Now let’s give it a shot. You’ll need a time and a place where you won’t be interrupted for 15-20 mintes and some foam earplugs. Insert the earplugs in your ears and seal yourself in from the outside world. Before you begin to try and meditate do the energization exercises described in the previous section, the energization exercises will help to remove excess tension from your body.
Once you have tensed and then relaxed your body from head to toe then you can sit for meditation. Find a comfortable sitting position, be relaxed, but try and keep your back straight. Raise your eyes and gaze at the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling, this is the position that you want your eyes to be in, now close your eyelids. Now take your tongue and turn it back and try and touch the uvula, that thing that hangs down in the back of your throat, with the tip of your tongue, don’t worry if you can’t reach the uvula touching the tongue anywhere on the roof of the mouth or soft palette will do. Your hands should be clasped together in your lap.
Having done all this, you are now in position. Take a slow deep breath and while inhaling think “I”, the length of the breath should take at least 10 seconds or longer. At the end of the inhalation, pause and then begin a slow exhalation of the breath, while exhaling think “AM”. Inhale with “I”, exhale with “AM”. Slow deep breaths, 10 seconds or longer. The length of the inhalation and the exhalation should be the same. If you like, you can substitute “I AM” with any thing else that has meaning for you. Many who have previous meditation experience are familiar with the mantra “Hamsa” or “So Hum”, you can repeat “Sha – lom” or “All – ah” or “Je – sus” or “Dar-win” for that matter, or whatever else you want, the mantra is simply a object to focus the mind. Sit in this way, breathing in and out slowly and deeply and thinking the mantra, do this for 5- 10 minutes, then just breathe normally but still think the mantra on the inhalation and the exhalation. If you find yourself riding the train of thought, get off at the next stop and go back to the mantra. Do this for another 10 -15 minutes, breathing in and breathing out thinking the mantra.
If you find your breath getting shallow or if you begin to have some long pauses between your breaths just let it happen, remember your breathing pattern is linked to the thought patterns in the mind. As your breath slows down, the mind is able to concentrate more fully and in those pauses between the breaths you may find a taste of a truly wonderful state of no-mind. Do this twice a day if possible. When is the best time to meditate? Anytime you can get 15 – 20 minutes in a place where you won’t be interrupted.