A MEDITATION PRIMER

Regular meditation can be an important part of one's spiritual practice. Most long-time practitioners recommend two or three purposeful meditation sessions each day. Each session should last between 15-30 minutes. One should enter and leave a meditation gradually--slowly--yet purposefully. Many find that meditating at roughly the same time and in the same place every day enhances their contemplative practice. And remember, one meditates in order to be free from the attachments of this life--including the attachment to how good meditation may sometimes....feel....

First, sit. Sit on a chair with your feet flat on the ground--Sit on a cushion, cross-legged--Burmese Lotus, in Full Lotus--but sit, relaxed. Find a place where you can sit uninterrupted.
Sit with the spine erect and straight. Imagine you have a top knot on the top of your head, and that you are being pulled by the top knot upward--straightening your spine.
Place your hands in your lap--in front of what is called your Tantien--about two to three inches below your navel. Make an oval shape with your hands--thumbs on top. Thumbs should either be lightly touching, or just barely NOT touching, with fingers layered below.
Close your eyes and focus them on a spot 45 degrees in front of your forehead. You may feel a bit cross-eyed. That is okay.
Relax completely. Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Stay completely relaxed. Start breathing slowly, in and out--breathing from your stomach. Try to not be a top-side breather. Breath IN THROUGH YOUR NOSE--slowly--filling your lungs from the bottom--your stomach extending, not your chest. Breathe in slowly until you have filled your lungs completely. Now, breath out through your mouth. Slowly. Continue to do this, and at the same time, calm your mind, and relax ALL of your muscles.
Now, you can begin to focus only on your breath--counting your breaths. Some contemplative practices have you repeat a mantra, or sound. Understand that all mantras have meaning--generally being the bija or seed mantra for a deity--often a Hindu deity or a Buddha. If this would pose a conflict with the practitioner, the breath should be the focus. Repeat the sound, or count the breaths, focusing on such--then, become the breath--or the sound if using a mantra. Naturally, other thoughts or mindful issues will surface. No big deal. Let it happen. Just go back to your mantra or breath. If the external thought persists, let it unfold completely. Then, go back to your breath or mantra.
Some practices would have the adherent transform their mantra (or their breath) to a point of light, and the mantra or breath becomes a light that joins the practitioner to the light of union. It is not unusual for the practitioner to feel good as they enter this state of union. It has been found in studies of practitioners there is a release of dopamine to the brain's mid-brain pleasure centers upon union. This....feels good and is an explanation of the satori experienced by some.