How to get the best out of meditation

You need intention to start your journey into self-reflection and transformation

Just as you need a lighter or a match stick to light something, similarly to get the best out of your meditation you need to set an intention. When you sit with a spark, you are ready to stoke the fire of transformation.

Meditating with intention brings the best out of the time invested in the practice. Just as in a journey, you have a destination in mind to avoid unnecessary wandering, similarly, in meditation you place an intention to make your self-reflective journey fruitful. Your meditation could be to get rid of fear or pressure. It could also be for enhancing creativity or being infused with inspiration.

Intention creates a platform on which you build the practice of meditation.

Meditating without intention is akin to climbing a fruitless tree just to experience the tree. When you sit with intention, you know what you want or you know what you do not want. Start with what you are clear on the most. Build up piece by piece, day by day. You will keep getting clarity on your situation. Get rid of what you do not want to bring in what you want; in early days of meditation, the intention can be as simple as that. With practice, you will refine your choices, find a clear direction, a path, get a vision perhaps. Go with the flow, do not resist, thoughts will come and go, focus on your intention.

For example, in your workplace, you want good relations with your colleagues and seniors. Set the intention: “I have good relations with my colleagues and seniors. They help me whenever I reach out. I am thankful to them for their support and kindness.” (Even if someone has rejected supporting you, send them the gratitude anyway). “My relationship with my colleagues becomes better and better each day.”

Focus on these thoughts, how you want the situation to be, what you desire with a pure heart. Now visualise opening your heart centre and sending out appreciation, gratitude and your love to all.

After you are done, bring your attention back to yourself and close the meditation. Stay for a minute or two absorbing the pure positive vibration that you just created with your intentions. When you are ready, proceed for the day.

WHY INTEND?

When you intend, you pre-dispose your brain to create a reality that your subconscious wants. After you have meditated with intention, you come out satisfied, with a sense of fulfilment, as opposed to without. This sense of fulfilment lends value to your time and effort. Not just that, you allow the inflow of pure positive thoughts without resistance.

In the absence of intention or resolve, you may resist the inflow of thoughts because the analytical mind is still active. Meditation needs surrender — surrender from the calculations of the conscious mind. For instance, you may say you can’t concentrate or sit still, but when you rise up to the resolve — “I know it is possible to concentrate”, “I can concentrate”, “I concentrate very well” — you will be surprised at how your mind complies. The ease, the flow and the grace of the meditative process is invested in intention.

Published in:
https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/health-fitness/how-to-get-the-best-out-of-meditation-1.62610653