3 Keys to Effortless Meditation
Today I’m sharing my 3 keys for effortless meditation. These are essential to any practice and when we successfully cultivate all three, we can move easily into higher levels of consciousness.
Let’s jump right in:
Concentration - Relaxation - Energy
Concentration, relaxation, and energy are the keys to go deep in meditation. When these three are all present at the same time, we can move easily into our practice and the benefits of focusing ourselves in this way become obvious.
It is very helpful to understand how these all fit together so that we can troubleshoot and fine tune our personal practices over time. Paying attention to the balance of these three elements will help you learn how to get the most out of your sessions. Whenever you have a “good” meditation, all three of these are present to some degree. Anytime you are struggling in your practice, or if it feels like “nothing is happening”, you are lacking in one or more of these areas. (If you feel that every practice needs to “blast you into another dimension” to qualify as a good meditation, you may be addicted to intensity - a very challenging obstacle that I will address in another post.)
Thankfully, these three keys all have a mutually beneficial relationship; each one enhances the others. You don’t need to be blessed in all three areas in order to succeed. We can work with what we have and build up from there.
Without concentration,
there is no control.
Concentration is what gives us control of our sessions. This allows us to focus our efforts in a single direction with fewer detours. It also enables us to put the full force of our energy into each moment. This is incredibly important for steady progress but if this is not your strong suit don’t despair!
If you feel that your concentration is not good enough, think again.
Think of someone who has loads of energy but is completely scattered. They probably feel pretty stressed out and, even worse, they have no control.
Now think of someone with plenty of energy and a deep level of relaxation. Even though their energy is just as strong, it has a quality of smoothness and tranquility; it is much easier to control.
This relationship allows us to cultivate relaxation as a means of developing concentration.
Learning to relax your body/emotions and smooth/calm your energy will help make your mind easier to control. By strengthening your ability to relax, concentration will become more accessible.
Don’t get me wrong: concentration is a practice and a skill that needs to be developed over time! It’s just that at certain times it is very easy, and at other times it is impossible.
This basically has to do with your personal priorities (money, sex, meditation, family, God, etc.) and how well you are managing to balance your external life with your internal reality. Concentration in meditation will be easier or more difficult depending on which one of these gets the majority of your attention every day.
Without relaxation,
there is no depth.
Relaxation is what gives our practice depth. Think of an olympic athlete during a race. They have incredible concentration and energy, but they are not relaxed; they are in ultra high-performance mode. Every particle of their being is focused on taking action in the physical world. This is a wonderful level of “aliveness”, but it is unlikely that they will move into an enlightened state of consciousness during the event.
No matter how energized and concentrated you are, without relaxation you cannot move beyond everyday levels of waking consciousness. You can be incredibly effective in the world and accomplish many things, but you will not move beyond the physical world as you currently know it. This is because the physical aspects of your being are highly active and the deeper aspects of your being are hidden beneath the layers of external activity.
In yoga, we talk about 4 basic levels of consciousness: waking, sleeping, dreaming, and beyond (turiya). If you view this as a progression, it is clear that relaxation plays a powerful role in taking us to heightened states of awareness. This does not mean that we must fall sleep in order to reach turiya. I’m simply listing them in this way to illustrate the fact that, when compared to waking consciousness, all of these states are accompanied by a deeper level of relaxation.
Without energy,
there is no awakening.
Energy is vital because, without it, we fall asleep! Being concentrated and relaxed is pleasant, but it is not enough; we need energy to “fuel” our awakening. By improving the flow of energy in the body, and by changing the quality of energy to contain more peace and calm, we gain access to states of being that make concentration feel effortless. When we direct enough of our energy inwards, and the energy flow is smooth and calm, meditation begins naturally and spontaneously.
It is very helpful to conceive of meditation as a process of “interiorization.”
If you were to quantify the amount of energy and focus you use each day: how much is directed towards the external world, and how much is focused on your inner experience?
Just think of how much energy you spend each day/week/month dealing with (or just thinking about!) life’s challenges, struggles, worries, anxieties, relationships, desires, etc.
Most of us are almost entirely externally oriented!
This is not a bad thing and it is not wrong. The point here is that this creates an energetic habit that makes focusing internally more difficult. Our mental, emotional, and energetic patterns are all accustomed to flowing outwards. There is a very real momentum to all of this that contributes to our wandering minds, restless bodies, and unstable emotions during meditation (and everyday life!)
As we continue with our practice of concentrating our awareness internally, several wonderful things will happen:
there begins to be a natural accumulation of energy in the body - we have more power to bring into the practice
our energy flow becomes smoother - the mind and emotions are easier to control and do not become upset as easily
the pattern of interiorization is established - energy begins moving inward naturally - concentration is improved
Of course we can’t talk about energy without talking about chakras and nadis! These are the major energy centers (chakras) and pathways (nadis) throughout the body. As we develop these to a higher level of efficiency, there is a natural tendency for energy to move inwards and upwards. This creates a powerful momentum that helps to carry us deeper into the practice.
One quick exercise for bringing this all together:
I have found the following exercise to be extremely helpful in the cultivation of these three essential keys to meditation. All you need to do is take a brief moment after your practice to reflect.
After every session, rate the overall quality of your meditation as low, medium, or high.
Then rate each of the three keys: concentration, relaxation, energy - low, medium, high.
It should look something like this:
Overall Quality: medium
Concentration: medium
Relaxation: high
Energy: low
This will help you understand how to really improve. When you begin to see a specific pattern or deficiency, you can then easily begin some exercises that are specific to developing that key. It’s amazing how realizing that concentration is your weakness can really help motivate you to concentrate! By isolating these three key elements you can make better use of your internal resources and your time.
I like the simplicity of rating low, medium, and high. It gets me close enough to understand what I need to work on. If you feel compelled to rate everything from 1-10, go right ahead. I don’t find that level of detail to be useful personally, but I do believe we will all benefit from this brief exercise in post-practice reflection!
I sincerely hope this has helped you in some way and that you will revisit this idea any time you feel challenged or stuck in your journey. Please let me know how it goes! I wish you all the best!
Namaste
