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Although everyone can benefit from meditation not everyone achieves a deep meditation. A deep meditative state is characterized by an altered state of consciousness.
The question now is how to achieve deep meditation so you can experience altered states.
Sure, you can just sit down and meditate but as long as you are not a Master meditator chances are your mind will be all over the place.
Hence, good preparation before your meditation can be a game-changer.
When I started my meditation practice, I just sat down and well, “meditated.” But it was lacking all the qualities that I’ve read about so much. No quietness, calmness, or clarity. I was trying all kinds of different techniques with varying success.
However, what made the greatest difference was having a good “warm-up” before my meditation.
How to Experience a Deep Meditation
To have a deep meditation make sure you prepare. This involves moving your body. Work out, do some stretching or yoga.
This will calm down your animal part and help you to relax your body and your mind.
Move on to some deep breathing to further relax and then set a strong intention for your meditation.
The following is a step-by-step guide to reach deeper states of meditation.
Before You Meditate
Calm Your Body and Breath
Our mind, body, and breath are interconnected. Hence, if you calm your body and your breath your mind will naturally calm down as well. To achieve a deep meditation move your body and do some deep breathing before you begin your meditation.
Short version:
Do a few light stretches (whatever feels right to you) and then sit down. Take 3-5 full breaths. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathe as slowly and deeply as possible.
With each inhale center yourself. And with each exhale consciously relax all your muscles and let go of all tension. Pay particular attention to areas that tense up a lot during the day: Jaw, forehead, neck, tongue, throat.
Long version:
Take 5-10 minutes and do some yoga asanas (9 Yoga Asanas) so your body feels lighter and more relaxed.
Alternatively, do a 5-minute high-intensity workout before your meditation. This can work wonders!
Then do the following breathing exercise for 5 minutes:
• Inhalte through your nose for 4 seconds.
• Exhale through your nose for 8 seconds.
In between the inhale and exhale you may also hold the breath for a second and focus on the space between each breath.
In the beginning, this exercise might be difficult. However, the important part is that your exhale should be twice as long as your inhale. You can adjust this to your breathing capacity (3-6, 5-10, 6-12).
Your breath should be soft and comfortable. Do not force yourself.
Get in a Good Mood
We all know that our mind is more restless whenever we’re in a bad mood or worrying about something.
When you generate feelings of contentment and safety before you start your meditation you are giving your mind the message that it doesn’t need to worry because all is well.
So before starting your meditation get yourself in a joyous, content mindset.
Here are a few things you can do:
• Be grateful for something.
• Affirm that you are safe and that all is well.
• If you pray, you can do a short prayer to connect with a deeper source.
• Remember the joy meditation can bring.
• Remind yourself that you are doing something to heal and grow and be happy about it.
Set Your Intention
This is probably the most underrated step regarding deep meditation. If you have been meditating for a while you might have fallen into the trap of going through your meditation mechanically.
This happened to me. My meditation practice almost ran on autopilot. But this is exactly what you don’t want. You want to be as present and aware as possible.
Setting an intention before my meditation helped tremendously. This is so simple but can have a profound effect. Before you sit down to meditate deeply set a strong intention to do so.
You might say to yourself: “I’m going to have a deep meditation for x minutes now.” Really feel that you mean it.
The right intention can transform all our being, doing, and having.
For example, giving someone a compliment because you want to be nice is a totally different experience than giving the same compliment because you want something from them.
And this is true for meditation as well. Have your intention right and your meditation tree will bear the fruits of depth.
During Your Meditation
Establish Open Awareness
Open awareness (OA) is a powerful technique to anchor you more deeply in the present moment and hence achieve a deeper meditation.
What you essentially do is open your aperture of awareness to include your inside as well as your outside.
You can start by focusing on the senses.
For instance, feel your belly extend when you breathe. Then feel your whole torso moving with each breath. And finally, feel the whole body.
Slowly start to envelop your body in a cocoon of awareness. With each breath extend your awareness further and further. Keep expanding your awareness with each breath. Yet don’t try to force yourself, this should be effortless.
Try OA and see how it affects your meditation. Here is a guided OA session to get a taste of what it’s like.
When you are in OA there is not much space for thoughts to intervene.
But if they do it’s easier to let them go because your awareness is no longer narrow and confined. Hence, inner sensations such as thoughts and emotions can pass through much more easily.
Enjoy The Deep Meditation
For many, meditation seems to be a serious task. You sit down, don’t move, don’t smile. Only breathing is allowed. But meditation is not supposed to be a grim duty.
Allow yourself to feel the positive emotions that come with deep meditation.
Whenever you find yourself in a deep state of concentration, enjoy it. Intensify the meditation experience by reveling in that state of quietness and stableness.
If your mind learns to appreciate the joy of concentration, your mind will seek more of it and hence increase your focus.
According to the Buddha, joy (piti) and happiness (sukha) are two of the five factors of meditative absorption (jhanna).
The more you learn to enjoy your meditation, the less reason will your mind have to engage in thinking and get distracted.
Sit Longer
Sometimes it takes a while to get into a deep meditation. It’s like a calibration.
Try to extend your periods of meditation occasionally. You’ll find that sometimes length of meditation is accompanied by depth.
Start by extending your meditation period for 2-5 minutes and see if this has any effect.
After Your Meditation
Enjoy The Afterglow
When the bell rings don’t just hurriedly get up and go on about with your day. Gently open your eyes and sit for a few more minutes. Enjoy the calmness and peacefulness.
The afterglow of your meditation can be the greatest reward. So make sure you enjoy your reward.
The enjoyment of the aftereffect of your meditation can strengthen your future intention to meditate deeply. And this can in turn increase the positive feelings afterward. A win-win!
Gentle Transition
This step is an add-on to the previous step.
When you’re ready to get up slowly move your fingers and your neck. Extend and stretch your legs and get up as mindfully as possible.
A gentle transition helps you to bring the meditative feeling more into your life.
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Integrating these 8 steps will deepen your meditation practice, make it much more enjoyable, and lead to greater transformation.
Finally, make sure to experiment with different meditation techniques. Finding your ideal meditation technique can be the key factor to deepen your practice and give you exactly what you’re seeking.
“So long as you keep your mind on the surface of life, so long you will never know what it is to enjoy that blissful state of the soul.” – Yogananda
Luka
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