Everyone needs guidance
The only exception is the natural meditation states of people who exercise or are absorbed in their hobby, or even someone doing a puzzle can enter a deep state of concentration without guidance or any help. But let’s leave that aside and talk about formal meditation practice.
Within most Eastern wisdom traditions, having a teacher was crucial in order to get the right guidance from someone who had experienced the different levels of meditative realization and therefore knew what to tell people about them. It was important to find a teacher who had actual experience and not just studied the books of former masters. Just as if you wanted to visit a country you’ve never been to, the best person to guide you would be someone who has traveled there often and has extensive knowledge of the place.
It seems reasonable to suggest that if you are going to meditate it is very important to know why you are meditating, what you expect to find and what you are trying to achieve. Even if you try your best to go beyond your ambitions or efforts.
I was led along the traditional route in meditation and instructed by a Tibetan Buddhist master whom I considered my spiritual friend and guru, and then went away and meditated exactly as he instructed, even during week-long retreats where he followed his instructions. If I needed more help, I would go back to the Guru, ask questions and adapt my practice to his advice.
I started leading guided meditations with people visiting the Buddhist center where I lived and studied and realized that this was the modern equivalent of passing on vital information and guidance.
My main job was to make sure people’s minds didn’t wander and that they stayed focused ‘on the job’. As a former tennis coach, what I did was akin to imparting the skills of tennis. Also, as a meditator, I realized how much work it was to keep your mind from wandering. People told me they didn’t even know they were distracted from breathing until I said, come back to breathing. This is an essential skill to learn during meditation; the recognition of whether you are focused on your task or whether you are simply lost in thought, daydreaming.
Once you have learned the skills of meditation in a group meditation, you can become your own guided meditation teacher by internalizing the instructions. When you sit down to meditate, you still have the teacher’s voice in the corner of your mind instructing you what to do and how to do it. Ultimately, that voice becomes yours.
It is important to note that instructions and guidance are just as important as a map of an area, but once you arrive at your location, put the map down.
Likewise, instructions and guidance are important, but actually doing and experiencing what is being referred to is the main goal, not just mastering the map but also experiencing the location. For example, calm, sustained mindfulness training involves continually guiding yourself back to the object of meditation, let’s say your breathing, by first noticing that you are distracted and then guiding yourself back to focusing with relaxation on your breathing, but when you are already focused on your breathing. breathe there is nothing more to do and no guidance is needed, just keep focusing on breathing.
In more advanced states of meditation it is very easy to confuse states of subtle drowsiness with the deep bliss of enlightenment. One master says this is the most common mistake you can make, so it is very important to get guidance from an experienced teacher to guide you beyond these dull states to the true clarity of awakening.
States of no-thinking and even bliss can also be brought about as a result of causes and manipulative techniques, but they are only temporary and fleeting states – they are not the willed discovery of a transcendent nature that brings similar experiences. It is important not to become attached to these pleasant meditation experiences and to continue moving past them.
So once you have internalized the instructions and guidance, either through a group meditation or by learning the instructions directly from a teacher or even from a book or the Internet, you can then meditate skillfully and reap the benefits and achieve your goals. Whether those goals are reducing stress, improving concentration or connecting with a non-dual enlightened presence hidden within. Finally, a good teacher can help you validate your experiences and let you know if you still have further to go or have already arrived at your destination.
Read further
– 4 Questions to Ask a Meditation Teacher (Before You Commit)
Written by Chad Foreman
Chad Foreman is the founder of The Way of Meditation and has been teaching meditation since 2003, determined to bring authentic meditation practices into the lives of millions of people in the modern world. Chad is a former Buddhist monk who lived in a retreat hut for six years and studied and practiced meditation full-time. He now has over twenty years of experience teaching meditation. Chad likes regularly
Meditation retreats on the Sunshine Coast, Australia
Online meditation coachingprovides three online programs – The 21 Day Meditation Challenge to gradually guide people from the basic principles of mindfulness and relaxation to profound states of consciousness.
Breathwork to help manage stress and go deeper into meditation and
The bliss of inner fire This is a Buddhist tantric method to clear energy blockages and connect with the clear light of bliss. You can also get Chad’s free ebook now Insights on the go.