How Do You Meditate?

interesting

I simply close my eyes, lay and visualize energy waves through my body.

I walk through life and notice it.

I find I am usually alone when I do this, as everyone else seems preoccupied inside their own minds, processing yesterday, calculating tomorrow... missing life.

i sit down, close my eyes and listen to movie soundtracks music that is calm and relaxing and then visualize how id like my life to be in the future, just my style

jessicasilverman wrote:i sit down, close my eyes and listen to movie soundtracks music that is calm and relaxing and then visualize how id like my life to be in the future, just my style

Im struggling to meditate. I thought you had to completely clear all thoughts. When i listen to relaxing music, i then always fall asleep, or so i think!

As someone with Adult ADHD, I struggled to find a way to still my mind. What I do is listen intently to everything around me, listen to the silence that surrounds everything. I then look and see everything around me, be able to view 180 degrees, that usually floods my mind with so much detail that I'm completely in the moment,

Close my eyes... focus on my breathing... try to feel the life within... and try to listen to my soul.

Feels awesome!

I don't anymore but did it for years.
Tried many methods on how to stop thinking, tying to stop the noise.

But the only one that "worked" for me was observing my own thoughts and witnessing the noise in my head without judging it or reacting to it.

After some time my thoughts started to fade away. Then I noticed that I could keep that same state throughout the day. Try it.

I don't really have any tips on how to meditate, but listen to carbon based lifeforms while you try the other stuff people are suggesting. Youtube interloper and you will see what I mean.

Derelle wrote:The term “meditation” brings to one’s mind of the contemplative Buddha, sitting cross-legged underneath a lotus tree, and eventually reaching enlightenment. As strange as it may sound, meditation has been practiced as early as 5000 years ago not just as a means to achieve self-improvement, but also as a means to relax and relieve oneself of stress. While it seems odd to imagine Buddha ever being stressed, truth is quite often, stranger than fiction.

Before you can get started on the path towards self-realization, it is also important to know two things. The first is that meditation is not an easy thing to master, especially as a beginner. It is decidedly hard to keep your concentration to yourself rather than on the noises around. Once you have gotten the hang of meditation however – and all that is required to achieve this is dedication and enough time and practice – relaxation and a sense of inner peace is bound to follow.

The second is that, contrary to popular belief, there can be some adverse effects towards meditation when not practiced right. Some severe chronic physical and mental disorders may arise from too contemplative a meditation, and it is necessary to be psychologically prepared before attempting to do so. At the very least, an experienced teacher and mentor to guide you along for the first few attempts would be the ideal option. In essence, there is no real right or wrong way to meditate; the end goal of most meditations are simply to achieve a state of better self-awareness, and to understand oneself better on a more emotional level.

There are roughly three basic stages that are a necessary part of meditation. Self-regulation is the first step, and deals with our personal comfort first before progressing deeper. Self-regulation uses relaxation and breathing techniques to calm the mind and lessen stress. This aids the practitioner in promoting good physical health and well-being, by lessening the causes for anxiety.

The next step involves self-discovery. Now that we have assuaged our physical comfort, we are now able to direct our minds inwards for mental concentration techniques to help strengthen the mind and achieve good mental balance. Much of this stage involves concentrating the mind without thinking of anything in particular, or conversely, to focus our concentration on one particular object, heedless of our environment. This is a good exercise to allow emotions to flow freely without being held back.

The last stage is self-transcendence. Now that our physical and mental states have been strengthened, it is now only natural to seek a higher conscious and delve into many of the deeper meanings in life.


note: permission has been granted to post this article

It’s not the first time I hear people talking about meditation as a way to relax. Actually, it would have been a funny joke at the monastery in which I spent several years. Every time the headmaster declared new assignments, you could see the fright in the students’ eyes. Of course, I couldn’t see my eyes, but I knew from my past experience that my assignment—which was 90% of time a form of meditation—would be on the borderline of my strength and abilities. Yes, meditation is a great way to relieve stress, but it’s only because meditation itself creates a greater stress. While meditation has been practiced for thousands of years, I never heard of it to be a way to relax from any of my teachers. The problem is this: No matter what kind of meditation you practice, it always involves your concentrating on something specific. Relaxation, on the other hand, implies letting your focus wander as it pleases.

I always have racing thoughts, so counting to ten over and over when I meditate always helps be rebalance.

Here is something along the Lines of Mindfulness and on the TOPIC of Meditation, from a guy by the name of Jon Kabat Zin.
I’m led to believe its confused with Relaxation or some State to which one must get or feel. Therefore it is not uncommon that when people try it and do not get anywhere or feel anything special; that they think they cannot meditate.
It’s not about feeling a certain way, but feeling the way you feel. It’s more about letting the mind be as it is and knowing something about how it is, in this moment.
It has nothing to do with trying to get somewhere else, but accepting where you are.
If you don’t understand this, you will think that you are constitutionally unable to meditate.
This Jon Kabat Zin guy seems to know a thing or two about the subject and his practice of mindfulness is used in many practices through the world.
Google his name and you will find heaps of information freely available on YouTube for all.
I myself started meditating years ago, when I gave up drugs and made an attempt to better myself. The truth is, the learning never stops and what started out as simply watching the breath, has slowly evolved into much more, and something that requires less effort to do as in the secret is really not to do anything. Or what I am coming to understand is doing without doing. It really is simple but not easy ... simple things never are, which is why we always try to complicate things and thus struggle with what would be easier to let go ... but to do so, not so easy.
I am only just at the point of understanding the concept of like and dislike ... this would be my next hurdle in meditation and my life as I know it. I strive to meditate in all that I do. Once I started with the attitude of relaxing ... which by the way if any the previous concepts are not what someone would claim to be meditation ... it does not matter, as I started that way myself...BUT after first slowing my mind by relaxing and cultivating the art of stillness throughout my life, have I only some years later, now have an appreciation for keeping things simple.
I do still wrestle a lot as evident in my continual searching, and still getting there....however...more to the point....it has nothing to do with getting anywhere, but more about WHERE is there? For a long time and I still do, I’ll say that I’m not there yet, or I’m getting there ... but have only come to learn to ask myself Where and actually let go of the judgement I place on myself as to where I think I am actually going...which in itself contradicts even asking where...........
Whilst this may make no sense to yourselves, it is actually seemingly more clear to me than it was when I first started counting my breath or trying to reach some state.
Obviously meditating means different things for different people...and the meaning will also tend to change as they do it...
I highly recommend googling Mindfulness John Kabat Zin. Although I might not of explained it very well and left a huge amount out ... this guy has much insight to offer on this subject.
I wish you all the best of luck with whatever method you try. (actually I wish you patients and strength for what is required in your quest for meditation )

thefool wrote:I walk through life and notice it.

I find I am usually alone when I do this, as everyone else seems preoccupied inside their own minds, processing yesterday, calculating tomorrow... missing life.

Agreed, although as soon as everyone "seems preoccupied" you have started to 'judge/react/analyze' and stopped simply 'noticing.'