Why Do We Meditate? The Three Stages Of Mindfulness Development

Hey guys,

I hope that you guys are doing amazing wherever you are in the world.

My name is Boomshakha and I welcome you to my channel,

To all of my podcasts and all of the different content that I have on here.

And in today's podcast,

In today's audio,

I wanted to speak to you guys about meditation and how I've been thinking that there's these three stages of development that we kind of go through in meditation.

Now these are just my own stages that I've gone through in the past few years that I've been meditating.

I think I've been meditating for maybe eight or ten years now.

I don't even know,

I don't remember when I first started.

I think I have an idea but I really don't know when I first really got into it.

And so for a few years now I've been doing it and I think that I've kind of gone through a few phases,

Maybe psychologically,

On how I like meditation or how I think meditation affects me.

And so I wanted to share that with you because I thought that it might be useful for you to see that and then to perhaps gauge where you are in your own stage of development,

Where you are in that particular phase or cycle.

And the three stages I will explain as I have experienced them myself.

So the first stage is when you hear about meditation from someone that you trust.

Because I heard about meditation many times before I actually started.

Actually in the beginning when I first started hearing about it,

I thought it was a little bit out there and I didn't know if I trusted it and I thought that it was just kooky.

And I was worried about getting into it.

I was worried it was very cultish and I didn't know exactly what it was all about.

And so I decided not to really partake in it even though a couple of people who I trusted reasonably well told me about it.

And then I got into hot yoga as I told you guys before perhaps.

And I started with a yoga teacher training just for myself so I could get into the practice a little bit more.

Never intending to teach it or anything like that.

And in that they taught us meditation as well and I trusted my teacher of course.

And it was a very simple sort of meditation that they taught us.

It was just breath meditation so following your breath and coming back to it over and over again.

But for some reason at that moment in time because it was the right moment in time because I was in the right phase of my life or whatever it was,

All of a sudden it didn't seem as kooky anymore.

And I wanted to start meditating on a regular basis.

And so I started building it into my practice.

And so I think the first stage is always you hear about it from someone else and they have had amazing experiences with it.

They really enjoyed it or they really have gotten a lot of benefit from it.

And so you hear about it and you know that it feels good.

You've heard that it feels good.

And so you decide that you want to start as well to bring that goodness into your life.

Perhaps someone is raving about its stress relief capabilities.

Perhaps someone else is raving about the fact that they feel so much more peaceful or content.

Whatever you might hear about it,

Something clicks within you and you decide that you want to start.

And so that's usually the first phase.

A lot of people,

And that's one of the reasons I talk about meditation a lot is because I want people to start.

Because I think once you start,

You get,

If you get reasonably well into it and you start doing it for a long enough period of time,

You move into the second stage.

And I think that's the second stage that really matters.

Because the second stage is when all of those benefits that you hear about from,

About meditation,

You know,

You read about it online and you hear about it from people,

But you haven't really experienced that much of it.

Maybe you feel a little bit more peaceful.

Maybe you feel a little bit more patience.

Maybe you feel a little bit more stress relief,

But nothing major,

Nothing to write home about.

And you think,

Well,

Maybe it's just a placebo effect.

Maybe I think it's helping.

That's why it's helping.

But suddenly something shifts within you.

And this is the second,

This is when you enter the second stage of development where you realize,

No,

It's not just a placebo.

No,

It's not just random.

No,

It's not just a coincidence.

It's actually working.

It's actually changing me from the inside out.

There's something happening.

And at this point in time,

I think you're still in a phase where you can't really explain what exactly is happening.

You've been doing it for long enough,

Perhaps for a few months,

And you've been doing it consistently enough that you can actually see the results,

But you're still not sure exactly what's going on,

But you can sense it.

You can sense it within where you realize that every day that you meditate,

You become slightly a different person.

You improve,

You change.

You're always constantly changing in general anyways,

But you notice that these changes that are happening because of meditation are just a lot more powerful and a lot more moving you towards that better version,

That best version of yourself that you want to be in.

I've especially noticed this within myself when I'm being very consistent,

When I wake up every morning and I meditate and I feel good and I really get into it rather than just doing it as a task or something that I have to get done,

Something that I have to check off my to-do list,

When I do it with inspiration and with passion and with motivation,

When I really feel good about it,

When I go into it and really feel good about it,

When I come out of it,

I notice that every single day I turn up a new person at the end of the day.

It's as if I'm changing at such a rapid rate that I myself can't recognize myself,

And it becomes more and more poignant when you look back upon yourself and you think,

Oh my God,

Three years ago I used to be this person and look at me now,

Or four years ago I used to do this but I haven't done that for four years,

Or so many things change so rapidly that you can't help but realize that it is the effect of the meditation.

The second stage I think is that you start noticing all of these things that make you feel good and change you from the inside out,

And that's when you realize that the meditation is actually working.

At that point I think it's when it really clicks within you,

It really clicks where you're like,

Oh shit,

I mean,

Oh,

Oops,

I really have to keep on doing this for the rest of eternity because it's so powerful.

And everyone who was talking about it,

All of those people who were raving about it,

They weren't just,

You know,

They aren't just in the cult and they're not just trying to recruit you,

They actually are talking about something major,

Something really important,

And you're so grateful all of a sudden that you started the practice and you actually got into it because it's literally changing your life from the inside out.

And I can say this,

The more I meditate,

The more my life changes for the positive in so many different ways.

I can't even explain to you guys,

I mean,

A lot of it's intangible stuff that I notice and I wonder if,

Is this really happening within me?

Is this really real?

But it is,

And I notice more and more as time goes on that I'm changing from the inside out in so many amazing,

Awesome ways.

And so that's the second stage where you realize that,

You know,

You're feeling good and it's because of meditation.

Now I think that the third stage is where I'm actually kind of creeping into little by little and I'm really enjoying this creep into the third stage.

And I think that's the reason I really wanted to share this video with you.

That's the reason I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to write out these three stages.

I do that sometimes.

I wake up in the middle of the night with a video,

With an idea for a podcast or a video and I'll write it down quickly before I forget.

And I wrote down the three stages and I'll tell you guys exactly how I wrote it out at the end of the video.

But the third stage I think is when the changes are happening so fast,

So rapidly,

That I think the meditation becomes a part of you and you become a part of the meditation.

It's as if it's so a part of you that you can't go without it.

It's as important to you as breathing.

And for me,

I'm literally getting into that stage where I cannot go a day without it.

I can't sometimes go,

I sometimes have to,

I like to or would like to and I end up doing meditations twice or thrice a day sometimes.

I'll just be sitting there and all of a sudden I'll be like,

I really want to meditate right now.

And it's like this obsession perhaps,

But in a good way because it's not like it's driving you in any shape or form.

It's not a negative obsession perhaps is the way to say it.

But I just,

A lot of times I'll just be sitting there thinking I just want to meditate right now and a lot of times I'll be sitting there thinking I wish I could just meditate all day long.

And now of course I do love life and I love living in the matrix and I love being in this world in the physical realm,

But a lot of times I'll just be sitting there thinking,

I wish I could just meditate all day.

It's so amazing.

And as I said,

It just becomes a part of you.

It becomes an essence of you.

It becomes you so much so that you can't even think about skipping a day.

It's not even something that would come up ever.

I mean,

No matter what happens,

I get up and meditate.

If I have to get up at 5 a.

M.

To catch a flight,

I'll get up at 3 a.

M.

To meditate.

It's just the way it is.

And I've done this for a long time now.

And it's just who I've become.

I don't know if it's the ego saying it or I don't know where it's coming from.

And I literally,

As I said,

I'm still just creeping into the stage.

So I'm just like just getting into it.

So I don't think I can really explain it to you.

But I know,

I'm sure you know people who are like that who are just in a meditative state all the time.

They're in just in that zone where they're always there.

And it's not even just samadhi or enlightenment.

I think it's just a stage.

It's one of those stages that gets you closer to it,

Obviously.

It's a stage where you're just in that state of peace,

Contentment and meditation all the time.

A peaceful mindfulness,

I guess.

Or it's just you're just there and it's just a part of you.

And it's something that can never be separated from you ever again.

I know that I will never stop meditating.

And I know that I'll never be able to remove it from myself now because I've been doing it for so long.

It's just a part of me now.

It is me.

Whoever my identity,

Whatever it might be,

Bhumshakaha or whatever,

I know that meditation is a big essence of it now.

My heart is filled with it.

My soul's essence is filled with it.

Every cell in my body is filled with it.

It's just me.

It's part of me now.

And so I think that's the stage that I'm,

As I said,

Creeping into.

And a lot of people have noticed that about me as well.

And a lot of people will say that you kind of have this weird different thing about you right now.

I can see that there's something different.

And this usually happens when I haven't seen someone for a while and they'll be like,

You know,

I can see that you're peaceful now.

I can see that you're content.

And that contentment,

I think it just comes from the fact that I've been meditating for so long and that I've begun really to live my soul's path rather than just following the crowd.

But that's another story.

So the way I wrote it down when I woke up in the middle of the night,

The three stages were,

First we do it because we hear it's good.

Second,

We do it because we feel it's good.

Third,

We do it because we know it's good.

We know it's a part of us.

So first we do it because we hear it's good.

Second,

We do it because we feel it's good.

Third,

We do it because we know it's good.

It's a part of us.

And I think these are the three stages of development in meditation as I see it,

As I've been seeing it within myself.

So I hope that you guys enjoyed this.

I hope that you were able to comprehend what I was trying to get across.

If you guys have any questions or comments,

Please do put them below.

And again,

I'm so grateful that you are listening and subscribing and following.

If you guys have any questions,

Message me,

Otherwise I shall see you guys the next time around.

Bye for now.