Meditation is not a cure-all but it can be a resolver of many ills if coupled with something called releasing, which requires a bit of effort – conscious effort.

Conscious effort isn’t effort in a work sense. It means memorizing some basic tenets in such a way that flowing with life becomes automatic. When this automation is established, conscious effort is no effort at all, because you ‘ride the waves’ instead of crashing beneath them all the time. Life becomes easier and satisfying instead of a continuous string of problems and suffering.

Meditation on its own, done regularly and frequently, can be a superb relaxation or calming technique, with the consequent benefits of less anxiety, improved relationships and all that. It works because stilling the whole system helps to get us back into our natural state. But those deep furrows – patterns – in our consciousness (called samskaras), gathered over many lifetimes, are the base cause of our problems. They don’t disappear without readjusting our thinking.

Meditation, coupled with the conscious effort needed to undertake a few ‘unconditioning’ exercises, can have a total turnaround effect on your life. Problems that don’t disappear easily can be lessened immensely because unconditioning can produce a mind so stilled that it deals with problems competently as they crop up; without stress and negative reactions.

Why is this? It’s because meditation is a form of yoga. Yoga means union; union of (what is termed) your three dimensional self with the much greater expanse of your multi dimensional self.

Like other yogas, by doing union exercises you turn your attention towards a still area within – sometimes referred to as the superconscious. This causes your consciousness to expand a tiny bit because you take into your mind some knowledge of your inner nature. That extra little bit of consciousness, not really noticeable or measurable, enables you to slowly but surely see life in a different perspective – without changing your lifestyle at all. The more you meditate, the more true nature is imbibed (re-awakened); happiness and joy gradually replace boredom and frustration.

However, although stillness brings about stability, becoming more still initially challenges the mind (whose basis is continuously conjuring up activity).

Is there a solution? Yes. Readjusting our thinking mechanism comes into play here. It’s done, very simply, by accepting what we are – a greater consciousness than the human mind acknowledges – and, consequently, freeing ourselves from those deep impressions (that you don’t even know are there until you experience the stillness, which allows you to face them).

This may sound complicated but it’s not. There are a few simple exercises do regularly take care of the adjustments. In this respect, a ‘letting go’ mechanism can be incorporated into both the meditation experiences and the experiences you encounter in daily life. It’s purely scientific and requires no special skills.

We are fortunate if we get meditation techniques from a person or organisation with a pure lineage behind them. Not only do we get effective sitting-still techniques, we get 'unconditioning’ priorities (often called spiritual practices) which mostly entail simple things to do and think about while we're going about our daily lives. Thereby the adjustments we are looking for take place and the mind starts to become a malleable servant rather than a horrid master. Let's get to it!