A beginner’s guide to Vedic meditation
Imagery: Mathew Coyte //@mathewcoyte
Words: Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee
If you think you’re just not cut out for meditation, it’s likely you just haven’t found the right style yet. I considered myself one of these people until I tried Vedic meditation. What makes Vedic meditation different? Well, for a start Vedic meditation is renowned as “meditation for people who can’t meditate” for a reason. You can’t do it wrong. “It's an incredible technique that anyone can learn,” says Vedic meditation facilitator Lotte Barnes. “So many people have tried meditation, they’re sitting there thinking, ‘I mustn't be doing this right. I'm talking, there's noise, I'm hearing thoughts.’
What’s different about Vedic is that thoughts are not against the rules. “With Vedic, thoughts are welcomed – they’re a part of stress relief, it's about really just having no attachment to the experience of what's happening and just trusting.”
Here, Lotte shares her wisdom and answers the most FAQ about Vedic meditation.
What is Vedic Meditation?
Vedic meditation comes from India and the 5000-year-old body of knowledge called The Vedas.
It’s a 20min twice-daily practice that anyone can learn, using a simple method taught onwards by a qualified Vedic teacher. It’s a style of meditation where a silent internal mantra – a vibrational sound is used. The mantra is a Beeja mantra. Beeja translates in Sanskrit to seed, so you're in a way, planting this seed and letting it grow and evolve within you. You bring your mantra gently into your awareness and you effortlessly use the mantra to help navigate into a sense of transcending.
What does transcending feel like?
Like coming home. To a place that is so familiar, almost a lost part of you that has been re-found. It's not your dream state, your waking state or your sleep state. It's where you're still consciously aware, but so deeply relaxed that you're going into another realm of consciousness. A place that nor time or space reside. Where you can move beyond thought and find a place of inner peace, observation, and unbounded expansion.
How is it different from other mantra-based meditation?
Many types of meditation ask you to rid thoughts, to clear the mind of all clutter and messages - Vedic is the opposite. It understands that thoughts are a natural and automated part of the mind and teaches you to follow the internal charm of your mantra, which de-excites the mind and allows you to drift effortlessly between, mantra, thought and thoughtlessness. Transcending into your deepest state of being.
Vedic empowers the individual as there is no judgment, no controlling, no intense concentration or straining of the mantra, mind or body. You simply bring the mantra into your awareness and effortlessly favour the mantra. The body and mind naturally settles as the mantra pulls you in like an anchor diving to the depths of the ocean
What are the benefits of Vedic meditation?
Vedic Meditation enhances how you feel out in the world and it creates a kind of resilience. Not to say that you become invincible, but you definitely have a bit of what I like to call a “life shield” where things deflect off you a little bit easier and you are able to make clearer, sharper more rational decisions. You act, not react from a place of intelligence and resilience, whilst being more emotionally in tune to yourself and those around you. The benefits of Vedic Meditation really start becoming less about the eyes closed meditation experience and more about your eyes open awakened state. Vedic on the whole creates deep rest, repair and rejuvenation to the entire body on a deep cellular level. It’s proven to increase dopamine, serotonin (the happy hormone), reduce adrenaline, cortisol, and significantly reduce fatigue and stress, which is the number one cause of most health-related disorders like anxiety, depression, autoimmune.
Additionally creating greater clarity, creativity and organisation. Better functioning relationships, improved parenting, improved sleeping, improved memory, and energy capabilities. Increase compassion and patience... Vedic helps support, repair, and enhances the best parts of your true self.
How does vedic meditation help relieve stress and exhaustion?
Your samskaras (internal impressions and recollections such as memories, stresses and fatigue) are built up from your life experience, so there’s a lot to process for most of us. With this technique every single time you meditate, the body automatically shifts into its natural rest and repair state. During this time the body drops in metabolic rate, changes in its stress chemistry reducing cortisol, serotonin and dopamine rises, VM reduces your heart rate and blood pressure, the body increases in oxygen, blood flow and balances your nervous system. There is also a rise in the alpha brain waves. Providing deep rest & relaxation to the mind & body. Releasing the build-up of these stresses and fatigues allows the individual to function at a more optimal healthy state, lower stress, lower exhaustion, moves you out of the constant fight or flight state (sympathetic nervous system) and into the optimal relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system).
How often do I have to practice to feel the benefits?
With Vedic, it's a twenty-minute, twice daily practice to feel the benefits. That equates to only 3% of your day. It's not something where you have to sit in an uncomfortable position and crossed legs for hours on end. It's something that was created to be technically a ‘householder’ technique - something for regular people, not just yogis or holy people. It was originally designed to be able to bring into any anyone’s daily lives no matter what. And those principals still stand, absolutely anyone who can close their eyes and sit can be taught this technique.
how can I learn vedic meditation?
You are initiated by a qualified Vedic teacher over a 4-day course. Where you are given your personal Mantra and taught how to use it effortlessly, easily and importantly without judgment, control or force. You are taught how to refine and correctly implement the technique in your daily life. Layered with ancient knowledge, insights and science behind the practice.
You become self-sufficient with this simple technique that’s truly transformative. Once you have been taught, you can do it literally anywhere, you don't need an app, you don't need anything. It's this amazing tool that empowers the individual as they are, they feel confident in their practice and that keeps them committed. It’s accessible and achievable and having a teacher and community to connect with ongoing, helps I believe to keep the individual engaged through the ever-changing cycles of life.