How can people find authentic guidance for meditation

It simply does not matter whether you have been practicing meditation and yoga for eons or have recently developed a knack for it, in either case the main objective remains the same – finding peace of mind and good health. But if you decide to take the internet route, you are bound to get confused rather than getting some clarity on where to contact and whom to believe.

When you research the internet, it is quite likely that you will use Google as your preferred search engine. When you search Google using the keyword "meditation center", it returns you more than thirteen hundred million results. If this is not enough and you are still eager to find some form of direct guidance, you can try keywords like "meditation trainer" or "meditation teacher" and in both the cases, you will be swept with a staggering figure of results!

Not to blame Google, but this certainly does not help. Everyone is trying hard to grab attention of the public, which in turn, is creating a great deal of noise. The sheer number of results, that too for such niche topics and location specific queries, is potent enough to raise doubts and questions in mind. Here lies the point – is this sea of information taking people towards gaining mastery over meditation or finding mental peace and physical well-being?

A more prudent and perhaps time saving approach would involve learning the basics of meditation on your own. To start with, you can search the internet with extremely generic keywords related to meditation and you will get results that will take you to the theoretical aspects and basics of meditation. You must exercise your discretion and focus on the fundamentals only, if you are a starter. For advanced meditation practitioners, it is apt to explore the more advanced topics and lesser known variety.

In case you are a beginner, it is sometimes advised that you should seek some professional guidance to quickly advance in your spiritual journey. However, ancient oriental scriptures suggest that meditation is not a race, neither a competition. It is better that you practice at your own pace and set the ball rolling. All you need to do is sit quietly in a posture that you can maintain for quite some time, keep your back straight, your shoulders loose and try to think about something positive and beautiful. You can try thinking about a deity, a mortal or something abstract, but it must make you feel better.

When you practice regularly and proceed with small, incremental steps, you will be able to understand what is working for you and what is not. The whole point of meditation is to help you realize your true self and everything else comes secondary. Advanced practitioners often boast of some unusual powers that they like to flaunt about them. It is also likely that some of them will be really impressive and you might get tempted to make that person your Guru. But oriental masters are of the opinion that these are nothing but temporary stages and reflects naïve attitude instead of a matured personality. So don’t get distracted by such tricks and march ahead in the path of spiritual enlightenment. Always keep in mind that the core philosophy is the same, whether you are practicing meditation in your home or somewhere else.

AUTHOR’S BIO

Thomas is an entrepreneur with an extremely busy lifestyle. He has learned meditation in Brisbane from Jeanette, whom he considers as the most competent guide for aspirants who want to master the art of meditation. Leon has drawn heavily from his experience with Jeanette’s methodologies, while writing this article.

Thomas have 5 years of experience in IT/ BPO sector and is currently working in a leading IT company.