First, let's figure out what meditation originally is. If we turn to our respected Wikipedia, we will be given the following definition: Meditation (from the Latin meditatio - reflection) is a kind of exercises for the psyche used in the framework of spiritual-religious or health-improving practice, or a special mental state arising as a result of these exercises (or for other reasons). Notice the word "reflection" ... We'll come back to this later.

Meditation is originally a method of awakening human nature. It does not require any work with thoughts, affirmations, no self-hypnosis, etc. In meditation we go to a complete dis-identification with the thought process. We do not interfere and do not get involved within incoming thoughts, emotions, desires, but we witness all this. Thanks to the practice of meditation, after a while we cease to suffer from the chaotic "cloud of chatter" in our mind, and the mind itself becomes clear, precise, turning into a good instrument. We become masters of our mind.

Often a person's mind works idly, chaotically, we think about something all the time - about the past, about the future, about what does not even exist in the present, we constantly evaluate and analyze everything - all this expends a huge amount of our energy. Most people do not have skills to stop the process of their uncontrolled thinking, except for artificial means that give a short-term effect of quieting the mind, such as: food, sex, music, smoking, drugs, alcohol and other entertainment. But in meditation, we can simply not get involved in the stream of thoughts, remaining a witness of what is happening. Therefore, if we take the interpretation of the definition of meditation as a reflection, then we can interpret it in the following context: dis-identification with the thinking process, and not thinking about something.

Today many people use meditation as a technique helping them to relax and achieve other positive effects. But if you go deeper, then this is a technique that is an integral part of the educational process in spiritual schools, leading to going beyond the ego. This is a special type of inner work that allows you to immerse yourself in the finer layers of consciousness, thereby awakening human nature. Thus, if we take really serious techniques, they help to speed up the process of our spiritual evolution.

There are many techniques of meditation, but all of them in total can be divided into 2 types (basing on the principle of working with attention):

1) Concentration of attention (when we focus and hold our attention on something: an object, a sound, a sensation in the body, our breath);
2) Deconcentration (when we do not focus or keep our attention on anything, but simply observe what is happening, both inside and outside, including thoughts and emotions). An example is the well-known meditation on emptiness in Buddhism.

In both cases, a correct approach to meditation implies that we do not analyze or evaluate either the objects of concentration or what is happening.
We are not talking about such techniques as visualization, relaxation, affirmations, in which, as a rule, you need to imagine something, i.e. include the imagination. They have a different task: directly relaxation or the realization of our goals and desires. In meditation, the task is initially much deeper: going beyond duality.
Most of the meditations came to us from the East, but, nevertheless, in the Russian-speaking region (former CIS countries) there is knowledge that uses this method. One of these meditations is the Paradanta Meditation, which in translation means "leading beyond any bounds." It belongs to the second type of meditation (without focusing attention). This is a meditation taught in our School.

Many people ask, "How do I learn to meditate?" You can't learn serious meditation techniques from a book or DVD. Learning these meditations requires a certain systematic preparation, goes in several stages, and takes some time. Therefore, to start with, you need to find a school, a teacher, i.e., a competent person who can help you with this.

In some centers, where meditation is taught very quickly, the quality of mastering it is rather superficial, because the system of teaching is mass or conveyor, which does not imply a serious individual approach. Therefore, as a rule, such training does not yield profound results.

It is also very important to understand that learning to meditate is not a goal in itself. You need to understand what you want to achieve. Many people use meditation simply to achieve relaxation, to ease mental tension, to relieve stress. But in professional schools, the main goal of meditation is not this, but to help a person to reveal the control, the dictatorship of the mind and learn how to free one's mind from concepts and the body from various blocks and tensions.

We can say that meditation (if we talk about professional techniques) is one of the most powerful tools on the path of a person who is developing spiritually. This is due to the fact that it allows you to do up to 50% of all the "rough work" of cleansing the body and, above all, the nervous system. Thus, meditation greatly accelerates and facilitates the process of restructuring the entire body and inner transformation. The meditation technique transmitted from the master makes it possible to cleanse the consciousness from all destructive programs quickly and painlessly.

At most, you can learn some relaxation or concentration technique from a book or video, but its effectiveness would be highly questionable. If someone really wants to get good results from practicing meditation, it is necessary to understand that it is a subtle inner work.

It is necessary to follow a professional approach, safety precautions, otherwise you can harm yourself.
It's even more serious than learning to pilot an airplane, though it seems: "Why do I need all this? I can do everything by myself: sit with my eyes closed and meditate!"

Experimenting on yourself is possible, but always fraught with danger. If you really want to get a positive effect and not be disconnected from life, you need a serious training system.

Scientists have long begun to study the mechanisms that occur in our bodies during meditation. During meditation, various transformational changes occur in certain areas of the brain, as well as normalization of the level of certain hormones and neurotransmitters. For example, studies have shown that people who meditate have increased level of serotonin ("happiness hormone"), DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) - "youth hormone", GABA (gamma-aminobutyrate, gamma-aminobutyric acid), endorphins, somatotropin, melatonin (sleep hormone), and reduced level of cortisol (stress hormone).

During meditation, the brain changes its frequency from beta waves to alpha waves, which also corresponds to the intermediate phase between sleep and wakefulness (the peripheral phase of sleep). It is in this state that insights come and various discoveries are made.

In general, meditation activates the neurohumoral regulation in the body, launching the internal mechanisms of self-regulation and self-restoration, which contributes to a deep cleansing of our psyche and body. And, as a consequence, it gives many different accompanying effects.

В целом, медитация активирует нейрогуморальную  регуляцию в организме, запускает внутренние механизмы саморегуляции и самовосстановления, что способствует глубокому очищению нашей психики и тела. И, как следствие, это даёт множество различных сопутствующих эффектов.

The practice of meditation allows us to open up the very foundation of our life. When this happens, all spheres of our life become enriched. It happens in the most natural and easy way. In our usual life, in society, we are chasing pleasures that our perception organs, our mind strive for (to eat something tasty, to buy something, etc., trying in every possible way to fill the inner emptiness).

And in fact, our life experience tells us that when we are searching it outside, there is nothing  that would bring complete satisfaction in the end. When one pleasure ends, we start searching for the next. But when our mind turns inward, towards the very essence of itself, to its absolute source, then in the most wondrous way we find total satisfaction and fulfillment.

Our mind always searches for this fullness and completeness, it always strives towards something greater - more knowledge, more power, more influence and so on. But when our mind discovers the source of itself, it indwells the highest completeness of knowledge. And it's not intellectual knowledge, but in essence, it is what is called “the fruit of all knowledge”.
This is not a specific knowledge about something, but it is what the purpose  of any knowledge is. This is absolute, saturated fullness of Knowledge.

At the level of ego any life situation kind of knocks us out: that is, we feel as if we are insignificant, small, we are oppressed and offended, squeezed into certain limits and our sense of individuality wants somehow to break out and prove its own importance. And at the base of this feeling lies the simple desire of our “I”  to become Great.

In our everyday life it shows as an aspiration for significance and importance of ourselves, as a matter of fact, we artificially pump up this feeling of individualization in order to seem someone big and significant. But when this feeling of individuality finds its own source, which is free from any limitations, then this sense of individuality passess from a small, point-like perception of itself into Infinity. We may say that individual Self gains the Universal, Absolute quality. This is the very feeling of Unity with all surrounding Space, that every human being subconsciously strives for.