Meditation

[billbong]

Hi i am interested myself but also think it could help lots of ppl.
Can u give any info on meditation

wot u get from it
the different techniques (types of meditating)
any anything else u care to add.

I know google would provide some info but i think there are a few ppl who might just be browsing this forum find out about meditation and there life improved because of it. and its always interesting to here peoples personnal experiences.

[Diphenhydramine]

Meditation is amazing. The only problem with it is
patience. A lot of people go into trying meditation expecting a
result. That is the wrong attitude. I don't know the
"correct" attitude myself, but I have always meditated for
discovery. To see what happens.



I practice yoga every morning, which is more of a form of stretching
than true meditation. Try and find some courses on yoga that you
could take IN PERSON. This way you could learn about breathing
technique, positions, stuff that would be fairly hard to teach oneself
from google. It is a great introduction to meditation.



Otherwise, I guess you could take a quickie from me. It's a
position called "The Corpse." Lie with your back on the ground,
arms at your sides, palms up. Close eyes, and slightly open your mouth,
to relax your jaw and breathe. Start at your feet. Try to
relax your feet. My instructor used to tell me to imagine a
white, healing light traveling from my feet. I found it helpful
to repeat in my head "my feet are relaxed." Then, when your feet
are relaxed, move up to the ankles, then calves, then knees, etc.
All the way up to your neck. By now, your entire body should be
very relaxed, and by relaxed, I mean that you should experience no true
feelings or sensations in any part of your body. Take your
time. It takes me about twenty minutes to do it, and I've been
doing this for seven years.



The Corpse will only relax you, completely. From there on,
concentrate in your mind. With your body neutral, the only
sensations should occur in your mind. Also, try this in a dark
room. That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. Anyone feel
feel free to correct what I've said, I am not an instructor, only an
experienced yoga playa.



Hope this helps. Try it and tell me what you think. Anyone
try to meditate on drugs? PLease share your experiences, I've
never meditated on drugs.



As for my personal experience, it has changed my life a lot, hopefully
I think for the better. Through meditation, if my mind would grow
bored I would go into a lot of intense self-reflection. Helped me
realize who I was. I have great patience, and am usually very
relaxed and mellow. I wish I knew what nirvana was. Maybe
one day, but I sincerely doubt it.


Edited by: Diphenhydramine

[transit]

I do a simple sitting meditation everyday
for between half an hour and two hours.
</span>The guidelines that I bring to it are:
</span>remain still, let everything be as it is, and pay attention to paying
attention. </span>Not much to it at all on the
surface, yet I have learned much from it about the play of existence. </span>It sounds easy, yet I found it to be quite
challenging, especially in the earlier stages of my practice. </span></span>


I am currently reading a book called <i style="">Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics.[/i] </span>For me, meditation followed from my
psychedelic experiences, and the two complement each other.</span>


There are an amazing number of different
meditation techniques out there. </span>Do some
exploring and experimenting and see what fits for you. </span>Especially when beginning to meditate it can
for some people be helpful to connect with a teacher and a group who practice meditation
– such can offer, among other things, some structure and momentum that will
help one through the more difficult moments.</span>


Diphenhydramine, you asked about trying to
meditate on drugs. </span>Swim tried it
once. </span>He heard that low doses of salvia
(tincture) facilitated meditation.
</span>However, for swim it was intensely annoying, obnoxious, horrible, and
frustrating – his only bad trip on salvia, though not bad in the way the term
is usually used for drug experiences. </span></span>

[Chaote]

I practice Falun Dafa and find it meditiation good, actually the whole cycle is good, we do a standing meditation as well which is kinda strenuous but good nonethe less, in meditaion you are to clear your mind and think of NOTHING it can be hard but if you find your mind wandering slowly count to 10, sitting in full lotus or half lotus can be hard but it helps your qi (chee) circulating throughout your body. In falun dafa you sit in full lotus (indian sitting its sometimes called) and you make a circle and place it in your lap you sit straight and just get rid of all your thoughts. I do it with a big group and after werds weere all silent but its not awkward theres just a different atmosphere to the room
As for using drugs, its kinda discourages in Falun Dafa but I still use them, when io started i would smoke some grass before hand but it usually had a harsh crash, I tried DXM which was nice but at the start i was nausious, and felt sick but later the meditation was mind blowing i felt upside down and i realized something aboutm my life.
but the goal is not to do it to be enlightened cause if you go in like im doing this to be enlightened you wont be, go n with a clear mind and just think about nothing I cant stress that enoughEdited by: Chaote

[yuval]

i will explain the 2 power meditation types i know, because they can really change your life. for simple relaxation just let you body be breathed, as andrew weil calls it in "spontanious healing": lie down and imagine your breath goes into and out ofyour entire body.


buddhist meditation:


for a powerful meditation that will give you noticeable change in life in a short time you can do a 10-day vipassana (meditation on body sensations) retreat: www.dhamma.org, which is free of charge, food and boarding included.you then experience unconditional bliss for a couple of weeks - if you practice afterwards you can keep it going. most important, you become a more laid back person. you can do this retreat as many times as you want, you will become permanently more and more relaxed and happy every time. i am going for my second retreat at the end of the year.


the beauty of this system is that it is not long term - meditation practice is generally long term. with vipassana you go, you work hard for a short time, and you get results. around 50% of the people who do this retreat experience the most intense happiness of their lives at end of the retreat plus the 2-week period following it.


there are countless other buddhist meditations - this one is the most reputable.


yogic meditation:


in yoga it is much more systematic, and therefore with a deeper effect. the popular 8-limb ashtanga system developed by patanjali supposedly in the 2nd century BC divides meditation into 3 stages: concentration on an object, meditation (deep concentration) and samadhi (deep meditation, where the object is nothing, the void - basically clearing the mind of all thoughts, including body sensations, and becoming pure consciousness which is a really cool experience). if you're after mystical or psychedelicexperiences,enlightenment and so on you are in the right place. practicing samadhi meditation consistently will get you enlightened. but it takes time to learn. the easiest technique that is widely available is SSY (www.ssy.org). it's a two-weeks course and then you practice 3 times for 15 minutes every day. i took it in pune, india - it cost me 20 bucks.


at first it will make you very very focused and relaxed - up to the muscle level. if you have muscular knots (trigger points, which are something else than acupuncture points) you will start feeling them throbbing while you meditate within a few months - get "the trigger points therapy workbook" - the hottest book in the physiotherapy circles these days -and give it to shiatsu masseur or a deep tissue masseur to treat you - these modalities are good for taking care of trigger points. get a massage series to treat your entire body, you don't want trigger points you are not aware of now surfacing down the road. it's a good idea to do some yoga after the massage series for posture correction, iyengar yoga is a slow-going deal with a lot of teacher attention that really straightens you out, so consider taking that up for a while.


once you've become even moderately established in the technique, you can try practicing it in a flotation tank- check out flotation.org for a tank near you. in a sense deprivation tank your body is not in the way and you can meditate properly - even one session will give you a really nice taste of what's to come. but you can do it without the tank,it just takes time. up to 1 year, maybe half that if you're reasonably relaxed physically and mentally. then you go psychedelic. once this has been accomplished you will need to meditate much less - 3 periods of 15 minutes in one day, twice a week.

[phenethylamine]

meditation is the absence of activity in the nervous system. meditation is acid, tripping,sobriety,and life. It is dancing as if no one is watching, it is feeling pain for people that you don't even know. Meditation is the one, humble.

[uqlfy]

What is the sound of one hand clapping?



Heres nice easy one I use. It is used to clear ones mind.

First you should be relaxed. (Plenty of techs for this out there find
one you like.) Now listen to all the random thoughts floating in your
head. Picture them bulding into a pile of junk(wood, paper,) whatever
comes to mind. Once you've got those take your emotions(good+bad) throw
em in the pile all of em. Now that youve got all that rubbish
cluttering your head nicely stacked, burn it. Feel the flames, really
get it good and hot. When it burns out you should have a nice empty
quiet space to reflect on whatever you want.



The keys to this being effective are good relaxation and clear
visualization. With practice it gets easier and I almost always use
this to clear my head before moving on to other meditations.

[Solidly-here]

Meditation . . . controlling my Thought Process.


There are 2 ways to Meditate: (1) Focus your attention on a Single thing (like a Mantra ... Ohm, Ohm); and (2) Focus your attention on whatever is attracting your attention, and THEN focus fullyon the next thing (and forget about the first thing). Both ways can accomplish the same result, but from 2 different directions.


The single-object Meditating is good for improving Concentration. With practice, I can knock-out the rest of the World (and its passions, concerns, the past and the future), and focus intensely on that object. The mind WANTS to be busy, pondering a never-ending stream of thoughts, ideas, and what-if. Most people are perfectly happy with living like that.


Meditation is for those who want to pay more attention; this is NOT easy. It's a whole lot easier to just go through life on automatic-pilot (I know how to do this, I don't have to think about it, just DO it). Most people don't want to "waste" their time, paying close attention when they are doing something. These people will not do as well with Meditation.


Sitting Meditation is the most familiar form. A person sits (on the floor, on a cushion, in a chair, or even laying down). Relax the body. As the body relaxes, the mind does too. Then, for the next 20 minutes (30 minutes ...an hour) I attempt to focus my attention on Meditating. The "goal" is to improve Concentration; when the mind is focused, it can think "better"; a temporary vacation from the usual way of perceiving.


Walking Meditation is an easy-to-do form. The concept is: All I am doing is THIS walking (so the World, and its concerns,can fade away). In this form, I am Concentrating on the very act of my walking. So, I am focused on my body, and how it is moving.


This can take various forms. The way I do it (at least some of the time) is: Each Step I take (or 2, or 3), I take one breath. Mindful breathing helps bond the body and mind together. So, part of walking is breathing (I think about this off-and-on as I walk). Then, I focus my attention on my Walking: I am lifting my Right foot. I am swinging my arms. I am pushing my Right foot forward. I am setting my Right foot down. I am lifting my Left foot . . .


This is pretty easy to do. I don't need to walk slowly, just mindfully. Frequently I just do it for 10 seconds (or a minute). I am walking across the parking Lot. This is Free time. I Meditate. Wow! Here I am at the Front Door already. This Quickie is a blast of refreshment. It feels good to be detached from the regular World for a few seconds; when I come back, I am elevated for a while.


One goal of Meditation is to like Meditating. When you Like something, it is Fun. So, have Fun. When I am having Fun, it is easy to do it (and I WANT to do it). This means that each person finds their OWN favored way to Meditate (there is no wrong way).Edited by: Solidly-here