Hello,

I've completed my 5th session and I'm enjoying the meditation. I feel relaxed afterward. However, despite the manual's assurance that I can't be doing it wrong, I need a little more guidance on the repetition of syllable. On one hand, the manual says to repeat it, but on the other hand the third Lesson says that when returning to the syllable "do not start thinking it clearly".
Is this a contradiction?

Also, when I think of the syllable I tend to want to form it with my mouth. I stop myself from doing so, and I never repeat the syllable out loud, but there is a tendency to think it clearly.

Finally, I initially kept hearing the syllable in the woman's voice on the MP3 file, though now the voice is mainly my own. Does this matter?

Thanks for any advice,

Andrew

Andrew,

"I've completed my 5th session and I'm enjoying the meditation. I feel relaxed afterward."

Excellent. Relaxation is the natural result when stresses have been dissolved.

"However, despite the manual's assurance that I can't be doing it wrong, I need a little more guidance on the repetition of syllable."

As the mind becomes quieter and more refined, the body starts to enjoy a state of profound rest. By the nature of the nervous system, this deep rest begins to dissolve stresses. The dissolving of stress is an activity, one that generates such side effects as thoughts, feelings, and sensations in the body.

So, the refinement of the mind (diving within with the syllable) causes stress release, which in turn causes thoughts.

This is why we are unsure in the early days of our practice. We intuitively feel that all thought should cease, that we should enjoy complete and blissful silence. And this is a true belief. But it doesn't take stress into account. Before we can enjoy the state of transcendence (complete and blissful silence), the blockages must be removed. We remove the blocks, we dissolve the stress, through regular practice, twice a day. Just innocently following the syllable, even though we have doubts, even though the syllable may change in many different ways.

"On one hand, the manual says to repeat it, but on the other hand the third Lesson says that when returning to the syllable 'do not start thinking it clearly'. Is this a contradiction?"

Yes, it is one of the contradictions of life that become understandable when the stresses are almost gone. We think the syllable as a faint idea or feeling. It may even be forgotten. All these experiences are part of correct meditation. We struggle to understand and control because this is what we are used to doing in our daily life. But meditation is not a struggle; rather, it is an interplay between increasing purity of consciousness and the very dirty business of release of stress. It is the inward and the outward strokes, accepted as they come. It is a universal process, not an individual one.

"Also, when I think of the syllable I tend to want to form it with my mouth. I stop myself from doing so, and I never repeat the syllable out loud, but there is a tendency to think it clearly."

Nothing to worry about--these effects are normal in the first few days. Eventually we find that we stop using the mouth and tongue. NSR is a purely mental activity, one whose goal is in its own extinguishing. The goal is simple, pure awareness, without a thought. We achieve that goal through months or even years of regular transcending, releasing all the stresses. It may seem like a lot of work, but it isn't, since transcending is effortless. Besides, the washing away of each day's stresses is so refreshing that it is a goal of its own. We don't aim for some eventual enlightenment, but instead enjoy each day for the pleasures of daily activity and accomplishment.

"Finally, I initially kept hearing the syllable in the woman's voice on the MP3 file, though now the voice is mainly my own. Does this matter?"

Nope. Doesn't matter at all. Thinking the syllable may be like an activity, or it may be like a memory. Or just a faint feeling. We take it as it comes, neither anticipating nor resisting change; just simple innocence.

David Spector
Natural Stress Relief/USA

David,

Thanks for the advice. It was already helpful.

Andrew