There are certain principles to be kept in mind constantly at the time of meditation. Initially meditation may be difficult for everyone. But with a little practice the process becomes easier. It is necessary to follow a certain constant pattern and not make many changes in it while meditating.

This can be better understood by taking a simple example. Suppose we want an advertisement to have some results and project it on the national network at a certain time of the day everyday for the consumers to see. And suppose every time the projection happen the network makes some changes in the advertisement, either by adding something, causing an interruption or deleting something. Will the advertisement still have the same effect on the audience? No certainly not. It will definitely not have as much impact as required. It will also give rise to a lot of disappointment. And it will give rise to various questions regarding the investment one has made on the advertisement. Same principle works while meditating also. One has to keep in mind the regularity aspect. This means that the exercise has to done at a certain time of the day everyday. It is important to follow the same timing as a routine because it helps to calm down the mind easily. Also one has to follow a regular pattern constantly even if it does not seem to give results instantly.

It is necessary that one keeps a certain place for meditation in the house and not change the place frequently. This is very important as the mind starts viewing and relating with the familiarity of the place and it becomes easier for the thoughts to concentrate. With constant changes in the perception the mind has difficulty in relaxing as every day it has to cope up with new surroundings. It is the basic nature of the mind to take in all that is surrounding it. Even with the eyes closed one can easily visualize all the familiar surroundings. So if the surroundings are kept the same the mind gets bored and does not explore them anymore. This eases the situation of diverting the thoughts inwards.

It is also important to choose a time of the day when the mind is free from all concerns. It should certainly not be in the middle of the day when the mind is involved in numerous other tasks. The seasoned practitioners suggest that the dawn or the dusk times are the best for the practice of meditation. This is because there is least amount of disturbance during those times of the day. In yoga the time of dawn is called Brahma Muhurat or the auspicious time and is considered to be the best time of the day for any practice related with meditation.

Care should be taken to not cross the magnetic lines of forces of the earth with an adverse sitting position. It is always advisable to sit facing the north or the east direction to avoid this situation. Care should also be taken to keep the back erect the head, neck and spine all in one straight line. These are many postures that can be used while sitting. These are covered in detail in the section of Postures for Meditation.

It is necessary to focus the mind on the present. This is best done by focusing the mind on the breathing pattern. Initially a few deep breaths are taken for a period of five minutes and then the breathing pattern is slowed down to a more relaxed pace. The breathing pattern has to follow certain regularity so that the mind becomes used to it.

Just focusing on breathing also does not initially calm the mind. In such a situation the mind should be allowed to wander for sometime rather than trying unnecessarily hard to tame the thoughts. This leaves the thoughts more liberated at first but soon they tend to fall in a pattern. Some deep breathing exercises done at the beginning also soothe the body. It is also easier for the thoughts to concentrate with the relaxed breathing. The ultimate idea is to remove all sorts of tensions from the body and concentrating on the inflow and outflow of the breath. This becomes easier to achieve with the relaxation and no stress situation that the body comes in after a few deep breaths.

For the beginners the next step is to try and concentrate the thoughts on some focal point of the body. Yoga advises these focal points to be Anja or Anahata Chakra for the beginners. Later with more practice the thoughts can be taken to other chakras of the body also. It is necessary to keep the thoughts focussed on the chosen spots throughout the process of meditation. The actual experience of meditation starts when the thoughts focused on these spots become clear and pure. It is important to not be disturbed and keep the thoughts focussed at this point in time. Concentrating deeply on these results into further purity of thoughts and finally a stage is reached which is called Samadhi or the attainment of enlightenment.

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