What is meditation? Meditation is a profound process or technique that is practiced by people to go beyond what they see and to also go within themselves in search of their true Self. It is to go into a deeper state of awareness or relaxation. Often people say they sleep during meditation; meditation and sleep have a very thin line of difference. As a matter of fact, both these are levels of consciousness which are closely knit. Just as sleep is effortless, meditation is also effortless. Nobody can be forced can force themselves into a meditative state of mind. It is a common misconception that meditation means no thoughts can enter the mind and one needs to concentrate. But the truth is that, meditation happens on its own, it can never be forced into. of course conducive situations and appropriate techniques can facilitate easy meditation.



Benefits of meditation –



·         Drastically improve health.

·         Reduces anxiety and suffering. It leads to a peaceful mind.

·         Leads to deeper levels of relaxation.

·         Changes outlook towards life.



These are a few benefits of meditation. So if you want to practice it, then here are some simple meditation techniques that you can use, as beginners –



·         Mantra Meditation: For beginners, it is pretty hard to be seated in a place and easily slide into meditation; therefore an easy technique is to use a mantra to dive into that sate of Higher Consciousness. In this technique, one has to just go on repeating a mantra that will enable him or her to automatically go into a state of trance that is called meditative state of mind. Of course after a certain degree of practice, meditation happens immediately without much time into the mantra recitation. Just as how for kids the letters of the alphabet becomes easy through a song, just as that for a beginner, this is the best technique.

·         Steady Gaze: In this technique, you have to gaze at an object (candle) kept at arm's length away from you. Continue to gaze into it constantly and then automatically the eyes shut with an image of the candle in between the eye brow. As you are in this state, just let it deepen and also lengthen. The gazing of the candle or any object needs to be alternated with the eyes open and closed before concluding the practice altogether.



Meditation is something that you have to learn through experienced practitioners. Of course you can do it yourself, but with guidance, you are sure to go deeper and make the best of it.