The Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons offer detailed instructions on the scientific meditation techniques taught by Paramahansa Yogananda. For more information on the SRF Lessons, click here.
“Meditation,” explains Paramahansa Yogananda, “is the ability to take the mind away from every object of distraction and put it upon God alone.” Group meditation is most effective when each person does his or her best to enter devotionally into a state of focused peaceful alertness wherein one communes deeply with God.
For those who do not have the SRF Lessons, here are four simple yet powerful meditation strategies for achieving interior stillness and feeling the peace of God:
1) Assume an Ideal Meditation Posture. Sit with a relaxed, upright spine, feet flat on the floor if you are sitting in a chair, chest gently out, shoulders comfortably back, abdomen softly pulled in, and hands upturned as they rest as close as comfortable to the juncture between the thighs and abdomen. Sitting tall, keep your body poised but very relaxed and without any unnecessary tension.
2) Tense and Relax to Remove All Stress. Inhale through the nose, clenching the fists and tensing the whole body for a couple of seconds. Then relax all the body parts at once and, as you do so, expel the breath through the mouth in a double exhalation, “huh, huh.” Do this tense and relax sequence several times.
3) Focus Your Eyes Gently Upward. With eyes closed, focus your gaze gently at the spiritual eye or Christ Consciousness Center at the point between the eyebrows. Throughout your meditation, keep your gaze softly, consistently interiorized at the spiritual eye.
4) Concentrate Your Thoughts on God. If you have not yet learned specific meditation techniques, with devotion and wholehearted attention silently call on God in the language of your heart; and if your mind wanders, calmly bring it back again and again to communing with your own personal understanding of God. (As an alternative, simply observe your breathing; and when your mind wanders, calmly bring it back to your breathing.)
GUIDELINES FOR GROUP MEDITATIONS
- Please do your best to arrive slightly ahead of time.
- Turn off all electronic devices.
- It’s best not to wear perfumes or strong scents.
- Try to stay quietly seated during periods of meditative silence.
- As needed, please feel free to stand and do gentle stretches during times of chanting and instrumental music.
- After the meditation, please speak softly until you have departed the chapel area. In an effort to hold on to the peaceful aftereffects of meditative communion with God, some members of the group may wish to depart in friendly yet reverent silence.
OUR LEXINGTON SRF MEDITATION CHAPEL. Our group meets in a lovely meditation chapel less than a mile south of downtown Lexington in the historic Bell Court District. If you are interested in attending our group meditations or learning more about our Lexington Meditation Circle, please contact us and we will do our best to respond to you promptly.
Paramahansa Yogananda: “Before embarking on important undertakings sit quietly, calm your senses and thoughts, and meditate deeply. You will then by guided by the creative power of Spirit. After that you should utilize all necessary means to achieve your goal.”
“EVERYTHING ELSE CAN WAIT, BUT OUR SEARCH FOR GOD CANNOT WAIT.”