In one of my recent meditation sessions for an online Sahaja audience, I decided to share a routine that I try to follow a couple of times a week.
A surprising number of participants in my session contacted me and said that their experience was truly unique and how they experienced a rare, deep silence while meditating with this approach.
In short, the approach is the opposite of the fast paced, busy, hectic world and life we experience today. Now and then I consciously try to simulate the relaxed life people lived 50 or 100 years ago. These people had a lot of time, little pressure and most of all their life was incredibly straightforward. There was no phone, internet or television and they spent a lot of time in nature. Obviously, her attention was much less stressed and preoccupied than ours.
Longer, deeper, and slower meditation
The essence of this approach is to prepare for a much longer period of meditation than the usual 15 or 20 minutes that most people spend for a session at home alone. While the best approach is to keep the meditation duration open, a great way to take advantage of this approach is to schedule in between 30 minutes and an hour of silent meditation. This is also a test of whether our busy, insecure attention can maintain the stillness and witness state without feeling restless. Or the need to get back to our busy lives and worry about the past or the future. And for some, it can be hard to spend so much time in silence when they are fully awake and aware but doing nothing.
The “slower” part of meditation is about relaxing our thoughts and gradually slowing them down to a crawl and finally making them disappear completely as our attention rises to a new level of consciousness. The key is to be patient and wait for this to happen, however long it may take. It is also about working carefully and with full attention on different parts of our subtle energy system, such as a particular chakra or channel. Over time, many practitioners report that, out of complacency or just into a rut, they get into the movements mechanically or even skim a set routine or technique. Walking slowly means that we take the time to carefully care for every part of our subtle system and until we can feel through our vibrational awareness and perception that it is in good health, no matter how long it takes.
The “deeper” part of the approach is to have conversations with the spiritual forces in our chakras and energy channels. We know, for example, that Kundalini energy is our spiritual mother who nourishes us and takes care of us. She is always concerned for our benevolence and wellbeing. Going deeper means indulging in this energy, becoming humble, and welcoming its grace that is bestowed upon us. Think of it as gentle acceptance of the divine vibrations when our inner selves are in complete union with the forces of the universe. Sometimes it can also mean that we put our problems in our lives under the care of these enormous forces within us as we go deeper. So the “deep” state of meditation is an act of humbly letting go and allowing the greater forces within us to solve our problems.
When we put the longer, deeper, and slower parts together in a single meditation session, the results can be great. We can feel very refreshed and balanced, and our attention can become very stable. Our problems can feel like they have disappeared and a deep sense of calm and joy can manifest.
The caveat – this method is difficult.
Meditation today is often sold as a 5-minute or 10-minute miracle, but the truth is that in today’s world our attention and the state of our chakras are so weak that most people have to work longer and harder. Especially when we want to realize the deeper benefits that go far beyond mere stress relief or an illusory feeling of relaxation or refreshment. Nobody likes buying a meditation class or an offer that says you won’t get any benefits if you don’t meditate for 45 minutes. But in Sahaja we never have anything to sell, so we can boldly tell the truth.
In reality, however, it’s not about 30 or 45 minutes or an hour. And it doesn’t always have to be that long. In addition, it is also possible to invest time in meditation in order to regain a lot of extra time for the rest of the day. And with this approach of longer, deeper and slower meditation, you will hardly notice that time is passing – it will feel like you have crossed the dimension of time. In fact, ancient spiritual writings have spoken of three characteristic phenomena that occur when one is in a deeply spiritual state – we can go beyond time, beyond Dharma and beyond our qualities, the terms used to describe any Kalateet being, Dharmateet and Gunateet in Sanskrit to describe language.
To understand only the aspect of time or kalateet means that we reach a higher spiritual state of being in which the fetters of time no longer disturb us. For example, while we generally plan to stick to our time and schedules, we will find ourselves in situations where time is no longer a limitation. People we should meet at a certain time will show up when we arrive, even if we are late. Flights that we should take will be waiting for us (due to some other delays working in our favor). If we have deadlines at work and are worried that we will be behind schedule or what our bosses might say about it, we will find that those deadlines move surprisingly and to our advantage. All in all, time becomes our friend and it feels like it is giving in and bowing for us. All of this is due to the power of our higher spiritual state of being.
So, if you are concerned about finding time for longer meditations, think about the superior benefit in removing the constraints and time pressures from your life.
The second reason this approach can be challenging is because not many people can challenge themselves to keep their attention calm and in complete silence for long periods of time. Another reason is that we are physically, mentally, or emotionally tired or drained.
Many people don’t know how restless they can be. For some it is difficult not to be in the company of others, to talk to them and to engage with them. For others, they have to do an activity, just sitting still for more than a few minutes is impossible. The answer to these situations is to improve the gravity within us. As we meditate more, we improve this aspect over time.
Life stands in the way of all of us. It certainly gets almost scary as we try to increase and improve our meditation. No self-improvement activity goes smoothly. We almost always have to overcome a lot of resistance in many forms in order to achieve something great. The remedy is to increase the strength of our desire to reach a higher spiritual state. Then time automatically bows and presents itself to us.
Sahaja is a flexible, dynamic practice.
While this approach of deeper, longer, and slower meditation is definitely powerful, there are many methods, techniques, and approaches in Sahaja. It is fully configurable by any practitioner. In case you think that you are going to have a hard time practicing Sahaja, you should know that there are many cases where people experience instantaneous connections of their Kundalini energy. You can have a great experience within minutes. The “deeper” aspect can actually be reached very quickly in such cases. Any longtime Sahaja practitioner will have at least one unforgettable experience to share where their Kundalini energy soared and entered the deepest state they have ever experienced. This, of course, represents their peak experience, something they should cherish and emulate so much, but it doesn’t happen often.
The trick is to stay on course and be patient. And try the longer, deeper, slower form of meditation as another tool in our spiritual ascent.
Have fun meditating!