A Clear Meditative Path

I continue to get many requests for a clear-cut, practical approach meditative system that has the ability to guide you through the process without confusion or wasting precious time on ineffective or unnecessary meditative techniques and rituals.

There are countless paths one can embark on regarding meditation; just as there are endless meditations to be practiced. A great many of these are highly beneficial, but it’s also easy to get lost in the sheer volume of meditative techniques being offered. Some masters tell us to simply sit until something happens. Others instruct us through an intricate and seemingly endless maze of techniques and rituals. Others still offer fluffy feel-good meditations that offer what seems to be instant relief, but within just a couple days, we find ourselves right back at square one as they do not result in any real lasting growth or change (expansion).

I would like to offer you a basic path that is direct and effective. I’m not claiming this to be the only way or even the very best way for you, but I am offering it as a path with clear direction and effective practices for real and lasting benefits. It’s worked for me and for students I’ve taken through this exact process. I have personally studied thousands (literally) of meditation methods over the past 35 years from numerous spiritual systems from around the world. What I’m sharing here are the 7 stages of real meditation that will take you through the process in a practical, effective way so you don’t become distracted or lost. I would recommend using this as you core system as it contains the true “goals” of meditation. As always, feel free to add other meditations to it that may fit with your personal desires of growth. This is a very basic overview of what I teach, but it’ll give you a very clear perspective of the process.

For more information on this meditative path, please tune into my weekly podcast show, THE FULLY ENGAGED LIFE where I cover topics and simple technique for making true progress in your soul expansion. I’m also creating this complete method of meditation, all 7 steps, in the form of an online training audio & video course that you’ll be able to explore right here on this website. I’ll even personally help you through each phase!

1. Learn How to Meditate

Most people don’t even know what it actually means to meditate. This requires you to learn how to breathe properly. Abdominal breathing is generally the best. Learn how to properly relax your mind and your body. You’ll need to train your eyelids too, if you intend to progress form the eyes being closed to the eyes being half open. Develop the ability to feel your body and know that it’s relaxing. Have the courage to spend time alone with yourself and turn off the tech while resisting the temptation of distraction. Find a safe, quiet space where you’ll not be interrupted. Have loose colored clothing and a comfortable cushion and/or mat to sit on. Find a posture that feels good to you. The Lotus posture and other forms of seated posture are not necessary, its not about the body, its about the mind and consciousness.

2. Discipline the Mind

This is a way to train the mind in order to avoid falling asleep during mediation or continuously drifting off into random egoic thought patterns. Focus on a candle flame, spiritual statue, mandala, painting or other single point of focus. The idea here is to bring your mind from a point of thousands of random thoughts down to just one thought and hold that single focus for as long as possible. I really enjoy using the candle flame for this exercise as the movement of the flame helps to entertain the mind in the beginning without losing focus. Later, the use of a statue can be used, The stillness of the statue may be more challenging. Hold the mindset of each experience being new and exciting. As you practice this avoid allowing the mind to base the new experience upon those of the past. This will discipline your mind so you have the capacity to meditate and will begin developing a higher sense of mindfulness.

Once you gain the ability to hold a single point of mental focus and basic meditative state, I recommend slowly rising and walking around while maintaining this state of calmness. See how long you can go before your mind snaps back into its normal overly-busy state. While moving, focus on feeling your body. Feel your feet make contact with the ground, feel your legs moving, feel yourself breathing. Feel. Don’t think about feeling – just feel. This helps to drop your awareness from your head into your body.

3. The Breath Bridge

This is the method used to cross from the outer world to your inner world and then back again. You need an effective and efficient “way in” and “way out” when performing meditation. I cannot stress the importance of such a technique enough. This is the very best I’ve ever learned and you’ll find it will serve you well for a long time. Eventually, you’ll find that instead of taking you 10 or 15 minutes to cross the “bridge” that you can do it almost instantly. Once mastered it takes only as long as it takes to lower your eyelids.

4. The Observer

Separate yourself from your thoughts. Separate yourself from your ego. Separate yourself from your mind. Discover your conscious awareness. This is the purpose of the “Observer” meditation. See your thoughts as they travel through the landscape of your mind, observe them without judgment, criticism or forcing them in any way. Just allow them to rise and fall naturally as you witness their birth, demise, and reincarnation. You will learn a great deal about the human mind in this phase. Notice from “where” you seem to be observing them. Feel where your conscious awareness seems to be and then feel your conscious awareness all around you.

The advanced stage of this phase is to overcome the ego. Once you have successfully separated yourself from the ego, you can begin to overcome it. This is a massively important phase. First separate yourself from the ego; by doing so, you expose it for what it is. Then you work on recognizing it both in meditation and out. You’ll learn to stop it as soon as it rears its ugly head. This leads to the ability to tune into your higher self, your essence.

5. Silencing the Mind

This is when you quiet the mind by having less and less rampant thoughts racing around uncontrollably in your head. Here you’re able to put an end to all the incessant chatter, which is mostly negative, going on in your head day in and day out. Then you’ll focus on the space between the thoughts. These “gaps” of thought are where the silence resides, just as it does in between the notes in a song. Find this gap space and try to hold your focus there for as long as you can. This slows the thoughts and eventually brings then to a point of stillness. Silencing the mind is a state of “no-thought” and this develops the ability to turn the random mental thoughts of the ego off leaving you with silence until you consciously choose to engage the act of thinking. This is perceived as difficult because most people fear this stage the most. They’re deathly afraid of the silence because then they’ll surely be left alone with themselves – which is the point. This offers a glimpse of being in the moment. As you overcome the ego, the heart will naturally begin to flower.

6. Attaining No-Mind

This is a higher level of silence, the highest level. This is a state of being, where you’re able to not just turn the mind off, but transcend it altogether. In this state there is no thought, no intention, no self, no mind. There is only being. Your thoughts cease. There is no intention focused upon a goal or outcome, therefore, there’s no attachment to any thing. The self is let go and this too ceases to exist. The “self” refers to the egoic identity of “I” which fades away at this stage. You detach yourself from the mind and by doing so, you experience your true essence. This is to truly be in the present moment, in the here and now. This is a state of emptiness, of being zero. There are various stages to this phase just as awakening itself is most often a gradual process, as this is a form of awakening.

7. Hold the Meditative State in the Marketplace

The final stage of meditation is the ability to hold the awakened meditative state out in the world. The ability to hold this state as you normal state of being, not something you merely do while seated in meditation. This is now who you are. You’re able to hold this state of consciousness while driving, working, training, and any other daily activity. This is the sense of having arrived to the other shore.

Make sure to email me directly at expansionmastery@hotmail.com to order your copy of the NEW 2-CD program, THE BREATH BRIDGE. Get it for $22.99 plus shipping, before its even available on the website. I will be releasing this Meditative Path as an online training course right here in the near future! Stay tuned in!

THE FULLY ENGAGED LIFE podcast show is FREE and available on iTunes, Stitcher Smart Radio, and Libsyn. A new episode is released every Monday.