Silent repetition in the mind of memorized inspirational passages from the world’s great religions. Practiced for one-half hour each morning.

Here is an excerpt from the teacher Eknath Easwaran’s book, Meditation:

The principle of meditation is simple: You are what you think. By meditating on words that embody your highest ideals, you drive them deep into your consciousness. There they take root and begin to create wonderful changes in your life — changes you have wanted to make, but have not known how to bring about.

When I talk about meditation, I am referring to a specific interior discipline which is found in every major religion, though called by different names. (Catholic writers, for example, speak of contemplation or interior prayer.) This interior discipline is not a relaxation technique. It requires strenuous effort. It does dissolve tension, but in general, especially at the beginning, meditation is work, and if you expect to find it easy going, you’ll be disappointed.

So what is meditation? It is the regular, systematic training of attention to turn inward and dwell continuously on a single focus within consciousness, until, after many years of daily practice, we become so absorbed in the object of our contemplation that while we are meditating, we forget ourselves completely. In that moment, when we are empty of ourselves, we are utterly full of what we are dwelling on. This is the central principle of meditation: we become what we meditate on.

External links

• More information
• Learn to meditate by reading short instructions in a simple and powerful method of passage meditation – or a full discussion
• Select a meditation passage
• Read short descriptions of seven allied practices which bring the benefits of your meditation into your daily life
• Listing of all the Book titles organized by category
• Read the current issue of Blue Mountain Journal online and Register for a free quarterly subscription
• Find a meditation fellowship group near you
• Register for a meditation retreat
• Description of a retreat