How to Meditate: What you didn’t know about Empty Mind Techniques and your bliss

( Average time to read: 8:46 minutes | 2,136 words )

Sow a thought and you reap an act; Sow an act and you reap a habit; Sow a habit and you reap a character; Sow a character and you reap a destiny.

Empty mind meditation is one of the most popular and yet misunderstood types of meditation. I love it because it trains you to still (or control, depending on what you want) your thoughts and emotions. Why should this matter? Your very destiny begins in your thoughts. Your very happiness begins in your emotions – combined with your thoughts, they take you up to heaven or down to hell.

Empty mind meditation is also a neutral form – it is free of all the different teachings and belief systems, so everyone can practice it without getting sucked into something they might not want to.

I’ve been asked a few times about my favourite meditations, so I’ll describe it here, with a few personal variations. These are: the standard version (20 minutes), the short version (1 second), and finally the ultimate version (permanent). I’ll also cover the common traps and frustrations you might face.

If you’re an experienced meditator, you can skip the next few sections and get straight to the goods.

Benefits of empty mind meditation

I have used empty mind meditation to great effect; it was one of the most important practices I used to get out of extreme negativity. Don’t let this put you off though; it will serve you well even if you are happy and confident. Why?

The most important benefit of meditation is that when you still your thoughts and emotions, you create space in your mind, or more accurately, in your stream-of-being. And what lies underneath? Genuine inner peace. Some people even describe pure ecstasy and bliss, although I have not experienced that yet. If you are interested, more info in the original ego post. Keep up your practice, and your emotional and mental control will begin to carry over to the time you spend outside meditation.

There are many other benefits; these are often mixed with lots of hocus-pocus. So I’ll just list the ones that I have experienced or have seen backed up by scientific research, and leave out the more fantastic ones that I cannot vouch for.

Continued practice of meditation:

Strengthens your immune system.
Helps shift you into positivity, or boosts positivity. This means getting out of depression, rage, and other undesirable emotional states, or making you feel even better if you are already happy.
Increases control over your mental and emotional states, making it easier to kick addictions. Even serious drug addictions can be broken if used as part of an overall program.
Aids recovery from medical conditions, even serious ones like cancer if used as part of an overall course. This comes from the increased desire to get better, recognised to be a vital factor in any recovery.
Gradually and permanently reduces your heart rate beneficially. This reduces wear-and-tear on your heart and increases efficiency.
Reduces stress, nervousness, and anxiety.
Increases resistance to the above.
Increases learning, memory, and problem solving ability.
Increases reaction times and athletic ability.
Reduces insomnia.

When and where

The only general rule for beginners is to do it somewhere quiet, where you won’t be disturbed for a while. With practice, you can meditate even in the middle of a riot, if you want to. Lie down if you want, but you might just doze off and end up associating sleep with meditation. This causes you to miss all the real benefits.

While this can be done to recharge your batteries any time of the day, the best times would be just after you wake up, and just before you go to sleep. Doing it before breakfast energises and programs you for the day – you start off in a positive state. Doing it before you sleep clears off any negativity you might have piled up and stops it from getting permanently snarled up inside you and converting into the more extreme emotional states like rage and depression.

How long you should take

How long should you go for? Working through all the steps, especially at the start, can take 20 minutes or more. It took me many weeks before I learnt to speed up the process, by calming my thoughts immediately for example. Once you begin to find the peace underneath your mind and emotions, you might be tempted to go for a long time – it can even be addictive. I can’t decide how long you meditate for, but common sense is recommended.

Posture

Again, the only universal rule here is keeping a straight spine. When your spine is straight, you can breathe better and your body structure is perfectly aligned. Any other posture squishes them.

Beginning meditation

This is described in detail for beginners, but as you practice you’ll find that you begin to adjust or skip certain steps. That is fine; meditation always becomes personalised with practice. Nowadays, I sometimes just go into stilling my mind, if I feel a build-up of stress, or negative memories.

The first step is to relax your body. Imagine a beam of light that starts at your feet. It slowly moves up your body, and as it does so, you relax the muscles the light is covering. Don’t be afraid of keeping the light focused on one spot until you relax that area completely. You might have to spend a long time in one area, especially if you have knots and other tightness. In particular, look out for the solar plexus, shoulders, neck, face and scalp. Once the light hits the top of your head, work your way down again. Often muscles retighten as you work on other areas. If you need a mantra, repeat to yourself “Let go”. Let go of your negative thoughts, emotions, and tension.
Once your body is relaxed, begin feeling with it. This is a good intermediate step to stilling your thoughts. Feel with your senses. What does the carpet, your shoes, your socks feel like on your feet? What does your shirt feel like on your skin? How does the temperature feel? Sharpen your hearing as much as you can. Use all your senses as much as you can. You can do this with eyes open or closed, play around until you find one that you like.
Your mind might start working at this point. It is bored, it wants something more interesting. Don’t fight it, but begin watching your breath. Feel the air coming in through your nose, down your airways. Don’t force anything. Your breath will naturally become deep.
Keep going with step 3 until you feel calm. By focusing on your breath, the thoughts that come into your head are allowed to either drift by, or they don’t come in at all. Your emotions are like a fire, and your thoughts are the wood that feeds it. Your negative emotions will slowly die if you stop feeding them. It might take a while though, depending on how big the fire is. Once your emotions have calmed down, it’s time to move on. (If you’re wondering about true peace, it is not a mind-created emotion that will die out with thoughts, it is what lies underneath your negative emotions. Note that there is also mind-created happiness, though.)
If at this point you still have thoughts, let them float out. Don’t hang on to them, and don’t fight them. If you’ve read the original ego post, fighting your thoughts actually focuses them and keeps them in your mind.
This is perhaps the most vital step. Surround yourself with a loving feeling. Think of someone or something that makes you feel tender and warm. Expand that feeling as much as you can, and then direct it to yourself. Hold yourself in your thoughts. Focus in particular on everything you didn’t want or like. Your potbelly, your flabby thighs, your flat chest or the little needle in your underwear. This raises your self-esteem immeasurably. Even better, love all your emotions and thoughts that you have considered negative. Sending love to those might change the loving feeling you have, but just gently “steer” it back to the love.

And there you go. The only thing you have to remember now is to not give it up. It is tempting to stop; just like working out in a gym (how many people sign up for a year and stop after a month). But just like a gym, you’ll lose all the benefits if you don’t keep it up – except this time, instead of getting flabby, you drop back into unhappiness.

3 Obstacles in empty mind meditation

These are some of the obstacles that I’ve personally met or been told about in my practice.

Frustration. This was covered in the meditation description, but is so common that it is worth describing again. Many people don’t like empty mind meditation because they approach it the wrong way, and that causes frustration. Be careful that you are not fighting your thoughts or making them wrong. This makes them actually stay in your consciousness even more. Bring your attention back to your breath or on the body feeling, let your thoughts float by without focusing on them, and they will stop intruding with time and practice.
Giving up. Many people try out meditation as a way of dealing with their negativity. They want to reduce their rage, get out of depression, or stop their anxiety. This, in itself, can add another layer to their unhappiness.
What do I mean by this? Empty mind meditation can be hard initially; even more so if your thoughts and emotions are already raging from the negativity. You feel like you’re wrestling a raging bull – the more negative you are the stronger the bull is. Your frustration about not being able to still your mind or relax your emotions adds another layer on top of your existing unhappiness.

All I can suggest is to keep at it, for the benefits are well-worth it. Forgive yourself if you fail. Remember that any skill is always the hardest when you begin. You make the most mistakes when you begin. Don’t get frustrated over failure, stop the session and return to it at the next scheduled time (remember the morning and night recommendation).
How do you stop thinking? Some people say that it is impossible not to think. If that is the case, don’t throw this form out the window; the benefits are too awesome to miss. Just think of it as training your concentration. You’re not stopping your thoughts, but instead moving your thoughts to your feelings or your breath. This takes attention off your anxieties, worries, and unhappiness, which will die out slowly.

What are your personal concerns and obstacles? Please leave a comment so I can try to address them.

What will you feel?

As mentioned, you might experience some difficulty when you begin, which can initially lead to frustration. But once you get pass this, you will always feel peace, relaxation, and even joy. I often take a quick two minute break in the middle of a stressful or unhappy situation; people are always surprised when I return from a “toilet break” happy and smiling.

Sometimes, I also get ripples of goose bumps throughout my body. My muscles throb as they release all the pent-up tension. Sometimes I get this minty feeling across my chest. Other times, I feel like I’m bigger than I am – I feel like I am ten meters tall, or that I am as big as the room I am in. I recently gained the ability to speed up and slow down my heartbeat. Yes it does sound superhuman – maybe I’ll start wearing my underwear on the outside.

The short version

I talked about the short version at the start of the article. Why describe it only now? I believe this is only useful once you have reached a certain level with the standard version, but don’t let it stop you from starting right now. Whenever you remember, just watch your breath. One or two breaths whenever you remember to, throughout your daily life, will add up to a powerful transformation.

The permanent version

And what is the permanent version? This is an expanded version of the last step in the standard meditation. Surround yourself with a loving feeling and watch your thoughts and emotions permanently. Even as you go about your daily life, you can watch yourself with love. It won’t hinder your concentration or anything if you have practiced long enough.

If you love all negative emotions and thoughts, they won’t be negative any more and you’ll permanently be happy and in control. No matter what happens, you can respond from a core of true unconditional love. Sounds like enlightenment? Maybe it is, I don’t know. I heard you can keep it up even in your sleep if you are good enough. Imagine just how powerfully transformative that will be.

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43 Comments

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Grayson De Ritis says:

July 14 07 at 4:33 am

Thank you for creating this post. I’ve been working on progressing forward into more advanced meditation, and this will aid me in my journey.
Albert says:

July 14 07 at 12:21 pm

You’re welcome Grayson!
Rahul says:

November 1 07 at 1:16 am

Albert,

Wonderful article! I’ve been meditating for the last 6 months, and I use all of the techniques you’ve discussed here.

Thank you for the great post.

Rahul
Albert says:

November 1 07 at 3:49 am

You’re welcome Rahul – glad it helped. I’ve actually moved on to a different meditation – it’s awesome, try it:
http://www.urbanmonk.net/122/t.....ompassion/
isp software says:

November 13 07 at 9:00 am

I recently got interested in meditation by one of my philosophy instructors.

I was looking over your article when I noticed that one of the last benefits of this meditation was, reduced insomnia. I struggle with getting to sleep, so anything that will make that process more pleasant is worth my time.

I thoroughly read your article and plan to use empty mind meditation tonight. My only concern is that I won’t have the patience for it. The problem I have when going to bed is an overactive mind. I hope this technique will quiet it.
Albert says:

November 13 07 at 9:57 am

Thanks for the comment. Please give it a shot, I believe it will help. It’s like any skill – at the start it will be a bit difficult. Also, please don’t do it as a way to quiet your mind. Quietening your mind is a side effect – if you do it to quiet your mind, it is a form of fighting the thoughts, which can make the thoughts more noisy. Thanks again for stopping by
Ryan says:

January 25 08 at 6:55 pm

Hey Albert,

Great overview on the process of meditation. I like how you broke everything into steps and added info on most people’s issues. For those who think stopping their thoughts is impossible, I ask this: What did you think before you knew a language? : )

Cheers,
Ryan
Albert says:

January 25 08 at 7:43 pm

Hey there Ryan! Thanks for the compliment! That’s a good question…hmm…I’d love to see what the smart asses out there have to say heh heh.
stephanie says:

May 25 08 at 11:49 am

I’ve been running all over on the internet trying to find something that will help me tackle my anxiety that has gone through the roof for good. I clearly understand that my bouts with rage, fear, or anxiety won’t do anything but continue the scary cycle. So, I’m pretty happy to find the urban monk and the good stuff on meditation. Now I can only hope to concentrate on reading and learning, and finally doing it myself.
Albert says:

May 25 08 at 5:13 pm

Thanks Stephanie. Do try the emotional mastery series for your emotions, I think they are the best in the long run
tannage says:

November 4 08 at 7:55 am

Great post! It’s nice to find articles like this (even if I am a little late) that just explain meditation in nice, simple terms. There’s a lot of mystical blumpf that a lot of people give that just isn’t helpful.

So I really liked the post, been meditating almost a decade but still found it very helpful. Keep up the good work!
Albert says:

November 4 08 at 8:11 am

Thanks a lot Tannage – meditating is awesome isn’t it! One of the best ways to spend your time.
meditator says:

January 22 09 at 5:58 am

Oh giving up is one that I know very well. It took me a lot of discipline to keep on meditating. I’m a person who gets bored easily and needs always new stimulation to keep interested. However along the lines, after some time, while I kept at it, I realised that if I didn’t meditate for a few days, I missed it. It became part of my everyday life. I love meditating.
Albert says:

January 22 09 at 6:50 am

I think we all get bored; which is why I meditate with a DVD on in the background sometimes True story.
Matthew home says:

February 28 09 at 2:40 am

I would love to try empty mind meditation some day. Sometimes I find it hard to push the things that I need to get done for the day or whatever I am feeling at the moment. It somehow affects the way that I meditate. That is why I am interested to try out empty mind meditation.
Albert says:

February 28 09 at 4:51 am

Hey Matthew, let me know how it works for you
Danpa Nyee Ma's Singing Bowls says:

April 14 09 at 10:14 pm

This is quite a comprehensive article towards empty mind meditation. Recently I’ve been trying to implement most of the tips that you mentioned above with “walking meditation”. It’s great because it doesn’t require a special time of the day, free time, etc. You can do while shopping, while going to work, etc. I simply love. Zen practitioners do it a lot. I started to learn it from them.

Sincerely,
Danpa Nyee Ma
Albert says:

April 14 09 at 11:56 pm

Thanks! Walking meditation is really fun, I enjoyed it as well.
mike brady says:

July 31 09 at 5:14 am

Albert – thank you for sharing your concise tips.
I heard that “empty mind” translates to soshiso, and that it derives from a fighting technique that the Japanese Samuarai utilised in battle. they beleived that an empty mind enabled only one strike of their samurai. Have you any overviews on the origins of the words empty mind and were i might find some information.
Albert says:

July 31 09 at 12:46 pm

Hi mike, that’s amazing. I love samurai and Japanese martial arts but I have never heard of Soshiso. Sorry I can’t help more.
jason says:

October 7 09 at 10:02 am

Thank you so much for this post, and your webiste! i have only just found it and it truly does help me and brings peace to my mind.
I have been in depression in my mind for about 8 months and only made it worst and last longer because i kept trying to fight my negative thoughts. Reading and doing this really helped. I cant thank you enough!! THANK YOUUUU!!!! D
Albert says:

October 7 09 at 8:43 pm

Hi Jason, you’re very welcome. That is a great outcome!
Salim says:

November 27 09 at 4:10 pm

An excellent insight into meditation. The empty mind meditation was very interesting. Keep up the good work !
Albert says:

November 28 09 at 7:03 pm

Thanks Salim!
Tim says:

January 19 10 at 2:25 pm

Hey Albert I was just curious how one would hold oneself with their thoughts, I am having difficulty with this part =\
Albert says:

January 19 10 at 4:12 pm

Hey Tim, I’m not sure what your question is? Try watching a busy street, but this time not the entire street, but just one specific point. Notice the cars as they zip past, but don’t focus on the cars, focus on that one point on the street. That might be a good way to see your thoughts.
Michael says:

January 27 10 at 7:48 am

It once occurred to me that I discovered the meaning of empty mind meditation after deciding to try holosync. It wasn’t proven to me that there is something in the sound, but only the fact that I allowed myself for one hour to relax and do something different out of my usual habits (I was supposed to having to finish a lot of work but instead I was trying something strange that made me feel silly) had helped me to empty my mind and solutions came about some of my problems or worries that I haven’t thought the same way.

It’s about the habit of our thoughts following the same routs and giving ourselves a chance, a sort period of time where we relax and let our brain work in a different than usual way. My experience and thoughts about it had to do with meditation and is something I want to try too (I feel a bit silly about that spiritual light descending thing and other stuff, I wonder if that’s necessary?)

As about people who say they can’t stop thinking and related with my holosync experience, I have to say two things. I didn’t exactly stop thinking, I just let my thoughts flow randomly. Some of the every day worries felt like going and passing around, but it wasn’t the same. They followed different pathways. So try to do it and don’t care about the results. It’s also like Pure-O OCD, if you care about the results it fires backwards, if you try to stop your thoughts they come in harder. I find interesting the similarity of this counter mechanism in anxiety with the similar philosophy in meditation.

I have to admit though that the next holosync experiments weren’t as good as the first. Maybe because it become a focus/addiction to do it to force my thoughts and had as result the counter effect. Maybe I should try now the meditation thing with the light and not force into the thought that it has to work. Just do it. I have now an empty silent room where I can do it all alone.
Albert says:

January 28 10 at 1:22 am

Hi Michael! Apologies for the delay in reply, had a few things going on here. Thanks for sharing that story – I’ve been hearing a lot about Holosync and I’m very tempted to try it, but most of the press recently has been quite negative (not sure if you’ve heard of the whole legal threat thing), so I’m still struggling with the idea of buying/not buying.
Michael says:

January 28 10 at 5:01 am

No, I didn’t know anything about the legal thing. I just went into one website randomly one day and there was something about it and I got interested to. I am not sure if it works but the process of focusing into it’s sounds and letting my thoughts float freely reminded me meditation.
charlie says:

May 15 10 at 9:27 am

hi Albert im starting meditation and im 14 am i too young you have made it simple and easy to understand thanks.
Albert says:

May 15 10 at 11:32 pm

Hi Charlie – no I think 14 is a great age! I’m jealous that you like this kind of thing at your age, wish I started so young. Thanks for your comment.
charlie says:

May 16 10 at 10:16 am

why how old were you when you started meditating
Albert says:

May 16 10 at 2:15 pm

25!
charlie says:

May 17 10 at 9:14 am

you’re explanation on how to meditate was really clear i have just done my first couple of meditation sessions in my room and i feel more relaxed and not as worried about school thanks:)
Albert says:

May 17 10 at 9:45 pm

You’re welcome mate!
AryaVarta says:

June 17 10 at 8:37 am

Albert,

It’s been 3 years since you wrote that post and are still replying and I appreciate this very much.

My heart says go for meditation on light (flood of white light around heart), which stresses my mind many a times; while my body says go for meditation of dis-association/ empty mind meditation, which relaxes me perfectly, but leaves me wondering if it can have same healing and rejuvenating properties as meditation on light? Please comment or suggest what should I do? I can fairly quickly empty my mind up in minutes, while doing empty mind meditation and frequently reach the ‘no recollection/ empty zone’ state for a few seconds.
Albert says:

June 19 10 at 1:10 pm

Hi mate, I’m not sure I can help as I don’t do this meditation any more. I tend to do the emotional work type stuff so I can’t really compare or help. I’m very sorry. The only thing I can think of would be to just follow your heart and see which one is best.
afzaal says:

July 2 10 at 4:20 am

hi

how do u meditate without reading this on any othere stuff

when i reasd i dont seem to concertrate
because i have mental depression i have good bad thoughts in my mind 24 hour it a problem for me i see a doctor

how can u meditate can u tell me in short

thanks

later
Albert says:

July 2 10 at 12:04 pm

Hi Afzaal, are you asking me how to meditate without having to read this article? I think the best thing to do is to see a mental health professional. I used to be depressed myself and it is very hard to handle it on your own – generally you can’t fix things like that on the internet. Sorry I can’t help more.
Justin says:

August 11 10 at 2:50 pm

Hey I Just Recently Got Into Mediatating, a Friend told me about it when we were at the lake. He had done it before and succeeded. Now I have no mental issues or anything, and I am genuinely a very happy and easy going person, I just wanted to try something new.So we tried it using the technique of relaxing and focusing on breating, and it amazed me that when I achieved what I believe was an empty mind I had a whole body sensation Like I was spinning very fast This didn’t last very long (about a minute) because almost as soon as I felt this I started concentrating on how awesome it felt, Don’t know if this is normal but it sure was cool. and afterward I had a feeling of genuine happyness and wellbeing. I have tried since and havn’t achieved the same feeling but have calmed my mind and felt very relaxed, just not to the same extent. I am just wondering if this “Body High” type of thing is normal, have you ever gotten this.

Also FYI I am a regular user of marijuana, and was high at the time, do you think this might have affected my meditation?

Thanks For Reading

-Justin
Albert says:

August 11 10 at 7:35 pm

Hey mate, thanks for your comment. To be honest, I don’t know. It might be the marijuana that was in your system at the time, although I do have some strange and pleasant sensations sometimes when I meditate as well. They are very rare though and mostly I just feel very light, like I’m floating.

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July 11 07 at 2:56 am

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