My family and I moved to Asia end of 2006. I had a short bucket list for our time in Malaysia and Singapore and the key item was: learning to meditate.
My wish to learn to meditate brought the challenge how best to learn it.
Wisdom tells that “when the student is ready, the master will appear”. And I guess I was ready because shortly after arriving in Singapore I met Vikas Malkani.
After hearing Vikas’ introduction into meditation, I knew that I wanted to learn from him. It has been the best decision of my life.
Many of you might be in a similar situation: you want to learn meditation but don’t know where to start, or maybe you already have some experience but did not find it particularly effective or working, or you like it but might want to deepen your meditation practice and reap more benefits.
If this is you, let me give you some guidance that truly helped me in my journey.
Vikas has developed trademarked meditation courses from introductory to mastery level. His meditation training programs are considered the best in Asia.
The introductory program is Meditation Made SimpleTM (MMS) and it explains that you need three elements to make meditation effective and beneficial: (1) wisdom, (2) tool(s) and (3) practice.
Wisdom of life helps you understand why the issue or problem that you are experiencing, is happening. It helps you understand what it is you want. Wisdom brings you the root cause of your issue, it connects you with your purpose and wisdom shows you how you can create the life that you want.
Just like you can make gardening easier with tools, meditation becomes more effective with the right tool(s). There are many meditation tools. It is good to experience a number to find which one feels good for you.
Knowing the wisdom and having a tool is not enough. Application i.e. practice will make meditation real. When you know what you want to change or create, you can realise this by applying the tool(s).
MMS is 70% about the wisdom, 20% about a number of simple tools and 10% about joint practice.
The rest is the student’s practice in daily life.
The SECRET INGREDIENT to make meditation effective is the WISDOM, i.e. step 1, because it makes you understand the why and the how of your life. It helps you understand why meditation works.
The wisdom understanding is lacking in almost any meditation training…..
Most meditation courses are only about tools (step 2) and then encourage you to practice (step 3). Without the wisdom understanding, your meditation might not give you the benefits that are possible for you. You might also give up after a short period of practice, simply because you start questioning your practice. You don’t understand.
Here is my advice for you when you want to learn or grow or deepen your meditation practice: find a teacher who gives you the wisdom and the tools (i.e. steps 1 and 2)!
Then your practice (step 3) is going to be much more effective and beneficial.
My training with Vikas has been the best investment of my life. It has given me great understanding of life through the wisdom; it has increased my awareness; and it has given me the tools to stay calm and in control in any situation that life throws at me, through my practice.