Meditation FAQs
We regularly receive questions about The Way Back meditation and so we have created this FAQs (frequently asked questions) page to bring them all together. If you have any questions about The Way Back Meditation then please contact us and we will do our best to answer, and if its a question that would help others we will share it below.
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FAQs About Meditation (10)
This is probably one of the most common questions and it is a very good question to ask because not all types meditation will have the same results, even if they look similar (eyes closed, sitting comfortably).
To understand what makes one type of meditation different from another you need to first appreciate that you are special and that you have different parts to yourself. Namely these include your soul, spirit, consciousness, mind, emotions, etheric body, aura and physical body.
Different kinds of meditation interact with different parts of you. For example mindfulness meditation, as the name suggests will work with your mind and although that is of benefit it has nothing to do with your soul or spirit.
Breath meditation, chanting, yoga, walking meditation and these kinds of approaches are all involving the body and so, while they can relax you and be of great benefit to your health and wellbeing they will not reveal higher consciousness that is nothing to do with your body.
The list is really quite long so below we’ve listed some of the popular types of meditation and what it is they are working with:
Breath: body, mind, etheric and aura
Chanting: body, mind
Crystal: etheric and aura awareness
Kundalini: body, etheric and aura based energy
Mantra: mind
Mindfulness: mind
Visualisation: mind
Yoga: body, mind
The Way Back approach starts by teaching breath meditation to prepare you for advanced meditation, but it is only seen as a beneficial tool, a “stepping stone” to something more profound. Although mantras have been historically used in rare cases these too are only a means to an end and are not considered meditation to The Way Back.
The Way Back meditation starts when a person gains access to the spiritual light and sound energy of God, in a process some people call initiation. Many people, just like you, have experienced this for themselves and have benefited from “light and sound meditation“.
Spirit based meditation, not mind based
What makes this kind of meditation different from other forms of meditation is that it is not based on any of your parts that you can experience using the many forms of meditation above. These spiritual light and sound energies work directly with your spirit and as such The Way Back meditation is spiritual rather than mental in nature.
It is through this light and sound energy that your spirit and your awareness are raised up and you get to discover something new, rather than more of what you already had access to. This is one of the common and defining experiences of those who begin light and sound meditation: that there is a whole new form of inner experience which has nothing to do with the body, emotions, chakras, aura, etheric body, mind, kundalini or imagination.
What we have discussed above is only a short answer, to fully understand how special this type of meditation is you have to experience it because this is not an intellectual journey, it is one of experience, revelation and ultimately love… that simply cannot be put easily into words.
Have you ever heard of the saying “mind, body and spirit”? It means that what you are is more than just your mind and body. You have a spirit, and also a soul too! These are just as important as you mind or your body. In fact, some might say they are more important since they will outlast your body and mind as you know it.
But you live on the planet in the physical world and so your body is the most obvious part of you, don’t you think? And because of all that thinking then your mind seems like it is pretty important too. And of course life, work, family, relationships, sex, entertainment, eating, sleeping and everything else can take up all of your time. In fact it can be exhausting just thinking about it!
But is that how it is meant to be? Is your life so full that there is no time for you? Of course some things just cannot be ignored, such as eating, sleeping, or looking after children. But something magical happens when you start to put your spiritual journey first. When you stop and say, “my soul matters!“, because your very life on Earth is all about your soul.
So if things feel out of control and you are being pulled in many directions then the chances are that things really are out of “control” and you are being pulled in the wrong direction. Perhaps it is time to get your life back on track and embrace some “me time“.
“This does not answer the question above” you say, but wait, perhaps it does. When you focus on all the things that get in the way of you enjoying stillness and meditation then you give them power. But when you stop, make a stand (or sit) against all the busyness and go into your stillness in meditation, even if just for a couple of minutes a day, then something amazing happens. You become powerful.
When you start to focus on your soul and your spirit then you start to attract solutions to the problems that are consuming your time. You start to see things more clearly and it is as if you are guided to avoid making choices that would drain you, like you are tapping into your inner wisdom.
There is always time for you, but you have to take it. Make that first step, even if it is just 2 minutes… close your eyes, be still, awaken.
If you would like to learn how to meditate then there is a wonderful Beginners Guide to Meditation, a free video meditation course, and there are also free guided MP3 meditations for you to enjoy.
Firstly this is normal and it means you are tired. Often when Mark would run long meditations over several days for students he would say to them on day one that “if you need to sleep then sleep. If you are that tired then it is better to just get some rest and meditate later.”
Of course there are things that you can do to reduce your chances of falling asleep:
- Avoid lying down to meditate, after all it is better to meditate sitting upright.
- Do not meditate in bed.
- Sit upright. Good posture supports good energy flow.
- Do a little bit of yoga or tai chi before meditating. If you don’t know these then just do some light exercise to get the blood flowing a bit, such as walking on the spot or a few star jumps.
- Try and meditate at a different time. Perhaps try the morning if you are always sleepy in the evening.
- Do the counting breath meditation deeply for about 3 minutes at the start of the meditate, to bring fresh energising energy into your body.
- Avoid meditating after a heavy meal as it is normal to feel sleepy on a full stomach.
- Open a window and let some fresh air into the room.
- If it is a persistent problem then seek professional nutritional guidance as sleepiness may indicate an underlying problem such as excessive sugar intake, wheat intolerance or adrenal exhaustion. And of course if you suspect any health problems then see your preferred medical practitioner.
- Meditate with friends or family. Many people find that the support of having others with you helps you to remain present and enjoying the stillness. If no one is available where you are then find a meditation buddy and you can remotely meditate together and then call or text each other afterwards to see how you each got on. To find others interested in The Way Back you can follow us on our social media (see links at the bottom of this page).
“That’s a great question and it would be impossible to do it justice in a single FAQ response. In book 3 I have already dedicated chapters on the subject of Karma. But that book is not yet published and so I’ll do my best to answer this question briefly below. However please understand that this is a big topic, and one that, once you understand it better will revolutionise your perception of life…”
Mark Zaretti – June 2020
Keeping things simple, Karma happens when the thoughts you have are out of alignment with your spirit. I say thoughts because all your actions and feelings come from your thoughts. Your spirit is fundamentally good and seeks the highest love, that which comes from the source.
So the more you are aware of your spirit’s guiding influence (love) then the more you live a life without karma. But this “spiritual” awareness only really happens in stillness and in the absence of ego. Meditation, even the simple practice of being still, creates the environment whereby your soul and spirit work together and you learn to unite with your spirit and be more guided by it.
The more you meditate the more you have the potential to become “in tune” with your life-plan and your spiritual nature. If you already have karma from previous negative thoughts (leading to actions) then the sooner you are aware of the thoughts that caused it, and put an end to that way of negative thinking which leads to negative actions, then the sooner the karma will resolve.
So again it is the stillness of meditation that creates the space within which you can become more aware of your thoughts and therefore begin to break the habits of those unhelpful and negative thoughts, finally becoming more awake and in-the-moment. It is when you are living this way that you can chose more easily to stay positive and avoid making karma. You, after all, are responsible for all your karma in this life.
Everyone experiences karma though, because although often thought of as punishment it is actually there to teach. There is a relationship between your actions and your karma and your intuition is how you decipher the relationship. What this means is that the more intuitive you are the more you will connect the dots between what you do (action) and any karma that creates (feedback).
Because meditation strengthens your awareness within higher dimensions then it also helps you to become more intuitive. As a person progresses after initiation to advance further along their journey their level of intuition can increase significantly and once a person is enlightened then their relationship to karma and intuition evolves further.
Ultimately karma originates in the realm of everyday life and meditation allows you to explore beyond that realm. It is the intuitive maturity which meditation provides the potential for that means a person who meditates has the potential to understand and therefore resolve their karma with more ease.
The word journey gets used a lot for example a “spiritual journey” or “your journey to enlightenment” so it is natural that this would make you think that there is movement and distance involved. The idea of a long journey might even put some people off.
When I first discovered light and sound energy the master who taught it told everyone it would take between 10 and 20 years to progress and that was doing 2 hours every day and 6 hours once every weekend, not to mention 3 day, 5 day, 8 day, 12 day meditates of up to 15 hours a day! It is a wonder that anyone got to the proverbial end.
Fast forward many years and since The Way Back has been teaching we have discovered that the truth is that it is not really about a long hard journey down a never ending road. The quickest anyone I have initiated on The Way Back has gone to Enlightenment was just 9 hours of meditation. Others have realised second state within minutes of being initiated.
Certainly I don’t think it’s a long journey, and perhaps it never needed to be. We don’t charge at all for our initiations or our teachings which is why we work as a not-for-profit, and so what we want is for people to get the most from their meditation and to progress at the right pace for them.
So if meditation is not a journey then what is it? One metaphor would be to say that it is learning how to let go of all that keeps you attached to your mind and body. Of course that in itself wont reveal higher states, but when you can really let go and you also have the energy that allows access to higher spiritual realms then the “journey” can be very rapid indeed.
“It’s not moving, it’s letting go!”
Some people find it really easy and others have in the past struggled along a hard and difficult Path. The Way Back has at the core of its practice the right balance of attention to what is needed to overcome those things that hold people back. Namely (1) we help people to develop their soul’s spiritual awareness, since this is what helps you to let go of your mind and body. (2) We help people to develop inner love since love is at the core of the journey. (3) We help people to progress by revealing light and sound in a process known as initiation and we provide lots of practical and useful guidance and support.
The journey, if there is one, is to attain enlightenment and that means to discover the Source, God, Unity. It is not an intellectual process but one of the heart, soul and spirit and so we teach and guide you how to develop your soul and heart through The Six Virtues, setting your spirit free.
“I would not call it a ‘journey‘, I would call it ‘evolving‘ or
‘losing oneself to find ONE SELF‘ “
Mark Zaretti
To understand this question better you would benefit from reading the book “Guidance for the Seeker of TRUTH” or “The Way Back to TRUTH“. Duality can be thought of as everything manifest, which includes all the spiritual dimensions. Unity is that which is one, the Source, God, call it what you will.
The “spiritual journey” as the name suggests is the journey your spirit takes to get back to Unity, a journey that starts in Duality, down in the physical realms.
So this is an interesting question because it asks what the potential of the soul is. Keeping things very simple, the soul and spirit are two different parts of you and they both span many lifetimes, so that this life, is just one of many that your soul (and spirit) will experience.
As we discuss in the various books, videos and articles on this site your soul is also on a journey and the simplest understanding of this journey is that your soul is trying to become more loving, to embody and demonstrate the qualities of the highest love which is unconditional love. Unconditional love emanates from the Source and can be considered the start of Duality, although it is more accurate to say that it is by Grace that it comes into Duality.
Since your soul is a vehicle of experience then it always needs duality, in order to have experience, learning through contrast and so your soul’s journey can take it to the very edge of Duality but not into Unity. This movement is achieved through meditation on Light and Sound energy and your soul reaches its zenith at the moment of enlightenment.
Paula, who co-founded The Way Back in 2018 was a fully qualified and professional Reiki master for many years. Not long after she received initiation and advanced in her spiritual journey she stopped working as a Reiki healer because she discovered that she now had access to much more powerful forms of healing.
Reiki energy originates in the 5th dimension and can be quite useful for healing. However upon initiation you would have access to the 6th dimension where spiritual awareness begins and so would have access to much higher forms of healing and energies.
This information that is shared with you now only became known in 2020 as a direct result of working with initiates who were struggling to get further into their meditation. It was through exploring the cause of their problems that a deeper understanding of how Reiki energy works came to light. There is no judgment about those who use Reiki for the good of themselves and others, rather the information is shared to give you a deeper understanding so that you can make informed choices in life. Shared with kindness.
Where does Reiki come from?
The Reiki symbols do not come from the Spiritual Hierarchy of humanity and although they provide some healing potential they are grounded within the lower realms due to their nature which is geometry and form. Because of their source and how they work they are not suitable for someone who is intending to go into more spiritual and higher experiences or who wishes to attain enlightenment.
You can be initiated if you have previously been Reiki attuned, including level 1 to 3, similarly if you have had treatment from those attuned in the past you can still be initiated. However because of the limiting nature of working with symbology, which is a form of spell, and the lower 5th dimension energies involved you may struggle to progress if you carry on performing Reiki or receiving it once you are initiated.
Knowing this then if someone chooses to continue working as a Reiki practitioner or receiving healing from a practitioner they cannot be supported further on The Way Back as they are choosing to undermine their spiritual development and prioritise a lower form of energy and practice over the higher spiritual light energy.
Those who wish to help heal others and themselves can be guided in how to do so and many of the advanced The Way Back members do a lot of healing work. In keeping with the teachings of The Way Back, no one charges for their healing work and it is always given freely without condition. Healing is a gift that comes through us, not from us.
In a lot of traditions the “Third Eye” or “Brow chakra” is seen as the spiritual chakra. A chakra is an energy centre and most of them are connected to different parts of your aura and your subtle energy bodies.
In the case of the third eye chakra, it is associated with your mind. When you put your awareness on the third eye chakra it can stimulate experience and it can lead to you becoming aware on the lower dimensions, which may include awareness on the 4th and 5th dimensions.
Keeping things simple these dimensions are higher in vibration that you normally experience and so awareness of them can seem pretty amazing. But they are not “spiritual” in nature and although there can be useful insights and experiences, there is no growth of consciousness or spiritual development there.
Most of the personal change you would experience would fundamentally be a shift in your “understanding” and “philosophy”, corresponding with the brow chakra being the centre associated with the mind. Therefore such meditation is a mental based approach.
We do not recommend that you over focus or pay too much attention to this chakra. Some people find that focusing there can even lead to headaches. Spirituality starts beyond the dimensions that the brow chakra can access and beyond the limitations of your chakra system.
Once you are initiated into higher/spiritual light and sound energy then you will experience your crown chakra in a way not possible before initiation. You will also have an opportunity to explore the fact that it is more important to be full of love, than full of focus or information, and so the best advice we can give with respect to the brow chakra is do not pay too much attention, it is a distraction rather than a spiritual destination.
People often ask “when to meditate?“. For example “is it best to meditate in the daytime?” or “is it safe to meditate when it is night time?“.
As a guideline it is best to meditate any time after 06:00 and not later than 02:00. There are several reasons why we make this recommendation.
Meditate when there is light
Because you are an energy being then the energy of your environment will have an affect on you. When there is light then the planet is lighter and when it is night time the planet is naturally darker. Meditation and spiritual growth are the pursuit of light and love and so when there is light then spiritual pursuit is supported. These daily light cycles also affect the energy and vibration of your environment.
During the daytime you are drawing in subtle energy which helps you to be aware and conscious. However this energy, which some people call “Prana“, is dependent on sunlight. Therefore by about 02:00 in the morning this energy has completely depleted from your environment.
Without Prana within you it is very difficult to be aware at this time. For this reason it is very challenging when you try and meditate after 02:00 in the morning. By about 06:00 the levels of Prana start to built up again.
This also explains why people generally need to sleep during these times, because normal “awake” consciousness needs energy.
Does living in a city make a difference?
Although it is not directly related to the topic of “when to meditate” this may also help explain why people feel more tired in busy cities. If everyone needs energy which they get from the air, then in densely populated areas that energy will run out quicker. Contrast how you feel when in the countryside compared to in a city centre. Obviously there are other factors at play, but the availability of subtle energy is an important one.
This may mean that if you live in a busy city then the best time to meditate is when it is still light. Waiting till late in the evening/night might mean you lack the prana to remain conscious in your meditation.
Is Meditation Safe at Night?
Just as there are positive and negative people in life there are also entities which are positive and negative. The negative ones tend to be more active between 02:00 and 06:00 because they prefer the dark.
If you are meditating late at night then you are more likely to attract the attention of these negative things. Some of them wish to parasite your energy, others are just up to mischief. We discuss how people can easily help protect themselves here. It is important to know that as humanity is spiritually evolving then the planet is also raising in vibration and many of these mischievous things are therefore disappearing. By the time you read this it may even be a thing of the past.
Is it better to be asleep at night?
There is another good reason why it is recommended that you do not meditate during these low energy times. You are meant to sleep at night and be consciously aware and awake during daytime. When you choose to go against this then you go against the natural order of things.
For many people, one of their first experiences of being more “spiritually awake” is starting to work with and experience crystals. Unsurprisingly it can also become a significant interest for people since crystals are tangible, collectable and look beautiful too!
Many of the teachers of The Way Back were themselves curious about crystals and practised using them for meditation, healing and energy work. As you probably know though, they have been working hard to help people awaken to their true spiritual potential which included experiencing the profound spiritual light and sound meditation.
This led to the discovery about the limits of crystal meditation and the understanding that, while crystals might provide a useful experience for beginners, they do not help a person to advance spiritually and can actually hold people back. We do not advocate crystal meditation and it is important to understand that crystals cannot increase your level of spirituality or raise your vibration because they are at a lower vibration than human consciousness.
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