Meditation at its simplest is about training awareness. Training the mind to be present, aware of what is here and now as opposed to being lost in thought. We find ourselves in the predicament of having been unwittingly conditioned for many tens of thousands of hours towards thinking as our default, and we have ended up greatly attached and identified with those thoughts. As humans, we exist in an ocean of conditioned concepts. Meditation seeks to undo this conditioning by practicing awareness of the here and now, and within that awareness, letting go of everything that can be let go of.
In a way, the first key is merely remembering - remembering to be mindful in this way. This is an easy concept, but difficult in practice. Because it is so difficult, I generally recommend techniques that are relatively structured, that provide some kind of regularity or feedback to keep one continuously aware. If the style described here isn't your thing, there are many other approaches such as those outlined in Basic Meditation Styles.
The goal is to train the mind back to a kind of "zero point" - aware but not attached to experience, thoughts, ideas, beliefs, opinions - something like the mind prior to all the conditioning and baggage of human culture.
Next: The Easy Way - Do Nothing
Table of Contents for How to Meditate
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