Question:
I am 52 and have learned no formal techniques of meditation, but because I am always so full of fears I was advised to meditate. When I sit down to do it, immediately I start moving towards an engulfing darkness. The movement is backwards and the sounds around me start getting fainter and fainter, but along with this is a strange feeling that if I continue I will never come back. The passage into this blackness is like getting sucked into some sort of a dark void. For fear of not wanting to return from there, I don’t meditate. I don’t understand if it is good or bad. Please tell me. 

Answer:
It seems there is some old conditioning that gets activated when you start to settle down with your eyes closed, that puts you into this fear response. For a situation like yours, you may be more successful starting with an eyes open meditation.

You can explore meditation practices that involve looking at mandalas, yantras or a candle flame as a vehicle for the mind quieting down. Another possibility is guided meditation that can ease you into that experience of that dark stillness as a comforting, nurturing connection to your Self, not as a threatening, scary void. You may find that the guided meditations on my “Soul of Healing” cd helpful in this regard.

Once you have established that inner silence as a positive experience, it will be an easy thing for you to begin a silent solo mantra meditation such as Primordial Sound Meditation or another reliable meditation practice.

Love, Deepak