The Ultimate Meditation Technique; Sticking With It

People often talk to me about their difficulties with meditation; it's hard to start and

, often, just as hard to maintain on a regular basis.

In our lives we are programmed to remain active. Work, play and sleep - these are the three distinct modes of activity our entire day is designed around. Nothing else. But meditation does not fall into any of these categories, that's why it's hard to keep it in our daily routine. Also its gains can take some time to materialize; weeks or months, rather than the seconds or minutes most marketing promises us in the digital age. That's why regular meditation is very much like regular exercise. It's hard to start and often hard to stick with too.

When we meditate, we allow ourselves time with our innermost emotions, thoughts and feelings. We don't employ them for this or that purpose, we simply watch them. It's the difference between driving a car and being a passenger. We are so used to driving our lives this way and that, that we find the practice of just sitting and observing so alien.

The most fundamental reason for meditation being so difficult, however, is that a part of us - whether you call it the ego, the outer self or the lower self (though I tend to avoid the latter as no part of ourselves should be higher or lower than another) - is intensely involved in the world. It lives in and feeds off the constant vicissitudes of existence. Like a soap opera addict, it never sees beyond life's drama. This is an inevitable and necessary part of all of us as, without it, we'd be ineffective in this world. What is also necessary, however, is the ability to sometimes take a step outside of the merry-go-round and just be. Just feel. Just know. And just watch. You don't have to turn it into your whole life - you just need windows, but the world based self will always keep dragging you back to the next most important thing. From the perspective of the ego, everything is important and it all needs attention right now. And sometimes we fall for it.

When you meditate you realize that it doesn't, but remembering that and extricating yourself from the constant whirlwind will, necessarily, always be a constant struggle.

As a result - even after months or years of practice - we can end up lapsing out of it. It's the same with any exercise that returns us to the position of observer - whether it's yoga or Tai Chi. That's why the ultimate meditation technique is, in its essence, simple; just stick with it.

Easier said than done, though, I know.

by: Dr Russell Razzaque

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