Meditation is seen as something supernatural as people often connect it with mysticism and spiritual gurus and perceive it as something outlandish. In Easter Philosophy, meditation is seen as something divine where as in western cultures, it's seen as something to induce relaxation. I have been practicing meditation(on and off) for over 15 years now and it's been quite a journey. Meditation has helped me in shaping my life for good and that's not it, meditation has also helped me in broadening my consciousness and evolving me into a better human being.
Before we begin I would like to discuss what is NOT meditation.
Meditation is not a compulsion, it's not a order to impose on yourself and shut yourself down by force. Instead meditation is finally giving your body and mind some time to communicate with each other and listening to what can not be spoken with words.
Meditation is not concentration on any one thing till your head hurts and makes you miserable. Meditation is about letting go so that your "mind" and "will" would stop colliding and finally find a balance to co-exist.
Meditation is neither suppressing nor assisting your thoughts, meditation has nothing to do with thoughts and thinking at all.
Meditation doesn't take you to some alternate Universe where you meet some demonic entities that would possess you.
Meditation doesn't make you super human instead it helps you become a proper human.
With that being said here's How One Must Proceed With Meditation:
Find a quiet and dim lit place to sit, make sure it is well ventilated and has rather cool temperature. You don't have to sit in a typical lotus posture, meditation can be done by sitting on a chair as well.
Once you find a comfortable position make sure your back is erect however you don't have to force it to be perfectly erect as it builds some tension in the back muscles and which would make it uncomfortable to meditate for longer time. Just sit with a reasonable erect back.
Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, try to take long and deep breath right into your lungs and belly (but without a force) and without holding it release it all out slowly repeat so for 1-2 minutes and your mind will start to calm down. Then breathing will slowly become normal without any efforts.
Soon enough you will realize all the struggle is vanishing and there lies a state of mind which can only be attained by doing and thinking absolutely nothing and it comes automatically.
If thoughts starts to pop up, just consciously reasure yourself that they are just thoughts and they don't carry any charge and they will vanish soon enough. If you tend to reason them out or even start engaging yourself into them that is where the "hell" starts. You just need to remind yourself that you are sitting here to meditate and not to think about things, maybe you will think about them when you're free.
There should be no time constraint, you can meditate from 5 minutes to 5 hours or days at once however do not force yourself to follow any time bound, just sit in the meditative position and try not to engage with anything but let things go and enjoy the state that your mind has achieved when it does absolutely nothing.
With the passage of time, you will start noticing changes in your behavior that you've become more peaceful and productive and many other positive changes that would help you in becoming the best version of yourself.
