Prerequisites of Meditation
Here are some important pointers about mediation which will help you immensely in deriving greater benefits from your meditation practice.
These points work for almost all kinds of meditation.
What You Should Know Before Starting To Meditate
Meditate in a quiet place where there are few external disturbances
You can meditate outdoors or indoors, whatever suits you. Just see where you feel more comfortable and less distracted.
If you decide to do it outdoors try to be closer to the water. Meditating near a lake, river or ocean is ideal. The presence of a body of water near your place of meditation enhances its energetic powers.
Free your mind of any expectations regarding meditation. The act of meditation itself should be your only focus. The results will come by themselves. Focus on the journey, not on the destination.
Take a bath before meditating. It is not a must but it is preferable. Taking a bath before meditating boosts your energy levels as well as cleanse your auric field.
Remember that meditation is not “done” per se, it is allowed to happen.
You allow meditation to happen when you “empty your pre-filled cup of tea”. See, if your cup is already full then no more tea can be poured into it.
You got to empty the cup first, which means that you have to get rid of your pre-conceptions, misconceptions and expectations about meditation. Empty your cup (clear your mind) so that new knowledge can enter inside.
Another analogy to make this concept clear to you is that remember if the blackboard of your mind is already full of written words then you cannot write anymore on it.
Even if you do write something on this messed up mental blackboard of yours, it won’t be intelligible. The only way to make room for new writing on the blackboard is to clean it first.
Meditate only when you really do want to meditate. Otherwise it will just be a useless exercise as you won’t be able to focus your attention on the object of your meditation.
Be Still. Be silent during you meditation. If you start feeling restless do not keep thinking about restlessness but gently direct your mental attention back to your meditation and the restlessness will go away all by itself.
Meditation Quotes
Here are some wonderful quotes about meditation which will deepen your understanding of what meditation basically is.
You have to find out what meditation is. It is a most extraordinary thing to know what meditation is – not how to meditate, not the system, not the practice, but the content of meditation.
To be in the meditative mood and to go into that meditation requires a very generous mind, a mind that has no border, a mind that is not caught in the process of time.
A mind that has not committed itself to anything, to any activity, to any thought, to any dogma, to any family, to a name – it is only such a mind that can be generous; and it is only such a mind that can begin to understand the depth, the beauty and the extraordinary loveliness of meditation.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti on Meditation
Meditation is a movement in and of the unknown … it is that energy that though-matter cannot touch. Thought is perversion for it is the product of yesterday …
Everything put together by thought is within the area of noise, and thought can in no way make itself still … thought itself must be still for silence to be.
Silence is always now as thought is not. Thought, always being old, cannot possibly enter into that silence which is always new. The new becomes the old when thought touches it …
Love can only be when thought is still. This stillness can in no way be manufactured by thought … this stillness can never be touched by thought. Thought is always old, but love is not … the flowering of goodness is not in the soil of thought’
- Jiddu Krishnamurti on Meditation
SHARING IS CARING
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Abubakar, I fell out of my meditation mode. Totally and utterly fell out. I don't do it at all. I feel so much apprehension. You have to help me get back into it. This is a great post but my mind is still fighting it…..
Farnoosh,
If it is okay with you, can we discuss this topic right here in the comments, so that others can benefit too from our conversation?
I'm saying so because I have been asked this multiples times.
Of course we can…..So I was meditating and LOVING it by listening to Meditation Oasis from iTunes podcasts. Mary was wonderful. But then when I start traveling or now cycling and working a lot and getting too excited about life, I tend to fall out of it! I almost feel like it is counterproductive to sit down and meditate NOW and that I should save it for later when I am calmer about life. I also happen to be VERY happy with things esp. because of all the exercise and healthy eating so I think (wrongly
) that I don't need the meditation. I tried to come up with a fixed hour of the day to meditate for a mere 10 minutes but my days are NEVER the same. Too early in the AM would make me fall right back asleep and oh the list of my issues goes on. How's this for a start, Abubakar? 
! You think there is hope for me 
!
Why do you want to meditate?
Because I enjoyed it, I experienced a different part of myself and explored a different part of my consciousness it seemed. And I think it was good for me.
What stops you from meditating, specifically? 1-2-3
Hmmmm. Probably excuses. Being too busy. Sitting still and fear of finding out more about myself that I may not want to know….You are asking an awful lot without dispensing anything! I feel like I am in a therapy session!
It is not a therapy session. I just like to listen before saying anything.
Two conflicting thoughts are running parallel to each other.
A part of you wants to meditate and another part thinks that you should leave it for another time (calmer time).
As far as meditation goes, my observation is that nothing comes out of it unless you real WANT to do it. You can't force meditation. You'll come back to it when you yourself will feel that you need to be more grounded.
Don't worry about it. You are not alone. It happens to all of us. I, for myself, do it only when I REALLY feel like doing it. And when I don't feel like meditating I simply don't.
Whenever I tried to meditate just for the sake of "meditating" I always ended up rather frustrated.
The second observation is that different people like different kinds of meditations. There are so many of them. You just mentioned the audio tapes one, which is more like self-hypnosis, where a voice and music leads your mind into a relaxed state.
Why not try some other techniques? Maybe you like them more and start feeling like doing that more often.