A blog about crystals, energy cultivation and lifestyle balance …
How to Meditate with Crystals 101 – Part 5
by Eric Justin of OneOriginStarseed
Continued from Part 4 . . .
How Long Will My Meditation Practice Take to Bear Fruit?
One of the biggest obstacles that arise when beginning a meditation practice is the lack of patience and perseverance. Meditation is the blossoming of consciousness that arises from properly maintaining and cultivating one’s individual garden of spirituality. Not until one tastes it, will one truly know what the word meditation means. Because the experience and efficacy of a meditative practice will take some time to bear fruit, it will require patience and consistency of practice for some time, before any amount of success is tasted.
Developing one’s skill in achieving a state of meditative consciousness, is similar to being in a dark room that holds a vast treasure. You may have heard many stories about the treasure in the darkness of that room. When you first get into the room, you can see nothing. You sit in there for some time, and still don’t notice anything. Many people at that point, lack the patience to sit there any longer, and choose to get up and leave. The experience of the dark, still, silence of that room is boring, and maybe even makes them uncomfortable, so they quickly would like to return to the world illuminated by light and activity, that they know so well.
However, the one who has enough patience, and consistently exposes themselves to the dark, still silence of that room, will eventually adapt to it, and learn to see clearly, despite the darkness. After some time, one starts to notice maybe something is there, but perhaps it’s not too clear at first. But as enough time passes, many details of the room become clearer and clearer, and it becomes possible to recognize and touch the treasure that is there.
How much time will it take to cultivate oneself to the point where a meditative experience can be realized within one’s practice? This depends on a variety of factors that differs significantly from person to person. Honestly speaking, there is no set framework of time and effort that will get an individual to a certain prescribed state of meditative consciousness. However, by consistently sticking to the guidelines we laid out earlier, and by learning to be able to sit patiently, maintain breath awareness, and cultivate stillness, one will for sure reach and enter the gateway to the inner stream of experience that lies within. Once one tastes it, it will become more and more likely that the journey to get back there will be taken again and again.
How Often and For How Long Should I Practice Meditation?
Meditation is about learning to balance the energy of one’s physical body and mind, in order to manifest a desired state of experience. Anything overdone will destroy the fruit of the experience one is trying to cultivate. Also, anything underdone will ensure one never reaches the goal of achieving that state of blissful living, which is a direct result of the blossoming of one’s consciousness after having marinated in stillness and non-action for some time. Because the standard of balance is different from person to person, we become Alchemists to find the right formula. Only through experience and effort can we learn the balance necessary to apply the right amount of fire to the pot, for the right amount of time, in order to cook some delicious food.
Consistency, perseverance, and learning how to become comfortable doing your meditation and cultivation practices, without expecting anything in return, are the keys that will eventually invite fruit to grow in your spiritual garden. Success in one’s meditation practice requires the same traits that are becoming rare in today’s world. Patience, stillness, attentiveness, discipline, and doing something without quickly getting instant gratification or something in return, has become almost the exact opposite of what the average person is capable of on a daily basis. Yet this is exactly what is required in order for one’s consciousness to touch the formless ecstasy of our origin.
Learn to be gentle with oneself and not push too hard, nor insist on quick progress and results. Also at the same time, don’t be too lenient with oneself or lax in one’s consistency of practice, or it will be like trying to sail a boat which is anchored to a dock. Learn your meditative practice well, to the degree you can practice it without having to remember the details. Then consistently practice at least once or twice a day. Practicing meditation once in the early morning and once later on in the day, every day without failure is ideal. Make it a priority, and not an option, and your practice will become energized and blessed with potential.
The first step is being able to sit in calmness and relative stillness for at least 5 minutes. When that becomes possible, then the stillness of the body, and attention on the breath, will lead to longer and longer amounts of time one is able to be alert and aware, without the thought process narrating the experience of each moment. Once this can be achieved even for a short time, it will become easier and easier to prolong that state of pure awareness which is the gateway to meditation. Take consistent gentle steps day after day in the right direction, and you will definitely get there.
What Time of the Day is Most Conducive to Practice Meditation?
When beginning a practice of meditation, or energetic self-cultivation, it may be challenging to consistently find a stable slot of time to practice each day. In the beginning, you may need to fit it in anywhere you have an opening on that day. As long as you maintain consistent practice, and give it quality attention, whatever time of the day you can do it, will be fine for a while. The time of day one practices however, makes a big difference in the quality of the experience, as well as the rate of one’s progress. So as one becomes proficient, and meditation becomes a significant daily priority in one’s life, it would be ideal to arrange it so your practice occurs in one or two of the most ideal times of the day where the cycles of nature will support you best.
The most ideal time of the day, is in the early morning just before sunrise. As this may be difficult for many people. The next best option would be in the morning just after you wake up, and before you have eaten any food, or started engaging in conversation and activity with the outside world. After that there is another ideal time slot around noon. In the evening there is another opening to practice around sunset. Finally, the last open time slot is around midnight. To line up with one of these, you need to begin your practice at least 20 minutes before, to 20 minutes after that particular spot. So, to line up with the sunrise timing, you need to begin your practice at least 20 minutes before, to 20 minutes after sunrise occurs on that given day.
Once or twice a day of good quality meditation, at one of these times would be excellent and ideal if it’s possible for you. Otherwise, practice whenever you can, and remember the ideal times in case it becomes possible for you to practice in the future during one of them. Make sure your stomach is relatively empty when you practice, and you have at least 4 hours of space between each meditation or energy cultivation session, so you can integrate smoothly back into daily life, and give yourself some new fuel to burn in your next meditation session.
To be continued in Part 6 . . .
Hey everyone… My Name is Eric Justin… I started this blog as a way to help clarify many misunderstandings and misperceptions which have formed around the use of crystals. I aim to promote their positive life-empowering potential in an honest and straightforward way. In addition, I am here to help promote ancient practices of energy cultivation, which can be used by all people to help establish balance and stability in their unending life journey of self-discovery and self-mastery.
Disclaimer – This blog is presented as is, for informational purposes only. We do our very best to provide honest, accurate, clear and concise knowledge based on our own experiences, reliable sources of modern crystal usage as well as traditional uses and even that which comes from history and legend. Any information we provide is to be used by our readers and customers in a responsible manner and at their own risk. By reading this blog, purchasing our crystals or practicing any of the methods we provide, each reader and customer accepts responsibility and risk for their own actions and automatically is bound to our terms and conditions. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions Section.
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