Meditation for Beginners. The Ultimate Practical Guide with 35 Steps to Relieve Stress, Improve Mental Health and Find Inner Peace in Everyday

By Hermelinda

Forget stress, anxiety and negativity and regain your inner balance with meditation.

You feel fatigued, tired and overwhelmed by all the negative emotions around you so much that you want to leave everything and go far away.

I assure you, however, that this whole pile of negativity will haunt you even on vacation, but don't worry because there is a way out and it is called Meditation.

If this is one of your first approaches to this ancient practice, let me tell you a few things.

Meditation is a practice that is used to achieve greater mastery of the mind's activities, so that it becomes capable of focusing on a single thought while eliminating all those thousands of superfluous and continuous thoughts.

Meditation allows you to deal with even difficult situations in a calm manner without going haywire.

If you are an anxious and stressed person, meditation helps you live in the here and now by eliminating all that negativity that you carry around with you every day.

It sounds too good, doesn't it?

Yet there are tens of thousands of testimonies in favor, including science.

For many novices, meditation may seem difficult because they are afraid that they are not concentrating enough and that it is too difficult, but I assure you that it just takes practice.

No one learned to run before they started walking.

For this reason I created this book for you who are at the beginning of this journey by identifying it as your personal practical guide .

It is, in fact, 35 guided meditations for:

•             relieve stress

•             strengthen the mind and concentration

•             Find the inner balance and peace needed to face each day

Have greater awareness of yourself and your inner 'self'

Begin this journey of spiritual growth and become the best version of yourself.

Scroll up and click the "Buy Now" button to get your personal hands-on guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hermelinda
• Release date: Jan 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798224525539

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Who are we and where do we come from?

What is a spiritual path and how can it be undertaken?

What is mind? And what is beyond the mind?

Who really is the I who thinks and experiences the world?

What is the mystery enclosed in life and in the depths of the human soul?

These are some of the fundamental questions that have always faced those who have been searching for themselves.

What if what you’ve been looking for all this time is a part of you that’s always there but remains hidden?

Every man carries in the depths of his soul the ancestral memory of a past made of magic, which is the authentic root of human life. Approaching such knowledge means, therefore, being able to shed light on the origin of the great questions of being and becoming human.

We human beings have forgotten our true origins, but within us lies a core of consciousness that has accumulated experiences over lives and lives. It is an essential nucleus that is found in the deep soul and preserves every memory. Instead, the part of us that is ordinarily made to work in life in waking states does not remember, or could perhaps have deep feelings, yearnings, or tendencies, because we are always in contact, even slightly, with that deep essence. In that essence definitely lies the secret of existence, and we could find all the wisdom, the magic, the eternity, all that we have always sought are contained.

There are many people who have suddenly realized that they feel like a stranger in the ordinary world: they no longer recognize themselves in what they had always considered a normal life, as they can no longer conform to everything that ordinary people do. They begin to perceive that there is something wrong with the projects drawn for all and passively welcomed by the majority that follows and abides by these patterns that others have decided for us because this is what people do, the mass, so we must necessarily standardize.

It happens that, at some point in life, you will begin to feel the indefinite lack of something, and then this sense of lack can manifest itself through a deep sense of unsatisfaction or, more usually, suffering and depression without objective causes. And what does this sickness reveal? That is the profound voice of our true being, which manifests itself through an uneasiness because it has not been perceived, it has not been recognized, because this pressure of conformity has affected our authentic side, which is so different from what others expect from us. Then the situation might unfold in time, either as a loss, an illness, or a tragic episode in one’s life, as the true self’s ultimate attempt to emerge. It is like a cry of despair from our authentic source, drowned out for very long, that finally manages to manifest itself as a river overflowing from the banks where it had been forced. This is the voice of one’s soul: a voice that wants to bring us back to God, the source of all that exists.

That’s why at a certain point in life you take a spiritual path. This path consists of different degrees of practices and experiences that will correspond to a different way of perceiving reality arisen by a substantial change of state: a change in one’s inner deep nature.

That’s not about an accumulation of knowledge, but just a gradual awakening: rediscovering what ordinary material life had apparently removed, and that persists in one’s inner being in the form of a vague distant echo. In order to reach the heights of spiritual knowledge, it will therefore be necessary to work on oneself through the practices handed down to us by the spiritual masters. The fundamental principle that lies at the core of every spiritual journey and any tradition is that the truth lies within and that the researcher should learn how to know himself. And how can this be fulfilled? There are certain tools that we must use, which consist of techniques for the development of consciousness. Spiritual teachings cannot be just theory, but must become a practice.

This book provides you with the practical keys to adventure into that mysterious path that takes place in the depths of yourself and that will take you very far, along a path of magic and mysteries. Within yourself abide the forces of the entire universe. The soul is like a deep ocean, but to allow it to come out and speak, you have to shut off the mind. Meditation is the way to get out of the ordinary paths of the mind, digging through the many layers that cover your true being, to set out on new and wonderful paths.

Ordinary thought stops, and in silence, a new faculty is discovered, other than the thought itself. Your life will change. You will get in touch with deep forces that are part not only of yourself, but of the whole universe, everything that exists.

The words written here evoke magical and mysterious forces and lead to new inner paths. Every time you read a passage from this book and you follow the practices taught here, you will discover a new path still unexplored. It’s a long journey from which everyone can build their own itinerary. The words of the masters always vibrate differently, with new meanings.

The exercises, the reflections, the meditations described here have a living and powerful force that will lead even further on the journey. Each exercise will yield a state of consciousness and a development of awareness. All this will become the basis of one’s daily spiritual sadhana-practice.

Spiritual masters tell us that what we are looking for is already there, but we must recognize it, wake up, become aware of that. Through the teachings and practices transmitted to us by the masters of the ancient Eastern spiritual traditions, it is possible to descend into the abyss where the answers to these questions are hidden.

Then the goal is to find the keys to walk into that mysterious path that takes place in the depths of ourselves and that is going to take us very far, along a path of magic, mysteries, beauty, wonder, and continuous surprise. For if we are here now, there is a reason, and there is a mystery that we can discover. Deep within oneself abide the forces of the entire universe; in fact, within us, everything, everything is contained. But you have to dig, and suddenly in the excavation, all the magic begins to come out, and then you can glimpse something that gives the impression of being light and truth. A consciousness will emerge that is impersonal; it has no ego, but it is actually more personal than ever as you become that mystery. As the narrow borders of one’s personality expand, you will embrace a consciousness that sees everything and knows everything. It is really worth walking those paths that will take you so far from the ordinary world!

The spiritual path is first of all a path of excavation within oneself. Spiritual traditions and teachers have provided us with many tools, but then the work must be done by the disciple within himself through these instruments. The spiritual work will essentially consist of digging and finding a gap in all that has been artificially built up during one’s existence but which, in reality, does not really belong to us. That work can last years, decades, but the moment will come when that deep, real spot will be achieved, where not only one’s consciousness originates, but also the entire universe. Then true peace will be found there. From that point, we really begin to live in eternity.

The source of the spiritual practices taught in this text is drawn from the most important works of the spiritual masters and the teachings I received personally from the masters I have been lucky enough to meet. Along my journey, I first put together the contributions of Raja Yoga, which I had originally learned from what had been the effective western reworking of Rudolf Steiner: the whole matter of inner concentration/ silence, what in the East is defined as pratyahara, that is, the observation of the flow of thoughts, to extract and enucleate an essential observer center. Then we have the dharana, which is concentration, and then dhyana, which is the deepest meditative part. These techniques are enhanced if combined with Kriya Yoga (this one is not taught in this text, as available only through a direct initiation), whereas the further completion of these techniques takes place with the Self-enquiry/Atma-Vichara of the Advaita Vedanta, which has ancient origins. The Advaita techniques transmitted in more explicit form were better defined in the contemporary age by Ramana Maharshi and his disciples Sri Poonja and Annamalai Swami, and by the living Mooji that leads us by the hand, step by step, in what is a revival, and Nisargadatta Maharaj too.

After getting in touch with different and multiple traditions, spiritual schools, systems of practice, and teachers, I realized that there is a common background that considers spirituality as that true and profound part of one’s being. It is therefore an even deeper essence than what is ordinarily known. The spirit lies beyond the boundary before which philosophy, psychology, and religion stop. Where psychology ends, philosophy begins; where philosophy ends, religion begins. But when religion also ends, spirituality begins, in order to reach the deep point of one’s being, which is the true reality. But if we want to find this mysterious point, it is necessary to set out on unconventional paths, to distance oneself from the mass, from the certainties of official science and one’s own belief systems.

Words, while not fully communicating spiritual content and experiences, can nevertheless evoke strength, inspire and accompany along the way. To evoke means to take the reader by the hand and lead him towards new paths never traced and formerly unimaginable. And then it becomes possible to evoke, to begin and to start again, to draw a world of magic and to describe with metaphors what happens when, at one point, the presence of the spiritual other is born within oneself. But what you can try to do is to find paths that start from the mind, to get out of the mind through particular guided meditations that touch the core of the soul.

It is really necessary to get out of the mental pathways. Meditation must become a way out of the habitual mental pathways and even the alternative mental pathways. One will realize that the heart of spiritual thought is precisely that of freeing oneself from the shackles of thoughts, for this is the key to free action when one discovers that he is something completely different from thoughts.

From the teachings of the great masters is outlined a practical path that will lead ever deeper through vibrant thoughts that will be of constant guidance.

All these exercises and meditations have been tried and tested, and they follow an inner logic. You can proceed in practice alternating the various exercises or practicing them for cycles. The disciple will know what exercises he needs and what exercises are most necessary and suitable for him. What is proposed here are practice routes that are not fixed and static but susceptible to change. Some exercises seem different from others, yet they complement each other. What is most important is perseverance. You won’t get any results if you practice the exercises once a week. Constant practice will also help to strengthen the will, a fundamental requirement in every spiritual journey.

It is important to emphasize that esoteric ideas that are not taken in a practical way become pure philosophy, simple intellectual gymnastics that can not lead anywhere.

Some meditations are based on concepts and vibrant thoughts that lead from the mind to the spirit, following particular paths that reveal truths that can be recognized, felt, and lived deeply. Instead, some meditations are real practices that must first be read, then learned, and then practiced in a systematic way. We must read each exercise-meditation and let it act in itself. It begins with the process of reading, which means, first of all, to understand the text rationally and understand it at the level of concepts. Then you read it again and again, until in addition to the content understood rationally, you will have the feeling that there is something else: an experience of a kind of faculty even deeper than the mind. That is, you get to read with the soul, and so from the concept you pass to a sense of active emotion. You will have the deep feeling of experiencing a spiritual experience. At this point, it is necessary to concentrate both on the concept and on the emotional-experiential state, living it in its deep recesses. The concentration will last a few minutes and will be experienced as an active intellectual, emotional, and soul-spiritual experience. It may help to translate thought into some symbolic image that features the concept described and the connected spiritual experience. At the same time, this experience can be consolidated through a feeling of affirmation and firmness, as if to affirm with will and determination the spiritual experience.

It is not enough to think, but it is necessary to understand, be convinced, repeatedly immerse yourself in thought. This thought must be constantly revived in the soul; the soul must always fill itself with thought again. Any other thoughts, feelings, or memories must be eliminated.

Concentrating on a thought or concept in which one has deeply penetrated strengthens forces in the soul that are usually dispersed in ordinary life, and which will become real organs of perception for the spiritual worlds. During meditation, it is not enough to understand or remember a certain concept; it must be presented to consciousness in a constant and rhythmic way. Knowledge must be absorbed by the entire body and psychic being, not only as a thought but also as a willful feeling and impulse, in a constant and repetitive way. This state must be imagined as descending to the whole of oneself, both as a thought and as a state of feeling in the heart. In this way, the concept will insert itself into the deep layers of the subconscious until it turns into a new condition, into a living force.

Some particular meditations, in particular those related to the practice of self-enquiry, lead to deep states of consciousness that can then be prolonged and repeated at will.

Actually, this is not a book, but it is a path. It is a long meditation that extends in progressive stages and leads beyond all that is humanly conceivable. It is a practice that begins to be carried out already at the very moment the reading takes place.

The spiritual journey is a journey that, unlike the ordinary external ones, is accomplished within oneself. Often, the most exciting external journeys are those that have turned out to be a mirror of that inner journey, from which we return profoundly changed. And the journey within oneself is the most important journey of all, because it leads to the core of who you really are and therefore leads to irreversible changes. And you become better than what you were, or rather what you previously believed you were, because your true essence is undoubtedly better than what you previously thought you were.

Everyone has their own journey to make. In this book, there are the bricks to build it, and they can be arranged in original combinations to create a personal path and