I started meditating when I was 21, and I�m 29 now.

So, I generally have 8 years of

experience, but half of those years were intensive retreats. I hope this helps you
and inspires you stick with it. It is rather lengthy, but I go through a whole
process with exactly what to do and how to do it. I�ve yet to read a book that is
as concise as what I am giving freely, so this is a book in the making. (Started:
Jan 8th 2017) And we begin!

(In the proceeding index, not all of the content is added yet to this post, but you
can find some in the answers to my other questions.)

Effective Meditation: A Self-Realization Empowerment Guide

Table of Contents:
Part 1: The Foundations of Clarity
Prologue: Revealing a Plan of Understanding
Chapter 1: Clarifying the Objective.
Chapter 2: Understanding Understanding.
Chapter 3: Practicing the Stillness of the Body.
Chapter 4: Practicing the Stillness of Emotions.
Chapter 5: Practicing the Stillness of the Mind.
Chapter 6: Overcoming the Initial Challenges.
Chapter 7: Understanding - A Lifestyle Choice.
Chapter 8: Specific Meditation Guides
Breath Concentration
Do Nothing Meditation
Mindfulness Meditation
Insight Meditation
Manifestation Meditation
Chapter 9: Beyond the Basics of Meditation
Part 2: Self-Conflict Resolutions
Anxiety & Fear
Non-Commitment
Arguments
Brain Fog
Part 3: Beyond Effective Meditation
Understanding the School of Incarnation
Karma - An indepth, yet simplified approach.
Uprooting Desire - A Complete Understanding
Removing Character Flaws
Embodying Character Virtues
Relationship Perspectives - �If we are not growing together, we are growing apart.�
Part 4: Pointers for Daily Self-Realizations
The Primal Choice : The Number One Most Life Transformactive Experience You Will
Continually Have
Those who know don�t talk. Those who talk don�t know.� -(experiential knowing vs
intellectual knowing) & why?
Self-Guide: The Novice is Within the Master
Part 5: Misperceptions of Reality
�That�s common sense!�
�You can�t plant a garden if the weeds have all the soil.�
Prologue: Revealing a Plan of Understanding

The plan is simple: Seek understanding.

If at any time throughout this practice you feel stuck, irritated, frustrated,
stressed or any combination of undesirable experiences, please remember the golden
rule: seek understanding. Understanding is the backbone of all things done well. Of
everything that exists, nothing of worth can exist without a firm understanding of
how to do it well, period. Before you can do this well, you need a firm, solid,
unshakable understanding. You gain this understanding by proving what works best
for you and what makes your practice truly effective.

By saying this, I am addressing a misperception before you have the opportunity to

misperceive the purpose of this book. My advice is in no way ment to prove anything
to you or for you. I am simply explaining what I have discovered and describing
what has worked best for me. Throughout the contents of this book, I am speaking
directly to YOU with a lot of �you� statements, because this book is first and
foremost my manual for meditating effectively. Even though I am the author, this
book is writing itself. My body is simply the instrument of its expression while my
personal experiences remain the blueprint for its construction. So, I am actually
speaking to Oneself.

Now, taking this into consideration, is is likely that some or most of the guidance
I offer will work, provided you give it your sincerest attempts and follow the
guidance from your Self. My words, advice or guidance is not meant to convey the
feeling of �this is how it is and this is the only way it is�. My guidance is not a
one shoe fits all, but a generalize blueprint that can be adjusted, as needed, so
that you can discover what works best for you. Depending on how simliar you are to
me will determine how much you may need to adjust, because this book is made to fit
me, not you. In order to discover what works best for you, you must stop agreeing
with your assumptions just because you suddenly like or dislike what is conveyed on
face value.

If I allowed you to proceed without first making it clear to not agree with your
assumptions, I would be setting the stage for you to become just another follower.
The world has plenty of followers, and I do not need any. I need you to be a leader
and take responsibility for what you choose to agree with or choose to disagree
with. I am asking you to inspect what you believe to be true and assess the
validity of such statements continuously. Even if you find a great interest in what
I have to say and you wish to incorporate it into your life immediately, do not
even think about it! Do not follow any advice proscribed in this book until you
have examined it to the core! You must be sure of your sureness every step of the
way. That is how you build an unshakable understanding!

Throughout this process, I will be taking you step by step through the layers of
your physical, emotional and mental psychology as this applies to the labyrinth
within. While this task may seem like an impossible undertaking, it has been my
experience that if you explore every corner and walk every path, the maze soon
becomes familiar. Once you become familiar with what is really going on inside your
inner world, the fundamental dynamics of how this maze operates will begin to
reveal itself to you. Surprisingly, when this information begins to dawn on you,
you will be amazed at how simple, obvious, intelligent and amusing your human being
really is.

If you give this practice your sincere attention and apply your efforts with a firm
understanding, your progress will expedite you into a new world of your own
creation. While it took me many years to come to these conclusions, the purpose of
this book is so that you can experience zero delay in your ability to see results,
provided you learn to follow your own guidance along the way. While it is my intent
that I leave you with no stone unturned, if you have any questions, feel free to
message me. Enjoy

Chapter 1: Clarifying the Objective

Many call the act of any sitting contemplation - meditation, but not everyone knows
or understands how to meditate effectively. An effective meditation almost
guarantees you are going to walk away and learn something significant. An
ineffective meditation may reveal nothing of importance to you, yet you keep
sitting and trying, but not really understanding what you are doing, not doing, or
how it can affect the effectiveness of your ongoing practice. A practitioner can
practice for years without ever truly understanding or achieving anything
significant. I know this to be true, because I spent many years practicing
meditation fruitlessly. It wasn�t until I fully realized how to meditate
effectively, did I begin to witness regular, life changing results.

I will admit, before I learned how to do this, my practice was hit and miss. It
actually took me a quite while to get it right, because most of the information in
the public domain is watered down and passed around as regurgitated knowledge. This
is most likely due to an honest desire to share this valuable information, but
never really experiencing these lessons for oneself. The result is a society of
misinformed �meditators� that are not utilizing their resources to the fullest
potential. In a very real sense, there are people out there that are really trying
to improve their quality of life, but are going absolutely no where in comparison
to what each person is truly capable of achieving.

I know, contrary to popular beliefs, there are actual ways of practicing meditation
correctly. How? It is correct, when it successfully enables you to become more
aware of the concern you sought to understand. It is correct, when you are able to
come to your own conclusions and solve your own problems. It is correct, when
building concentration, feeling relaxation, centering in peace and developing
mental clarity are the prerequisites to an effective meditation and are definitely
not the aims of meditation. This is huge! Meditation is not meant to be dumbed
down, so that you can learn how to relax or �tune out� your daily concerns. The
purpose of meditation is to solve your own problems and grow into an understanding
of who-you-truly-are.

In my experiences, when a student encounters a teacher with an inadequate

perspective of guiding the student, that teacher is obligated to direct the student
along the next path of a more qualified teacher. In light of this reality, I must
inform you that I am not qualified to teach you everything you need to know in
order to solve every concern you may have. However, due to the depth of my
understanding of what experiences I do have, I believe I know just enough about
what makes meditation truly effective, that I can guide you through a process of
realizing this understanding for yourself.

While my advice may seem useful, if you truly want the best and most accurate
source of information, you need to go to the source. The absolute best source of
information for all concerns concerning your reality is the Self, your Self.
Secondly, if for some reason you can not access a clear reception to your Self, you
go to the next best source, the person in touch with his Self. Begin right now by
listening to your heart, and using your mind to analyze the accuracy of what
everyone else spreading. Don�t even believe what I say on face value; critic me,
test me, put this advice through the hoops. If this doesn�t work for you, use what
works and move on. If this works for you, use it!

You can move on, but don�t stop improving on what truly matters - you.

Be better.
The world needs you.
What are you waiting for?

Chapter 2: Understanding Understanding

Chapter 3: Practicing the Stillness of the Body

The primary state of being for meditation is to sit and do nothing. Do nothing.
Think nothing. Be nothing. This is the primary state, because in order to
consciously gain a grip over your body, your mind, your emotions, and inevitably
your life, you need to be able to intervene between the cycles of the mind
influencing the body and the body influencing the mind. Without intervention, your
body becomes a reflection of your mind, and you mind becomes a reflection of its
past conditioning. However, before you can really experience this primary state,
there are some prerequisites that you will need to build upon first.

Initially, before you begin picking any specific subject of observation, you will
need to build up a bit of self-discipline with your ability to sit still. Sitting
still comes before you sit long. If you are constantly moving, adjusting, tapping,
or fidgeting, you would only be creating more distractions for yourself if you
tried to sit for any greater length of time. I suggest that you start with a
personal session goal of 15mins for this and the remainder of the other subjects of
meditation until you feel comfortable with longer durations of sitting still. Even
through the goal is preset, your first objective is to see how close you come to
this goal in your first session. On the next session, you primary mission is to
meet or exceed your previous best time, with a secondary opportunity of completing
the main goal. If you earn the calm of being able to complete this goal for
multiple sessions in a row and you feel ready for a longer duration, increase the
personal session goal according to your preference. I recommend intervals of 5-
15mins, but the choice is yours. With all that said, our first priority is in
assuring you of your ability to sit still. Ready?

Practicing Stillness:

Pick a space to sit where you can sit comfortably. If you are unfamiliar with
sitting upright on the floor, sit in a chair.
Place your hands on your lap, flat, face down. It does not matter how or where.
We will not address posture at this time. It is more important to sit comfortably,
as straight as you comfortably can.
Affirm to yourself out loud, �I am going to practice sitting still.� Close your
eyes. Observe what happens.
When you are truly ready to begin, take a deep breath and exhale out of the mouth.
Remain still. Continue to breath out of the nose.
Continue for your preset session duration or as long as you can. Strive for gains.
When you have finished, congratulate yourself and assess your performance.
I have made one line of instructions italicized in order to emphasize the
importance of creating a trigger for yourself. When you have your intention ready,
and you are sure about your sureness, this is the moment when you put your actions
behind your words by putting a purposively exaggerated breath behind your intents
for the session. By practicing this trigger every time you meditate, it assures you
of your resolve to complete the task you have set for yourself. Likewise, within a
few days of conditioning your body to remain still, the stillness you learn will
permanently be linked to this initial trigger. With practice, this will enable you
to effortlessly go into the mediation with complete stillness.

Next, I�m going to describe what a typical student can expect from their untrained
body, so that you will not get discouraged when you notice how your body does not
obey your every command. Also, please keep in mind that this follows the same lines
of logic as when you are building your concentration within any subject of
meditation, and in fact, any area of your life.

Harnessing the Stillness

Step 1: If a movement, or moment of non-stillness spontaneously occurs, do what?

Upon first trial, your mind and indeed your body, will wander. Instead of becoming
aggravated about this happening. Instead of making a thought about it. Instead of
talking to yourself about it. Instead of judging yourself, or putting yourself down
about it, the key is to just notice it and let it go. When I say notice it, I
really mean that I need you to place your awareness fully on it, and when I say let
go, I really mean I need you to remove your awareness fully from it, and put it on
anything else you would like. Notice it and let go.
Step 2: Notice it and let go. Now what?
After you have let go of the movement, or sensation, resolve within yourself to be
more committed to stillness. You may do this by internally speaking to yourself, or
you may symbolically start your session over by retaking that initial first exhale
out of the mouth. This is my preference. Now that you have started over, you have a
fresh slate and can try again. Watch what happens and if it happens again, follow
through with steps 1 and 2 again until the time for your practice expires, or you
do the best you can.
Step 3: Advanced : Instead of reacting, try relaxing.
In the beginning stages of this practice, you may have a tendency to react to a
potential movement, itch or agitation with feelings of increasing those sensations
until you feel compelled to move, scratch or adjust those areas of your body. One
way of dealing with such sensations is to continue steps 1 and 2 and just do your
best. Over a few trials or a few practices, those same phantom wiggles will not
occur as your body becomes more familiar with this odd state of stillness. An
advanced tactic for dealing with this issue is to occasionally experiment with
recalling a feeling of relaxation, commonly linked with feelings of falling,
drifting, sinking, melting, swaying, etc. This skill is particular important when
you need to calm the emotions that might be associated to the uprising of those
potential movements. It is useful to note that it is not the phantom wiggle that
compels you to act, nor an inherent inability to remain still, but the emotional
charge you have associated with it. Keep practicing and you will nail it.
After 4 or more days of practicing this process, you may begin to notice you are
sitting still for longer and longer periods of that initial 15 mins. In my own
experience, on the 4th day, I was able to sit still for the full 15 mins. I was so
excited about this achievement, I took a break and immediately followed this
sessions with my first 45min session. I don�t recommend this for everyone, but
during that session, my mind suddenly became silent and still, and I experienced a
clarity of awareness like no other. This was the first time I purposively noticed a
silence to the inner critique. I felt free. Challenge yourself if you feel up to
it, but continue with this process otherwise.

Once you can sit still for a solid 15mins, you are ready to proceed to the next
chapter�s instructions.

Chapter 4: Practicing the Stillness of Emotions

Practicing the art of stilling your emotions is indeed an art that you can continue
to improve upon for the rest of your life, yet the benefits come fast and easily
once you are able to keep your body still. When I reference to the �stillness� of
emotions, I am actually talking about emotional poise. Emotional poise means you
are not inclined in the positive or in the negative direction on the continuum of
emotional excitement. Your focus is to remain poised and attentively ready in the
middle of the extremes. This does not mean that you will stop feeling emotions or
become a robot by practicing this skill. This means that you will begin to
investigate and experiment with the possibilities of becoming more sensitive to
emotional disturbances, rather than compulsivly engaging in excessive emotional
uprisings. By becoming more sensitive and less overwhelmed, you will overcome the
obstruction that distorts your perception and limits the scope of your awareness
with ease.

Of all the information, tips, tricks and guidance I offer in this book, this skill
is the most important and most overlooked prerequisite to the development of a
meditation practice that is truly effective. If you learned only this skill and one
other skill: The Primal Choice, your life would be forever changed. As literally
and precise as I strive to be with every word in this book, I am emphasizing ZERO
exaggeration when I convey to you the power of combining these two skills.
Miraculous life altering and synchronistic happenings become common experiences.
Luck becomes effortless, practical, and obviously inherent to your ongoing
livelihood. Nothing is impossible as you begin to gain a firm and unshakable
understanding of these two skills. However, before we get into learning The Primal
Choice, you need to learn this skill first; I call it: The Silent Breath.

The silent breath is essentially a very simple and very powerful relaxation
response technique. It is heavily overlooked due to its simplicity and the subtle
influences that correspond to its execution when you begin to use it on daily
basis. This technique is my own creation based on the influences of two other
sources: The Silva Mind Control Method and the Photoreading Whole Mind System by
Paul R. Steele. Both of these resources are meant to give you access to a greater
depth of your mind�s capabilites. The Silva Method aims at developing altered
states of consciousness such at precognition, tele-empathy(telepathy), astral
projection, astral communications, clairvoyance, claircognizance and many other
abilities. The Photoreading Whole Mind System aims at developing your natural
ability to utilize your subconscoius mind to process literary information at a rate
of 10,000+ words per second. In the early stages of this skill, you go through a
whole process of familiarizing yourself with the content, structure and
organization of the book through the lens of a well defined purpose, enabling you
to cut study time and retention efforts to less than a 1/3rd of your former
efforts. At the advance stages of this skill, you can spontaneously recall the
necessary information to answer any questions about the content without having any
conscious attention focused on the indidivual words, sentences or phrases. I know:
wow.

For the purpose of understanding how to understand and applying this understanding
effectively in order to realize the solutions to your personal concerns and grow
into a greater unfoldment of who-you-truly-are, our aim falls somewhere in the
middle of these two extremes.

In my personal experiences of practicing the aforementioned techniques, I

discovered that their approaches seemed to contain some inherent limitations for
entering into the ideal state during everyday life circumstances, or when
endeavoring to understand the Self. The first limitation involves counting down
from 3 to 2 to 1 and repeating a phrase at the end of the each count: Re-lax. You
are required to do all of this while imaging a scenario and feeling the sensations
of a past experience. This is the equivalent of trying to juggle five unfamiliar
objects for the first time, yet you are still clumsy with one! The second
limitation imposed by their techniques revolves around the fact that you are
talking to yourself! Purposively speaking to oneself while in an altered state is
highly suggestive of the outcome of that state and is a primary inhibitor when we
are striving to see clearly. In order to see clearly, we can not have any other
suggestions other than to see clearly. Due to these inherit distractions within
their techniques, I could not keep using them for my ongoing practice of seeking to
understand.

After the improvisation of my personalize version, I began to experiment with

applying it in other areas of my life, not just my meditation practice. Amazingly,
the affect of practicing this skill continues to produce a profound result for each
and every opportunity I use it.

A generalized and immediately noticeable effect is what we will refer to as the

ideal state: a sense of relaxed alertness. Upon practicing this technique for a few
days, you may notice your own physical, emotional and mental conditioning suddenly
shift into a more relaxed state upon applying a conscious intention to use the
silent breath. This shift becomes increasingly more distinct depending on your
familiarity and your prior stress-related conditioning before feeling the shift.
The next and far less noticable effect occurs within the totality of your
consciousness and influences every perception and assessment you can have about
your reality. This is how we directly influence your ability to interpret,
understand, utilize and express yourself more effectively than you ever thought
possible. We are able to do this due to the fundamental construction of our mind,
human body and the organization of our consciousness flowing through it.

I designed the following exercises in order to train your ability with the silent
breath. We are technically using the tool of your mind in order to create a tool
for retraining your body�s conditioned reactions. Your objective is to learn how to
accurately practice the silent breath in a controlled setting with an increasing
depth of effectiveness. You will commit to a daily practice, but you will utilize
set times as well as make use of the �boring� periods throughout the day. Focus on
your personal practice for now and in the upcoming chapters, we will discuss more
specific details on how to utilize the silent breath in daily life and transform
your life into a realm of amazing possibilities.

Before you begin practicing this technique, make sure you are in your ideal
environment and are already in a pleasant mood. If a stressor is on your mind, or
has happened recently, this can interfere with being able to connect with the
necessary memories and feelings. Begin when you are ready by assuming your seat and
closing your eyes. These instructions build on and from the previous chapter.
Enjoy.

The Silent Breath

Inhale silently and exhale out the mouth symbolizing your conviction to do your
best.
Inhale imagining a memory of relaxation; exhale feeling the sensations of
relaxation.
Recall a memory in which you feel a sensation of falling, drifting, sinking or
releasing tension. If you don�t have a memory, go make one! It is different for
everyone, but choose a memory that you can relate to and recall the feelings
easily. I like to use a memory of having mud on my face, the mud drying and falling
off as I gradually feel lighter. Pick one. If you are a imaginative type of person,
you might see yourself melting like a candle. If you are a mental type, you might
recall rush of relief when someone stops pressuring you. If you are an emotional
type of person, you might recall quite moments after a good, happy cry. If you work
a lot, you might like the feelings of sinking into the sofa after a long day of
work, forgetting your struggles. If you are a physical person, you might recall the
feeling of exhaustion and laying on the floor after high exertion. If you are a kid
on the inside, you might recall sudden weight shift at the top of a trampoline
jump, just as you start to fall. Whatever works for you. Make it your own. Inhale
the physical details as if you are experiencing that event again; exhale the
feelings of that relaxing moment.
Inhale imagining a memory of being peaceful; exhale feeling the sensations of peace
or relaxation.
Recall a moment in your past in which you can relate to being mentally content. You
had no stresses, no worries, no concerns. You are looking for a memory of feeling
release or peace. The one I use is when I used to sit idling on swing. Likewise, I
remember the last day of school when I was heading home, relieved that the school
year had ended. You might have a memory of sitting on the beach without a care in
the world. Maybe you have a memory of the stillness that follows when someone says
something useful and profound enough to cause you to introspect. Perhaps you recall
the silentness that follows a good long cry. Who knows? Only you. Pick one.
Inhale imagining a flower, noticing the details; exhale feeling the sensations of
the previous steps.
Imagine a flower and the details of its beauty. Feel it in your hand for a moment.
Maybe alter it in your mind a little to make it more unique to this practice. The
purpose of picking a specific flower with specific flaw is that you can use this
memory later as a trigger for entering into this ideal state quicker and quicker if
needed. However, once your body learns to spontansously recall these deep feelings
of physical and mental relaxation after a conscious silent breath, you may not need
this portion of the exercise any more.
Inhale watching the breath as best you can; exhale feeling the sensations of peace
and relaxation.
Continue practicing this last breath as long a you like or until the end of the
session.
This is the silent breath we aim to develop.
If you suddenly notice a slight drop and a deepening of the relaxation & peace,
follow it with your attention. Focus on the feeling throughout alternating breaths
instead of the breath itself. When the feeling�s intensity subsides, but you feel a
new depth, recall the flower step to mind for 1�3 breaths, then begin the entire 3
step breath sequence again before returning to silent breath and continuing it
alone. Aim for a depth of feeling and associate it to the flower. This is so that
the idea of the flower helps you trigger this same depth in future sessions.
Integrating A Body Scan

Integrating Different Postures

Integrating Substitute Triggers

Re-Lax: A Powerful Supplementary Trigger

If your inner critique is quite strong and the steps of this technique are
difficult to focus on, try adding in a temporary Re-Lax. By mentally stating re-
lax, you are giving your critic something to keep it busy while your awareness is
focused on the sensations. This can be incredibly useful during emotional upheavals
when your inner critic can start to nag you into reacting. Don�t fall for it! Use
every tool you have, but don�t forget to return to the silent breath once you reach
the ideal state, that way you are continuously training your conscious breathing as
well.
Inhale while internally speaking a long drawn out, �Re�. Feeling the conscious
inhale.
Exhale while internally speaking a long drawn out, �Lax�. Feeling the sensations of
relaxation & peace.
Additional Depth Suggestions

Chapter 4: Practicing the Stillness of the Mind

So, you have been practicing diligently a bit each day, and possibly a week or more
has transpired. You have learned how to still your body with patience and
persistence, and better, you have learned how to recall those feelings of
relaxation and peacefulnesss at will. As you will soon discover, these two skills
are pivotal to your ability to get the most out of every minute of your meditation
practice. Why?

When endeavoring to understand oneself and solve your own problems, it can be
ridiculously difficult to see the contents of the mind clearly when the body is
moving or when the emotions are flowing. It is difficult, because when the body is
not still, it is constantly sending new information to the brain to be considered.
This new information can propel your consciousness in an infinite number of
directions with each new direction having an equal opportunity to do the same.
Likewise, if this wan�t enough to cause confusion, and it certainly is, the
emotions can multiply this effect exponentially!

As our next step in the process of learning how to meditate effectively, we are
going to examine what it means to practice the stillness of the mind. When I say
stillness, I really mean a stillness of mind, not a silentness. This stillness can
be metaphorically imaged as pond that is gradually becoming more still as the night
approaches, because less bodily movements, emotional thrusts, and internal
dialogues are jumping into it. As the degree of these phenomenons lesson, so too do
their respective ripples.

�rewriting section�

but before we get too deeply into the topic, I need to clarify that I do not mean
the silencing of the mind, or the silencing of the inner critic. It is true, that
with continued practice and the honing of your skills at concentration, you too can
experience a degree of silentness from your own inner critic. While this experience
can bring forth a greater sense of clarity, peace and contentment, don�t let it
become the aim, or replace your intentions for a more purpose driven outcome.
Freedom from the stress of your inner critic is a landmark along the journey of
greater revelations, so don�t confuse it as a destination or a significant
achievement.

Finally, it is absurdly difficult to see a situation clearly when that inner critic
is constantly sharing its opinion with you about everything under the sun, which
can in turn trigger its own set of bodily and emotional reactions. Yap yap yap yap
yap. It just loves to hear itself speak. We need to learn how to be at peace with
this voice, so that concentration becomes easier, not more confusing. After all,
you are after the realizations that solve problems, not the confusion the creates
them.

Luckily, whenever you begin practicing the skill of concentration correctly, not
matter what the activity happens to involve, concentrating single mindedly actually
helps silence that inner critic, because it is the effect of concentration that
dilutes all distractions.

Step 1: Choose a subject based on your need, its usefulness, guidance, or your
intuition.

We will choose a subject of introspection that will remain the same for the next
few sessions, so that you can build up a familiarity with the topic. We will start
off with Breath Meditation, because it is fundamental to all other subjects of
consideration. Likewise, your body is always with the breath, and the stillness of
emotions is directly linked to that silent breath we will all grow to love. This is
the beginning of the essentials, and you can always improve upon this, or go back
to it if you have no other subject in mind for that session. I recommend sticking
to 20 min duriations at first. I advise this, because you need to be able to
practice a little challenge perfectly before you endeavor to practice a larger
challenge effectively. However, after this, there are no limits!
Step 2: Begin from the beginning.

Having decided upon your intention for the duration of this session...
Symbolizing your conviction for your intention, exhale out of the mouth to begin.
Breathing through the nose, bring your awareness to your breathing pattern.
Watch the inhalation, noticing its duration, breadth, physical sensations,
feelings, or any emotions that arise.
Watch the retention on the top, or notice the point of transition into the exhale.
Watch the exhalation, noticing its characteristics in similarity to the inhalation.
Watch the retention on the bottom, or notice the point of transition into the
inhale.
Begin noticing the quality of breath characteristic and letting go of each. Follow
the flow.
Continue watching for the duration of the session.
Congratulate your efforts no matter how big or small. Practicing is what counts.
Step 3: Tips & Tricks for Developing Concentration

I will refer to this section as my tips & tricks for developing concentration.
These are the instructions that are most important while you improve your abilities
at meditation and are paramount to your ongoing success. If you had no other reason
for meditating, except to learn these skill-sets, your entire life would be
transformed. In fact, it is your ability to maintain a focus that will ultimately
determine how skillful you become in any area of your life. This is true, because
being able to guide yourself into deeping your concentration is the single most
influencial factor in all disciplines of success.

As you will notice below, each of these tips is followed by one or more tricks for
dealing with a specific distraction that arises during your practice. In essence,
the tricks are only useful, so long as that distraction continues to arise for the
unconditioned practitioner. With increased practice, your familiarity with using
these tips will eventually become so automatic and spontaneous that you no longer
notice those distractions reoccurring. Thus, you develop the ability to concentrate
and meditate effectively. It is that simple.

The only difference that you need apply if you wish to carryover these skill-sets
into any other area of your life is to change the intent from �returning to the
breath,� to returning to your focus in the task at hand. The new-age lingo for
being more present in life, is actually the skill of improving your concentration
on what it is that you are doing at any given moment. If you wish to become more
present and feel the peace and calm of the eternal moment, you really just need to
learn how to concentrate better on any given moment you are presently experiencing.
It all begins here.

So, without further delay, I hope you enjoy these tips and their relative tricks
and practice them diligently for as long as they remain useful.

Tips & Tricks

If you notice your attention has wondered, kindly bring your attention back to the
breath.
Practice guiding yourself to stay on course without internal judgement or labeling.
Imagine that you are teaching a puppy to sit for the first time. It is a puppy; you
expect it to wander. The same principle applies to your ability to concentrate, on
this or any other task. Be kind to yourself and simply redirect your focus as soon
as you happen to notice that it is off track again. With practice, you will be
amazed at how your body will actually automate this process almost instinctively.
Likewise, you may also begin to notice the differences in duriation for which you
notice your attention being off subject. Very intersting.
If you notice your attention drawn to a reference with emotional emphasis, kindly
return to the breath. +1
This is a prime opportunity to practice your ability to remain emotionally poised.
When you return to the breath, allow that first breath to mirror a slow and silent
inhale, followed by your skillful recall of what it feels like to be physically and
emotionally relaxed. Continue alternating between following the breath specifically
and using the silent breath to nullify the emotional charge. By closely following a
compulsively stressful focus with a consciously peaceful focus, you are dynamically
restructuring how you will feel and perceive that same focus in future instances.
With practice, your body directly associate the silent breath with the feelings of
relaxation and peace, allowing this effect to become effortless. You may even
notice and remember the differences between the intensities of each experience,
slowing seeing those ideas lose their emotional charge.
If you notice difficulty keeping the focus, dizziness, or a rapid shifting of
focus, kindly return to the breath.+1
This experience occurs when you are not familiar with the practice of focusing your
awareness, noticing when it is has moved, what it has moved to, how often it has
moved there, how long it was there, or if you made a decision about it before you
returned to the focus. The trick here is to guide your focus into slowing down by
slowing down the rhythm of your breathing. Take twice as long to inhale, exhale,
and pause as you would normally.
!!! If you notice that you don�t notice improvement, kindly return to the
breath.!!!
This is a very important aspect to all areas of skill improvement as well as
maintaining an improvement bias to any meditation focus. If you notice that you
don�t notice improvement, you may need to reduce the scope of your concern, so that
you are focused more narrowly on the task at hand. When applied to breath
meditation, this means that for each inhale and exhale, your concern ends and
begins anew on the following breath. Your intent is to focus your conviction into
improving a single breath until it is done perfectly. The experience of this done
accurately is that upon reflection, you recall nothing else but what you focused
upon. You have no memory of noticing an external or internal distractions that
usually occur. Once you are able to hold your focus on one breath, then you begin
to expand into two breaths, and three and so forth. In anything you do, if you want
the final product to be the absolute best quality, the quality of every component
must reflect the absolute best. So, if you want to develope a masterful skill of
concentration on a full session of breaths, you need to first understand how to
masterfully experience this with a single breath, first.
Combine this with slowing the breath and the silent breath and you have an amazing
effect:
By slowing down your practice, you are increasing the amount of awareness you can
give to each breath. Next, reduce your scope of the task into a smaller reference
frame of care by concerning yourself with only one breath at a time. Combine these
with with feelings of relaxation and peace on that exaggerated exhale, and you have
a recipe for heightening your rate of perception! As your rate of perception
increases due to this slowing and relaxing in peace, it is as if your mind is
allowed to observe its experience through more frames per second. These additional
frames give you the experience of �more time� between the impulses that are
arisings or pulling your attention away from the focus, thus you are able to
concentrate more easily, notice more clearly, and feel even greater depths to those
feelings of relaxation and peace. If you then return back to your usual rate of
breathing, you may notice it just got easier! Experiment! Paradoxically, even
though you are experiencing more frames per moment perceptually, because you are
not familiar with all of the general contents of your mind, your conscious
awareness may consolidate this experience in your memory as the experience: �Wow.
Time flew by, but I don�t recall much importance.� As your practice grows, you will
be able to notice more meaningful moments within this and your other subjects of
meditation, and you will have a different experience: �Wow. Time flew by, but I
realized so much! How did I fit so much into so little?!�
If you notice you are suddenly daydreaming, fantasizing, or considering what you do
or do not want, kindly return to the breath.+1
Beginners are often unaware of our tendency to fantasize on a moment by moment
basis. Good fantasizes are labeled as �wishes� while bad fantasies could be called
�worries�. Notice these. It is difficult, but persistence is king. The experience
of noticing you are fantasizing is liken to suddenly being dumbstruck. �Why am I
thinking about this?� It can become a source of amusement to watch yourself drift
in and out of delusions while striving to build up a strong practice of conscious
attentiveness. Try not to make an idea about this and kindly return to the breath.
If you notice these fantasies having an emotional emphasis, these are called
�Desires� and they are causing you emotional suffering. It is very important that
you dissolve this emotional attachment with the silent breath. By desiring what you
do not have, you sow the seeds of discontentment for what you do have. Nip this in
the bud and you will begin to experience real peace in your everyday life. There
are two forms of desires: Desiring what you want to happen, and desiring what you
do not what to happen. Learn to recognize them throughout your daily life and,
�kindly return to the moment.�
On occasions, breath meditation can really excite some great ideas to arise during
these sudden daydreams, but don�t turn them into desires. This is one reason that
it is better to keep this kind of meditation restricted to chucks of 20mins. You
can rest assured that if you have a great idea, you will remember it. You can
either write it down afterwards or begin a separate meditation on that subject
exclusively. I usually choose to act on them afterwards, or remember all of them.
When you are familiar with this practice, you will realize that you can never
forget anything, unless you don�t need it.
If you notice a phantom itch, tempting you to move or scratch it, kindly return to
the breath. +1
Even through you have put in the practice for stilling your body, there will be
occasions when old habits die hard. This is true for all aspects of psychology. If
you have done something before, you retain the potential to do so again. Remain
vigilant and remember your training. Recall that final breath from the 3�2�1
Method, just as with the emotional distraction, and return your attention to the
breath. Perfect practice makes perfect.
If you notice your inner diologue remarking on what you observe, kindly return to
the breath.
This habit of accepting what your internal dialogue says to be true, without
assessing the validity of its statements, can be a tough cookie to crack. Sometimes
the best medicine is to simply ignore what it says for the duration of the session.
If is really important, I�m sure you will remember it later. If it isn�t important,
I�m sure that voice will keep trying to distract you from what really matters. My
personal preference is to combat this inner voice by non-competition. I simply
pretend for a moment that I didn�t quite catch that, or more often than not, the
totality of my practice and repetition of practicing �returning to the breath� is
so entrained, it occurs spontaneously before I even notice what was said. Ignore
the voice as you would ignore the hatters. Focus on the task.
If you notice your awareness suddenly focused on an external phenomenon, kindly
return to the breath.
Generally, I advise picking an environment that is silent with minimal distractions
for conducting your meditations on a regular basis. This is important for the
beginner, because it really reduces the total number of possible stimuli that could
potentially draw your attention. However, there will come a time when you really
feel a need to sit down and reflect, but silence is not an option. I recommend that
you occasionally challenge yourself by having a session in an environment that is
completely contradictory to your ideals. This will strengthen your ability to focus
much more than if you were to only practice concentrating in silent places. Rest
assured, with practice, your ability to �kindly return to the breath� will
eventually outweigh any distracting obstacles.
If you notice your focus is too tight, kindly return to the breath. +1
This one is difficult for the beginner to notice at all, and usually becomes more
self-evident the longer this �tightness� persists. Basically, the meditator is
trying to use too much willpower in order to enforce the conditioning of
concentration instead of focusing on the persistence of the practice. If you are
trying too hard, a slight sense of agitation or disappointment will begin to seed
itself within your ongoing practice. The agitation comes from the stress you are
generating and the disappointment will result if you persist in this stress and
start to notice that your progress has stalled. The key to good training is to let
the conditioning do the work for you and save your willpower for when you really
need it, like deciding to meditate during a challenging emotional upheaval. Be
patient. The opportunity will come. Return to the breath with the silent breath
until you feel this tightness subside and simultaneously notice your face and relax
the muscles that seem tight. The eyes can be tricky for holding tension. At all
times you are focusing on maintaining an alertness that is balanced between a deep
physical relaxation and an emotional poise that is not too excited in any
direction.
If you notice your focus is too loose or lazy, kindly return to the breath.
This is the opposing issue to having a focus that is too tight. This can occur when
you haven�t noticed your body or head slouching forward, backward, or to the side.
Alternatively, this can also occur if you have forgotten to set you intenton for
the session prior to taking that first exhale out of the mouth. In this condition,
you are almost too relaxed and you may need to introduce a bit of physical strain
on your body in order to perk your attention back into alignment. There are many
ways to go about this, but I will list what I have found works best for me. Check
your posture. If you notice that your body or head has fallen out of alignment from
your original posture, adjust your posture briefly and kindly return to the breath.
Check your tongue. Notice if your tongue is lazily sitting in your mouth or if it
is pressed firmly to the front roof of your mouth. When endeavoring to bring your
focus back into balance, forcibly pushing your tongue to the roof of your mouth can
give you just the right amount of physical tension in order to bring back from
having a lazy focus.
If you notice your body falling asleep, kindly return to the breath.
I am reminding you to kindly return to the breath, so that you keep your commitment
to finish this session. However, you should consider getting more sleep or
practicing at a time in which you can remain more alert. Alternatively, you could
welcome the challenge, and overtime enable yourself to concentrate single-mindedly
despite your body�s suggested condition.
Overcoming Fears

Fear is your False Evidence Appearing Real. Whatever evidence you are using to make
these claims of a �right to be fearful� are incomplete. I know this to be true,
because I have conquered many fears, and I am on my way to conquering them all. If
you saw fear for what it truly is within the context of who you truly are, you
would be more amused or dumbstruck with clarity than actually afraid.

Seek to understand it and you will control it.

When fear is identified as happening, the heartrate increases and the breathing
constricts. This is also known as anxiety. The only difference between anxiety and
fear is the degree of the debilitating physical, emotional and mental side effects,
but they are the same. Anxiety is seeded in any experience, real or imagined, as
soon as you define it as being unsupporitve of you by saying, �This is bad. This
sucks. I hope this never happens to me! Oh no! That is horrible! Etc�. Your body
literally enters into a fight or flight mode, prepping you to take action.
Adrenaline and emotions flow through your body, and even through these are the same
properties of feeling excitement, you are perceiving it as fear due to labeling it
as threatening to your safety. The effects of fear continue to remain active, so
long as you allow the cycle of your mind reacting to your body & your body reacting
to your mind, to continue due to remaining unconscious of how each opporates, or
not practicing how you can intervene.

The reactive cycle entails:

You notice an event and declare: �This event is bad if it ever happens to me.�
Upon defining the experience to be unsupportive of you, you enter into fight or
flight mode.
Fight or flight prepares you for action, but if you sit on it, it becomes anxiety.
You dwell on it with emotional emphasis(worrying), it intensifies into a fear and
you forget about it.
Circumstances arise that appear to be similar to the event you saw or imagined:
defined as �bad�.
Noticing the similarities, but not waiting to check the accuracy, you react and
attempt to protect, defend or flee.
Emotional attachment intensifies due to reacting in the moment; your worries are
reinforced.
You are safe, because it was a false alarm. You reacted to what you thought, not
what it was.
You dwell on it with emotional emphasis(worrying) and forget about it.
Circumstances arise that appear to be similar to the event you saw or imagined:
defined as �bad�.
Noticing the similarities, but not waiting to check the accuracy, you react and
attempt to protect, defend or flee.
One of these realities occur:

It was another false alarm, but you continue to reinforce the cycle.
It was a real alarm, but you made it out safely.
It was a real alarm, but you did not make it out safely.
It was a false alarm, but you became conscious of this pattern and discontinued
giving the ideas you �feared� emotional emphasis, and they stopped attracting these
realities or opportunities to your awareness. You are safe, so long as you remain
responsible for your present tense emotional state and where you place the
emphasis.
In order to intervene between the cycles of the mind reacting to the body and the
body reacting to the mind, you need to develope an effective meditation practice
that enables you to train yourself in the skill of emotional poise. By developing
this skill, you will be able to neutralize the emotional component of your �fear�.
This is also the component that compels you to dwell on the subject despite your
logic knowing how illogical it is to believe. This is the same component that
compels people to gorge on junk food when they know they want different food, or
keep smoking when they know they want to quit. Emotions compel us into acting on
the images we associate with them - period, regardless of the opinions or intellect
of our inner critic.

Seek to understand the fear. Seek to understand your Self. Seek to understand who
you are and how you relate to the fear and how the fear relates to your own mind.
Strive to understand how it became your experience, and why it continues to remain
your companion. Seek to see your fear and its content within the context of what is
actually happening within you. Challenge your fear with emotional poise. Don�t let
it control you simply because you don�t understand it. Analyze your fear and
examine its validity with a razor sharp focus. Fear is nothing, but the creation of
a desire you believe can not support you, yet it can. Strive to understand this and
your fear will evaporate like the illusion it truly is. As soon as you are able to
hold the images of the �fear� within your focus, without giving it your emotional
emphasis, you will be able to see for yourself how illogical it truly is and you
will easily let go of dwelling on this subject. The power is within you

I am going to assume for a moment that you already know how to still the body, feel
relaxation, center in peace, and develope mental clarity using the guidance
provided throughout Part 1: The Foundations of Clarity. If you desire to overcome
your fears, follow this guide:

Dissolving Fear

Step 1: Intend to Assess the Illusion

Assume the ideal state in your ideal environment.
Exhale out of your mouth to begin, symbolizing your intented conviction.
When you are ready, bring to mind an experience you are afraid of having or seeing.
Notice how this experience feels.
Notice if your inner critic speaks.
Notice if your heart begins to race.
Notice if your body twitches at all.
Notice if your imagination creates images.
Notice if you are recalling a past memory.
If this fear excites other fears to arise, focus on just this fear for this
session.
Take a break and jot down what you have noticed about your bodily reactions thus
far. Please, strive to understand that these are only reactions to your mind�s past
interactions with such experiences, or reactions to your mind�s predictions of
future outcomes. These are not fixed in any shape, way, or form, unless you refuse
to confront them in a systematic fashion, confortable to your own pace. You can use
this practice in order to recondition peace into any experience, just as your
previous experiences conditioned these reactions into these experiences. All it
takes is that you decide how you would prefer to feel and recondition accordingly.
The fact that you are afraid is a clear indication that you are seeing the
circumstances unclearly. Strive for clarity and your own understanding will guide
you to the light.

Step 2: Intend to Condition Clarity

Assume the ideal state in your ideal environment.
Exhale out of your mouth to begin, symbolizing your intended conviction.
When you are ready, bring to mind that experience you are afraid of having or
seeing.
Notice anything you may have noticed before.
Notice if this has changed at all since before.
After noticing all there is to notice, bring your awareness to your insight
meditation practice.
Feel the silent breath and the feelings of relaxation and mental peace this
invokes.
Slow your breathing rate if this is difficult for you in order to increase the side
effects.
Continue until you have forgotten about your fear and its relative
preconditionings.
When you are ready, bring to mind that experience again.
Notice what you notice, but suspend believing what the critic has to offer.
Notice any changes in the intensity or frequency of bodily reactions.
When you have had enough of this, or it becomes familiar, return to focusing on the
silent breath.
Use the silent breath to neutralize any bodily, emotional or mental distractions
just as before.
Continue until you notice that your body has forgotten the experience and its
preconditionings.
* Continue alternating experiences of fear with experiences of the silent breath
for the duration of this session, or until you have had enough of this activity for
the time being. Take into account any reasons your critic has given you for fearing
the situation. You will assess the validity of this statements in the next step
through a process of experimentation if applicable, otherwise continue with this
step until you neutralize all emotionally attachements to the ideas associated to
the fear and realize the truth.

Take a break and jot down what you have noticed about your bodily reactions thus
far. We are going to check these for any truth in the next step. Did they change or
sway, even a little bit? How does it feel to know that you can engage these
experiences consciously and influence their influence over you? Have you noticed
anything new? Continuing practicing this form of insight meditation until you are
able to look at any and all internal references of these experiences with emotional
poise - no emotional emphasis. Proceed when ready.

Now that you can sit with emotional poise during your internal references of the
�fear,� it is time to challenge the validity of this fear during more authentic
experiences. There are a variety of ways for going about this and each approach is
largely determined by your preferences, the pace you have set for yourself, and if
your fear is applicable to something you actually would like to do. So, if you fear
dancing in public, but you really love to dance and would like to do this someday,
step 3 would be for you. However, if you fear being kidnapped, raped, murdered,
robbed, hurt, harmed, abused, or killed, this step would be unreasonable and you
should continue with step 2 until you overcome the illusion of your fear
internally.

The general idea is that you need to pick an opportunity that can place your body
and eyes in front of the potential experience. Understand, you do not need to
�experience� the experience, you just need to be in proximity of the experience and
be willing to experience it if you truly feel ready. Ideally, you will pick an
opportunity that allows you to witness other people experiencing the fear as a fear
as well as different people experiencing it as an enjoyment. Here we go!

Step 3: Intend to Experience Reality

(What is truly happening?)

Assume the ideal state prior to arriving into the opportunity you have chosen.
Exhale out of your mouth to begin, symbolizing your intended conviction.
As you begin to move forward towards the fruition of the potential experience,
notice what you notice.
Notice what your inner critic is telling you about the experience to come. Is it
true?
Look around you. Are other people having the same experiences? Why or why not?
Find a comfortable place to stop and rest before continuing towards the �fear�.
Take a few minutes or however long you need to practice your silent breath.
Condition your body to remain relaxed, your emotions poised, your mind peaceful.
Continue until you have forgotten about this process and feel absorbed in the
silent breath.
Now is the perfect timing to assess what you have learned thus far. Jot it down if
you need.
Continue this process of two steps forward, one step back. Move toward the
experience you thought you feared, and occasionally step back, feel the relaxation,
dissolve the emotions, analyze the critic, assess what is truly happening for you.

Move closer and closer to the experience until you are able to have it and find the
joy in it, or at least not be controlled by it.

As you continue this process of repeatedly going through these steps, you will
become familiar with your perceived fear. This familiarity and the practice of the
silent breath will gradually enable you to neutralize the emotions and clarify your
perceptions. It is my intent that by using your meditation practice effectively,
you will come to realize that your personal experiences hold no inherent value
outside of the value you have attributed to them. The only difference between the
experiences you love and the experiences you fear are the reasons you have chosen
to believe. However, these reasons are not inherently true and will only appear to
remain so, so long as you do not examine them closely.

I have used the technique I have listed above for overcoming my fears:

Fear of dolls, scary movies, heights, walking on steep roofs, talking to girls,
dancing in public sober, public speaking, crying around family or strangers,
sharing sexual preferences with a lover, practicing yoga in public, meditating in
public, assuming a homeless life for a year, insecurities about how I look,
sleeping in obscure places, going to prison, insect stings or bites, bird attacks,
fear of acceptance, fear of failure, fighting, confrontations, making mistakes,
ruining my life, death, life, rejection, financial freedom, taking responsibility
for my actions, standing for what I know to be true, being wrong, being corrected,
being taken advantage of, developing disorders, curing those disorders, pain,
struggle, following my heart regardless of the opposition�.and more. I wish you the
best skill in doing the same. Enjoy.
I hope this information finds you ready.
Sincerely,

Michael Smith