In this exercise you will learn to how to enter a basic meditative state, from which you can then do a variety of visualizations and other spiritual and psychic practices. Meditative state is a highly relaxed, but also very focused state of mind. For some of the more advanced techniques you may need to learn to go deeper, but initially this simple and effective exercise is more than enough. These are the steps:
- Sitting down. Choose a convenient spot where you won’t be disturbed, and assume a comfortable pose. You can sit on a chair or in a lotus pose, whatever is comfortable enough, but not too comfortable so that you don’t fall asleep.
- Relaxation. Close your eyes and relax your body by mentally going through all your muscles and releasing all the tension. You can mentally say to yourself: “My face is relaxed… My right arm is relaxed… My back is relaxed…” etc. This stage is important. Take your time, don’t rush.
- Rubbish bin. Imagine that to the left of you there is a rubbish bin. It is clean and disposable, nice and shiny metallic, with a tight lid. It looks ‘cosmic’, something that astronauts would use on a spaceship – let your imagination decide what it might look like.
- Releasing negative thoughts. Imagine yourself opening the lid and throwing away all your negative thoughts into that bin, all the worrying images in your head, words, sounds, anything discomforting that is happening in your mind right now. You can imagine the unwanted contents of your mind as dark energy clouds that flow out of your head and into the bin.
- Releasing negative emotions. Now imagine that you are also throwing all your negative emotions and feelings into that bin – your worries, fears, doubts, and frustrations. You may feel different emotions in different parts of your body, and it would be very useful to notice where they are, but if that’s difficult at first, just imagine them all in one place, e.g. at your heart centre, flowing out like dark clouds into the bin.
- Burning. Once you’re satisfied that all your negative thoughts and emotions are in the bin, mentally tightly close the lid and send the garbage bin flying towards the sun. Picture it entering the very centre, the core of the sun and burning completely, leaving not even ashes, turning into pure, refined, colourless energy. Feel the wonderful relief of burning all that trash. If you do this thoroughly, you’ll feel as if a huge burden has just been taken off your shoulders.
- Clearing. Now to the right of you imagine a bookshelf. Picture your positive thoughts as books and place them on the upper shelves. Imagine your positive emotions as boxes with gifts inside and place them all on the lower shelves. They are always there, available to you whenever you need to access them. But right now they are simply distractions, as your goal is to remain totally calm and quiet inside, completely undisturbed.
- Stabilising. Return your attention to your body and focus on your breath. Breathe deeply and calmly for 3-5 minutes, concentrating on the feeling of being pure and peaceful, free from all thoughts and emotions, and completely calm.
The Mental Clearing technique is a great method for entering the right state of mind to do various further spiritual practices, depending on your goals. However, it is also quite effective when used on its own to manage stress and enter a deeply relaxed and focused state of mind. Do not worry whether you could actually lose your positive or ‘important’ thoughts and emotions if you ‘take them out’ of yourself. They will return when you need them again, but not now. When you work with your mind, one of the most important skills you need to learn is to let go of all thoughts and emotions, regardless of whether they feel important or urgent at this moment, and whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. This way you will be able to focus exclusively on the object of your attention, whatever it might be, and that is key to successful practice.