MEDITATION ~ Mega Thread

I was always under the idea that meditation was just some new age hippy stuff when I was little. I was raised in the Christian church, so I guess thats why. But now that I am older and changed, I am kind of curious about meditation... for health reasons, better mind set, etc.
Can someone please explain it to me?

Meditation is fantastic for every aspect of your life.

-if your freaked about something or having general anxiety or depression, an hour of meditation will make you happy and relaxed.

-it aligns your body. Sitting in lotus sets your hips back in their sockets (sitting in a chair pulls them out of socket). It straightens and strengthens your back, and stretches your ankels in ways that you didn't know was possible.

-it make you much more focused and less judgemental. By quieting that internal dialouge (which is constantly judging you and others...uncontrollably) it is easier to see the world for what it is, rather than what you spin it to be.

-a half hour of meditation easily replaces a full hour of sleep.

-it allows you to get in touch with your thoughts.

-it can get you really, really, high. I'm talking full on tripping, visuals, visits from spirts and gaurdians, trips to other worlds...

-its like, zen

post back if your interested in my technique

I am.

This is general zen meditation as I understand it

Sit on a firm surface like a thinly carpeted floor. Put the outside of your right foot on top of the inside of your left thigh. Then put your left foot across the top of your right shin and rest your foot on the inside of your right thigh. This is called the lotus. You can also reverse your legs. I do half of my meditation with my right leg on the inside and half with my left leg on the inside.

If you can't get into this (it took me about 6 years..), you can do a half lotus to gain flexibility.
Follow the same directions with your right leg. With your left leg, tuck it under your right leg so that it lies on the floor.
There are a variety of hand positions. My favorites are cupping my hands on top of each other in my lap or putting my hands palms down or palms up on my knees.

Do an image search on google for "lotus position" to get a visual.

Once your in the lotus or half lotus (or simply cross legged if you can't get into the half louts), let your back fall into alignment. Visualise the bottom of your spine growing out of the floor like a tree. Your head should naturally sit on top of your spine. This will fix your gaze forward and slightly down.

I like to breath in and out of my nose because one's nose hairs act as a filter for the air (exhaling through the nose blows the debris back out into the environment).

Now, don't think about anything

Over time, you will find that their are two types of thoughts. Uncontrollable ones and controllable ones. The trick is to listen to the uncontrollable thoughts with out conciously responding to them. When a thought enters your head, don't try to push it out. don't try to rationalize it or analyze it. Just let it run around unchecked untill it decides to leave on its own accord. These thoughts are often refered to as the "monkey mind". Sit like this untill you get sick of it.

Here are some helpful tips.
Pain is good. It drowns out all of your other thoughts and gives you a definitive thing not to think about.
Don't worry about not getting it. It takes practice.
Practice all of the time. When someone is talking to you, listen to them instead of yourself. When your sitting around, try to zen. The more you try, the better you'll get at it.
Want enlightenment with out ever expecting to recieve it.

hope this helps and jah bless

thanks, ill try it out.

good post jimmy %)

i'm not a big fan of "meditation" per se...but i have noticed a lot about the spine-alignment stuff you're talking about lately...i try to remember about my spine at all times

and if i get real stressed out, sometimes it's great to just take some time + sit + chill...just chill...

not necessarily "meditate" but I just like to sit and clear my head until i feel that I'm on the right track again sufficiently to resume activity

Those are some good techniques jimmy, I'll have to give it a go!

The technique I try to do is to visualise the breath.

I usually do it in a number of steps because I'm not so practiced at it yet but it works for me

Do everything as jimmy said only pay more attention to your breathing.

- Breathe in deeply but not to full capacity, just let your diaphram/stomach move out until it stops. Hold the breath very shortly then exhale all the way out until the exhale stops and you're left with stillness and no breathing. The next inhale will start automatically so let it do so without doing it yourself. Keep trying to breathe this way. I find it takes a bit of practice so first sitting with your eyes closed trying to master the breathing for 15mins is great. Sometimes I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, sometimes just the nose. It depends, sometimes I dribble a bit when I use my mouth, heh.

- If you seem to feel comfortable enough with the breathing then: Listen to the sounds around you. Be aware of them and then after a short period turn your awareness of sound inwards into the sound of your breathing. Just keep your that awareness on the sound of your breathing.

- Visualise the breath. While listening to your breath, visualise your breath where you can feel it the easiest.

Then once you have this, the steady breathing technique, listening to your breath and visualising your breath, thats it!

Just try and keep it up let all the thoughts flow through your head.

Some people say that whenever you start to think about things just put the focus back onto your breathing. It lets your floating thoughts to do their thing but it also teaches you focus.

After some practice I believe it would be possible to just close your eyes anywhere you are, have a straight back and go straight into it. My mum told me about a lady she knew from work that worked almost every day of the week for a period of time so any time she was not needed at work she would just stop and meditate. She did it in a meeting my mum was in, she just closed her eyes and meditated while everyone was talking around her. Everyone understood what she was doing so noone bothered to take any notice

Hope that goes well

Meditation has helped me tremendously.
I have found that it is good to set a timer, so thinking about time elapsed is not a part of the equation.

I use the alarm on my cell phone, and set it on vibrate.

do you guys ever play music?

I dont.
But I'd like to try recorded noise, like ocean waves.

i sit or lay on my bed with my headphones in and listen to a few guided meditations i have on my ipod. the first few times i did them, i felt detatched and slightly high. at the time, i was having panic attacks and experiencing extreme anxiety. once i learned the methods i felt most comfortable with, i started using breathing techniques and sitting myself down whenever i felt stressed, anxious, etc. i no longer take benzos for my anxiety and i feel overal healthier.

meditation is not a spiritual thing for me.

yea, im not interested in it being a spiritual thing, I just want to learn it so I can relax and get my mind completly off stress, drugs, etc

radiohead said:

do you guys ever play music?

Click to expand...

I do. I have a nice relaxing yoga CD and also one w/Native American flute (my favorite). I think it helps to set a nice relaxing mood (especially if you're in a house w/other people and tend to hear distracting noises). I find that I don't actually HEAR the music though, because I am so deep inside myself.

its well worth buying a mala, i use rudrakesh, but never wear the same mala as you use for meditation or chanting with. and never cross over the head bead, just reverse it.

Hope this helps.....

"Watch your consciousness intently and you would get a sensation of being, become aware of the fact that each thought is god..observe this fact...everything is conciousness..even the worst thought is god, and your mind will be at ease"

Meditation is a simple reminder that life is good.

a good breathing technique to induce relaxation and to help focus is to

"breathe through your eyes"

Imagine your breath is going into and out ofy our eyes.

I also start my meditation with a relaxation technique.

Each breath in and out, I imagine a specific part of my body releasing all the stress and tension in 3 parts, until I've done my entire body.

My thoughts then go inward and i begin the true inner meditation.

And it's wonderful. You'll get a lot of benefit from it if you stick with it.

it'll be frustrating and difficult at first - but all those that persevere, succeed.

SI

I've been thinking about meditation a lot latley because i have some depression issues and would like to feel relax and feel this coudl be a good way to go about things,can anyone recommend a good site to guide me through some steps and what not
i'm going to try what you guys have posted just to get the jift but would like a nice site to help me along teh way as well thx

a good site would be a quiet room with no disturbances




this might help as well
http://www.mro.org/zmm/meditation/

I was kind of embarresed to bring up being interested in meditation to my friends because it sounds like some kind of hippy thing, but the other day one of my friends brought it up and I told her I was interested in it and she said she was too, then my gf brought it up yesterday and sounded interested in it. hmmm