How To Meditate “on the go”. I often get asked about how to meditate when traveling. There are two contrasting meditations to try when you are traveling. One is a way of letting go (Nothing Meditation) and the other is a way of staying centered (Traveler’s Altar).

Letting Go

According to Buddha, the road to enlightenment and learning how to meditate deeply begins with letting go of earthly attachments - home, family and possessions. We need to stop desiring things - a big car, respect, even love - and learn to see that the life we lead in this material world is illusory.

These are hard concepts, but once grasped, however fleetingly, they can set your mind free. ‘Letting go’ means letting go of everything and this is easier when you are in transit. Hotel rooms are great places to contemplate the transitory nature of our lives, the scale of our possessions and the unfixed nature of emotions.

However, learning how to meditate in this manner and letting go is not for everyone, as losing a sense of your roots and grounding can be destabilizing. Be aware of yourself and what kind of person you are before trying the Nothing Meditation.

Staying Centered

If this meditation technique of anonymity and nothingness make you feel uneasy, you may only really be able to relax if you can take a little piece of home with you. If this describes you, then acknowledge it. Most of us need to feel grounded in order to feel safe and so losing your sense of yourself and your center can leave you vulnerable when you are away from home. If you feel exhausted, drained and disoriented, then try it.

How To Meditate Using Nothing Meditation

This exercise can leave you feeling exposed and unprotected, so do it just before going to sleep.

Put all your possessions away in the wardrobe so that there’s nothing in the room to remind you of ‘you’.

Have a bath or shower.

Sit on the edge of the bed or cross-legged in the middle of it and do your usual meditation

Once you are relaxed try and focus your mind on the idea of ‘om’ - zero and infinity. Repeat the word silently for a while

Imagine your mind expanding into space, so that you and space become as one. You may find this hard or easy. It may be fast or slow. Stay with it. If you have difficulty, imagine that your mind is slowly expanding outwards with each exhalation

When you are ready, inhale and pull yourself back to your body. This may take several inhalations.