Tranquil Mind

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What you will learn

A Beginner's Guide To Learn How To Meditate With Tranquil Mind

This guide teaches Tranquil Mind – a simple, effective meditation practice that uses loving-kindness (warm, caring feelings) for meditating. This is based on the earliest, original teachings of the Buddha.

Unlike other meditation methods that focus on breathing, this approach is easier, more enjoyable, and often produces deeper, and sometimes, faster results.

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Print-friendly quick reference to keep nearby while you practice.

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Key Benefits Reported

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  • Better Sleep

    A calmer mind that settles naturally at night

  • Less Stress & Anxiety

    Release mental tension from the very first session

  • Greater Happiness

    Genuine joy that arises from within, not from circumstances

  • Richer Relationships

    More patience, more compassion, more presence

  • Deep Insight

    Understanding of how your mind actually works

Before you begin

Understanding Meditation and Mindfulness

It’s important to understand both Meditation and Mindfulness – here are working definitions that will help you as you learn and practice Tranquil Mind.

MEDITATION OBJECT = an object that one’s attention is placed on

MEDITATION = the action of placing one’s attention on an object, typically mental

MINDFULNESS = observing how mind’s attention moves from one object to another

For example, if I asked you to close your eyes, relax, and place your mental attention on the image of an apple, or the feeling of an apple, we could say that you are meditating on an apple.

At some point, your mind will wander away, maybe you’ll start thinking about the taste of an apple, or an apple tree, or a time when you went apple picking. Observing that your mind has wandered off of the apple, your object of meditation, is mindfulness.

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Our Object

Your meditation object in Tranquil Mind = the feeling of loving-kindness

Important: with meditation and mindfulness, we are not trying to control anything. We are not trying to force anything to happen. We are not trying to make things any different than what they are. Keep this in mind as you practice. Your job is only to observe. This is very different from other mediation practices.

Meditation that actually feels good

We use loving-kindness as a meditation object because

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  • Feels pleasant

    It feels good, and pleasant feelings are easier to place your attention on

  • Beats breathwork

    It's more enjoyable than focusing on breath

  • Boosts happiness

    It naturally makes you happier

  • Radiates outward

    You're helping yourself and others by radiating good feelings

  • Builds habits

    It builds positive mental habits throughout your day

The Buddha actually taught loving-kindness meditation hundreds of times in ancient texts. Details regarding this are outside of this instruction guide, but our advanced teachers are happy to discuss if you’re really curious. Tranquil Mind is based on the original teachings of the Buddha that have worked for the last 2600 years and counting.

The Buddha asked people to “come and see” - that is, to find out from their own direct experience if what he taught works. We encourage you to do the same.

Phases

Step-by-Step Instructions

You will want to set aside 30 minutes for your meditation practice. Ideally this is something you’ll do each day, early in the day. Remember that lots of short meditation sittings are better than a few long ones. Just like any other skill or ability, the more you practice, the easier it will get, and the better your mediation practice will become.

Here we are using the feeling of loving-kindness as our object of meditation.

Step 1: SMILE!

This is a smiling meditation. The reason that you should smile is that it has been found that when the corners of your mouth go up, so doe your mental state. When the corners of your mouth go down, so does your mental state. Put a little smile on your lips, but do not stop there. Put a smile in your eyes even though your eyes are closed. Smile in your mind, your eyes, your lips.

And, especially, put a smile in your heart. It can be a mechanical smile at first—eventually, it will turn into a sincere happy feeling. It should be a smile that conveys loving-kindness. It’s important to believe it! Smile with your lips, smile from your mind, and smile from your heart!

If your mind wanders away twenty-five times in a sitting, and twenty-five times you recognize it, release it, relax, re-smile, and return to your meditation, then you’ve had a good meditation. It definitely might not be a quiet and calm meditation, but it is an active meditation, and that can still be a good meditation!

Step 2: Create the Feeling

  • Remember a time when you felt truly happy
  • If you can’t remember, imagine:
    • Holding a cute baby or puppy or kitten
    • A moment of pure joy or contentment
    • Someone you love smiling at you

Step 3: Make Your Intentions

Place this warm feeling in the center of your chest

  • Say to yourself: “May I be happy,” “May I be peaceful,” “May I be calm”
  • Really mean it – sincerely wish yourself well
  • Don’t just repeat words; focus on the actual feeling of caring for yourself

Step 3: Keep It Going

  • When the feeling fades, repeat your phrases to bring it back
  • Don’t make it a chant – use phrases only to restart the feeling
  • About 75% of your attention on the feeling, 25% on the words

Choose Your Spiritual Friend:

  • Pick someone who is:
    • Living (not deceased)
    • Someone you would not have romantic feelings for
    • Not a family member (too many emotional complications for beginners)
    • Someone who makes you smile when you think of them
    • A person you deeply respect and genuinely wish well
    • You do not have to tell this person that they are your Spiritual Friend
    • It could be someone you know personally, or someone that you admire, like a public figure

How to Practice With Your Spiritual Friend:

  • Picture your friend in the center of your chest
  • Say: “Just as I feel happy, may you be happy and peaceful”
  • Surround them with the same warm feeling you gave yourself
  • See them smiling and content
  • Don’t try to “send” the feeling – just let it naturally radiate like warmth from a candle.
Explore More About the Practice

The 6Rs

The Most Important Tool: The 6Rs

When your mind wanders, and it will, use this simple 6-step process to bring your attention back to your object of meditation – the feeling of loving kindness. When starting out, this will take a period of time to implement but will eventually become an automatic process. Some people, when starting out, will print out the 6Rs and place them where they can be easily seen and referenced.

It’s critically important that you understand the purpose of the 6Rs. They are what we use to gently bring the mind’s attention back to our meditation object. It’s perfectly natural that when meditating, our minds will wander. In fact, we expect this to happen! We call these distractions, because they have pulled your attention off the feeling of loving-kindness.

We never try to force ourselves to make our minds do something, we are not stressing about anything, we are simply feeling and observing. This is unlike other practices you may have tried or heard about. We have fun and take a playful, lighthearted approach to this practice. Keep that in mind as you learn how to meditate.

Remember: You never push distractions away forcefully. You simply stop feeding them attention and gently redirect back to your object of meditation - the feeling of loving-kindness.

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01. Recognize

Notice that your mind has drifted away from your meditation object – the feeling of loving-kindness or your spiritual friend

02. Release

– Let go of whatever distracted you
– Don’t analyze it or fight it
– Just stop paying attention to it, let it go

03. Relax

– This is the most important step!
– Notice any tension or tightness in your head and/or body from the distraction
– Actively soften and relax
– This step removes the stress that distractions create

04. Re-smile

– Put a gentle smile back on your face
– Smile with your lips, eyes, and heart
– This naturally lifts your mood and energy

05. Return

– Gently bring your attention back to your loving-kindness feeling
– Don’t force it – make it a smooth, kind movement

06. Repeat

– Use this process each time your mind wanders, and you realize that your attention is no longer on your object of meditation
– Be patient with yourself – wandering is normal!
– Be kind to yourself, don’t get serious, don’t ”try harder”