Stages of awareness meditation
Before we apply mindfulness in our daily life, we need to know what awareness is!
Meditation consists of steps for the mind to return home. First put the mind at ease then sense the calmness within. See directly into the stillness of the background silent in order to recognize the emptiness of mind where only awareness resides.
“Self-knowledge is about shifting one’s focus-point from coming and going sensory experiences to the ever-present calmness, stillness and background Awareness!”
Stage 1 - introduce thoughts of inspiration
Generate a positive wish about your meditation and consider how it benefits you and your surroundings.
Stage 2 - let the thinking mind be at ease
Drop all your mind’s muscle-tention and let them fall to the ground. Release all the tension in the body, and be at easy as if you’re relaxing after a hard day’s work.
Stage 3 - calming the subtle/ subconscious mind
In order to bypass disturbances of your subconscious mind you need to co-operate with it, and let it expresses itself without trying to “like” or “dislike” whatever appears. Once it has reached its satisfaction, it will be your guided friend and give you access into deeper level of mind.
Stage 4 - melt into stillness, emptiness and awareness
Stage 5 - inner personal transformation
Inner transformation comes about when the sense of “I” dissolves, and the mind remains at “one place” with inner awareness independently of the object of attention. In this moment, only awareness is present, devoid of any conceptual persona. This state is described as “Not this and not that” which means whatever label you want to describe, will not fit into the state you’re in. Every activities in your body and mind seems to stand still. Your breath has come to an end, and you feel as if the pores of your body are breathing for you. Once the breath stands still, it synchronizes with your mind to do exactly the same. In this state total surrender and letting go is the essence to walk down the path. You are about to enter Nirvilkalpa samadhi.
Meditation techniques
"To core of meditation is to let the thinking mind be at ease and rest in the state of calmness, stillness, spaciousness and awareness, and release all focused and let go"
All the meditative techniques below in the list help the practitioners to start at a different entry point in order to arrive at background Emptiness and Awarenesss.
Example of thoughts of inspiration for meditation:
"May this meditation bring calmness, stillness, spaciousness and awareness. May all fear and anxiety be transformed. May there be calmness, stillness and awareness within this mind and body for the benefit of all sentient beings!"
- Aum Mani Padme Hum ; Aum Mani Padme Hum ; Aum Mani Padme Hum -
Purpose:
- Entry point # Sense the present of the body
- Process # Giving gratitude to the physical body and be thankful of its present through the years. Even though it undergoes the nature of change and old age it has always been a dear friend to house you and to be with you in good times and bad times. It has never lie, and it always tells you whatever it feels of comfort or discomfort it must face.
Technique:
- Place your body in a relax meditative posture.
- Put your mind at ease and feel the present of your body.
- Giving gratitude to your body while sensing its present and consider:
“Thank you for your kindness being with me throughout the years”
“Thank you for carrying me through life both in good and bad.”
“Thank you for accepting me eventhough I’ve been hard on you”
“Thank you that you have never lie to me all the years when you’re hurt”
“Thank you for carrying me through sickness and difficulties in life”
“Thank you for moments of calmness when I needed you most”
“So on………” - Pause all your intentions, and rest in stillness and Self-awareness.
- Shift the breath, inhale through mouth and exhale through nose.
- Go deeper and let go into the state of dreamless state.
Exiting meditation:
- Take a moment of pause, around 2-3 minuttes to slowly wakeup.
- Remain close eyes for a while in the waking state.
- Sense that you’re clearly present in the waking.
- Slowly move your body back and forth, side to side.
- Take time to open your eyes to retain calmness and stillness.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Description is coming
- Process # Discription is coming
Technique:
- Place your body in a relax meditative posture.
- Put
Purpose:
- Entry point # Breath of the whole body.
- Process # The breath of the body is used as an anchor to access the background stillness, calmness and awareness.
Technique:
- Place your body in a relax meditative posture.
- Rest your awareness on your body, from top down.
- Be aware of or feel the whole body movements when breathing (or be aware of the non-movement/ physical stillness of the body).
- Once the breath becomes calm/ still, be aware of the whole bodily stillness.
- Rest the awareness on the body for a while, and let everything go.
- Rest in calmness, stillness, emptiness and Self-awareness.
- Rest in surrender and letting go completely into dreamless state.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Can be practise in all daily activities.
- Process # Stabilization of awareness in looking. Recognize the unchanged and ever-present awareness “in front of you”. It’s about being “conscious of the present awareness“. It can be done in eating, walking, sitting and talking.
Technique:
- Whenever looking try to return to yourself and be conscious of the present awareness.
- Move back and forth with your head, and try to stabilize and rest on this recognition.
- The noticing of the observing object should be less important than noticing this present awareness.
- If your attention is pulled toward the object then gently return to your knowing of this still awareness.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Let the conceptual mind lead you to spaciousness and awareness.
- Process # Use the conceptual mantra to lead the mind back to its origin of emptiness, spaciousness and awareness.
Technique:
- Place your body and mind in a relax and ordinary manner (without speculations and worries)
- Begin slowly to remind yourself of the following detachments:
– I am nothing! (which means I am emptiness or spaciousness)
– I want nothing!
– I do nothing!
– …Awareness - Rest and be conscious of the present of awareness.
- Turn this into stillness and freeze it in one single moment in time.
- Rest continuously in that single frozen moment.
- Entry point # Let the immovable body be the entry into the stillness of mind.
- Process # Use the body’s immovable stillness to guide the mind into the state of stability where fluctuations of the mind are pacified in order to access deeper state of the subconscious mind.
- Place your body and mind in a relax meditative posture.
- Reflect upon this:
May this body be still.
May this mind be still.
May this body and mind be still in the state of wakefulness! - Let your mind rest upon or feel the immovable posture of your body.
- Once the breath becomes still, rest on the still wakefulness of the mind.
- Take this experience to a deeper state of wakeful sleep
Purpose:
- Entry point # Begin the recognition of the empty presence of awareness in the waking state in order to go deeper into the state of dreamless state where all dissolution happen.
- Process # Rest upon the empty presence of awareness. By the use of breathing the mind goes deeper and deeper into the unconscious mind.
Technique:
- Place your mind and body in a relax meditative posture.
- Rest upon the emptiness of the presence of awareness.
- Breath in, and breath out.
- Go deeper (into the blankness of the dreamless state)
Time and duration:
Note: Choose a duration that fits to your skill and level. It’s better to sit a little too short than too long. If your mind feels happy and comfortable and look forward to the next meditation then you have chosen a suitable duration for your session.
Meditative hours: # morning 05:00-08:00 (best time), # noon 13:00-14:00
- Beginner: 5-10 minuttes
- Normal: 20-25 minuttes
- Advanced: 90-120 minuttes
- Elite: 6 hours or days
Meditation background music:
- Meditation can be performed with or without background music. If used then the volume should be extremely low at level 2-3. The sound can only be heard when there is totally silent in the surrounding environment.
- The purpose of the background music is to calm down subconscious thought activities, so meditation is less disturbed. The meditator should not consciously listen to the music while meditating.
Meditation postures:
Note: The main point in all postures is to have a straight and relax spine, from the head down. An erect spine relaxes subconscious thought activities.
- Recommended meditation postures are burmese posture, sitting erect on a chair, half lotus sitting for ordinary people.
- In deep meditation lying position called Savasana (The Corpse Pose) is recommended.
Smile to initiate meditation (recommend):
- Begin meditation with a smile to release any tension of the subconscious activities.
Find the state of equilibrium (recommend):
- Place your body in a meditation posture.
- Move your body back and forth, or from side to side.
- Let the movements become more and more still until it stops.
- Let your mind be in the state of equilibrium (stillness).
View of the eyes in meditation:
Note: How the eyes are place influence your mind and the depth of your meditation, and how long it takes to get into the peaceful alfa and theta waves state.
- Eyes looks slight vertical upward: # It removes dullness and sleepiness.
- Eyes looks straight forward: # Set the mind in the state of equilibrium.
- Eyes looks slight vertical downward: # Slow down the mind in case if it is too active with subconscious thought activities.
- Eyes looks inward # A way of withdrawing all senses from the physical and mental world.
Breathing in meditation:
- Breath in through the nose in the beginning of the meditation until the mind becomes calm and still.
- Breath in through the mouth when the mind becomes very still in order to go deeper into the state of samadhi. This kind of breathing will lessen the disturbances in the energy-body.
Exit meditation:
Note: To avoid headache in meditation when exiting the session.
- Take good time to exit meditation. Let the eyes be closed for about 5-10 minutes, before you’re open them.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Change the fixating mind into a more relaxed mind.
- Process # It is about changing the body and mind habitual tendencies from being fixated to a more relaxed state where the mind becomes relaxed, not fixating on anything and be ordinary. The body learns to relaxe and be ordinary. This is a preparation for entering deep state of meditation. This state is called “ordinary mind and ordinary body” where the body and mind pause, and take a break from our daily tension and business (just like resting just before going into sleep).
Technique:
- Place your body and mind in a relax meditative posture.
- Feel your mind in your forehead as if it is a tense muscle.
- Try to relax it as much as you can as if it is falling of your head.
- Feel as if all your bodyparts fall of your body.
- Rest in this relaxed state.
Purpose:
There are 3 methods that can be used to calm the subconscious activities (or the subtle mind). The first is to smile to initiate meditation. The second is by using the mala, and the third method is by being softly and gently in every act. In this context the third one is described.
- Entry point # Gentleness and softness can begin in every act the body and mind attend to, before and after meditation.
- Process # Practice gentleness and softness in every movement of body and mind in order to slow down the subconscious mind. Once the subtle mind slows down, it will lessen the subconscious thought-disturbances in meditation.
Technique part 1 – for meditation:
Just before entering meditation try to have a sense of gentleness, softness and non-violent to your mind and body. Every movement should be done slowly and at ease in order to have a pacifying effect on the subconscious mind. The basic mudra to focus the gentleness and softness is the Anjali Mudra.
Technique part 2 – for daily activities:
- Practice walking softly and gently to slow down the subconscious mind and to become immune of daily verbal attacks from the environment. This practice will help you to remove the subconscious thought-hindrances in meditation.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Start breathing normally and rhythmically in and out.
- Process # Rhythmic breathing calms the heart, slows down thoughts and makes the prefrontal cortex to relax enhanced the mind’s ability to let go.
Technique:
- Place your body in a relax meditative posture.
- Relax the body and breath rhythmically.
- Breath with the belly and put the heaviness on the outbreath (as if you expel the outbreath).
- Be aware of the breathing.
- Once the mind gets calm, and the breath becomes subtle and still then breath lighter and less often (but stil rhythmic).
- When everything feels calm and settle then slow down the breath and eventually put it to an end, and rest in stillness and non-moving awareness.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Being aware of the upper part of the body (at the shoulders and chest area), especially from shoulder to shoulder.
- Process # Whenever anger, jealousy, fear, nervousness appear then rest your awareness on the immoveable chest-area from shoulder to shoulder to calm down inner disturbing emotional activities.
Technique:
- Let the body be calm, still and not moving.
- Know you’re in the state of emotional turbulent.
- Stop all comments about the state of emotional turbulent.
- Move awareness to the upper part of the body at the chest-area at the high of your shoulders.
- Breath in new clean energy into the chest.
- Move the chest back and forth, side to side for a while.
- Keep your awareness unmoved at the area of the chest (until the emotional turbulent is decreased).
- This is how you’re cleaning your emotional turbulent in your astral body and leave behind the raw experience of the event as leftover in the memory. The “experience of the event” is considered to be the dry information of what was happening.
Comment as keypoint:
- Rest awareness at the chest-area at the shoulders’ level invokes the deep state of mind – in dreamless sleep – where the process of dissolution takes place. This state brings about the dissolution of the turbulent emotions in the astral body felt through the physical body.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Random activities of the subtle mind.
- Process # To let the subconscious mind expresses itself freely. The speed of the scrolling mala indicates the activities of the subscious mind channeling to the surface. If practice correctly the subconscious activities should become slower as the breath reduces its pace till it stops.
Meditative music (optional):
- Use calm meditative music in order to calm the subconscious activities
Main technique (step 1):
- Place your body in a relax meditative posture.
- Begin to scroll the mala at a suitable comfortable speed.
- Once the mind is calm, scroll a bead for every exhalation.
- Shift the breath, inhale through mouth and exhale through nose.
- When the mind is still and the breath stops, pause the scrolling.
- Rest in stillness, spaciousness and Self-awareness.
- Rest in surrender and letting go completely into dreamless state.
Add-on technique (step 2):
- Once the breath stops, listen virtually to “AH” resonates in your ears.
- Let the sound “AH” get slower and slower, and dimmer.
- Let it slowly disappear into stillness and awareness.
- Rest in the stillness, spaciousness and awarenesss.
- Rest in surrender and letting go completely into dreamless state.
Purpose:
- Entry point # Start as awareness to recognize the ongoing presence awareness using the mala to keep the process ongoing.
- Process # Awareness is like a string going through all the mala-beads. The process is to recognize the empty presence of awareness and rest upon it while letting go of everything else that changes.
Technique:
- Let the body be calm, still and not moving.
- Begin to scroll the mala at a comfortable speed.
- Let go of every sensory experience and attachment to the body.
- Recognize the presence of awareness.
- Be it and be with it.
- Nothing else matters. You are it !!!
Different meditative entries
Like a tree with its myriad of leaves and branches, every meditation technique offers a unique point of access. Depending on the individual practitioner’s needs, they’ll start at their very own point of entry. The ultimate destination is a collective grounding, which is founded upon serenity and mindfulness.
The diagram on the right side exemplifies how all techniques culminate in the act of resting in peace, quiet, spaciousness and awareness – the innate nature within. The journey begins with an external sensory object such as the physical body, mala, breath, feeling or thought, and gradually goes deeper into the underlying stillness and knowingness beyond our sensory experiences in order to connect with a deeper dimension of ourselves called Turiya or Nirvikalpa samadhi or simply Being which is the background of all our experiences.
Meditation diagram
