Meditation and Breathing Techniques: What Practice Really Means

Tall reeds on a calm lakeshore move gently in the wind

Short answer: For Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, meditation and breathing techniques aren't a fight to control the mind — they're a letting go. Wandering thoughts and disturbing sounds are, for him, simply part of the process. He describes meditation as immersion in your own nature, unfolding step by step, from inner relaxation to a felt sense of oneness.

When thoughts wander during meditation

You've barely sat down and your mind is already off — to that task from earlier, to a worry, to something else entirely. Gurudev tells a story about this: a farmer is given a mantra by a saint, on one condition — never to think of a red balloon.

In three days, he was so disturbed by red balloons that on the fourth day he ran back to the saint, pleading, “Please take away your mantra—and your red balloon too! I don’t want either!” “Just free me from this red balloon business—I’ve gone crazy, I can’t function!”

From a talk on the Ashtavakra Gita — "The Nature of the Mind", 00:06:40

The story makes an important point: the harder you push a thought away, the more power you often give it. For Gurudev, the way out isn't fighting wandering thoughts — it's relating to them more easily.

When a disturbance throws you off

A sound, a small mishap — and your focus is gone. Gurudev describes how quickly a minor disturbance during meditation can turn into a big annoyance, even though the event itself is long over.

You are meditating, and somebody drops a plate — or a dog starts barking. This is sufficient to keep you agitated for the next two days. “Oh, I can’t meditate — somebody dropped the plate! They should not drop the plate.” “The dog should not come there!” It has come and gone. But you have caught hold of that event and started getting worked up — agitated.

From a talk on the Ashtavakra Gita — "Live in Amazement", 00:35:46

What's actually disturbing here, for Gurudev, isn't the disturbance itself — it's holding on to it afterward. The event comes and goes. You only stay agitated if you keep hanging on to it in your mind.

What meditation actually is

Many people first experience meditation as effortful, even boring. Gurudev offers a different picture: meditation as immersion in your own loving nature.

And meditation is immersion in your own nature, which is unconditional Love. How can meditation be boring? Is love boring? If love is boring, then you must redefine “boredom.” You must redefine boredom itself. Boredom is lack of juice—and love is the juice of life. Yet boredom and love share one thing: repetition. When you love someone, you repeat their name— again and again, saying, “I love you, I love you,” over and over.

From a talk on the Narada Bhakti Sutras — "Love Cannot Be Expressed", 00:29:29

For Gurudev, boredom and love share one quality: repetition. In boredom, repetition feels empty; in love, it carries you. In the same way, he says, a recurring practice can end up feeling completely different from how it felt at the start.

The path of meditation: from relaxation to a sense of oneness

For Gurudev, meditation changes depending on how deep you go. He describes it as something that unfolds in several steps — not a single event, but a path with different qualities along the way.

In the beginning, meditation brings relaxation. In the second step, meditation gives you energy. In the third step, meditation brings forth creativity. In the fourth step, meditation creates enthusiasm and joy. The fifth step of meditation is indescribable. You feel oneness with the whole universe.

From the book "An Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker" — knowledge sheet 361, "The Five Steps in Meditation" (2 July 2002, Washington D.C., United States)

This description makes something clear: for Gurudev, meditation isn't a state you either have or don't have — it's an experience that deepens. Exactly where it takes you differs from moment to moment.

What you can do

Let wandering thoughts simply be there. If your mind drifts during meditation, don't fight it. Notice the thought for a moment and gently come back to your practice, instead of getting annoyed at yourself for drifting.
Notice a disturbance — and let it pass. If a sound or a mishap throws you off, remind yourself clearly: the event itself is already over. What remains is only your holding on to it.
See your practice as immersion, not as a duty. Instead of treating meditation as a task to get through, approach it as something you let yourself sink into, without expecting a particular result.
Don't expect the same thing every time you sit. For Gurudev, meditation unfolds in different qualities. Sometimes you'll feel mostly calm, sometimes more clarity or joy — both belong equally.
Keep coming back to the practice, instead of judging it. Avoid rating every single session by how "good" it was. For Gurudev, a recurring practice carries more weight than any one perfect moment.

Questions on this topic

Sources

The quotes on this page come from:

Ashtavakra Gita — "The Nature of the Mind" (AG 12), 00:06:40–00:06:59
Ashtavakra Gita — "Live in Amazement" (AG 22), 00:35:46–00:36:09
Narada Bhakti Sutras — "Love Cannot Be Expressed" (BS 10), 00:29:29–00:30:29
An Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker — "The Five Steps in Meditation" (knowledge sheet 361, 2 July 2002, Washington D.C., United States)