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When we begin to meditate, one of the meditation experiences is what we call the “waterfall experience.”

This means that you might feel like you are getting worse. In the beginning, maybe you feel quite nice, but then after that, you see so many thoughts pop up. Emotions, thoughts and many other things.

You feel like, “Oh!

Before I learned meditation, I didn’t have so many thoughts like that, So, now what’s happened?”

This is a question that has been asked by many people, but the answer is not as simple as it seems. There are many different types of meditation and each one can have a different effect on the person.
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to meditation: You either think that it’s going to make you feel better or you think that it’s going to make you feel worse. The truth is, there are many different types of meditation and each one can have a different effect on the person.

It happened to me when I was a teenager. When I would meditate, at first, I didn’t understand what meditation was, so I tried to sit and meditate.

I felt a little bit dizzy the first time I learned meditation. I felt like my cushion was moving, you know?

So I asked my father to teach me meditation again. Then I had an experience where I felt quite happy —

But then, the next day, this wonderful experience was gone. Then I felt that “I’m looking for that happiness, but not finding the feeling of peace, happiness.”

My mind became like a flag in the wind. The wind is blowing the flags. My mind became like that — so many thoughts and a lot of things going on. 

I explained this to my father, and my father told me an example.

The example is like this:

In Nepal and India, we have monsoons; in Tibet we also have monsoons. During the monsoon, when you go to the river, the river has become muddy. So when you look at the river, you cannot see anything inside the river. After the monsoon season has stopped, when you go to the same river and look at the river, the river has become clean, pure, and calm.

Then you start to see so many things in the river. There is a lot of fish inside the river and they are moving around.

My father said: “Even though you go to the same river, you might wonder the second time, “Wow! So many fish are here. Where did they come from? But actually, the fish were always there irrespective of the season. As in the monsoon season, the river becomes muddy so you cannot see the fish.

Now, the water has become calm, clean, and pure, so you begin to see the fish.” My father said it is the same case when you meditate.

When to Meditate? | When not to Meditate?

So how do we know if we should meditate or not? Well, this is where we need to take into consideration what type of meditation we’re doing and what our goals are for doing so. If your goal for meditating is to reduce stress and anxiety and calm your mind, then you should not meditate if you are feeling anxious. 

This is because when we’re feeling anxious, we typically try to avoid anything that could make us feel worse, which means avoiding meditation or any other activity that could make us feel tenser. If your goal for meditating is to find peace of mind and relieve stress, then you should probably do it when you’re feeling stressed out.

In the beginning, you will have a lot of thoughts, but you cannot recognize that. You are just one with thoughts and emotions. But now when you start to meditate, your mind becomes more calm and clear.

Slowly, slowly, you will recognize a lot of thoughts, emotions, and things like that.

Actually, this is a good sign.

So if you meditate, and you feel like you are getting worse, you have more thoughts and more emotions than before — Great! It is a good sign.

You should be happy about that!

“Wow, I feel worse than before!” Seriously, it is not a problem.

It is what we traditionally call the “waterfall experience,” the first stage of meditation.

A lot of thoughts and emotions come rushing in. In fact, it is good.

So, I would like to share this with you. Many people nowadays misunderstand meditation. They think meditation means to think of nothing — no thoughts, no emotions.

When you first meditate, you will begin to recognize this. Then you feel like something is wrong with your meditation, or something is wrong with the instructions, or “Something is wrong with me. Maybe I have no connection with meditation,” or something like that. But actually, that is totally wrong.

That’s a good sign, the first sign that your mind is beginning to become calm and peaceful.

So you should be happy about that.