How Do I Know Meditation Is Working?

For years I thought – how do I know if meditation is working?   Do I need to learn how to meditate or have I got the proper techniques down?

In other words, what should meditation feel like? 

What short-term clues will I have when meditation is working versus spending time trying and either failing to even enter the “alpha” (original phase) of meditation or going too far and completely falling asleep?

Based on my years of experience with meditation and similar opinion from hundreds of others I’ve practiced with here are a few ways to know meditation is working:

• You have a wide flurry of thoughts that enter your brain seemingly without any trigger… this is quite common in the first 5-10 minutes of meditation as you try and focus or use contemplation techniques such as mantra’s or white noise, you must allow this uncontrolled thought storms to rage on in your brain simply telling yourself that you want to put these thoughts aside for now – as if they are floating above you but no longer inside
• Your breathing should become deeper and more regulated.  When you feel your breathing begin to come easier and deeper, you can be confident that you are nearing the first phase of meditation
• You may feel your eyes flutter – similar to when you enter a REM sleep stage.  Sometimes this happens to me, sometimes it does not – use it as a clue not a certainty to know if meditation is working
• Your body may begin to feel light…almost as if you are rising above your body.  Many people describe this is if they were up above their body looking down at yourself, but with a very objective eye
• As you enter the next phase of meditation you begin to lose track of your surroundings and what is giong on around you…it is critical that you both allow yourself the “luxury” of entering this state and that you gently urge your mind to go even deeper
• It is this phase where you know meditation is working – a total sense of calm, serenity, non-hurridness, peacefullness and objectivity come over you.   Best if you can hold that state for at least 10-15 minutes before you slowlyl bring yourself out of the meditation.  If you can stay 20-30 minutes in that state, even better.  I prefer multiple shorter meditations through the day to one long one…it feels more effective to me
• Finally, after 1-2 weeks of consistently achieving meditation, putting yourself in to the sate of meditation becomes much easier – some even learn to do it “on-demand” even in the middle of a busy day. 

Don’t worry if your first few meditation attempts don’t work.  Try different mantra’s, background music such as ocean sounds can often help – anything with a repetitive sound (like waves crashing on shore, wind blowing through a forest, etc…) will work to help make your meditation work. 

Stick with it and after the first few weeks you will notice incredible benefits in health, your ability to focus, be more productive and manage frustration, anger and stress in your life. 

To learn more about meditation techniques and how to combine them with an overall life plan for greater achievement – we recommend applying the techniques found in Attracting Greatness…one of the best programs we have ever put into practice.