“Prayer is when the mind is one-pointed and man talks to Infinity. Meditation is when the mind becomes totally clean and receptive, and Infinity talks to the man." Yogi Bhajan.

Kundalini Yoga provides us with a vast range of meditations which employ breathing, chanting or silently vibrating a mantra. All meditation is designed to bring us into balance and harmony, to quieten our minds and guide our energy to its primal source.

WHERE TO MEDITATE

At home, choose a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. If possible use the same place each day and it will soon take on a special uplifting and calming energy. Make this space your own and fill it with anything you find uplifting. And be sure you can sit comfortably, either on the floor or on a hard chair. Meditating outdoors, communing with nature in quiet solitude, is also a beautiful experience.

USING THE BREATH

Long, deep breathing through the nose is an excellent and easy way to quieten the mind and reach a state of heightened awareness. Sit with an erect spine and slow the breathing down so that you are taking 4 to 6 deep breaths per minute. It is important that you become very still. Doing this for only 3 minutes will reduce stress and bring many benefits.

MEDITATION IS A PROCESS

It is a process of cleansing the mind. Once your mind becomes still and stops producing endless thoughts, you will feel inspired to continue to practise meditation. You will need to start with a short time and work up so be patient and create your foundation.

Meditation can be truly blissful as you reach a state of elevated consciousness; but remember that it is not always so. The subconscious contains a lot of painful and unpleasant thoughts and memories, and during meditation these can rise to the surface. So you may find yourself observing some very unpleasant things - and at those times it is important to keep up. The meditation is doing its job. You are clearing out and eliminating negativity that has been covering up the divine light within you.

"A person who has the patience to allow the mind to go through its antics while remaining firmly planted, will experience something. That ‘something’ is different for each individual, but it will be in some way or another, a reawakening of the Self. With this new awareness comes inner change, then outer change." Shakti Parwha Kaur

SELECT AND COMMIT TO A MEDITATION

Be clear as to why you have chosen a particular meditation and what you wish to accomplish. The clearer your focus and intention, the greater the power behind the meditation.

To gain maximum benefit, commit to doing your meditation for a set number of minutes over a set number of days. Remember that 3 minutes a day, every day, is more effective than 31 minutes once a week. If you miss a day, do not become discouraged, just start again and keep up

Habits, conscious and unconscious, control a great deal of our lives. Meditation can help us remove those habits which do not serve us and replace them with more positive, life-enhancing ones.