Meditation is not something to be entered into lightly. It is a journey inside yourself, a realization of the universe, an insight into the spiritual and physical realms. There are things that, once entered into, are difficult to turn back from or forget. Once you are able to achieve deep meditation, you will be changed forever. Your perception of reality will be altered, and you will see things more clearly than you ever have or ever will without meditation. But to get there is a process that will test your mental fortitude. Are you ready for this?

Visions are the fist common thing once you have really begun the steps to deep meditation. The mind begins relaxing and opening up to its environments, physical and spiritual. Visions are a means your mind uses to make the adjustments it must. You will see colors flash through your mind, hear music and voices. These things are normal as your mind purges, all at once, the clutter of every day thinking. You may think of it as being able to listen to your computer clear everything out at the same time when you delete several things all at once. There is a lot to get rid of in your mind, so relax and allow it all to go and move through it. You will most likely be startled out of your meditative state several times before you are able to move through this stage, but stay with it and move through this 'deletion' process.

The next stage has been referred to as "advice from the Helpers". For those who believe in spirits that help watch over us - much like guardian angels - this is a stage where you will get answers to questions or advice on problems in your life from these spirits. The Chinese and Japanese ascetics believed that you needed to be in the state of mind that only meditation could produce before you could actually be able to listen and make sense of what these Helpers try to tell us every day. From a scientifically psychological standpoint - if there is such a thing - it could be said that once you have moved through the 'deletion' process, you have freed up parts of your mind that were being suppressed by all the clutter of every day thinking. The mind knew the answers all along, but with so much "junk" in there, the parts of the mind that needed to realize the answers were muddied. Once the mind is cleared up, there is smooth communication between all parts of the mind. Either way, you will hear voices, and you will realize answers to things you have been trying to resolve. Do not think you have gone crazy, and do not think it is evil. This is a normal process, and another that you will have to get through. Do not listen to the voices or try to hear what they are saying. Rather, allow it to happen and continue to move further through your meditation. 

You will soon come to the stage that frightens people the most. Here is where people turn back and decide not to do meditation ever again. It is arguably the scariest thing you will ever encounter: the Macabre. What is the Macabre? Again, it is different for each individual, and varies in intensity according to the individual. But you will know the Macabre when you reach it. It is death. Visions of death in many shapes and forms, as experienced in ways you never thought possible. You will feel death, see it, hear it, smell it. You will be scared. This is the part of your mind you are afraid of, you do not want to see. But to achieve successful meditation, you must be able to see yourself for who you are and experience that which you are afraid of. Face yourself and your fears. And move on to the next stage.

Most people are familiar with or have heard of the next stage - astral projection. But do you really know what astral projection is? Remember the first stage, when you pictured that relaxing scene and felt as though you were there? With astral projection, you do not picture the scene any more, you live it. You are there. Your mind takes a trip outside the constraints of your body and visits people and places. You see and experience the world with your mind apart from your body. Where you go and what you do is up to you. Once you astral project a few times, you will learn to control where you go and what you do. The possibilities are only as limited as your mind.

Through these stages of meditation, you have been through much and are learning what your mind is capable of. Now it is time to learn how to control your mind. Meditation has gotten you to the point where your mind is now open and can do what you want it to. You may have felt yourself spinning out of control for a while. In the last, but by no means final, stages mentioned here, you may have finally felt like you have stopped spinning out of control and are coming to rest, landing lightly in a serene calm you have never experienced before. This is the state of mind you will be able to achieve easier and easier, moving through stages as though they weren't there. You will be able to achieve deep meditation faster and faster. Now you need to know how this can benefit you. Try the exercises in the next section.