The first key emerged when it became clear to researchers that, across practice methodologies and continents, their research participants seemed to only list a few types of practices as what had assisted them with transitioning to higher levels of consciousness.

So, Key #1 is that not all methods are created equal. Some work much better than others, and for more people than others. You need to find, and use the very best methods available if you’re going to have a chance of transitioning to higher levels of consciousness.

When you first get exposed to meditation, it’s not uncommon to encounter claims from a person or group that they have the “best” or “most successful” meditation or other type of method. So the notion that some methods are better than others is often something that gets put into someone’s head right from the start of their exploration in this area. And, it’s true.

Literally anyone can make up a meditation method and start advertising it as the best, and plenty of people have, which leads to a confusing marketplace. As this is being written, an internet search for “meditation method” brings up 74 million results. Talk about a confusing mess! How can anyone know where is best to start for them?

When researchers in this space analyze their data, one of the things they notice is that a majority of the techniques that rise to the top are ones that have been around for a very long time, centuries even. They have been tweaked and tuned over time by a large number of people, and there are often many variations of them that have been created and used. In short, they are highly vetted. Presumably, in each period of their use, many other methods were experimented with that didn’t work as well, and thus didn’t propagate forward in time. But, these did. They have, literally, stood the test of time. So, a great place for you to start exploring when you begin this process is with these types of older methods.

Here’s an example of one. Mantras are words or phrases that you repeat silently or aloud. There are generally two ways to do this, one is repetitively and rhythmically. Alternatively you can just think or mention the word or phrase, and let its flavor, so to speak, just sort of arise or be created in your mind and awareness, wait for that to fade, and then say it again.

Mantra methods have been documented to go back at least 3,000 years, so it has definitely stood the test of time. And, they are used in a wide variety of cultures, including Eastern, Western and indigenous religious and spiritual traditions. This is a mental hack that has been discovered by people all over the place, and cultivated for most of recorded human history. In addition, it’s praised by a significant number of people as working for them today, all around the world.

This is a great example of what we refer to as a “gold-standard” method. It’s:

1. Been around a very long time
2. Been shown to work across most geographic regions and cultures
3. Has people today who praise its effectiveness worldwide.

In this case, it even has decades of scientific research into it that ranges from psychology and cognitive science, to neuroscience and biology. Not every gold-standard method does, but this one happens to. So that is a 4th element that suggests it should be on anyone’s short list to try.

The downside of a method like this, is that because it is so widely practiced there are many variations of it and it can be hard to know which one to pick. We know from the available research that the second example is the most effective for most people today in terms of reaching higher levels of consciousness.

The benefit of using older methods is that there has been a filtering process that’s already taken place. However, there are some excellent contemporary methods – some of which are extremely hard to find and others of which sound ridiculous and like they’d never work.

For contemporary methods, you want to make sure that they have a lot of people who testify that they work. Let me give you an example. One of the best methods from the last 60 years or so is Headless Way. Although it seems like a silly set of practices, the reality is that it has worked for many people all around the world.

If you’re going to use a contemporary method, you have to make sure it’s a successful one like Headless Way. The only way to know that is by searching online and seeing how many people said it worked to transition them. Ignore anyone who talks about how a method made them feel better, and so on. Only pay attention to the number of people who said it got them to higher levels of consciousness.

Finally, here are two well known types of meditation that didn’t show up in the leading study as widely effective in transitioning people to higher levels of consciousness. No movement-based practices like Yoga rose to the top of the list. Exercises involving intentional breathing didn’t either. These categories are popular, and they show the value of a broad-based research effort. They seem helpful at assisting people with reaching temporary states, but not persistence.

Once you know how to narrow down which methods might be among the best to try out, the next step is to understand how to most efficiently select the best methods for you, right now. That’s what we’ll do next in Key #2