How to Meditate Effectively [10 Ways to Deepen Your Meditation]

1. Meditation Posture: If you are serious about meditation, it is good to start off learning to sit without back support like this meercat if it is physically possible for you.

This is important for 2 reasons. One is, it helps the subtle energy flow through your body. This energy flow is very important in order to meditate effectively.

The second reason is if you start to fall asleep while sitting without back support, your body will fall forwards and you will automatically wake up to catch yourself. This insures you don't snooze during meditation.

If you sit with back support, there is a greater chance you will just fall asleep like this lovely Koala.

You do not need to sit cross legged on the floor unless you prefer that position. I sit in a normal chair with my feet flat on the floor and a small cushion underneath my coccyx so my hips are slightly raised above my knees.

This keeps my back straight yet fully relaxed without any strain.

2. To meditate effectively, keep the top front part of your tongue resting on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Don't press it with force, your tongue will naturally rest there. This connects 2 important energy channels that run through the front and back of your body so the subtle energy (Shakti) can move freely.

This flow of energy is very important in meditation and as you progress, you will begin to feel it not only in your body but around your body. It feels very peaceful, blissful and nourishing. This is Shakti, the energy of meditation.

You may also find keeping your hands folded
in your lap also creates an energy flow
through your hands and arms.

But you do not need to do the mudras
with your hands we often see in photos
of models pretending to meditate.
Better to keep your hands and arms relaxed!

3. Always keep a small space between your upper and lower teeth when you meditate. Do not clench your top and bottom teeth together. This creates stress in your body.

4. If you find you feel agitation or discomfort when you meditate, get some exercise before you meditate. This will insure your meditation is effective.

I always go for a run and do a few yoga asanas
before I sit for my morning meditation like this puppy.

The energy will be flowing freely after you exercise
and this makes meditation happen much easier.
Meditation often just automatically happens
after you exercise.

And also do not eat or drink anything besides water
1.5 hours prior to meditation. Your body will feel heavy
and be busy digesting and therefore cannot fully relax.

5. To meditate effectively, keep your body relaxed. We tend to tense our shoulders, hands and stomach the most so make sure these are relaxed.   You can even relax every part of your body by focusing on each part and letting go of any tension if you like.

6. Breathe through your nose when meditating. This will help your breathing relax and also increase the flow of energy that is in your breath (prana).    It is also good for most to start meditation with a breathing exercise. It can be as simple as taking a deep breath into your chest and then exhaling through your nose in full relaxation and repeat 9 times. Then breathe normally and let meditation happen.

7. Keep your eyes closed when meditating. If your eyes are open, your attention moves outward and in meditation, you want your attention to move
inward. As you deepen in meditation, you may find you can keep
your eyes open and still remain completely inward.

Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian Saint always had his eyes
open because for him, there was no more inward or outward.
But he also started by looking inward.

8. To meditate effectively, understand that meditation is not
something you do, it is something that happens. This is one
of the main misunderstandings when people meditate.   They try and
forcefully “do” meditation and then become frustrated that they are
more stressed than when they began.

So it is very important to allow your experience to be as it is. Do not try and make a certain experience happen.

When you allow your experience to be as it is, which means allow thinking, allow emotions, allow sensations all to be as they are in this moment, then all conflict with this moment dissolves and there is peace. It is that easy.

When you allow thinking, you are not involved with thinking. Just the allowing creates awareness of thinking.

For most it is good to practice a meditation technique to give your mind something to focus on. But the technique itself is not meditation. It simply creates an environment for which meditation can happen.

Meditation is already here in this moment. Consciousness/awareness is already here. It is just a matter of relaxing into it.

9. Understand that you cannot know meditation through thinking. Meditation happens beyond thinking.

That does not mean you have to stop thinking. Thinking can be there. But you have to relax the need to perceive this moment solely through thinking. You begin to feel meditation, or sense meditation. That is why it is best to start with a simple meditation technique so your mind has something to focus on and through that focus, meditation will happen.

10. Want to know the secret on how to meditate effectively? The secret is to receive Shakti. Shakti is the energy that is meditation. It is felt as peace or bliss or love and is deeply nourishing. It is the feeling of goodness itself and it is this energy that meditates you.

The main reason to seek out a Guru or meditation master in the east is not their teaching, but for the bliss that they radiate. The bliss they have realized in meditation is contagious. Just by sitting with them, you feel their presence as peace or bliss and automatically experience states of meditation you may not have after meditating for decades on your own.

But you do not have to seek out a Guru to get Shakti. You can receive this same
bliss energy sitting in your own home through sound. Just by listening to this
unique “Shakti Music” you begin to feel peace or bliss and by feeling it,
meditation automatically happens. Instead of spending years trying to get
to peace on your own, most people have deep experiences of peace and
bliss as soon as they start listening.

Have a listen to the music on this youtube video below. Relax in this moment,
and notice how you feel when listening. You will begin to feel peace of bliss in
or around your body. It is very pleasant, very nourishing and nurturing. This is
the Shakti in the music awakening you into meditation. This track is
"I am The Sun" from The Pure Shakti Meditation CDs.

How to Meditate Effectively:
10 Ways to Make Your Meditation More Blissful

To meditate effectively, there are 10 very simple things you need to do. They are very small things, but in doing them, your meditations will take off like a rocket. Here is the list:

How to Meditate Effectively:10 Ways to Make Your Meditation More Blissful

To meditate effectively, there are 10 very simple things you need to do. They are very small things, but in doing them, your meditations will take off like a rocket. Here is the list:

How to Meditate Effectively:
10 Ways to Make Your Meditation More Blissful