Void Meditation: What Is the Void State & How to Get There?

The idea of the void has been among the pivotal subjects of discussion across science and philosophy.

So, what is the void?

Scientifically, the void means a purely empty space.

There has been a raging debate for centuries about whether a void is a possibility or not. Can any space be totally empty?

Imagine a bit of space. Now imagine sucking out every bit of air, gas, and microscopic particles of that space to create a total vacuum. What remains is simply pure space. In the philosophic and scientific communities, that’s what we ordinarily call a void.

But the community is largely at an understanding that such an empty space or the void doesn’t exist as there always will be something or the other, for example, the concepts of aether or the dark matter.

Even if there were no such thing, what about the space itself? The space itself is something to consider.

At this stage, can you imagine vacuuming out that space itself?

Let’s try to visualize through everyday objects. The scenario would be something like this below:

First, look at your room.
Remove all of your stuff from the room and clean it thoroughly.
Now, seal all the doors and windows completely.
Attach the most powerful vacuum pump to your room and suck out all the air and particles from inside. You get totally pure empty space.
Although a perfect vacuum isn’t possible because quantum theory dictates that energy fluctuations known as ‘virtual particles’ are constantly popping in and out of existence, even in ’empty’ space, for the sake of our current experiment, imagine you have achieved 100% pure empty space through your advanced vacuum pump.
Now, how can you remove even that empty space, along with any aether or dark matter or whatever, from inside your room to create a perfectly pure void?

The scientific and philosophic discourse has not reached that thought yet, as it is still struggling with the void in space. Imagining something without space is simply too tough a task for the mind at this stage of its evolutionary development.

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So far, we have discussed the story of the external void, existing or not in the physical [or non-physical] universe. But what about the inner void that exists or doesn’t exist within human minds or beings?

That’s where the void meditation comes into the discourse.

What Is Void Meditation & the Void State

Consider your mind, awareness, consciousness, and the whole inner being as the inner universe [or the inner room to draw a parallel with that example above].

Just like there is so much stuff there in your room and the universe, there is a lot of stuff going on inside you — your thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories, ideas, beliefs, desires, and so many other mind stuff.

Similarly to that external void, if you manage to suck all that stuff out of yourself, you get an inner void. To suck out means to make them not exist in there by any means. Whether by simply stopping them and getting them out of your system somehow.

Now, if you have ever tried anything to do with your mind, you might have noticed that the mind is as stubborn as it gets. It is a non-stop thought machine. No matter how much you try, you cannot stop it from thinking. Even when you sleep, it keeps thinking in your dreams.

That’s where comes all the concepts of inner peace and silencing inner chaos through void meditation.

You try to create an inner emptiness through meditation so that no thoughts, feelings, or emotions get a chance to torment you.

Having its route in Buddhist and Indian Yogic traditions, it is a meditation technique widely practiced all over the world. If you ever hear about the “Shoonya” meditation or the “Shuniya” meditation, they are talking about the same thing. The word Shoonya means zero or void in Sanskrit, the ancient language of Indian origin.

Now, you might wonder why somebody would need to create the void state. Aren’t our thoughts, feelings, and emotions what make us humans? You would be totally correct.

However, you must also acknowledge that these very thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, and beliefs are the stuff that torments us humans the most.

Think of all the negatives in your life — your anxieties, worries, fears, jealousies, insecurities, and everything else that makes your life measurable at times. These are thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions, aren’t they?

So, void meditation simply presents itself as a tool to deal with these negatives in your life by creating greater control over your mind and being as a whole.

You might have noticed that even during your sad times of extreme anxiety or sorrow, you start to feel much better the moment you come in touch with a close friend. So, what’s happening there?

All of the life factors and situations are exactly the same, so what made those negatives go away? It’s simply a factor that you found a comforting distraction for a moment in the form of a dear friend.

This proves that the mind can be steered in various directions given appropriate stimulus. Most of the time, such steering happens automatically. However, with constant practicing of meditation techniques, like void meditation, you start to gain control over the steering of your mind.

You can steer your mind out of negatives like anxiety or worry at will without the help of any external stimulus like the existence of a friend or something else.

And, gradually, you can achieve a state of equanimity, where you live within a permanent state of blissfulness.

Wait! How come there’s blissfulness if there’s a void state?

Now we are talking! Remember how we mentioned all the debate about the external void and whether it exists given the existence of all the concepts like aether, dark matter, etc.?

We also have the inner equivalence of those concepts in the forms of peace, bliss, etc.

When you achieve a certain level of emptiness or void inside you, you come to see that the emptiness is getting filled by a sense of peace, bliss, or joyfulness.

The void state by nature is a state of sublime peace.

That’s much better than simply being in the void, right? And, of course, if the void state were simply a void without peace or anything like that, even then, it would have been much better than being tortured by your own mind with negative thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

So, how can you practice void meditation or Shoonia Meditation to achieve control over your mind? Let’s take a look at that!

How to Do Void Meditation

There are a lot of ways you can practice void meditation:

By focusing on breathing.
By counting backward.
Focusing on an image in mind.
Chanting a mantra or any sound repeatedly.
By simply sitting or lying down and paying no heed to your mind.
Deliberately trying to keep your mind empty.

The main objective here is to achieve an inner void at will by silencing or stopping all mental activities in the form of thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions.

The techniques mentioned above, like focused breathing and backward counting, are devices to train your attention to stay away from the thinking monkey mind.

While trying any of these techniques, you will see that your attention will keep diverting to thought, memory, or imagination again and again. No matter how much you try to keep the focus on breathing, the mind keeps wandering away.

So, there’s no easy way to say this, but this takes a lot of practice and patience. Even after years of practice, it might not be possible to gain total control of your mind.

However, it’s certain that with each moment of practice, the void within you will grow, and peace will start to take its place.

The key is to start sitting there intentionally to silence yourself into the peaceful void.

The more you practice, the easier it will get with time. If you are a beginner, you can also try sauna meditation to get into the groove of meditation faster.

Here are a couple of excellent resources for you to explore more about void meditation or Shoonya Meditation:

https://isha.sadhguru.org/global/en/yoga-meditation/yoga-program-advanced/shoonya-meditation

Breathing through the Whole Body: The Buddha’s Instructions on Integrating Mind, Body, and Breath (Although this book does not directly discuss void meditation, but the practice described eventually leads to the void or stillness.)

Also, before you leave, you might as well check out a couple of related posts on meditation:

Concentration Meditation vs Mindfulness Meditation: All That You Need to Know

Reiki Meditation and Principles Explained with Examples

Twitching During Meditation: The Deeper Meanings

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