Recollection Meditation: Recollection & Memory

is the direct application of the mental discipline forged in previous practices, forming the foundational basis for all

memory. By training the mind to sustain undivided attention earlier, you develop the cognitive power required to access and revisit. The reason for this is that memory and recollection are most important in the task of future meditations. Memory is a key to many things in spiritual evolution.

The Recollection Meditation: Instructions

Level 1: The Recent Past

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths to center yourself.
2. Select a simple, recent event, such as your last meal.
3. Recollect the event in as much vivid detail as possible. What did you eat? What were the colors, textures, and smells? What was the temperature of the food? Where were you sitting? Who was with you? Gather every piece of sensory and factual information you can.
4. Hold this detailed reconstruction in your mind for several minutes.

Level 2: The Emotionally Charged Past

1. Maintain your meditative posture and focus.
2. Select a more powerful memory from your life, either positive or negative.
3. Recollect the event and do your best to "re-live" it. Use all your senses to place yourself back in that moment. Notice the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and physical sensations.
4. Crucially, observe the emotions that arise without becoming entangled in them. You are the witness to the memory, not a participant in its drama. Maintain a state of detached observation.

Level 3: The Childhood Past

1. Prepare for a deeper level of focus.
2. Select a memory from your early childhood. The more distant, the better. It can be your earliest memory.
3. Your goal is to relive this memory, not just remember it.
4. At that moment, you are not your current age remembering; you are the child experiencing the event for the first time.
5. The sensation of recollection is your primary focus.
6. Engage all five senses with maximum intensity. What did the air smell like? What textures did your hands feel? What did you hear? See? Taste? Immerse your entire consciousness in this recollection.

How to know you have mastered this meditation: This meditation can be among the hardest to master for many people, and for others, it will come effortlessly. When you can recollect events accurately and with a lot of details all to the point of “re-living” them at will, you have mastered this meditation. Reaching at least half a level of the mastery of this, is good enough, so do not stress about perfection.