More often than not my students ask me this question "my mind is not together in meditaion and i cannnot get into meditation". I have to accept it with a smile and start from the very mind itself. Meditation is an action of the mind ( maanasam Karma, means mental action). We need to know what is mind and how doest it work, mind have no existence other than thoughts, thoughts constitutes mind, unconnected thoughts,when i think about one thing that thing comes into my consciousness, when i think about Lord Rama, Rama with bow and arrow appeares into my awareness, when i go a bit further,Rama, Sita, Hanuman and Lexman all comes to the picture, my next immediate thought was what i am going to eat now, think about Samosa then , haha, there was no connection to my previous thoughts, this is how mind works, what could be my next thought up on which i have no control, anything can be my next thought !!! but we have the freedom to pick and choose a given thought and go on and on, we can see people think, think, think become happy and think, think and think become sad, a single thought no one become sad or happy, a chain of thoughts, human mind is like that. Every one have an internal world and an external world, from a infant to now what ever we have experienced though the five organs of perception from the external world is our internal world or deeper mind or memory. Our mind works thorough the five organs of perception (sense of sound,touch,sight, taste and smell) once we shout down them in meditation our internal world become active, this is where we have to know how to meditate, once we are able to keep our internal world also external we are able to start spontaneous meditation, a state of being in oneself, mind is dismissed , Its simple to start with once we gain some momentum in yoga practice we can start meditation and gradually increasing the time. Its a continuous process, regular practice with dispassion we can achieve a state in meditation, being in oneself. The self existing, self revealing and self evident consciousness alone be there to witness all. All prevading consciouness enshines the the mind. In the beginning there are numerous thoughts comes and goes into our consciouness, its natural, we have to convince our mind that we are in meditation, gradually it settle down naturally.Human mind is the most facinating faculy which makes the human, human,the power of discrimination and the freedom to think, the free will makes a human being. Consciousness is the substratum, the base, where all thoughts comes and goes.
Where to meditate upon?
One can concentrate on any object or area where the mind attracted to in the begining, like lotus heart, crown of the head etc. I suggest my students to start concentrating on their own breath, since breath and mind is connected, one can easly concentrate on ones own breath mechanism, this natural phenomina happens in our body while we are deep sleep, dream or awake.
Place and Time?
Seat of meditation should not be too high or low, rather sit on a four folded blanket, head, spine and neck on a straight line. The most suitable time is early in the morning, when our mind is calm and collected, there will be no external disturbances also, also we can do practice before sleeping and after the asana practice, Its adviced to do deep breathing exercise before meditation to calm down and lighten our mind before meditation. Success is sure if we practice regularly with dedication.