The Ultimate Meditation Course

Welcome to Week 2 of your meditation course VIDEO

How to prepare for meditation

What: Preparing for meditation can help you to unwind, clear out your mind and open up your body for a deeper meditation experience.

Time: 15 minutes

The sleep-time meditation

What: Going to sleep in the proper state at night: this is a secret to advancing that is so little known and is so little spoken about. There is so much that can happen for you while you sleep, and it hinges strongly upon the state that you fall asleep in.

Time: 15 minutes

Meditation #4

An awareness scan meditation with Rose. This is a great meditation to help you gain more awareness about your self, and become present.

15 min

Meditation #5

29 min

How to prepare for meditation

Preparing for meditation can help you to unwind, clear out your mind and open up your body for a deeper meditation experience.
There are different things you can do to prepare for your meditations. This can start you off more focused and deeper, which will result in more powerful meditations. This is especially recommended if you do not have much time to commit towards going within. Preparing yourself with one of the following steps helps you to increase the efficiency of your meditation work.

Focus on your upcoming meditation throughout the day

What you focus on is what you pull to you and thus create.
So before you start meditation, spend some time bringing your focus to thinking about:

1. What do you want from meditating today?
2. Is there something that is bothering you that needs addressing?
3. Is there an issue in your life that needs attention, clarity, resolve?
4. Is there a prayer in your heart for your meditation?

Focusing in like this prepares your mind and heart to start meditation in a powerful way. You are not pondering aimlessly, you have an intention, a purpose and you move through your day with awareness on your inner compass.

Create a space for meditation

Your meditation practice can be greatly supported by creating a place that provides you with inspiration, calm and peace from the moment you enter it. You can dedicate a room to this purpose or a nice corner somewhere in your home. If you do not have a lot of space then even a chair and a little table can be situated in a way that feels like a nice place to sit and meditate. Here are some points for you to consider:

• Simple decorations and a neat space invites a feeling of calm and peace.
• Bring something to this space that gives you inspiration to go within. It can be a beautiful picture, perhaps of nature, a picture of a saint or spiritual master, inspirational words, a deity or statue, anything that reminds you of the love and truth you cherish and are seeking through your practice of meditation.
• Tend to the practical things you need while you meditate. For example, I always meditate having available a box of tissues, a bottle of water, a hand towel, my journal and a timer that I can set to let me know when I want to complete my meditation.
• You can optionally play meditative music if you like and create soft, dimmed lighting or perhaps light a candle which really works nicely to also create a devotional feeling.

People who have created a space specifically for meditation hold to their commitment to meditate

80% more than people who do not have a dedicated space.

Prepare your body

It is nice to be clean and free of any odours before you start meditation. Strong odours actually can be a distraction for yourself or others if you meditate in a group.

Before Meditation you could:

• Brush your teeth, shave yourself, take a shower.
• Put on fresh and loose fitting clothes. Some people have specific meditation outfits.
• Pull your hair back.
• Refrain from applying deodorant or perfume as these can come across harshly to others in the meditation space, or use odourless body products.

It is nice to have a clean feeling about you. Cleaning yourself in preparation for meditation can be like a cleansing; you cleanse yourself of all the 'muck' of the day, thus setting the tone for starting your meditation and inner purification. It also has a devotional aspect to it, and devotion is an important aspect of spirituality.

Body posture in meditation - Sitting upright versus laying down

Meditation is about becoming more awake, more clear, more aware and more focused within.
Laying down can encourage sleepiness, so I recommend for you to begin your meditations sitting upright. Sit in a way that is comfortable enough for your body to not distract you. For some people in the beginning times of learning meditation, they may need to practice for some time before their body gets used to sitting upright. For others it will seem easy and natural. If you have back or body problems, take care of your body the way that you know is best for you.

Another frequently asked question is:

“Do I need to sit in the lotus position when in meditation?” My answer is this:
When we sit upright with our legs crossed and our fingers in the “Mudrah position” it can encourage “kundalini energy” to flow more freely through the body, which in turn can help us in reaching deeper states of consciousness over time. However, in my experience many people attain this flow of energy while meditating in many different positions too. It is better to sit upright and comfortable to be able to go deep, rather than to try to sit in a lotus position and be distracted by trying to be a certain believed “correct” way.
Simply sit normally, and trust what feels right for you at different times during your meditations. As your meditation progresses and especially during longer periods of meditation, you may need to move or change your body position or posture. This could include and array of movement ranging from subtle to extravagant. At times it might feel accurate to lay down for periods. When you sense or feel a need to do so, then change your body posture.

Have no rigid concepts about how meditation should be practiced, or what the body should be doing. Be open minded and find your own way with your body and posture during meditation.

Empty your mind

Before starting meditation, it is helpful to have your mind reasonably emptied out, enough so that you are able to reach deeper places within.
I would not imply that Meditation is a way of making your mind completely quiet. It is more a way of entering into the quiet that is already there — buried under the 50,000 or more thoughts the average person has every day.

Trying to stop your mind from thinking is like trying to stop a river from flowing with your bare hands...it's exhausting and practically impossible. When you learn how to meditate, you learn to step out of the river, and let your thoughts flow effortlessly past. When you learn to do this, you will find that your river of thoughts slows down by itself. Not so much effort is required.

Another way to prepare yourself for meditation is to have your mind be relatively ‘empty', so that you can more easily focus within. You can do this by writing down all the present thoughts you have, things you are trying to remember or unresolved things from the day. Write down key points, not the whole thought. This way you can let the thoughts go before entering meditation, and at a later time you can get back to whatever matters you want to think about further.

Meditation is an act of letting go, not an act of shutting down.

Letting go of expectations

Wherever you are at right now, you can open your mind and your heart. Become more receptive to whatever comes in your meditations. This will vary so much, it may come gently as a sweet gentle love or there may be an intense fear. You might experience a great struggle through darkness before a breakthrough into more light, or there may just be a continual growing of awareness and understanding.

I am discussing this to highlight not getting caught in thinking that your meditations should be a certain way. By being more open and receptive., you can surrender to what it is you need to experience, and then it will come. Do not go into your meditations with expectations. Expectations will prevent what needs to come in your meditation. Start every meditation by letting go of any expectations - just be open.

Focus on your reason to meditate

At the beginning of your meditation take some moments to reflect on your intent. What is the very reason why you are sitting down and going within? Focus on it and let yourself connect to the feeling of it. You can let this feeling of desire carry you all the way into your meditation. As desire is such an important key in all meditations I will talk more about it in the next chapter.

Desire is everything.

A sleep-time meditation

Falling asleep with a prayerfulness in mind and in heart, supports falling asleep more consciously. This is a most powerful spiritual practice that takes no extra time out of your day.
Many people have trouble falling asleep these days even though they are tired. Then when they are asleep they seem to not be able to fall into a deep restful place. So people wake up tired, not feeling they have rested and aren’t full of energy, ready for the day.
Also people feel increasingly stressed out about not being able to go to sleep, and then this stress keeps them awake.
To prepare yourself for sleep in a conscious way through meditation and then carrying this meditative state into your sleep is best natural solution for these sleep problems.

For busy people, this sleep-time meditation is of great importance. If you like to meditate as much as you can but your busy schedule does not always allow for it, the minimum you can do, every night, is do the sleep-time meditation as it does not take up any precious time of your awake hours.
If you are interested and committed to growing and evolving to increase your consciousness, then sleep-time meditation is a must. So much movement can be going on while you are sleeping.

Going to sleep in prayer
The secret lies in how you fall asleep as it determines how much you move and the quality of the movement.
Falling asleep with a prayerful mind and heart, thus falling asleep consciously is the key.
If you fall asleep at night with a desire in your heart for the truth, a desire in your heart for God, if you fall asleep in that state with a prayer for more desire, then while you sleep, so much more will come to you than if you don’t. If you fall asleep in an unconscious state just thinking whatever your mind produces, then maybe you will move a fraction of what you could move if you fall asleep in a prayerful state.

Going to sleep in the proper state at night: this is a secret to advancing that is so little known and is so little spoken about. There is so much that can happen for you while you sleep,  and it hinges strongly upon the state that you fall asleep in. Although it is not the only factor, it is a very powerful one. This principle of going to sleep in the proper state is so important.
Even the busiest person can practice this and make so much spiritual advancement in their daily lives.

Society could raise its consciousness with no loss of time! This world could change so much for the better if this one principle is properly taught and practiced. What a magnificent difference it would make to the world

So anybody that wants to begin practicing, and in any way wants to make some effort towards getting freer spiritually, they can begin with this simple principle of going to sleep in a prayerful state. It’s simple, but it is so profound.
Desire is everything. It is the force that will move you from one place to another. Materially, this principle is true, and spiritually it is more true. It is essential. So go to sleep with a strong desire in your heart. If you can do nothing else in your busy life, then you can do this.
Everyone can do this: a strong desire, a strong desire for God, a strong desire for the truth, a strong desire for the love that you so desperately want, a desire to feel the freedom from the bonds of illusion.
Go to sleep with strong desires like this, and while you sleep, you will move so rapidly. Most likely, if you fall asleep with that desire, you will wake up with it, and that will carry throughout the day more. Without special effort, it will be there more throughout your day, if you go to sleep at night with that desire. But it takes an effort. You have to try. You have to want to achieve this goal.
And anybody can take these two principles, and apply them in this way: desire, and your state when you fall asleep. Put them together, and have strong desire when you fall asleep, and move so much more spiritually.