One should feel relaxed but not sleepy, so an upright sitting position is best. There are several positions to use: sitting cross-legged on the floor, sitting on a dining chair or kneeling, whichever is most comfortable for you. The most important thing is for the spine to be relaxed but erect. Keeping the spine straight assists the channelling of energy from the mind through into the body. Another important aspect is comfort; if you are not comfortable and warm during meditation you will tend to lose concentration and focus more on trying to obtain a comfortable position than on meditating.
Mental Outlook
Prepare your mind to accept the duration of meditation and ask your mind to be silent throughout the meditation practice. I find that if I concentrate on my breath and tell my mind to focus on my breathing after the next thought, that this slows the process of connecting one thought after another (the function of the conscious mind). Meditation allows the connection with the higher conscious mind to filter its peaceful stillness into our conscious state. This slows down the thoughts, creating a space between each one – and this is the beginning of meditation.
Breathing
Before you attempt to meditate, spend a few minutes consciously regulating your breath. Use your nose not your mouth when taking an in-breath, and try to breath out of your nose not your mouth. Take several deep abdominal breaths. The stomach should be pushed out on your in-breath and return towards the spine on the out-breath. Try to keep your shoulders relaxed and neck straight with the chin tucked in slightly towards the chest. Each breath you take should be slow and rhythmic.
The following techniques can be used prior to meditation (or at at any other time) to relax the body and mind.
Breathing Exercises
• Concentrate on taking in a deep breath to fill your lungs and chest fully, count to seven as you breathe in, hold your breath for three counts, then take a long deep out-breath to the count of seven. Repeat this action seven times.
• Begin with the breathing sequence above, then take your concentration from your breath and imagine you are blowing energy into your feet, then up your legs, into your pelvis, through your solar plexus into your heart, throat, shoulders, neck, face, head and down the spine back into your feet. As you gently breathe in imagine you are breathing in light and then breathe out this light into your body. Repeat three times. This technique moves the breath through your physical body, sending the power of breath into each muscle, bone, nerve ending and organ.
Meditation Exercises
After you have calmed your mind with your breath you may begin your chosen meditation. Two basic types of meditation technique are generally taught today. The first is the Zen approach of ‘silent sitting’: in this method you sit facing a blank wall or mirror until the mind becomes blank. In psychic development groups, candlelight or a crystal is often used instead. The idea is to sit until the moment of pure enlightenment happens, even if it takes twenty years. The second approach uses a mantra; a sound or image that rhythmically lulls the mind into quietness. After a thousand repetitions the body begins to vibrate at a higher frequency and the meditator becomes aware of higher energies beyond the physical senses of our daily mind.
There are numerous meditation exercises that I would recommend, for instance:
• Focusing on the light of a candle
• Concentrating on a picture of the chakra symbols
• Concentrating on a picture of a deity (god or goddess)
• Focusing on the point between your eyebrows, the third eye
• Chakra meditation
Staring at a candle flame is often used to prepare a psychic in a development class. The candle is placed reasonably close to the eyes, letting the mind connect with the image to build up an interpretation of psychic imaging. The same technique is also used with symbols and other images, as well as flowers, crystals, colours and even sand.
When we first begin meditating, however, the aim is to still the mind; not to follow the endless chatter that it throws up. In this way we begin to open up space in our mind – we do away with the superficial and create space for the psychic and spiritual.
Counting your Breath
This is a popular meditation technique with beginners, as focusing on the breath is easier than the more ‘passive’ staring techniques.
• Sit in your meditation position, relax and focus on your breathing – do not try to control it, simply observe it.
• Now begin to count your breaths. Count one inhale and exhale as one. The aim is simply to count the breaths without letting other thoughts intervene. Count up to ten. If a train of thought makes you lose count, go back to one again.
Third Eye Meditation
This meditation is for the more advanced student.
• Sit in your meditation position, relax and focus on your breathing – do not try to control it, simply observe it.
• Now take your attention to the third eye between your eyebrows. Close your eyes and focus on the third eye centre. Just as you observed your breath, do the same with your mind. Do not follow any thoughts that come into your mind, simply watch them and let them go by. If you find that you have slipped and fallen into a stream of thinking, bring yourself back to the third eye centre and start again.
Through meditation, thoughts can turn into visions. Some may be beautiful and others ugly. Treat them all with the same detachment. Observe them and let them go. Many will be of a psychic nature – such as visions, prophecies or glimpses of things happening in other places – but, for the time being, let these go also. Focus on being an unattached observer.
By separating yourself from your thinking, you attune yourself with what mystics call the ‘overself’, our higher consciousness. This extends into the spirit world and beyond. You may experience being the watcher of yourself in your day-to-day life, becoming closer to the realization of the true nature of the self within your personality.
Meditation exercises are a starting point for the greater inner awareness essential to a healthy psychic connection. By opening the third eye centre you have taken the first serious steps to true clairvoyance. But remember – it takes a lot of patience and regular practice to open yourself to your psychic gifts. (For in-depth books on meditation see Resources section, page 180).
Techniques for Tuning into and Focusing your Psychic Vision
When we have learnt how to calm mind and body, we need to learn how to tune in and listen to our inner voice. We begin this process by connecting with our personal sacredness – through spending time in nature.
When I first learnt how to meditate, my psychic development teacher insisted that I spent time in nature, listening to and feeling the seasons, the birdsong – even watching the clouds go by. It was the first time as an adult that I had been given permission to just be still. This was alien to me at first, but I soon realized the benefits. My psychic technique improved considerably – I learnt how to be still so it became easier to tune in and listen to Spirit.
