Why Do People Want to Learn to Meditate

By George A. Boyd © 2017

There are a variety of motivations why people adopt meditation and other modalities to work on themselves. Here are seven major reasons people take up this practice:

  1. There are those who want to experience stress release, more conscious presence, and more control in their lives. Mindfulness training helps people achieve this aim.
  2. There are those who desire to deal with their life challenges. For example, people want to find a girlfriend or boyfriend, lose weight, earn more money, or be more successful in their business. Modalities such as autohypnosis, hypnotherapy, affirmations, belief in the Law of Attraction, or targeted coaching for their life concern assist them handle these practical life concerns.
  3. There are those who are on a quest for meaning, authenticity, and the discovery of spiritual truths. These benefit from the study of spiritual books, psychotherapy, self-introspection, personal inventory, journaling, philosophical inquiry, and contemplative reflection.
  4. There are those who seek the experience of mystery, enlightenment, and union with the Divine within them. These gravitate towards Taoist breath work, martial arts, hatha yoga, meditation methods that unite the attention with the Soul, and the Jnana Yoga practices of spiritual discernment.
  5. There are those who yearn for a conscious relationship with God, and want to live in harmony with their Soul Purpose and the Divine Will. These find solace in faith in God, prayer, worship, study of scriptures, and practices of mystic spiritual communion like Nada Yoga and Guru Dhyan Yoga (meditation on the form of the guide form of the spiritual Master).
  6. There are those who aspire to gain spiritual powers, to breakthrough into ecstatic union with the Divine, to gain Samadhi and Self Transcendence. These are attracted to Mantra Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga Paths.
  7. There are those who choose to make their conscious ascension, unfold their core spiritual potentials, and gain spiritual salvation—fulfilling each aspect of their Divine Purpose and Plan and ascending to Mastery in this lifetime. These are drawn to Integral Meditation.

The Mudrashram® System of Integral Meditation has programs to assist seekers who approach meditation with any of these seven motivations.

  • For type one, we train you in mindfulness and stress reduction practices in our Introduction to Meditation Program and Foundations of Practical Meditation Course.
  • For type two, we teach you powerful meditations to access the subconscious mind—autohypnosis, affirmation, and process meditation—in our intermediate courses, the on-line and by-mail Accelerated Meditation Program and the in-person Mudrashram® Master Course in Meditation.
  • For type three, we teach you contemplative practices in our intermediate courses, and how to do introspection and inventory in our Introduction to Meditation Program.
  • For type four, we teach you methods to awaken the Soul and gain enlightenment in our intermediate courses; in our advanced course, the Mudrashram® Advanced Course in Meditation; and the Samadhi Week Program.
  • For type five, we teach the practices of Nada Yoga and effective prayer in our intermediate courses, and the practice of conscious communion with the guide in our advanced course and in the on-line Satsang Program Study Course.
  • For type six, we train you in the key practices of Mantra Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga in our intermediate courses, and introduce you to Kriya Yoga in our advanced course.
  • For type seven, we teach you the three core practices of Integral Meditation—transformational mantra, opening the channels of the Nada with the spirit, and ascension in full consciousness as the attentional principle—that enable you to accelerate your spiritual progress and travel the Light Stream to conscious spiritual Mastery in this lifetime.

We invite you to explore the teachings of our system of Integral Meditation on this website through reading articles on our Open Stacks page and in our Library. If this resonates for you, you may wish to study our webinars and read our books, or obtain a personal guidance session. If all this makes sense to you and you feel ready to meditate, you are welcome to begin studying meditation with us on this website or in person.

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