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:

1. Strengthens your immune system.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Gradually and permanently reduces your heart rate beneficially. This reduces wear-and-tear on your heart and increases efficiency.
6. Reduces stress, nervousness, and anxiety.
7. Increases resistance to the above.
8. Increases learning, memory, and problem solving ability.
9. Increases reaction times and athletic ability.
10. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.)
5. 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.
6. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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).

3. 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.