Frequently Asked Questions & Tutorials
Please find some answers to issues that come up frequently. If you can’t find the answer to your question, please feel free to contact us.
FAQ
Here we share a selection of questions that many people ask and that we think are relevant and important for everyone.
If you have a different question, please contact us.
Are you new to the world of meditation and not sure if Advaita Meditation is right for you?
Don’t worry. Advaita is a direct path to the Self, to what we really are. So no previous knowledge of any kind is necessary since it is not an intellectual exercise. In fact, it is about “coming home”, experiencing THAT what we have always been and are. It is about living again from the sensation of Beingness instead of from our mind with its beliefs and opinions.
Have you been searching and trying out different Meditation techniques but have not managed to connect with the Self permanently?
Many people experience this, in fact it happened to me at one time, too. It takes perseverance and enthusiasm in the practice of Advaita. Accept what there is, do not dramatize or blame yourself. Thoughts fade away when you take your attention away from them. And do not believe in the stories that your mind tells you.
Do you notice a constant mental activity that never stops? Does it sometimes cause you anxiety?
It is very common in our culture. We think – wrongly – that our mind can solve our problems and bring us the happiness we seek. That is why we think so much. Over the years we find out that this is not the case. In fact, what comes from our mind is suffering. It is worth learning to distance ourselves from our mental activity, to stop identifying with the mind and become the witness that observes how those thoughts-emotions-sensations pass by like clouds in the sky…
Do you feel a kind of emptiness in yourself that our usual world does not fill or only for very brief moments?
They are experiences that we do not like but are very valuable because they wake us up from our comfort. They are a search engine, they can motivate us to go beyond this world of illusions where by definition everything is transitory, ephemeral and therefore cannot fill that existential void. In Silence you will see that this emptiness contains All That Is.
Have you read many spiritual or religious books but lack practical experience?
It is typical in our Western world where so much value is given to mental and intellectual capacity. My approach is to think-read-speak little and take you to the experience. The pure perception of What Is (before the intervention of thoughts) is the only thing that counts.
Would you like to live in peace and tranquility but your emotions and thoughts often take you out?
As long as we make our peace and tranquility depend on the external world (on people, facts, objects or thoughts-emotions-sensations) we are wrong. Authentic Peace is internal, I perceive it within, it is what I am, and it does not depend on external factors. Advaita teaches this.
Tutorials
In the Tutorials we want to help you with any problems or obstacles you may encounter during your practice.
Our approach is intended to be immensely direct and helpful since the experience of the Self is the most important thing we can experience in life.
"I sit down to meditate every morning and every night. But I have a hard time stopping the constant flow of thoughts. What can I do to experience peace?"
It has nothing to do with the effort you put in every time you sit down to meditate. You cannot stop the almost constant flow of thoughts that march past through your mind. Start by not believing what those thoughts say. Don’t hold on to them. Little by little they will diminish if you don’t pay attention to them. For this, it is important that you do not do it only when you sit down to meditate, you should do it all the time.
And about peace, don’t look for it: you are already Peace. You just need to discover it and that happens when the incessant flow of thoughts stops, in Silence.
"To meditate I have to isolate myself and concentrate on meditation. I mean that I can't "live meditating": I either live my normal life or I meditate. How can I find a bridge to unite the two?"
At first, practices that help to quiet the mind, such as concentration (attention fixed on an object) can be useful.
Meditation is the natural state of our consciousness when the mind is at rest.
Your normal life is the manifestation of consciousness in your daily activities, and meditation is also an activity that manifests itself in Awareness, both arise from the same source. That’s why you don’t need a bridge, you need to go to the source… where both normal life and meditation arise, it is the same, not two, non-dual…
"When I meditate and I manage not to think... then when I realize that I don't think, I start thinking again, right? How can I prolong the state of not thinking?"
The important thing is not to stop thinking because that is impossible and would take away from us the most important ability that human beings have achieved in their evolution. What we must discover is first, not to believe what thoughts tell us and, second, not to get attached to or add anything to the thoughts that arise. Be aware of the thoughts, nothing else. This will slow down the automatism that we have to think all the time all these redundant not useful thoughts.
The attention that we usually pay to thoughts will dissolve and in the end, useful and beneficial thoughts will remain that allow us to manage skillfully the circumstances of life.
"Is it useful that several people get together to meditate? Does it have any beneficial effect? Or is it the same as meditating alone?"
All the practices that we do help us to calm the mind, to let go off thoughts. Staying in Silence and Stillness is something we cannot “do” ; it will “happen” if our practice to quiet the mind is effective.
Meeting in person or online with other people helps us to motivate ourselves and stay consistent. When we are alone it is easier to forget, to escape, or to have any other excuse. However, the Direct Path that I propose is always something that happens to the individual, whether alone or in a group. It is beyond the activity, beyond thinking, beyond all forms.