Anyone can practice meditation. But amidst the abundance of diverse information, it's difficult to find a simple and effective meditation technique that will help you unlock your inner potential. Are there real and accessible meditation techniques? Do you need any special abilities to master them? Where do you start and how can you develop the skills of this magnificent practice? Let's figure it out together, friends.

To do this, let's first look at 7 true meditation techniques recommended by modern philosophical schools and proven to be most productive for both beginners and regular meditators. We'll move from simple techniques to more in-depth ones. Then, for those interested, we'll give general recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of meditation.

So, let's begin.

We recommend using musical accompaniment when performing the practices.

The "Eternal OM" Mantra

1. Beginner Level. The first meditation technique is called "Dialogue with the
Force."

You find a place where you can be alone without outside interference. Having such a place is essential in the early stages of meditation. Otherwise, any externa influence will interfere with your deep introspection and contemplation of th silence within. You need to find a comfortable chair or stool with a back, not too hard, but not so comfortable that you feel sleepy during meditation. Find
the perfect balance. Sit in a chair with a straight posture. Place your hands
on your knees or thighs.

Then, place your feet next to each other or cross them, right foot over left. Your
straight posture will allow you to breathe freely, demonstrating your serious
commitment to meditation and a manifestation of your character, which will not
allow external or internal stimuli to interfere with the process of relaxing
your body and eliminating nervousness. Close your eyes and begin to breathe.
Don't breathe from your chest, as you usually do in everyday life, but from
your diaphragm, increasing and decreasing the distance between your

lower ribs. This type of breathing is called diaphragmatic and is physically correct.

It will allow both your body and mind to relax better and immerse you in a deep
contemplative process. To begin contemplation, don't follow the thoughts
swirling around in your head, but try to focus on your breathing.

Let your breath guide you. It will deepen, and with each subsequent inhalation, the exhalation will become longer. Don't manipulate your breathing; it should
deepen unobtrusively and without strain. As soon as you notice that your
exhalations are two or three times longer than your inhalations, this means the
meditation has begun, and you are already meditating. This meditation technique forms the basis for all subsequent techniques. Deeper meditations should be approached after first completing "Dialogue with the Force."

This level of meditation is deeper than the initial one. During the
"Wings of an Arhat" meditation, your sensory perception will begin to
unfold, coupled with your contemplative ability. An Arhat is the name of a
saint in Buddhism who has achieved enlightenment. First, perform the basic
meditation, "Dialogue with Power." Once your breathing has become
deep and leisurely, feel that our planet Earth is a living organism. Like you,
the Earth has its own Spiritual Heart, located at its very center.

Try to sense the Heart of the Earth with your Spiritual Heart, which is located at
chest level. Here, it is very important to sense, through your Spiritual Heart,
the subtle connection between you and the Earth, your Spiritual Center, and the
Spiritual Heart of the Earth. Once you've achieved this, feel a pleasant warmth
rising through your spine, from your tailbone to the crown of your head,
saturating your body and accumulating in your Spiritual Heart. Now, feel how
with each inhalation, this warmth in your Heart grows, and with each
exhalation, it penetrates the area between your shoulder blades and spreads
your Arhat wings, which are located behind your back and extend from your
Spiritual Heart.

Continue breathing. Feel how the wings grow larger, and their radiance and beauty fill the entire space where you are now. Feel how, with your Arhat wings spread, your connection with the Spiritual Heart of the Earth has intensified manifold. Remain in this state throughout the meditation, filling your Arhat Wings with the warmth and radiance from the Spiritual Heart of the Earth.

3. Sensual Level. Third Meditation Technique. Meditation on Spiritual
Truths.

In this meditation, you must choose a spiritual and philosophical truth that you sincerely believe with all your heart. Examples of spiritual truths include: the unity of all life, the law of karma, spiritual evolution as the purpose of human life, the power of thought, and the true, real Self, which exists beyond the temporary shell that serves as the carrier of your True Consciousness.

To perform the meditation on Spiritual Truths, first perform the basic
meditation "Dialogue with Power." Then, focus your mental,
intellectual, and contemplative powers on the chosen spiritual and
philosophical truth. If you contemplate the beauty and power of your chosen
truth with a calm mind and without the interference of obsessive thoughts, you
have the opportunity to uncover your spiritual intuition.

But this requires effort and perceiving spiritual truth in its deepest
and most universal aspect. This meditation reveals within you the abstract or
higher mind, which is capable of interacting with spiritual reality and
recognizing intuition. Step by step, through meditation on Spiritual Truths,
true wisdom will develop within you.

Other examples of Spiritual Truths we recommend meditating on can be
found in books such as: "Thoughts and Aphorisms" by Sri Aurobindo,
"At the Feet of the Master" by Krishnamurti Jiddu, and "Light on
the Path" and "The Voice of the Silence" by Helena Blavatsky.

Philosophy teaches that through thoughts and feelings, a person interacts with the subtle matter that forms their emotional and mental bodies. Meditation on Virtue is designed to purify these bodies and allow them to develop in alignment with higher and more sublime emotions and inspirations. The fundamental rule of this meditation is that you must perform it with complete humility and sincerity, out of love and devotion to the Law of Truth, and not out of greed for it.

Perform the basic meditation "Dialogue with Power." Once you feel a deep breath, choose a virtue that you believe a spiritual person should possess. Or, choose a quality that offsets a negative aspect of your character. For example, if you often lie, choose honesty and a love of truth. If you are afraid, choose fearlessness.

Once you have chosen a virtue, begin meditating on it. First, try to grasp its essence. Then, try to sense this virtue within yourself and recognize the internal obstacle that prevents it from being realized in your life. And finally, try to meditate on how this virtue might manifest itself in your life as a whole or in a specific situation.

An alternative way to perform this meditation is to engage your visualization ability in the contemplation process. Visualize yourself as the embodiment of the virtue you've chosen. For example, say you're impatient. Imagine yourself as the embodiment of patience itself. Then, visualize people around you who irritate you or whom you dislike, and maximize their ability to provoke you as much as you can increase your patience. This way, you'll see that they will unsettle you in every way they can, and your patience will be stronger than their combined efforts.

One of the central ideas of mystical philosophy is the idea of ​​the One Life and the One Essence that animates everything in the Universe. Since consciousness knows no boundaries, humans are able to easily perceive the manifestation of the One Life in every living being.

Initially, the perception of Oneness can be achieved intellectually or through the imagination. Gradually, the sensation of the Oneness of Life will be increasingly perceived intuitively.

Performing the technique of perceiving the Oneness of Life begins with expanding your consciousness through the imagination and encompassing the
entire space around you with your mind, opening up your perception more and
more as you meditate. As you expand and encompass your surrounding space, you should strive to feel Oneness with everything contained within this space, with everything filled with Divine Life.

You can begin by imagining yourself looking down on your home from above,
trying to feel Oneness with all the people who live there, regardless of
whether you feel sympathy for them or not. You should also strive to feel
Oneness in Life with all the creatures near your home who breathe the breath of
Divine Life: animals, birds, insects, and plants. It is crucial that you not
concentrate on external forms, but rather feel the Life itself filling everything
around you.

Next, once you have succeeded in feeling Oneness in Life with everything
within the area of ​​your home, ascend further above the city. Do the
same, but now in the urban area, trying to feel Oneness with all the people
inhabiting the city. And again, try to focus on the Divine Life manifesting
Itself through the diversity of forms, but not on the forms themselves. Then
ascend higher to the level of your country, and then the entire world. But
remember, don't rush through each step of the meditation as quickly as
possible. It's much more important to experience Oneness with all living beings
at each stage of the meditation.

During meditation, you should imagine before you the embodiment of
Perfection in the form of a Holy Person or Divine Creation. Typically, such
Beings would be a Spiritual Teacher, such as a Buddha figure, or the Higher
Self. You can also meditate on a deity, a sage, or any holy person for whom you
feel deep devotion.

Be mindful. For the meditation to be as effective as possible, you should not project your limitations such as jealousy, attachment, anger, or egoism onto the Divine Creation as you perceive it during meditation. Perceive the pure, inner, radiant Essence of the Divine Essence in your consciousness, upon whose image you are meditating, without the interference of your personality and its tendencies. Meditate gently, with awe and reverence.

Concentrate on the feeling of love and devotion, or try to sense oneness with
the Pure Image perceived in meditation. You can do this in two ways: either
concentrate on feeling the subtlety and purity of the Divine Creation before
you, or meditate with your eyes open, looking at a photograph, painting,
statue, or symbol representing the Object of your meditation.

Also, try to perceive the Purity of the Image before you not only with your mind, but also with your Spiritual Heart at chest level. Remember that the Spiritual Heart is the organ of Spiritual Perception and the
center of your Spiritual Consciousness.

The final method of meditation is based on the perception and awareness
of your subtle bodies. According to the teachings of mystical philosophy, in
addition to the physical body, a person possesses emotional, mental, and causal
bodies. The physical, emotional, and mental bodies comprise a person's personal lower or mortal ego.

Whereas beyond the personality lies the causal body, which is the receptacle of the spiritual soul or Higher Ego. Beyond the causa body lies the human Spirit or Monad, the divine Spark that resides within each person and is One with the entire Universe.

The first step of meditation on the Subtle Bodies and the Beyond involves the unfolding of Spiritual Self-Awareness within a person, which is beyond the limits of physical, emotional, and mental perception. There are two approaches to performing this meditation: positive and negative.

A positive approach involves creating the highest possible vibration in each body to gradually soar your consciousness from a lower level of perception to a higher one. For example, first try to generate a sense of health and harmony in your consciousness on the physical level, within your physical body. Next, move on to emotional perception, feeling peace and love. Then, to the mental level, perceiving in your consciousness any spiritual concept or truth that appeals to you, such as the existence of the Spiritual and Living Heart of the planet.

Move further and perceive yourself as the Spiritual Higher Ego in your causal body. Feel that your true Essence is beyond the physical, emotional, and mental bodies. Finally, try to sense that you are an inseparable Spark of Divine Fire and concentrate on the feeling of deep unity with It.

The essence of the negative approach to performing meditation on the Subtle Bodies and the Beyond is based on denial. During your meditative practice, realize that you are not a lower, mortal ego. Recognize that, being limited, your physical body cannot be your True Self. Experience the same in your emotional and mental bodies, transcending emotions and thoughts. Ultimately, abide in the highest possible state of perception, without imagining any specific images, but waiting for the higher Consciousness of your Spiritual Self to dawn on you. Try to maintain the sense of perception of the Higher Self and a sense of identification with it in your daily life, even when you are not meditating.

These 7 techniques of true meditation will help everyone not only maintain the health of their physical body and psyche, but also come closer to understanding their true inner essence. Please note that none of the techniques described serve to desire or ask for anything related to the material world, as such an approach to meditation is fundamentally incorrect and even harmful.

Below are some recommendations that will make it easier to tune in and concentrate during meditation, and will clarify consciousness and perception.

This is the first and most important recommendation. Since the development of your spiritual abilities uses the same personal power reserves you use in your everyday life, you should avoid unnecessary expenditure of your available energy. In practice, this means minimizing stress in your life by reducing or avoiding any negative environmental influences on your physical, emotional, or mental body. To achieve this, your everyday life must be brought into order through three principles.

1. Physical order, based on:

   • Proper nutrition and the elimination of any food poisons, including alcohol, nicotine, or any other narcotic substances;

   • Developing an interest in and love for physical fitness and an active lifestyle.

2. Thought order, based on:

   • Developing your intellect through academic education and continuous self-education;

   • Tracking the source of any idea and critically examining it when it captures your attention. Any destructive idea, including the thought of isolating yourself from others, must be rejected as dangerous and harmful.

3. Environmental order, based on:

   • Understanding and critically assessing your surroundings. Be among those who inspire you, avoid those who do not see and understand your true motives;

   • Awareness of whether you are doing what you should be doing now and at this moment, whether you are doing it where you should be now and at this moment, and whether you are indulging in vice now and at this moment. If the answer is yes to at least one of these three questions, then you are doing something wrong and do not understand something.

Let's move on.

Posture. As mentioned above, posture embodies your aspirations and your inner
state. A straight back characterizes your unwavering will to achieve your
goals, and philosophically, it embodies the subtle connection between your
animal nature and your spiritual nature. Since the normal human consciousness
tends to fall asleep during spiritual practices, meditation should not be
performed in a horizontal position.

Breathing. Science has proven that diaphragmatic breathing stimulates your
parasympathetic nervous system, and in particular, the vagus nerve. This has a
positive effect on brain activity, relaxation, and calm, and also increases
resistance to stress. During meditation, diaphragmatic breathing serves as a
conduit to deep states of consciousness, being natural and correct, keeping
your body in the right tone and your mind calm and peaceful.

Time and Regularity. It is best to choose a fixed time for
meditation. Sunrise, noon, or sunset are preferable, but this is not required.
Meditation time should be convenient for you and fit into your daily routine.
Avoid meditating after a heavy lunch or before bed. The former will restrict
blood flow to the brain, while the latter will hinder deep meditation due to
fatigue accumulated during the day.

Chanting the "OM" mantra. Scientific research shows that chanting the "OM" mantra helps restore and renew neural connections in the brain, as well as in the higher nervous system, particularly the aforementioned vagus nerve. This helps a person concentrate and think more quickly, while the body and mind achieve a relaxed state, which has a healing effect on the entire body. The described effects of chanting the "OM" mantra will simplify any meditation and enhance attention and contemplation during spiritual practices.

Incense and music. The scent of incense has a positive effect on the human endocrine system, thanks to its relaxing and anti-stress properties. The scents of lavender, myrrh, geranium, and jasmine have a beneficial effect on the body. Calm and relaxing music or listening to chanted mantras will allow your breathing to become deep and even, reducing concentration and fixation on
obsessive and unnecessary thoughts during meditation.

Meditation is an accessible and essential technique for anyone. The first true goal of meditation is to bring your lower ego, or the animal part of your nature, into conscious contact with your Spiritual Self, thereby forcing the lower ego to
become increasingly aware of its divine origin, destiny, and nature. The second
true goal of meditation is the realization that the Spiritual Self is an
eternal part of the Spiritual Nature of the Universe.

Meditation is a clear and well-described technique and can be practiced by both beginners and those who understand its deeper meaning and beneficial influence on human life. This healing and calming technique will enable your physical, emotional, and mental bodies to more easily overcome the aggressive and negative influences of the environment.

Over time, a meditative state should become a part of your daily life, even when
you're not meditating. This is how you can come to the realization that
physical and spiritual life are one and the same. And this is how you can
understand your true nature and purpose.