Meditation is a kind of relaxation in the natural presence of the here and now. To move from focusing attention to spontaneous meditation, you need to learn to relax your whole existence, as we are, and stop trying to do anything with anything, because attention is something spontaneous and natural. This process is individual and even intimate. It is almost impossible to describe in detail all the stages, there can be hundreds of them and each has its own, but in general terms the following happens …
First, we plunge the body into relaxation, leaving only those parts of it slightly tense that are necessary to maintain a stable position. At first, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the thought of what you are observing and the observation itself. If you seem to be meditating, most likely it means that you are only thinking about it. Meditation is an extremely intuitive process, like a spontaneous dance outside of thoughts. You can think of running clouds, but they don't need any mental effort to move. You don't need thoughts to raise your hand. Osho, during one of his lectures, cited the example of a centipede, which one day, suddenly, thought about how it moves all its legs, and then stumbled.
One of the most effective meditations is contemplation of thoughts that arise in the spectrum of awareness. As you practice observing thoughts, you begin to distinguish between different aspects and facets of thinking. It becomes clear that thought is not only that "living thing", "my personality", ego … but it is also energy, and you cannot call it objectively living. This is a certain kind of tension against the general background of consciousness. When the tension is recognized, the relaxation phase begins.
You let go of all the concepts of yourself, everything that you associated with yourself, not falling asleep, but being in continuous natural attention. At this stage, the realization opens that thought is even a kind of effort. It's just that we are used to doing it, and at first, relaxation seems to be something unnatural. But this is just another thought. We relax the brain, the head, letting go of all the impulses that arise in the periphery.
As you relax in natural presence, you notice that hundreds of thoughts are always circling in the field of perception, and we are actually not creators, but conductors of these substances. Our mind unconsciously grabs them from the mental space. As relaxation intensifies, you penetrate deeper and deeper into the unconscious, endowing it with the light of your attention, ordering and expanding your consciousness. Expansion of consciousness is characterized by the experience of lightness, freedom and bliss. You seem to blur into space, where the personal "I" is no longer that compressed bundle of everyday thoughts.
As you progress in the practice of meditation, the expression of thoughts in an internal monologue begins to seem like something rude. Thoughts are recognized in the form of their initial impulses and their original taste is immediately recognized. Even before you let the thought into yourself, you can already distinguish whether this thought is restless or positive, you should pay attention to it, feed it and give it a go, or not.
This is perhaps the best way to stop indulging, self-indulgence and nagging, ridding the brain of the load of chaos of useless information wasting attention and energy. There is no need to portray calmness and detachment when they persist naturally.
One can meditate without a specific object, relax the body and mind, remain alert, attuned immediately to the untainted aspect of existence as such, which is a direct way of recognizing one's essence. But this is the practice of the advanced, and in most cases the object is useful and necessary, at least as a point of reference, to keep awake. When it is not entirely clear what is happening in consciousness, you simply remember: "I am contemplating this object," whether it is the tip of the nose, breath, sound, mantra, external object, or some experience.
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As one progresses in meditation, attention becomes more and more relaxed. Having detached ourselves from such acute details as thoughts and refined, we feel our own essence, as a kind of vibrating being similar to space. This is not the final goal, because there is still some energy that fixes in a certain plane, albeit wider than private thoughts.
As the tension in meditation is removed, all accumulated stresses are released, "karma is dumped," the discriminating ability of the mind becomes thinner, and it becomes possible to work with the subtlest causes of what is happening.
You can start the practice of meditation from twenty minutes a day, gradually increasing to an hour or more. On free days, you can arrange retreats when meditation lasts for several hours continuously. The retreat can last from one day to several years, depending on the conditions of the practice. It is believed that retreat is the most powerful means of realizing enlightenment.
Whenever possible, meditation should be supplemented with a personal exercise practice. For example, Surya Namaskar.
If meditation does not work out and you feel something like strained attempts at concentration, you can use various guidelines that are useful for practice:
1.) I stick to the object of meditation, no matter what, without being distracted.
2.) Now there is not a single important thought, I will think all this later, but now only practice.
3.) Everything happens by itself, I don't do anything, the choice happens automatically, I am free from choice.
4.) The object of meditation is already here and now, no effort will help to perceive it. You just need to relax.
5.) I let go of thoughts as they are, let there be any thoughts, I do not pay attention to them.
6.) How can I not control my own mind? If I'm not in control of something, maybe it's not mine?
7.) I have always been here, there has always been something that is right now and nothing else is needed - there is nothing to strive for.
8.) There is nothing but natural consciousness.
Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to objectively describe these subtle processes in words, and it is worth getting used to the unsupported intuitive consciousness outside of thoughts, which is dormant for most people in our time.
If you do not have a penchant for meditation, this is perfectly normal. At certain times, for most people, psychological analysis and ordinary active life, where we learn to make adult decisions and take responsibility, can bring much more benefit.
