Inner Peace
Fellowship Meditation
For More Inner Peace
Well-Being and Happiness
Learn How to Meditate
Meditation Instructions
Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation (IPF Meditation) comes from the Vedic tradition of India, which is over 3,000 years old. IPF Meditation uses the same Sanskrit mantras that yogis in India have been using and refining for thousands of years. Meditation is one form of Yoga. Some consider meditation to be the highest form of Yoga, and call it Royal Yoga. IPF Meditation is easy to learn, and you can get many valuable benefits from it. Millions of people in 235 countries and jurisdictions have used these meditation instructions.
You learn to meditate by meditating. The silence and stillness you experience in meditation and the increased happiness and diminished stress you experience outside meditation are so attractive and welcomed that you naturally teach yourself how to go deeper into that silence and stillness each time you meditate.
Your First Meditation
When you meditate you silently repeat a sound, which is called your mantra. You say your mantra silently inside yourself without moving your tongue or lips. You do not say your mantra out loud, and you do not chant your mantra.
Your mantra is on the audio below. Your mantra is not a word that has meaning. Your mantra is a sound that has no meaning. It is okay if you do not say your mantra exactly as it sounds on the audio – close enough is okay.
To begin meditating, find a place where you can sit comfortably and quietly. Then close your eyes and do nothing for a minute or so. Thoughts may come during that time, and that is okay. Then start the audio below and play your mantra** at a whisper. Each time you hear your mantra, say it quietly inside without moving your tongue or lips. After one minute the audio will fade to silence. Then, at roughly the same pace as you had been saying it, continue saying your mantra quietly inside for four more minutes. If thoughts come during that time, gently return to saying your mantra quietly inside. The audio will tell you when four minutes is over. Follow these instructions for your first meditation only. After your first meditation, follow the instructions in the Daily Practice of Meditation section below.
(If you created your own mantra on our site in the past, from now on use the mantra above and then expand your mantra as described below.)
Daily Practice of Meditation
Meditate 20 minutes every morning and every evening. Use your mantra in Your First Meditation above. It is best to meditate before you eat. Try to meditate in a quiet place but if you do not have a quiet place to meditate that is okay. Noise is not a barrier to meditating.
Sit quietly, close your eyes, and do nothing for a minute or so. Thoughts will come and that is okay. It is natural to have thoughts during meditation. After a minute or so, in the same natural way that thoughts come, and without moving your tongue or lips, quietly inside start saying your mantra. Slowly repeat your mantra until you are done meditating. When thoughts come, gently return to saying your mantra. When you finish meditating, lay down and rest for 4-5 minutes.
At times you may be saying your mantra unclearly, and that is okay. At times you may not be saying your mantra at all, and instead your mantra may be a sense or a feeling of your mantra, and that is okay. At times all thoughts and your mantra may disappear and you may simply be aware, and that is okay.
You may go to sleep during meditation, and that is okay. When you wake up after being asleep, meditate for a few more minutes and then lay down and rest for 4-5 minutes.
Common Mistakes
Do not TRY to meditate. Trying to meditate is the biggest mistake people make. During meditation, just do nothing. It is very important to do absolutely nothing during meditation.
The benefits of meditation come from meditating regularly. The benefits come naturally over time, and there is nothing you can do to MAKE those benefits come. So avoid looking for particular experiences or signs of progress or failure with your meditation because that will block you from getting the benefits of meditation.
Meditation can make you happier, it can make you feel more at ease and calmer, and it can help you get along better with others. You may notice those changes soon, or you may meditate for six months before you notice any changes. So just get in the habit of meditating regularly twice every day, and then be patient. Getting in the habit of meditating regularly is very important. And if you stop meditating, just start back meditating again.
Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation
Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation is probably the most effective meditation available today. We also provide Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation, which is even more powerful.
After you have been meditating regularly twice a day for 2 years, you will then be eligible to start Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation. The instructions for Advanced Inner Peace Meditation are at the bottom of this page.
Side Effects and Cautions
There are side effects to meditating. Immediately after meditating you can be more vulnerable to suggestions and outside influences. So avoid making decisions or taking on things of importance immediately after meditating.
If you find that sitting quietly is difficult for you, stop meditating. Instead try walking in nature, doing yoga, or exercising to relax.
If you find that meditating is disturbing, upsetting, or disquieting for you, stop meditating and do not meditate any more.
Finally, meditation is not for solving serious emotional or psychiatric problems. So if you think you might have such problems, do not try to fix them by meditating but instead get professional help.
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Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation is nondirective mantra meditation. Nondirective meditations are based on effortlessness and acceptance of mind wandering whereas directive meditations such as Mindfulness and Vipassana are based on exerting effort to resist thoughts and to resist mind wandering. Other meditation techniques classified as nondirective are the Relaxation Response, Acem meditation and Transcendental Meditation® according to the research report “Nondirective meditation activates default mode network and areas associated with memory retrieval and emotional processing” in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience; 2014: 8:86. |
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Your mantra is Vedic Sanskrit words and sounds that have been used in meditation for thousands of years. |
Frequently Asked Questions
“I have been meditating for a very long time (I am 75 years old), but have always ended up trying or trying not to try! Your meditation instructions have relieved me of this tendency and I really find this meditation very relaxing and easy to do.” Julie
Question: “Where does Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation come from?”
Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation (IPF Meditation) comes from the Vedic tradition of India, which is over 3,000 years old. Since then meditation has been handed down freely from generation to generation. Meditation is taught as a responsibility, and for the joy of helping others without expecting anything in return.
The mantras of IPF Meditation are in the Sanskrit language that was spoken 3,000 years ago. Yogis in India have been using these same mantras in meditation since then.
Vedic tradition is about expanding bliss, joy and happiness in life. It is a tradition that understands how the intelligence of nature works, and how to align life with that intelligence so that you are happy and healthy. It is a tradition that knows how to decrease stress in life.
“What are the benefits of meditating regularly?”
Scientists have studied meditation and found that meditating regularly can decrease stress, increase inner peace and improve relationships. Our experience confirms those findings. We have enjoyed those benefits and many others from meditating. Those benefits arose naturally and spontaneously in our lives the longer we meditated on a regular basis.
“What kind of meditation is IPF Meditation?”
The two main kinds of meditation are nondirective and directive. Nondirective meditation is based on effortlessness and acceptance of mind wandering. Directive meditation is based on exerting effort to resist mind wandering.
IPF Meditation is nondirective meditation.
“Which is easier to learn: nondirective or directive meditation?”
Nondirective meditation is easier to learn than directive meditation. Mindfulness meditation is directive meditation. A top researcher of mindfulness meditation said this about learning mindfulness meditation:
“When I was first learning to meditate the instruction was to simply pay attention to my breath and when my mind wandered to bring it back. Sounded simple enough. Yet I would sit on these silent [meditation] retreats sweating through T-shirts in the middle of winter. I would take naps every chance I got because it was really hard work. Actually, it was exhausting.”
Judson Brewer MD, PhD
Director of Research and Innovation
Mindfulness Center, Brown University USA
TEDMED Talk: “A Simple Way To Break A Bad Habit”
When meditation is difficult to learn, people stop meditating. Or they never learn to meditate well enough to get much benefit from it.
“Why is nondirective meditation easier to learn than directive meditation?”
Nondirective meditation is easier to learn because it takes your mind to silence and stillness more quickly and easily than directive meditation does. The reason is their techniques for meditating are quite different:
The instructions for nondirective meditation are to do nothing, to allow your thoughts to wander, and when your thoughts wander, to go back to thinking your mantra. Thoughts have meanings that engage the mind. Your mantra does not engage the mind because its sounds are meaningless. Plus, the sounds of your mantra have been refined by yogis over thousands of years to quiet the mind. By repeating your mantra, the mind is quieted more and more until your mantra becomes faint and you experience silence and stillness. Experiencing silence and stillness more and more in meditation is what then balances your life, your health and your thoughts.
The instructions for directive meditation are when thoughts come, to concentrate on something else such as your breath, chanting, or the flame of a candle. You try to force thoughts from your mind by concentrating on something else. The reason directive meditation is difficult to learn is because concentration requires effort, and silence and stillness are difficult to experience when you are exerting effort.
“What meditation technique works best? What does science say about this?”
Scientific research of meditation is still in its early days. Research has been done on specific meditation techniques. However research that compares meditation techniques has not yet been done (2021). So today science cannot say which meditation technique works best.
The reason we meditate is to experience silence and stillness. When we experience DEEP silence and stillness in meditation, no thoughts are present. During that thoughtlessness, our self that lives in thoughts is missing, and unity, truth and timelessness are present. Experiencing deep silence and stillness repeatedly in meditation seems to have infused thoughtlessness into our physiology, and into our everyday life. During everyday life we have fewer thoughts than we once did. And we experience silence and stillness pretty much all the time.
For us the important question here is: Do all meditation techniques deliver that same experience of DEEP silence and stillness? Our answer is: probably not. The reason we say that is because when we are TRYING to experience deep silence and stillness in meditation (trying being the main instruction of directive meditation), we never experience deep silence and stillness. The only time we experience DEEP silence and stillness in meditation is when we are doing absolutely nothing, which is the main instruction of nondirective meditation.
So it appears to us that the best meditation techniques for experiencing DEEP silence and stillness are nondirective meditation techniques.
“Is IPF Meditation really so simple and easy to learn? Is it really about doing nothing?”
Yes. IPF Meditation is really simple and easy to learn. It really is about doing nothing. IPF Meditation is about letting go of any outcome and accepting things exactly as they are, which is excellent training for how to live your life.
Your mind will wander during IPF Meditation, and that is okay. You accept that your mind is wandering, and then you return to thinking your mantra. Sometimes you have many thoughts during meditation, and that is normal. Other times you have fewer thoughts during meditation and you experience more silence and stillness, which we call Being. Sometimes people experience Being in its most innocent form during meditation, and also during their day.
Being is simply the experience of Being alive. For many people however, thoughts form a “cloud” that obscures Being alive just like clouds block the light of the Sun. When you are in that cloud of thoughts, you are living life more in your thoughts instead of living life as Being alive. Meditating regularly can melt those clouds of thoughts both during meditation and also during your day. And when those clouds of thoughts have melted, what remains is silence and stillness – is Being.
Meditation teaches you how to be. The experience of Being arises naturally and spontaneously over time as you meditate regularly. You should never try to have the experience of Being, or any experience. If you TRY to have some experience, IPF Meditation does not work. IPF Meditation works when you do absolutely nothing. Just do absolutely nothing during meditation, repeat your mantra, and the benefits of meditating will arise in your life naturally and spontaneously over time as you meditate regularly.
“What does it mean that the benefits of meditating will arise naturally and spontaneously over time as you meditate regularly? How does that work?”
Life on Earth arises and replicates itself from a chemical molecule in you called dna. Dna is what carries all genetic information. Sometimes the word nature is used to describe life on Earth more generally. So when we say that the benefits of meditating “will arise naturally and spontaneously” we mean that those benefits will arise naturally and spontaneously from within your “inner nature” – from within you – without you doing anything.
So why does that happen? Life works best when your inner nature is in balance. When your inner nature is out-of-balance life doesn’t work as well. Your inner nature can get unbalanced from stress. Regular meditation can diminish unwanted stress. And when unwanted stress is diminished, our inner nature becomes more balanced and life just gets better – naturally and spontaneously.
“Please describe the experience of Being in its most innocent form.”
Usually during meditation you notice something. For example, you notice an itch. Or you notice a sound, some tiredness or your mantra. That is normal.
Once in a while during meditation, some people experience Being in its most innocent form. During that experience “you” “notice” and “something” are absent and only Being is experienced. The word singular describes that experience well because the three elements – “you”, “notice” and “something” – are absent and the experience contains only Being – only silence and stillness.
Advanced IPF Meditation is designed to help you become more familiar with Being in its most innocent form. The instructions for Advanced Inner Peace Meditation are described below.
Instructions For Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation
(After you have been meditating regularly twice a day for 2 years, you are then, and only then, eligible to start Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation.)
“You learn to meditate by meditating. The silence and stillness you experience in meditation and the increased happiness and diminished stress you experience outside meditation are so attractive and welcomed that you naturally teach yourself how to go deeper into that silence and stillness each time you meditate.” That instruction applies both to Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation and to Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation.
Instructions
After you finish practicing Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation for 15-30 minutes in the morning and in the evening, continue to sit quietly with your eyes closed and do not lay down. Then, after 10 to 15 seconds faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips say the word “kindness” once. As that word fades let your awareness be with whatever you are experiencing in your body, which in these instructions is also called your being or your self.
(Whatever you are experiencing in your body may or may not include the sensation of your body, a humming in your ears, feelings on your skin, the sound of your breathing, your heart beating, your bottom against the chair-floor-bed, simply being aware that you are aware, or any combination of these or any other bodily sensations. There is nothing in particular that you are suppose to be experiencing in your body however. So just relax, do nothing and let your awareness be on whatever you are experiencing in your body.)
Then, after 10 to 15 seconds faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips say the word “kindness” again once, and as that word fades let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self.
Then, after 10 to 15 seconds faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips say the word “kindness” again once, and as that word fades let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self.
Then, after 10 to 15 seconds faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips say the word “kindness” again once, and as that word fades let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self. You have now said the word “kindness” four times.
(It is okay if the word “kindness” or any of the other words below becomes so faint and silent that it is no longer a word but rather is just the feeling of “kindness” or an impulse of “kindness”.)
10 to 15 seconds after saying kindness for the last time, faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips say the word “goodness” once and as that word fades let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self – for 10-15 seconds. Then, three more times, exactly as you did with the word “kindness” above, repeat saying “goodness” faintly and silently inside without moving your tongue or lips and as that word fades each time let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self – for 10-15 seconds.
Then, as you did with the words “kindness” and ”goodness” above, repeat saying the following words and phrases 4 times each without moving your tongue or lips, and each time let your awareness go back onto whatever you are experiencing in your body – onto your being, your self – for 10-15 seconds.
When learning these words and phrases, it is best to learn only 4 at one time and to practice those 4 for a week or two. Learning and practicing only 4 words or phrases at a time helps with memorizing them well before moving on and learning 4 more words or phrases.
Well-Being
Contentment
Compassion
Cooperation
Fairness
Integrity
Honor
Honesty
Loyalty
Trust
Fellowship
The Absence of Thoughts
I Am Stardust That Came Alive
The Difference Between Experiencing Life and Thinking About Life
Saying the above 16 words and phrases 4 times each and letting your awareness go back onto your being, onto your self each time for 10-15 seconds should take about 20 minutes. When you are finished doing that lie down and rest for 20-30 minutes depending on what amount of resting time leaves you feeling refreshed. Then get up and go about your day or evening.
Discussion
When you practice Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation there is a 10-15 second gap between saying each word or phrase. One reason for practicing Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation is to become more familiar with and to expand the silence and stillness experienced in that gap. As your experience of the silence and stillness in that gap expands, what you are experiencing is more of your being, more of your self.
After you have been practicing Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation for some months or years, you may start to notice that same silence and stillness – your being, your self – in daily life. This silence and stillness in daily life can be very subtle and may come into daily life so gradually however that they seem normal and natural, which they are. And for those reasons they can also go largely unnoticed, which is okay.
Doing nothing while meditating and not TRYING to meditate are the keys to getting the most benefit from Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation, just as they are with Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation. Relaxing and doing nothing is discussed in detail in the Common Mistakes section above on this page and we strongly suggest that before you start practicing Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation that first you reread that section. And reread it again whenever you notice that you are TRYING to meditate or that your meditation is “not working”. You will find that rereading that section is very helpful for getting the most benefit from the large amounts of time that you are investing in meditation.
Side Effects and Cautions
There are side effects to practicing Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation and Advanced Inner Peace Fellowship Meditation. Immediately after practicing those you may be more vulnerable to suggestions and outside influences. So avoid making decisions or taking on things of importance immediately after meditating.
Also, if you find that sitting quietly is difficult for you for any reason then give up meditating and instead consider doing yoga, exercising, walking or running to relax. Also, if you find that meditating is disturbing, upsetting, or disquieting to you, then stop meditating and do not meditate any more. Finally, meditation is not for solving serious emotional or psychiatric problems; so if you think you might have such problems, do not try to fix them with meditation but instead get professional help.
