There is no one right way to meditate: the best meditation technique is the one that works for you. Meditation involves focus. We focus on a single point or object until we are no longer distracted by thoughts. In a thoughtless state, we begin to perceive the true essence of our minds. This true essence can be perceived as an inner light, referred to in Tibet as the dharma kaya, or the clear light of reality. The more that you experience the inner light, the deeper your happiness and realization becomes. Experiencing the inner light is a direct experience of reality.
Meditation can involve focusing on the breath, focusing on a sound ( sometimes referred to as a mantra) , focusing visually on an external object such as a candle flame, rock, or geometric pattern designed for meditation (known as a yantra), or focusing visually on an internal mental picture.
The type of meditation that practitioners have found to produce the most powerful results is a focus on the energy centers within our bodies, known as chakras in Sanskrit. These energy centers are not in our physical bodies, but in our subtle, or energy, bodies .
The non-chakra based meditation techniques can be very effective for some people, especially when they are just starting out, so we make both approaches available here for those who are interested in them. To get started, please try the Breathing Meditation series and Visualization Meditation Practices.
Eventually we encourage chakra based meditation for anyone looking to make serious progress as it both provides a single point of focus while at the same time increasing the flow of your life force, or kundalini, energy. The kundalini energy is what allows you to perceive and be conscious: as you deliberately direct its flow, your consciousness expands. Each of the energy centers is associated with particular states of mind, eventually culminating in the crown center, above the head, which is the center of illumination, or full consciousness. Please see the Living Flow series Meditation on the Energy Centers to learn more.