How to meditate

There are many different ways to Meditate, even though their goals are similar. It reminds me of the saying, ‘There are many paths to God.’

I believe it is wrong to say that one Meditation Technique / path is better than another, because you are judging a person’s journey, and you don’t know from where they have come.

Their path is perfect for them, as yours is for you.

As such, I will not say that any of the meditation techniques listed below are better than the others. I encourage you to explore the doors that open before you to learn through experience, so you can decide for yourself.

The Transcendental Meditation technique, (or TM technique), is a form of mantra meditation introduced in India in 1955 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

It is reported to be the most widely researched and one of the most widely practiced meditation techniques.

Taught in a standardized seven-step course by certified teachers, the technique involves the use of a sound or mantra and is practiced, while sitting comfortably, for 15-20 minutes, twice per day.

During the initial personal instruction session the student is given a specific sound, called a mantra. The sound given has no meaning assigned to it and is utilized as a thought in the meditation process. Use of this thought allows the individual’s attention to be directed naturally from an active style of functioning to a less active or quieter style of mental activity.

According to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, as the mind quiets down the practitioner can become aware that the thought itself is transcended, and can have the experience of what Maharishi calls the ‘source of the thought’, ‘pure awareness’ or ‘transcendental Being’.


One important distinction between TM and other practices involving mantras is the way the sound is used. In Transcendental Meditation the mantra has no associations and is not chanted – either verbally or mentally. It is a vehicle on which the attention rests.

ZEN 
We tend to see body, breath, and mind separately, but in Zen Meditation they come together as one reality. Basically, zazen is the study of the self.

The great Master Dogen said, “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.”

To be enlightened by the ten thousand things is to recognize the unity of the self and the ten thousand things.

Upon his own enlightenment, Buddha was in seated meditation; Zen Meditation practice returns to the same seated meditation again and again. For two thousand five hundred years that meditation has continued, from generation to generation; it’s the most important thing that has been passed on.