How does one meditate?

The World Community for Christian Meditation advises the following steps for meditation:

• Choose a quiet place.
• Sit comfortably, with your back straight.
• Close your eyes lightly.
• Sit as still as possible.
• Breathe deeply, staying both relaxed and alert.
• Slowly and internally, begin to say your mantra or prayer word. Listen to the word as you say it. (One suggestion offered by some Christian meditators is: “Ma-ra-na-tha,” said in four equally-stressed syllables. This is an Aramaic word, the language that Jesus spoke, and it means “Come, Lord.”)
• Continue repeating it gently and faithfully for the whole time of the meditation.
• Return to it as soon as you realize you have stopped saying it.
• Stay with the same word during the meditation and from day to day.
• Do not evaluate your meditation. Do not be discouraged by distractions. Rather, let them come and go, always keeping your attention on the mantra. In time, the fruits of your meditation will appear in your self, your life and in all your relationships.

-- Tom Fox

National Catholic Reporter, December 14, 2007