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COURSE

Rising Above Common Meditation Challenges

With Carmen Ng

This course focuses on concerns and questions frequently asked by meditation beginners, such as "I can't visualize", "I fall asleep easily", "Should I half-open or completely close my eyes?", and more. Each session covers one question at a time. By looking into the question from spiritual, religious, and scientific perspectives, followed by a guided practice, this course helps beginners understand the meditation process better, and be able to enjoy their practices more.

Understand and enjoy meditation better with beginner-friendly tips taken from multidisciplinary perspectives.

10 Days

1.9k students

4.6 stars

14 min / day

English

About this course

Trataka (Candle Gazing)

Aura Visualization

Mantra Repetition (Japa)

Meet your Teacher

Carmen Ng

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日本

Carmen writes meditation and healing music. She is also a voice-over talent. She discovered spirituality by exploring ways to help her own personal growth and challenges a few years ago. Now, she combines her skills, personal experiences, and what she knows of this reality, and makes creative guided meditations in different topics, sharing with others ways on how they could perhaps look at life more differently and happily. Carmen found that recently she has shifted from being a Libran to an Aquarian.

View Profile

10 Days

1.9k students

4.6 stars

14 min / day

English

Lesson 1

I Fall Asleep Easily

One of the common questions raised by meditation beginners is "How do I avoid falling asleep during meditation?" Many, many years ago, the Buddha taught his followers about this topic. This session explores the suggestions made by the Buddha to help us overcome sleepiness during meditation. For practice, we will try one of these methods - chanting - using a phrase suggested by the renowned zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Lesson 2

I Cannot Visualize

Visualization is a popular skill applied by mindfulness practitioners today. How does it work? Does it really help? Are there ways to improve our abilities to visualize? In this session, we will go through these questions one by one, followed by a practice called "color breathing", a simple and easy way to enhance our visualization skills.

Lesson 3

Palms Up Or Down?

In today’s session, we explore the differences between palms facing up or down during meditation. This is one of the common questions asked by beginners. We will explain why the hand gestures matter and how they affect our practice. We will also try out how it actually feels to have our palms turning upward and downward.

Lesson 4

I Cannot Still My Mind

Many people say they can not meditate, because they cannot still their mind. Do you really think so? How about "We cannot still our mind, therefore we need to meditate more"? In this session, we’ll look into ways on how to quiet the voice in our head during meditation. For practice, we will do an ancient Hawaiian method called "Hakalau" to help lessen mind chattering.

Lesson 5

I See Something

When we meditate, it's common to see different colored lights, stars, and other images flying in our mind. What are they and why are we seeing them during meditation? This session looks into possible reasons behind the phenomenon, with one explanation having to do with the development of our secondary vision, or our spiritual third eye. We will also explore ways to train our secondary vision.

Lesson 6

I Hear Something

When we get to a deeper state of meditation, our ears may ring or we may hear buzzing, humming, and other sounds. In this session, we will look into possible reasons to see what causes these sounds. Hearing sounds in meditation could be distracting. But the act of listening can be healing and a good spiritual practice to help us evolve and grow. We will talk more about this and practice using our heart to listen to the universal sound of OM.

Lesson 7

My Body Moves & Rrotates

Body moving and rotating during meditation is a common phenomenon among many people. Do you feel comfortable with it or do you try to control yourself from moving too much? Why do we move like that? We will discuss possible reasons to explain this phenomenon from scientific and spiritual angles. For practice, we purge and cleanse ourselves internally through an interesting exercise called the "cosmos rubbish bin". It is a guided meditation that requires visualization skill.

Lesson 8

Should I Half-Open Or Close My Eyes?

Some people half-open their eyes during meditation, some completely close their eyes. Which way is better or more appropriate? We will discuss how they differ and the rationale behind it. For practice, we will do a yoga meditation called "Trataka". This exercise requires us to have our eyes half-opened, and the process itself is healing and brings peace to our mind.

Lesson 9

Why Do We Have To Do Grounding?

Many instructors suggest students to do grounding at the start of a meditation. What is the significance of that? How can we ground ourselves? We will look into our relationship with Gaia, and how grounding can help us relax better and feel more secure in meditation. We will also learn different ways to ground ourselves and practice together.

Lesson 10

How Do I Know If I Am In A Meditative State?

In meditation, some may feel uncertain if they have entered a so-called meditative state. How can we tell? This session talks about the definition of a meditative state, based on scientific research and bodily sensations. For practice, we will do a simply yet profound breathing exercise to feel the Now moment. Together, we will enter a calm and blissful meditative state.