps across your arteries and veins that this state is where you have always wanted to belong: it’s your innermost natural tendency, to be shorn of any pain or attachment or fear. You want to remain in this peaceful, meditative state for God-knows-how-long.

While I have tried to describe this third phase, words often fail. And I must admit it without any reservation that reaching and sustaining the third phase continues to be challenging. Body-mind aches or erstwhile-overcome distractions often make an unwelcome appearance just when you think you have nailed it.

The reality is, there is no nailing; there’s only scaling – the ever-subtler, ever-peaceful, ever-joyous heights of what’s come to be known as meditation.

Keep at it, my dear meditator, keep at it. I know I will :)

(Also read – Beyond Asana: Yoga, its Ancient Roots…)