We do not want to start our journey, yet we try every possible way to feed our brains to come up with a opinion about the subject. Sadly, meditation is not suitable for such or any opinions, at all. We read various topics and analogies to act in a particular fashion. I have discovered that to behave in a spiritual manner is a new trend. At a certain age and a certain stage, spirituality arises in the human mind. Before that, we prefer to indulge in various sort of things except spirituality. Although, there is no particular time to start a spiritual journey. Often it happens that a person tends to act like a teacher instead of go on with a learning as a student. That is where, confusion happens. We close our eyes and we sense a crowd of thoughts, towards which we feel a major attraction. It is fine if a person decides to continue with his practice but often, a person’s unrealistic expectations keeps him from doing so. At such times, a person tries to look for a suitable system. A system which teaches him the science of, ‘how to start meditation’.

Everyone knows about the benefits of the meditation, but no one likes to practice it. Such is the virtue of our impatience.

Everyone tries to close his eyes, to sit in silence, to find some peace or even better, to find some part of salvation in each sitting, which is quiet an absurd expectation. In fact any expectation is simply absurd. That is where problems with meditation start. More than 25% of adults who meditate regularly reported having an unpleasant experience related to their practice, according to research led by the University College London.

People use to carry unwanted thoughts such as ambition and desire, while starting with their meditation practice. 

There are  eight stages or eight levels in Raja Yoga,  to attain the final level of Meditation or Samadhi. Among these levels, a significant level is the fifth one called ‘PRATYAHARA’. Pratyahara is all about withdrawal.  Withdrawal of our minds from providing reactions to any sense or thought.  In the words of Swami Vivekananda, ‘The first lesson, then, is to sit for some time and let the mind run on. The mind is bubbling us all the time. It is like that monkey jumping about. Let the monkey jump as much as he can; you simply wait and watch. Knowledge is power, says the proverb, and that is true. Until you know what the mind is doing you cannot control it. Give it the rein; many hideous thoughts may come into it; you will be astonished that it was possible for you to think such thoughts. But you will find that each day the mind’s vagaries are becoming less and less violent, that each day it is becoming calmer.  This controlling of the mind, and not allowing it to join itself to the centres, is Pratyahara. I highly recommend anyone and everyone to practice ‘Pratyahara’ for few weeks to succeed further in his efforts while practicing meditation. 

However, we always use to talk about the Monkey mind. How our mind never stops. When we sit idle, we come across with the true nature of our mind and as usual it is astonishing to witness the frequency of thoughts in our minds. The more hard we practice with our meditation, the more chances are there that we harden our consciousness. We nned to go subtle with our practice. We need to feel the tension building up in our various body parts. While sitting in meditation, a beginner can easily witness the growing tension in certain areas, such as neck region, lower back and upper back and several many more. Different people feel the tension at different places in their body parts. But some of these are quite common. It is obvious for a beginner to feel the tension in his eye lids. Simply because a practitioner tends to close his eyes with effort. We can actually see the formation of wrinkles in the surrounding area of the eye socket. That is how effort should be done but not the meditation. When a practitioner feels subtle, one can easily sense that the eyes are simply closing by their own. No or very little efforts are needed. So, we need to practice the process of conscious relaxation, be it in the terms of physical or mental.