Week 2 Study Guide
Perfecting Your Practice
Mantra – Mind + Tool
• No particular meaning
• Used for its sound/vibrational quality
• Facilitates going beyond the mind
• Om [Bija] Namah
Preparation:
• Mantra based meditation is practiced sitting with your eyes closed
• Be comfortable but avoid lying down
• Use pillows and blankets if needed
• It can be done virtually anywhere
• Creating a special place or using incense may be helpful
• Avoid playing music and minimize potential distractions
When:
• Twice daily – 30 minutes each session
• Special situations may allow for more
• First meditation best done shortly after waking
• Second meditation best done in late afternoon/early evening
• Avoid eating/heavy exercise immediately prior
How:
• Sitting with your eyes closed, gently repeat your mantra silently
• Repeat effortlessly – don’t try, force or concentrate
• Does not require a clear pronunciation
• When you become aware you have drifted, gently return to the mantra
• End by stopping mantra and remaining with eyes closed for a few minutes, then gently begin activity
Expectations:
• Approach each meditation with innocence
• Avoid seeking a particular experience or result
• Each meditation is unique and best for you at that time
• Permit effortlessness and the natural process unfolds
• Mantra
Common Observations:
• Breath may change as body relaxes
• Mantra may seem to come into step with rhythm of external sounds or breath
• Release of stress can cause physical activity in the body
• Treat noises as any other thought – if not possible, take a moment and then deal with the situation returning to meditation when complete
Timing & Completion:
• Use watch or meditation app if needed but body will eventually adjust and automatically signal completion
• After stopping the mantra, feel free to rub, stretch or lie down while remaining with eyes closed
• Allow for proper time to come out of meditation – even if it means ending meditation early
• A few minutes after having stopped the mantra, gently open your eyes and return to activity
Recognize the Sacred:
• Keeping your mantra private and sacred enhances its effect
• Avoid judging your practice by the experiences that happen during meditation
• Established in a practice, ask yourself:
§ Are my desires fulfilled more easily?
§ Is my intuition stronger?
§ Am I happier and more relaxed?
Summary of Basic Principles:
• Think your mantra gently, effortlessly
• When you become aware that you are not thinking the mantra, gently come back to it
• Relinquish resistance or anticipation during meditation
• Meditate for your recommended time twice a day
A Vision of Higher States of Consciousness
Everything in creation is evolving. This is the nature of life. Some things appear to be moving very slowly, others much faster. Now that you are practicing meditation you will accelerate the process. Knowledge and experience go hand and hand. Knowledge without experience is just an intellectual exercise. Meditation is a spiritual journey where you will rise up to higher states of consciousness. You directly experience your soul, who you really are, the thinker of your thoughts—not your thoughts.
The experiences are constantly changing in our lives but we as the experiencer is beyond the field of change. We are not our thoughts, our mind, or our body. We are Spirit made manifest in the flesh. Just as a radio traps the invisible radio signals so does our body and mind trap the invisible Spirit. When we meditate we learn to tap into the Spirit and create eternal possibilities and create our own reality.
The quality of Spirit in our life is determined by the efficiency of our mind and body. As we remove the stress and toxins from our system through meditation the full value of Spirit is able to shine through. We have been experiencing the first three states of consciousness—sleeping, dreaming and waking every day of our life. Through the practice of mediation we begin to rise to higher states of consciousness—as Jesus the great way shower of Humanity said— “the kingdom of Heaven is within” Still the mind and visit the kingdom of heaven.
The Seven States of Consciousness:
1. Deep Sleep—the body is resting while there is very little conscious awareness.
2. Dreaming—the mind has experiences, but upon waking we consider dreams to be fabrications.
3. Waking State—most people consider this their normal reality generated through sensory experiences of the environment.
4. Transcendence Consciousness—this is the experience of slipping into the ‘gap’ the place that is beyond space and time. We experience pure awareness.
5. Cosmic Consciousness—we experience the spirit and the body/mind at the same time—this is a state of witnessing. We are no long identify with the roles we are playing, we are awareness we are playing an infinity of roles. This is what Jesus meant when he said “Be in the world not of it.”
6. The sixth state of consciousness is Divine Consciousness—also known as God consciousness we see that all of creation is a sacred and holy. We see that we inhabit a celestial world infused with the sacred.
7. The seventh state of consciousness is called Unified Consciousness—this is the realization that at the level of spirit we are universal Beings disguising ourselves as individual expressions.
In Cosmic Consciousness we experience miracles. In Divine Consciousness we create miracles.
In Unified Consciousness there is no more need for miracles, for everything is perceived as miraculous.