So I hear glitter, swirling rainbows, and angelic voices haven't found their way into your meditations. Sorry, you're doomed! I'm kidding. You're not doomed. In fact, it's pretty normal NOT to experience much of anything while you meditate, especially at first when you are training your mind.
Let's put this idea of needing a fantastical experience to rest...
Stop Seeking
The moment we start looking for something to happen, to feel something...to be engulfed in sensations is when we miss the point. Basic meditation is a letting go of seeking. It's all about being. And awareness. Seeking is doing. We don't need to "do" anything or achieve anything.
Having a mystical experience is not the goal of meditation. Peace and harmony are not even the goals, even though that is generally what happens once you get the hang of it. If there is any goal at all you are missing the point. Seeking, trying, finding...these are all concepts that take a person away from what meditation is all about.
Of course, there are certain types of meditations that do have a specific purpose, like healing or higher vibration, but it's more like setting an intention rather than trying to reach a goal. And while setting that intention you release attachment to the outcome, so you are still in a state of being rather than trying to get something.
Just stop seeking some kind of result...whether that be visions or sounds or feelings in the body. The seeking makes you tense and disappointed when you don't get what you want. And that creates resistance which pushes what you are looking for even further away.
Just Be.
And Be Aware.
You're Not Doing Anything Wrong
Those stories of mystical experiences during meditation can make a person feel like they aren't doing meditation "right". And because of this, many people give up on it based on the silly idea that you have to be super spiritual and have some kind of vision or auditory encounter with extraterrestrials or sparkling unicorns.
In the U.S. it seems like we have an unhealthy focus on the "right" way of doing literally anything. Not only that, most of us have grown up with peer groups, families, cultures, and especially in religious circles that taught us that we aren't good enough which translates into feeling like we are doing something wrong or bad if things don't work out the way that we expect them to.
We are not bad...we are not wrong...there is no moment in which we are "good enough". We are always enough because there is no spiritual measuring stick by which some higher figure judges our "goodness" compared to others and doles out more ice cream to those who do it better.
Your lack of things happening during meditation is NOT a reflection of how good or spiritual you are.
Find Your Style
Not everyone wants to sit and stare at a flame chanting OM one hundred and eight times while draped in organic linen. There are MANY ways to meditate. Maybe the way you've been doing it just isn't your thing and that's why you haven't found your bliss point.
Meditation is about being yourself, being aware, and being focused. It's about BEING. That being said, you've gotta try stuff. Get out of your head and into the present moment in whatever way feels right to you. Ask your higher self, or God or whomever you call on for help to guide you into whatever will be for the greatest good.
If you feel at home gardening, fully immerse yourself in the moment while you are out digging in the dirt, pulling weeds, and caring for your plants. Let go of all the thoughts of yesterday, tomorrow, or things you have to do.
Maybe walking is your thing. So just walk. Let the thoughts pass through you instead of thinking about them. Feel your body as it walks, your feet as they move, your breath as you breathe.
Or you could just stare out into the city skyline, your neighborhood, into nature...at whatever...just do it fully. Be there.
Do some research on styles/types of meditation and stick around April Ann Roy for future posts on many of them.
Finding your "style" of meditation won't guarantee that you feel some magical thing or carry you off into heavenly ecstasy. But it will help you connect with yourself. From there, trust that you will get exactly what you need when you need it.
Your expression of meditation is a reflection of YOU. It's not going to look like anyone else's expression. And your experience isn't going to look like someone else's either.
Finding Your Bliss Point
I don't know what other people call it, but when I say "bliss point" I am referring to the moment in meditation where it just clicks. You get it. The words, "So this is what they were talking about" come to mind. Generally, its once you've reached your bliss point that people see things, hear things or feel things.
People do experience amazing things during meditation. It happens after they have let go of seeking and have learned how to release into their own bliss point...which isn't something that can be taught. It's something that comes from being. And even trying to explain that falls short.
Your bliss point is for you and you alone. No one can tell you what it feels like or what it will look like. Only you can know it. And it doesn't always come with explosions of light and intense sensations.
If your goal is to have a mystical experience you won't find it. Stop seeking. Don't compare yourself to others. Connect with yourself and just let things be the way they are. If you are meant to have a special experience, you will have one. And having one doesn't make you a better person...or more spiritual.
If you haven't felt anything during meditation is because you are seeking it. You are waiting for it to happen because you have an idea that if it doesn't happen, you aren't as good or as spiritual as Magical Mary who meditates for 8 hours every day, only eats fruit that has fallen from the tree, and does yoga in her sleep.
And don't assume you can get it by thinking, "Oh! if I just let go and "BE" THEN I will have an experience!" That is just another goal or a thing to do in order to achieve what you are seeking.
I can't stress this enough...
Stop Seeking.
Just BE.
One Last Thing
For many people, walking through life in a kind of zombie state is normal. They feel dead or numb. When the body is used to that, it might be a little shy to relax and really get into a meditative state. The body wants to feel safe. If it hasn't felt safe for a while, it may take some time until it feels secure enough to truly let go into the world of the unknown...a place where sensations and emotions that have never been processed before actually get seen and heard.
During this period of time, it's possible that you won't feel much of anything. And that's okay. Tell your body that it is safe, that you only want what is good for it, and that you will take it easy and work with it as a partner, not as a slave master.
Peace to you.
If you want to know more about meditation, click HERE.
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