Re: Proper Meditation.

When I was first taught how to meditate (Transcendental Meditation), I had the same problem and kept trying too hard and felt I couldn't do it. It's inevitable that thoughts will enter your mind....what you're doing that day, what you're eating for lunch etc. so it's impossible to prevent them from entering your mind.

With TM, you're given a mantra and the trick is, as my TM teacher emphasised, is to just let the thoughts come and go without *trying* to banish them or make your mind go blank.....just observe your thoughts and keep going back to your mantra (if you have one). So paradoxically, without trying, in the end you 'transcend' your thoughts (hence the name), they just flow in and out and you become detached, so to speak, from them.

Even if you just manage to do it for even 1 minute at first....it doesn't matter....it gets easier the more you practice and you'll be able to build up your time. Just remember don't *try* to do it or put pressure on yourself to get it right as that kind of defeats the object.

I suspect this is probably easier in TM as you have your mantra to focus on, or at least it's the one I found easiest.

You'll know when you've had a successful meditation session when you feel much more relaxed at the end than you did at the beginning, your mind is much more still, calm and focussed with greater clarity of thought. You may possibly feel more energetic as I have sometimes. Again though, don't feel you've failed if you don't get the results you want at first.

Good luck!

Anne