How To Know If Meditation Is Working – 14 Signs Of Progression

Meditation has been practiced from ancient ages to understand the mystical and intangible forces propelling this universe, but nowadays, it is commonly used to be relaxed and develop better well-being. 

Meditation works as complementary medicine for our body and mind. Due to the abundance of benefits, many people have started practicing meditation practice it regularly. 

After some consistent practice, one question naturally arises in their mind, Am I meditating properly? Or How to know I am practicing Meditation correctly or not? Or how to know if Meditation is working for me? and blah blah.

Then they quest for what are the signs of progression in Meditation or what should I experience if I am meditating properly. 

Actually, this same happened to me five years ago when I started my meditation journey and then I researched a lot on this. 

So in this article, We will discuss what are the signs of progression in Meditation and how to know if meditation is working for you or not. all these things will be based on my personal experiences and from others whom I know. 

But before we begin, I want to mention one quote which you must understand to progress on the path of Meditation. 

“Expectation And Comparison Are The Thief Of Joy”

Most people have high hopes from Meditation and they compare their experience with others; both these may deviate them to wrong territory. 

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

14 Signs That Meditation Is Working For You

1) Reducing stress and feeling at peace 

You experience deep peace after Meditation and anytime during the day. This is the very first sign of progression for most practitioners. 

When you meditate and focus on something, your mind stops chattering, which gives you an impulse of peace for a few seconds or minutes. Regular practice will stretch this duration so you will feel calm in practice and after the Meditation. 

This calmness will help you to overcome excess thinking and stress. Stress or other negative emotions can’t touch when you are peaceful. So whenever you remind this experience of calmness, you start feeling peaceful. 

2) Start living in the present moment

If you closely observe your thinking process, you will always find that your mind is either in the past which we can’t change, or in a future over which we have no control.

Meditation is the practice of holding your mind in the present moment, so due to this practice, over time, you start living in a present moment.

In other words, you become mindful while doing your activities. With the practice of Meditation, mindfulness will gradually grow, and you live more in present. This mindfulness practice will improve your well-being and separate you from negative thoughts and emotions. 

3) Being Resilient And Suffering Diminishes 

Meditation provides mental stability and increases self-awareness, which helps you to overcome negative situations or endure undesirable situations. For instance, in a dispute, conflict, or fight you don’t scratch your head vainly or If someone tries to annoy you, you will simply ignore it (not cowardly, but intelligently).

Meditation increases your perception and expands your understanding; you see situations not from a narrow angle but from all different dimensions. Also, You are ready to put your ego aside when it’s needed.

This way, you intellectually solve the problems and find ways to tackle diversity. 

4) Becoming aware 

Meditation is a practice of bringing your awareness to the present. When you practice mindfulness meditation, it often happens that when you are unconsciously doing something, you suddenly become conscious and start paying attention to your body or in the activity.

You start paying attention to little things which most people ignore. For example, you observe body movement while eating, walking, drinking, working, playing, taking a bath, etc. 

It also happens that when you are free and doing nothing, your attention is naturally diverted to your breath or body sensations. 

5) Being conscious of thoughts and emotions

First, Meditation increases awareness on a body level than on a mental level. Thus, Meditation separates you from what you are and what you have gathered (your thoughts and emotions).

With the increased self-awareness, you have a choice to make a correct distinction. 

For example, you would be able to differentiate between negative and positive thoughts and disregard the negative ones. Also, you don’t react with unnecessary thoughts and emotions, nor do you energize them. 

For instance, if anger comes into your mind. You will take a pause and ask, should I react to this? And the answer always comes NO. So then you simply ignore it and go ahead without wasting time and energy. This same intellect you will apply in most situations. 

6) Experiencing unconditional bliss

Meditation brings you closer to your true self, which is Sat-cit-ananda means “Reality-Consciousness-Bliss.” So bliss is our real nature, due to dust of wrong impressions and belief this bliss couldn’t be expressed in its full potential. 

When you practice Meditation and live in the present without making judgments, your impressions fade out, and You feel joy and peace occasionally during the day or free time.  

7) Enjoying meditation pratice

When you feel good after meditating, you start practicing it regularly. This way, you develop the habit of Meditation

You may try to gather more knowledge to improve your practice of Meditation. Also, you won’t limit Meditation to few minutes a day and practice mindfulness throughout your day. 

Over time, this cultivated habit will change your life and provide many benefits.  

8) Feeling good for others.

Meditation improves your emotional health, which increases positive emotions and social connections. 

You feel kind, compassionate, lovable, joyfulness, and gratitude for yourself and for others. If this positive feeling is cultivated in you, it means you aren’t only progressing in Meditation, but you have reached a high spiritual level.

9) Being more curious and seeking profound questions

As you meditate and be relaxed, you start seeing life at a deeper level. Many common questions arise in your mind, which commonly people overlook.

You may ask, why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? Who am I? who created this infinite universe? Who is governing this big world so perfectly? Is life just between birth and death? What happens after death? 

When you are exposed in nature or in your free time, these types of questions may occupy your mind, you may feel amazed that you know nothing about yourself and your pride that I am something will be distorted slowly and you will become curious like a 5-10-year-old kid. 

10) Falling in love with nature

When those fundamental questions such as who am I? who is running this universe? What is the purpose of my life and this creation? Arise in your mind. Your perception of looking at life gets changed, and everything seems beautiful and astonishing for you.

You fill with love and gratitude when you look at the sky, flying birds, high mountains, clouds, trees with flowers and fruits, playing animals, etc.

11) Relying more on your own

Meditation makes you familiar with yourself and your abilities, and you love to live with yourself like a close friend. 

Someone said, “you are your own best friend or your own worst enemy.” 

And Meditation will take you closer to your best friend ‘yourself,.’ From then you no longer need someone or something to feel you happy. 

This self-believe or self-esteem increases your confidence, and you live life with more contentment and independence. 

12) Prevent wasting time in vain

Meditation will awake positive emotions and positive perceptions in you. And as I said, Meditation increases self-awareness. So the combination of these will guide you to inhibit distractions and achieving your goals.

Your productivity and efficacy will be increased, and you focus more on necessary tasks and exclude vain activities. 

You keep your distance from people who waste your time, money, and energy and who have no concern about your feelings and goals. 

You also start looking for answers to those profound questions regarding the intangible and mystic force that governs this universe. 

13) Cultivating good habits

When you stop wasting time in vain, then you start building good habits which take you closer to what you are seeking. 

You create a healthy routine from early morning to night and deliberately follow it. As a result, your willpower gets stronger, and you gain more control over your body and mind. You become more conscious of healthy eating, regular workout, and a positive mindset.

14) Feeling united with others.

This is the highest spiritual state where you feel and understand everything as an unseparated existence. You become united with everyone and everything in this universe. This is called liberation or freedom; maybe this is a final goal of all religious and existing beings.

In this state, you directly communicate with higher consciousness, or you become one with that supreme reality where you got all answers and knowledge about everything. 

The ultimate goal of Meditation for which it has been developed is to attain this state of awareness. Relaxation of mind, reducing anxiety and stress, and increasing creativity and emotional health are a by-product of mediation.  

I think I have covered almost all the signs of progressed meditators. Some of them are higher-level experiences, and some can be experienced at the initial level or at the beginning of Meditation.

But my humble suggestion is that please don’t compare your experiences with these mentioned signs and please don’t expect these all should happen to you. Every being is unique, and it’s ok if you have a similar experience or nothing at all; that is also fine. 

The primary focus of yours’ should be to learn meditation practice and practice it regularly. 

If you practice right with consistent and persistent efforts, you are bound to be successful, no one can stop you from achieving your goals. 

If you are a beginner, It is possible that your mind and body inhibit the practice of Meditation initially. In the first few months, your mind wanders away like a drunken monkey or body won’t allow you to sit in one position.

However, you shouldn’t lose your temperament and continue this journey with baby steps.

Soon you would build the habit of Meditation, and with the patient, all goodwill automatically come to you. 

What to expect when you start Meditation?

You should expect nothing, don’t expect fruits without nurturing the tree. If you take enough care of plants or trees, flowers and fruits will come naturally. 

As we have discussed, expectations are a thief of joy. So without hoping for anything, the focus of the practice of Meditation is first to learn it then practice it regularly with persistence and patient.

Please don’t believe in anything until you got the experience of it. Remember, consistent practice, persistence, and patient lead to perfection. 

Which meditation technique should you practice to get more benefits?

As we discussed, leave your expectations and practice anyone meditation technique with which you can be more comfortable. 

All Meditation techniques can be applied to a person. If possible, try each technique then choose only one. Eventually, every Meditation leads to the same goal and same benefits. 

I want to list one meditation technique that you can start practicing today if you haven’t started yet.

Mindfulness or Mindfulness meditation: it’s a simple and most effective way of Meditation that you can practice in silence or through a busy day. 

Mindfulness is the practice of purposefully holding your attention in the present moment without passing any judgments or interpretations. 

You can rest your attention on the activity which you are doing in the present or the things which happen around you. 

For example, you can focus on breathing, bodily sensations, or on the movements of your body parts while you are walking, eating, doing physical work, etc. 

Here are some steps to practice mindfulness meditation:

  • Set a timer of 10-15 minutes or more
  • Sit comfortably in cross-legged meditation posture or on the chair with spine erect and eyes closed 
  • Now slowly take 5-6 deep breaths (to stop chattering of mind)
  • Then focus your attention on the natural breath, notice the touch of air at the nostril while inhaling and exhaling

If possible, do this twice a day in the early morning and evening, or at night before going to bed. 

For the rest of the day, you can practice mindfulness. Of course, you can try other meditation techniques too, but stick with one and practice it regularly. 

I hope from these 14 signs of progression of Meditation, you may have found that Meditation is working for you.

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