How to Enjoy Long Meditations

We will be having our annual all-day Christmas meditation on December 23. This tradition was started by Paramhansa Yogananda, who suggested we should celebrate a “spiritual Christmas” with a long meditation, as well as a “social Christmas.”

My first eight-hour meditation was in 1967. The previous evening Swami Kriyananda had given me and a few others our first Kriya initiation so that we could practice the technique the next day. I didn’t feel very prepared for either of these events, but Swamiji must have seen my readiness with greater clarity than I did. Here I am fifty-two years later having never, as far as I can remember, missed a single Christmas meditation nor a day of practicing Kriya. I can only attribute this to the grace of God and Gurus, good karma, and a little grit on my part.

Fortunately, you don’t need to meditate eight hours right away to get benefits. The effects of meditation, even if short, are many, especially when practicing daily. In The Essence of Self-Realization, Yogananda  guides: “To meditate a short time with depth is better than to meditate for long hours with the mind running wild. In the beginning, therefore, don’t force yourself to sit for a long time. Strive for shorter, but deeper, meditations. Then gradually, as you become accustomed to going deep, lengthen the time you sit in meditation.”

While many people feel anxious about meditating for eight hours, especially if it is their first time, sitting in a long meditation can be an uplifting experience for those willing to try. The keys to success are to relax both your body and mind, be open, be patient and remember it is all part of God. These tips can make the day easier and deeper and are as valid for experienced meditators as for newcomers. Read on for details. Read on for details.

Here are a few tips to make the day easier and deeper

Relax your body. Meditation always starts by relaxing of the body and mind, and this is especially true for a lengthy one. Periodically check your posture to be sure your muscles are not tense.

Relax your mind. Leave your daily concerns behind for a few hours, letting go of everything that might create tension. If you have any nagging concerns, you will find it surprisingly easy to ignore them if you do so resolutely for the first three or four times they try to intrude. During meditation, especially, don’t let them get a foot in the door.

Focus with willingness. Once you are relaxed, forget both the body and your thoughts. Give this one day to God alone. Our techniques—Hong-Sau, Kriya, AUM—are given to us as tools to control both the life-force and the mind. Practice these periodically throughout the day. In his book Awaken to Superconsciousness, Swami Kriyananda advises meditators to “be a little stern” with themselves. “Success won’t come to people who never try…As soon as you sit for meditation, get ‘down to business.’ Don’t dawdle, as if telling yourself, ‘Oh, I have a whole hour, so what’s the rush?’”

Yogananda reminds us in The Essence of Self Realization, that a concert pianist will practice at the piano 12 hours a day. “If instead, his practice consists of pecking half-heartedly at the keys for a few minutes every day, he’ll never become any good as a pianist,” Yogananda says. “That’s how it is with the search for God. How can you expect to know Him if you only half try? It is very difficult to reach God. If even a concert pianist must work hard to be successful in his profession, how much more earnestly must the devotee ‘work’ at meditation in order to realize the Infinite! Here, however is an encouraging thought: Everyone who makes a sincere effort on the spiritual path will surely reach his goal.”

Be open and receptive. As well as striving earnestly, we need to open ourselves to feel God’s response. This happens much more in the heart than in the mind.

Get into a longer rhythm. Your ability to concentrate will probably wax and wane. In longer meditations it is helpful to accept this rhythm. In Awaken to Superconsciousness, Kriyananda says to imitate the ocean tides I their ebbs ad flow. “Let periods of intense concentration alternate with periods of relaxed effort and peaceful receptivity. Like waves coming in to shore, high intensity will alternate with low intensity in long meditations, and there may be pauses when no waves come at all.” When the mind wanders, give it something to do. Try inward chanting or visualization for a little while and then concentrate deeply again. Kriyananda adds, “Think of your thoughts as dirt that has been stirred up in a glass. Stop stirring it, and it will gradually settle.”

Get into your heart. The mind with its endless thoughts is an obstacle, as also, ultimately, is even the exertion of will. Open your heart, relaxing and feeling a warmth and expansion in your chest. Then let your love flow spontaneously.

Finally, remember it is all God. God is already inside you and you are inside of Him. This is always true, but it is easier to realize when the mind is still and the heart is open. God is not some distant being, but your own joy and peace. Swami Kriyananda wrote, “The secret of meditation is to pray with deep faith—not as an outsider to heaven, but as one whose true, eternal home is heaven.”

The benefits of long meditation

Meditate earnestly, then relax, feel, and enjoy. You will be surprised at how quickly a long meditation passes and how much you will look forward to the next one. Establishing the Christmas meditation tradition, Yogananda guided, “Let us learn how to make our celebration of Christmas a real commemoration of the holy life of Christ, to make it a spiritual and uplifting experience…[E]nter the secret door of silence with closed eyes to behold the vast altar of peace spread eternally above, beneath, to the left and to the right, in front and behind, within and without.”

In joy and peace,

Nayaswami Jyotish

Updated April 2022 and March 2023

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