How To Meditate: Deep Meditation

 Deep meditation is not a specific style of meditating, and nor is it characterized by a singular experience which everyone would have, so there is no simple and universal definition of what it actually is. Most people, however would recognize one and there are some things that we can say about them.

1. Deep meditation involves a very powerful experience in which you enter an altered state of consciousness which is very different from your ordinary state of being.
2. Deep meditation involves going into a trance state, in which your awareness becomes separated and to a greater or lesser extent cut off from your sensory awareness. This is not the only type of powerful experience that you can have during or as a result of meditation. Some of these experiences are tied in with a heightened awareness of the world around you, or a sense of complete clarity and calmness of the mind. But during a deep meditation your mind is turned in on itself. For a time you may not even be aware of your physical body, or it may feel very heavy as if you would find it very difficult to move even if you tried.
3. When people say 'deep' they generally mean that there awareness has in some way drop down into the virtually bottomless wells of the unconscious / subconscious mind. This is sometimes associated with very powerful emotional experiences, generally very positive but perhaps quite turbulent and a little but overpowering, and various kinds of 'visions'. Contrast that with enlightenment meditations which are characterized by a complete tranquility of the emotions, and a clear and empty mind.

 The first thing that I should note here is that this is not for beginners. You should be learning the basics before you attempt to enter into profound trances in this way. If you are new to this subject and have not practiced it before then I would suggest that you take a look at this article about meditation techniques for beginners, before coming back to the techniques on this page.

1. The more relaxed your body the deeper that you will go, so you may well find it best to perform a good relaxation exercise before you begin.
2. Some people find relaxing, letting go and going deeply down to be te hardest things. But for others that hard part is not falling asleep. If you are the type of person who falls asleep easily, or if you often find yourself drifting off into daydreams or actual dreams during meditative exercises, then there are things you can do to help. The best way is to practive whilst sitting up in a chair with no back, keeping your back straight but relaxed. You will probably also find it easier performing an exercise that has some focus for your mind, such as counting up to 4 with each inhalation and exhalation, with a pause in which you count 2 in between each. You might also like to try chanting or something like that. This will be better for you than an 'emptiness' meditation in which you simply try to clear your mind without having any fixed point of focus.
3. Deepening exercises from hypnotherapy can be useful. One is to imaging yourself in an elevator, moving downwards. Try to imagine the physical sensation of downward movement in as much detail as you can.  You may like to visualize the display counting down the floors, and drop one floor with each breath. If you have the time then 100 breaths should take you into a pretty deep trance state.
4. Practice, practice, practice. That is by far and away the main thing, and all the tricks and techniques are really just very slight shortcuts to help you. The more you practice the better you will get at attaining the desired result. Also the longer your individual session is, the more likley you will be to have a deep and profound experience during it

I hope these tips help you, and you manage to achieve all that you have set our sights on. Good luck!