Meditation is a great tool that can serve many purposes:

1. Stress reduction
2. Improving focus and concentration
3. Emotional regulation
4. Enhancing self-awareness
5. Promoting mental health
6. Physical health benefits
7. Spiritual growth
8. Improving relationships (by fostering qualities such as empathy, compassion, and patience)
9. Increasing creativity

But there are two side effects that I personally find so beneficial and interesting. Before discussing these, let’s clarify what I mean by meditation, as it can be interpreted in many ways.

Definition

Due to the events that have led me to this point and because of my teachers, both famous and not (Ajahn Chatree, Ajahn Buddhadasa, Sam Chin, De Wen Fashi, Master Jiru, Ajahn Chaa, Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Brahm), I see meditation as a second step in our development, where morality serves as a base and developed serenity leads to insight and wisdom:

Morality -> Concentration -> Wisdom

Technique.

According to my personal experience, the non-judgmental approach, stepping out from our goal-oriented mind and shifting to an observer mind, is to be the most effective one. The goal is not to achieve but to know and be present.

The Levels of Meditation

This topic is rather controversial. As soon as steps are laid out, our achievement-oriented minds want to follow them exactly as described. However, the eight steps I will discuss are commonly explained in the Theravada tradition and should be seen as pointers rather than definitive stages. These stages can be experienced differently by each person, and some steps may be skipped. Do not take them as a literal map but as an approximate explanation based on one of the most translated sources into English, the Pali Canon. There are other attempts to divide meditation into different stages.

First of all we have two big groups 1) Rupa Jhana (body experiences) and Arupa Jhana (out of body experiences), each has four stages.

I. Rupa Jhana (body experiences)

1. First jhana has five factors:
   • Noticing the object of meditation
   • staying with the object of meditation
     • these first two factors appear with the help of thinking mind
   • body pleasure
   • mental elevation
   • one-pointedness
2. Second jhana. When talkative mind has settled down, we start to drop out factors. Because meditation is about letting go, not about achieving!
   • body pleasure,
   • mental elevation,
   • one-pointedness
3. Thirds jhana. Body pleasure is experienced as something rather rough, so it is being let go of.
   • Mental elevation,
   • one-pointedness
4. Fourth jhana. Even mental pleasure is also somewhat of a disturbing vibration in the mind, so we let go of that, too.
   • One-pointedness

II. Arupa Jhana. Out of body absorptions. This is where the sensation of the body is disappearing.

1. Limitless space. With no body to connect to, our consciousness perceive the space as without any limit.
2. Limitless consciousness. Even consciousness is not bind to this body-and-mind as is perceived without any limit.
3. Nothingness.
4. Neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

Feeling stuck?

Meditation is a very enjoyable activity, once we are able to reach even little bit of a concentration. But if our mind is still very scattered, it might be experienced as boring or unpleasant. There are few things you can try:

1. Find an experienced teacher
2. Join a prolonged retreat. The group effect, reduced food intake, reduced sensory information, and mere amount of hours dedicated to practice will make things work for you. If you decide to step back and be a non-judgmental observer. Resistances, pains, and hesitations are part of meditation. Do not see them as obstacles. When labeled as obstacles, our minds start to fight, leading us to believe we cannot meditate. Expect nothing from yourself and just be present for whatever is happening. There is no right or wrong in meditation; everything can become an object of meditation.
3. Reduce sensory input artificially. Sometimes, when I have no time, I create a conducive environment with no light, no sound, and minimum body discomfort.
4. Check your morality. Since morality is the base for concentration.
5. Expand areas of practice. Meditation is not only sitting, it can be practiced while standing, walking, laying down, eating, talking, washing dishes.

Two wonderful side effects

Returning to the main topic, these two effects start to happen when our concentration nears the first absorption, and meditation becomes enjoyable rather than a struggle.

Pain-Killing Effect

As breathing becomes more subtle, the body starts to feel different without intentional effort. You may experience tingling, heaviness, or lightness, and changes in temperature. By developing the ability to breathe through painful sensations, they can become pleasant. I have experienced this effect firsthand when I broke my wrist, thanks to my previous practice in qigong meditation and gymnastics, where relaxation techniques were essential, I was able to turn painful sensations after the surgery into pleasant.

It’s not just about reducing pain but recognizing the mind’s power. When we are sick, old, or dying, we can soothe ourselves without relying on expensive medications.

Beautification Effect

This effect involves seeing beauty outside oneself. Usually, we see beauty as beauty and ugliness as ugliness. However, meditation can alter these perceptions to the point where we gain freedom from them. Meanwhile, the perception of beauty can be a very useful tool. When we go deeper in meditation, and for example we observe breathing long enough, we suddenly start to notice that breathing becomes beautiful. It transforms into this magical act, that can mesmerize you for hours. And when you emerge from that meditation, you can look at any simple object: at a tree, at a leaf, at a grass, at birds flying in the sky and everything feels almost magical and full of intricate details. I am not talking about this ability to see everything through the lens of pink eye-glasses, but this world is so full of pain, destruction and death that we almost get crushed by that. We may experience depression, lack of energy or motivation, desperation. If only we would have this ability to transcend, and I am not saying that we suddenly will think that bad things are OK, that death is OK, that war is OK – No! But when we have this ability to transcend our perceptions and we are not crushed by the outside world, we can do more, we can help, we can be beneficial to the society.

I remember noticing this effect on me, when I was reading the book by Thich Nhat Hanh “The Miracle of Mindfulness”, which he wrote being inspired by peaceful efforts of his fellow friends, brothers and sisters, during Vietnam war, when he was already exiled from his beloved home country.

I was in Chicago back then, we had a big event, more then 200 people attended. Everything was rather stressful, so many thing would be going on and I also had to deal with personal issue. And I just tried to be so mindful, that every movement that I would do would be so slow, so present that I started to enjoy every movement of my body, every breath, every raise of my eyes and I would look at people and I would incredible joy and pleasure.

How beneficial would that be for us and for the whole world, if we would just be enjoying the present moment, without needing anything else?

These are two great, I think, side effects of meditation that we can utilize in enhancing our life quality and making it better

I hope you are enjoying your practice. Take care!

video version with some personal photo can be found here https://youtu.be/nUW8a1wjlvE