The power of meditation, its benefits for well-being and longevity, mental peace, ability to control stress responses, all of these are very well understood. But then why is it a part of only a few people’s lives worldwide? Why isn’t it as widely practiced as yoga?

Why do people have such resistance to meditation? This is what we typically hear from our guests before they start the journey of meditation
“Meditation is too hard.”
“I don’t have the time to just sit and try and do nothing.”
“I can’t calm my mind. My mind jumps around all the time.”
“Everything is a distraction, it’s too noisy. I have to get away to a really quiet destination to do this.”
“I will never get this right, there is no point. ”

Instead of making meditation a very obscure process, it might be best to look at it as a more anatomical function. Those of you who are familiar with going to the gym for a workout are well versed in warming up with movement or light aerobic exercises. Doing this prepares you to get into the next stage of exercising various physical parts of the body. It creates a better flow of energy that allows you to launch into more complex and vigorous activity.

The mind is no different. The reason why most people find meditation so difficult is that they jump right into what they imagine is the final stage of meditation i.e. an uninterrupted flow of consciousness. It’s the equivalent of starting your first day in the gym attempting a perfect form of a dead lift of 100 kg!

Pratyahara
Setting the right expectations and creating a solid foundation and preparatory process to begin meditation is the starting point for our guests at Ananda. And this starts with the practice of Pratyahara. To be successful in meditation, one must first try to remove the dependence and connection of the mind with external senses. This is the first challenge as our mind is continuously receiving data about the outside world through the various sense organs the eyes, ears, nose, skin et cetera. The objective is to gradually allow the mind to reduce the sensations that we receive from each of these sense organs virtually to zero.

How do you train the mind to do this? Simply telling the mind to stop doing it will have the exact opposite effect; you feel even more distracted. Rather than trying to get the mind to sever its connections with the senses, Pratyahara techniques take the mind to each distraction arising from the senses. The more one observes these distractions carefully, eventually the mind bothers less about them. At the same time, Pratyahara trains the mind to start observing certain internal process - like breath awareness. Another technique is visualising and taking the awareness to different parts of the body in a sequential manner. This process starts getting the mind to internalise.

Keep in mind that all of these cannot be done if the body is in a state of discomfort. If one is constantly shifting or fidgeting around, then none of these practices will be possible. An important part of the preparatory process for meditation is to work on stability, flexibility, and stillness. This is why in the eight limbs of Yoga Sutra as prescribed by Patanjali, asanas (yogic postures) and pranayama (breathwork) are preliminary stages to prepare for meditative practises. Rather than look at these as linear processes, we recommend starting the journey with all of them. Each makes the other better and there is good progression overall.

This practice of Pratyahara is the gym equivalent of warming up the mind in order to prepare for meditation. Those following the Dhyana meditation programme at Ananda are introduced to these practises first in a guided step-by-step manner with each day progressing with better control of the senses and gradually an ability to withdraw into the mind. It is very much a guided process which creates the most important foundation for meditation.

Dharana
The next step towards meditation is called Dharana. After removing the dependence on external senses through Pratyahara, the mind is no longer concerned with thoughts of the current from outside, but it is still occupied with internal thoughts from the past or the future. Removing these and bringing the attention to a single point of focus is the objective of Dharana. In this process, concentration is built by focusing of the attention on a single object only. This could either be an object which is external like a candle light, the residual image of which is focused on internally. It could be focus on an internal space of the body or just on an idea. The mind constantly tries to think of other things but you keep bringing it back to the object of concentration.

Dhayana
What finally is meditation? In the Raja Yoga system that we follow at Ananda, the next stage Dhyana is when meditation actually begins. After the Dharana stage, where the mind is constantly brought back to the object of concentration, in Dhyana the mind is totally and continuously absorbed in the object. In this stage, finer and more subtle points of that single object are revealed. There is an uninterrupted flow of concentration. For regular practitioners, Dhyana finally presents itself as an experience, it cannot really be described.

As is clear, there is a lot of preparation to do before one finally reaches the state of meditation. It is not a daunting process if you take it one step at a time and with no binding expectations. The important thing is regularity. A few rounds of pranayama early morning, plus Om chanting and then commencing Pratyahara techniques is the best recommended starting point.

To Read More about Ananda’s Dhyana Meditation programme, click here.