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Abstract

feeling state. But I know that getting into the flow of meditation is a skill that will keep you coming back for more every morning — because it feels terrific!</p><h1 id="a8dd">Stage #1 — Establishing Your Daily Meditation Practice</h1><p id="d292">You should meditate at least 15 minutes a day or more if you want to get into the flow. But you’re not even thinking about flow at this stage. You’re laying the groundwork.</p><p id="ac3b">To get a solid foundation, choose a method to anchor your concentration. Intense concentration is everything in meditation. <b>You can count your breaths</b>, one to 10, and start over again when you lose your concentration.</p><p id="90e6"><b>Or you can follow your breath</b>. Do this by choosing where to focus your attention, where the feeling of your breath is strongest. It could be noticing your lower abdomen expanding and contracting with each breath.</p><p id="b24c">Keep an alert, taunt metal focus on just that expanding and contracting. When you get lost in thought, begin again, focusing on the breath, expanding and contracting. You’re training your mind like an athlete trains for an important game. It’s a discipline, but a relaxed discipline.</p><p id="8b3f">Your spine is upright but not stiff. You are alert, like a cat sitting in front of a mouse hole. You are focused on that hole, thinking of nothing else but the object of your concentration — getting that mouse!</p><p id="15b9">At this stage, it may feel like work, and it is. The untrained mind is unruly, and it takes some effort to rein it in and calm it down. Keep your eye on the prize.</p><h1 id="7b65">Stage 2 — Your Meditation Habit Is Strong, And You’re Beginning to enjoy it</h1><p id="0406">Now you can sit 15 minutes a day or longer with relative ease. You quickly settle into your breath, counting or following, and you’re beginning to enjoy this process. Hopefully, you’re meditating every day and using the same focusing method each time. (counting or following)</p><p id="7d6f">You’re thinking of increasing the time you sit because it feels good. Most NBA players who meditate sit for 10 or 15 minutes a day. But some meditate for an hour or more. These top-level players wouldn't fit meditation into their demanding training schedules if it weren’t paying off.</p><h1 id="648e">Stage 3 — You Begin To Challenge Yourself</h1>

Options

<p id="d1b6">This stage is where you get serious. “I will count my breaths from one to ten, four times in a row today.” That’s more difficult than it sounds. Or, “I will follow my breath without breaking the chain of concentration for longer and longer periods each time I sit.”</p><p id="7529">My experience. If I’m counting my breath and not making it to ten, time after time, I eventually lay down the law to myself. “I’m going to make it to ten this time,” and I redouble my effort. That usually works. This practice entails training and discipline, just like athletics.</p><p id="7b50">Meditation is mind training, and the payoff is enormous if you stick with it.</p><h1 id="8fff">Stage 4 — Flow Begins To Happen On Its Own; It’s A Feeling</h1><p id="9a31">Every time you sit, you get a small glimpse of flow. But you don’t yet have any control over when it happens. Likewise, an experienced meditator doesn’t have any control over when an enlightenment experience happens. It happens by accident. But through her practice, she makes herself accident-prone.</p><p id="169c">You have moments when time seems to slow down, and you’re locked into the meditation process. Counting or following your breath is getting interesting.</p><h1 id="5993">Stage 5 — Just You And Your Breath</h1><p id="4029">Now flow happens regularly, and it is a delightful state. As you sit, tightly focused on your concentration method, suddenly you feel as though you’ve dropped down to a deeper level.</p><p id="1149">For me, I am looking through half-closed eyes in soft focus. I can see my hands folded in front of my abdomen, my legs and feet below me, and the gentle expanding and contracting of my belly in my peripheral vision.</p><p id="d263">I feel in a much different space and more at ease than I felt just a moment ago. My meditation has become effortless, and I want it to go on and on.</p><p id="c1b2">About this time, I’ll think something like, “Wow, this is great, I’m finally getting it.” At that point, I lose the flow state. It’s very elusive. If you chase after it, it will elude you. You have to let it happen.</p><p id="b669">It’s a matter of trying without trying. And when you learn to get into flow every time you meditate, it will supercharge your practice, and you’ll start having fun.</p><p id="e66f">Thanks so much for reading.</p></article></body>

Meditation Series #2

How To Enter the Flow State When Meditating

5 easy to follow stages

Meditate like Kobe Bryant played his 81 point game — locked into the present moment.

When the late Los Angeles Lakers legend scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, he was in a flow state, or the zone as he would have called it.

When you’re meditating, you‘re in stillness. And players like Kobe Bryant are in stillness, in motion when they’re in the zone, even in the uproar of an NBA game! So if Kobe can be in the flow state on the basketball court, it should be easier for you when meditating in a quiet room, right?

Here’s Kobe Bryant from a 2019 interview with NBA player Jalen Rose — on playing in the zone.

… The most important thing is staying in the moment, staying present, that’s all the zone is… You’re simply here in the present, and the only thing that matters is what’s right in front of you. — Kobe Bryant

That’s exactly what meditation is.

Legendary coach Phil Jackson famously taught his players to meditate and says: “In basketball, as in life, true joy comes from being fully present in every moment, not just when things are going your way.”

It’s not unusual for Lebron James to take a moment to meditate during a timeout in a packed, deafeningly loud arena. He closes his eyes, takes slow deep breaths, and refocuses his mind on being in the now — in the middle of the game!

Likewise, if you learn to get into flow when you’re meditating, you’ll stay more present during stressful moments in daily life.

The stages below are from my meditation experience. I don’t have science to back it up. Flow is a personal feeling state. But I know that getting into the flow of meditation is a skill that will keep you coming back for more every morning — because it feels terrific!

Stage #1 — Establishing Your Daily Meditation Practice

You should meditate at least 15 minutes a day or more if you want to get into the flow. But you’re not even thinking about flow at this stage. You’re laying the groundwork.

To get a solid foundation, choose a method to anchor your concentration. Intense concentration is everything in meditation. You can count your breaths, one to 10, and start over again when you lose your concentration.

Or you can follow your breath. Do this by choosing where to focus your attention, where the feeling of your breath is strongest. It could be noticing your lower abdomen expanding and contracting with each breath.

Keep an alert, taunt metal focus on just that expanding and contracting. When you get lost in thought, begin again, focusing on the breath, expanding and contracting. You’re training your mind like an athlete trains for an important game. It’s a discipline, but a relaxed discipline.

Your spine is upright but not stiff. You are alert, like a cat sitting in front of a mouse hole. You are focused on that hole, thinking of nothing else but the object of your concentration — getting that mouse!

At this stage, it may feel like work, and it is. The untrained mind is unruly, and it takes some effort to rein it in and calm it down. Keep your eye on the prize.

Stage 2 — Your Meditation Habit Is Strong, And You’re Beginning to enjoy it

Now you can sit 15 minutes a day or longer with relative ease. You quickly settle into your breath, counting or following, and you’re beginning to enjoy this process. Hopefully, you’re meditating every day and using the same focusing method each time. (counting or following)

You’re thinking of increasing the time you sit because it feels good. Most NBA players who meditate sit for 10 or 15 minutes a day. But some meditate for an hour or more. These top-level players wouldn't fit meditation into their demanding training schedules if it weren’t paying off.

Stage 3 — You Begin To Challenge Yourself

This stage is where you get serious. “I will count my breaths from one to ten, four times in a row today.” That’s more difficult than it sounds. Or, “I will follow my breath without breaking the chain of concentration for longer and longer periods each time I sit.”

My experience. If I’m counting my breath and not making it to ten, time after time, I eventually lay down the law to myself. “I’m going to make it to ten this time,” and I redouble my effort. That usually works. This practice entails training and discipline, just like athletics.

Meditation is mind training, and the payoff is enormous if you stick with it.

Stage 4 — Flow Begins To Happen On Its Own; It’s A Feeling

Every time you sit, you get a small glimpse of flow. But you don’t yet have any control over when it happens. Likewise, an experienced meditator doesn’t have any control over when an enlightenment experience happens. It happens by accident. But through her practice, she makes herself accident-prone.

You have moments when time seems to slow down, and you’re locked into the meditation process. Counting or following your breath is getting interesting.

Stage 5 — Just You And Your Breath

Now flow happens regularly, and it is a delightful state. As you sit, tightly focused on your concentration method, suddenly you feel as though you’ve dropped down to a deeper level.

For me, I am looking through half-closed eyes in soft focus. I can see my hands folded in front of my abdomen, my legs and feet below me, and the gentle expanding and contracting of my belly in my peripheral vision.

I feel in a much different space and more at ease than I felt just a moment ago. My meditation has become effortless, and I want it to go on and on.

About this time, I’ll think something like, “Wow, this is great, I’m finally getting it.” At that point, I lose the flow state. It’s very elusive. If you chase after it, it will elude you. You have to let it happen.

It’s a matter of trying without trying. And when you learn to get into flow every time you meditate, it will supercharge your practice, and you’ll start having fun.

Thanks so much for reading.