Before we start the course, please do the following:
- Set time aside each day for meditation & contemplative journaling.
- Share the course with your friends (link below). https://clarkescott.com/7-days-deeper-meditation/
Ok… let’s start the course!
Congrats & welcome to the 7 Days to Deeper Meditation.
All life problems can be fixed by learning from deep meditation.
Be it, family, business, relationships, self-sabotaging behavior, depression, or anxiety…all problems can be fixed with deep meditation.
This is what meditation offers.
But most people are unaware of exactly how to go deep.
Part of the problem is that meditation is VERY easy to start.
BUT…
It is quite difficult to master.
So many people just play in the shallow end of the pool, not understanding what they are missing out on.
I hope this course helps in some way because the real benefits of meditation come from deep meditation.
So over the next 7 days, I will send you a lesson via email each day designed to help you go deeper into consciousness, and thus closer to your true self.
Each lesson will have one meditation that will build from the previous day in a cause-and-effect relation so that by the end of the course you will be in a position whereby your meditation is naturally deeper.
This will happen simply as a result of following along and implementing each exercise.
There are some things we need to cover in preparation for the remainder of the course.
Inside these lessons, you will find the secrets to deepening your meditation no matter if you are a complete beginner or someone with years of experience.
This is not hyperbole.
Meditation has transformed the lives of millions of ordinary people for more than two thousand years.
So, why not you too? Good luck.
How to Get the Most from the Course
To get the most from the course, this is what you should do:
1. Commit to practice each day through the course.
Set aside at least 20 minutes per day to implement the lesson of the day.
This is 20 minutes of meditation and does not include reading the lessons.
2. Be prepared for intellectual honesty.
That is to say, be honest with yourself about your practice and where you are starting.
Try not to skip over anything, as I have taken great care to design the material in a step by step fashion.
Therefore, if you skip, there is the possibility you will miss something important.
3. Have patience and do NOT strive in your meditation.
Patience is needed when doing deep work. Meditation is deep work.
You must be willing, therefore, to have patience with both the process and yourself.
If you find yourself striving, know this is the energy of the egoic mind trying to take ownership of your practice.
Instead, release any and all desire for an outcome.
The best way I’ve found to do this is to track your momentum, not your progress.
And we can do this by marking off each day’s 20-minute (at a minimum) session on a calendar.
This gives us a sense of achievement and it’s fun!
Let us now turn to the model I will present throughout the course.
The 3 Phased Meditation Model
Next, I want to introduce you to the 3 Phase Model of Meditation.
These three phases build on top of each other so that going deeper is a natural result of following the process of each phase.
This model takes out the guesswork and leverages your embodiment to help facilitate the process of releasing internal psychological and physiological tension and blocks preventing deep meditation.
The three phases are:
- Relaxation
- Stability
- Clarity
Each phase is mapped to a style of meditation best suited for enhancing each phase at the appropriate time in your meditation development.
Thus allowing for each phase to naturally arise from the proceeding one.
Meditation styles:
- Somatic meditation
- Settling meditation
- Reflexive meditation
I cover each of these styles of meditation and go into the details of how each works in the overall structure above, in the coming lessons.
For now, let us turn to the first phase, Relaxation, and its corresponding meditation.
Meditation One – Somatic Meditation
We begin with somatic meditation as this style of meditation is best suited for releasing tension in the mind, the body, and the nervous system.
While this style leverages breathing, it is far more than simple “breathing meditation.”
We leverage the breath as it connects us to the nervous system—hence the term somatic—and through a simple technique of releasing psychological and physiological tension with the breath, we are able to create a relaxed state that acts as a platform for deeper practice.
Indeed, both the wisdom tradition and modern science have found correlates between the nervous system and the breath, so you can have confidence this works and you will find immediate, albeit subtle, benefits from the very first lesson.
It is important with this meditation to release tension, and with each out-breath, imagine tension being released without losing the clarity of awareness you began the session with.
This is an important point and the key to this first phase but, if you find yourself becoming drowsy, or indeed falling asleep, do not worry about it at this point.
I want you to explore the boundary of relaxation by becoming as relaxed as you possibly can without falling asleep but, if you do that is ok too – for now at least.
The Meditation
Begin by sitting in your favorite meditation posture.
This can be sitting in a chair, on a meditation cushion, or lying flat on your back.
There are advantages to each but, the most important thing is that your spine is straight.
Then, focus your attention on the natural rising and falling of the breath throughout your entire body.
Become aware of the sensations of the breath throughout the body, and with each out-breath feel yourself becoming more deeply relaxed in body and mind.
Breathe through the nostrils, not the mouth.
You should get a sense of fully letting go and releasing both physical, psychological and physiological tension with each cycle of the breath.
Really explore the boundary of how relaxed you can get without losing consciousness and falling asleep.
Do this for at least 2o minutes per session, with at least one session per day.
Your Homework
Step 1 – Read the lesson.
Step 2 – Meditate on the topic from the lesson.
Step 3 – Complete your journaling session.
What is Contemplative Journaling
I will go into more detail on the how and why of contemplative journaling over the coming days but, for now simply follow these steps:
- It’s best to use a pen or pencil and notepad and have these near you during the meditation session.
- Before you begin the meditation session mark down the date and time of the session in the notepad.
- After the meditation session ends, take 5 minutes to write down what came up during meditation.
Some people have told me they don’t normally like journalling but found my approach has opened new doors to discoveries when coupled with meditation.
So, PLEASE do give it a try. You might just be surprised by how effective it is.
If you’d like to read about my process of contemplative journaling you can do so here – https://clarkescott.com/4-key-steps-to-unlock-deep-meditation/
Don’t be fooled into thinking this meditation is too easy to be of any use.
As I mentioned above each meditation I will be sharing with you over the coming days builds on the next.
So if you skip the initial meditations like the one above, and you do not follow along the later meditations will be more difficult.
Do the practice and the results will come.
See you tomorrow.
kind regards,
Clarke Scott