How do you meditate?

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How do you meditate?
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Post # 1
Merry Meet,

I have been focusing on meditation lately and i have noticed that i can't completely clear my head. What i do is i take deep breaths; three second in, three seconds out so on and so on, saying in, out, in, out in the process. The things is, i can't not for more than 5 seconds, have a clear mind. How do you meditate?- and keep a clear mind while you're at it??

Bright Blessings,
Willow :)
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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 2
A lot of people find it hard to empty their minds and to focus. The tips I can give you are about emptying your mind and concentrating.

After trying to "empty"my mind, Irealized it wasn't possible. I was getting distracted by an erroneous, fictitious idea, and my brain couldn't understand my command.

It's like trying to "empty" a cup. IMPOSSIBLE. When you remove all the water, the cup is full of air. To get rid of the air, you might try filling the cup with sand, and then to get rid of the sand... (endless battle)

So, what worked for me, was knowing that maybe a cup cannot be "empty", but if it's full of air, it's just as good.

When I try to relax, I imagine all my stressful thoughts as a sword. I sheathe it, and lay it on the ground.

I don't ask my brain to empty itself, but rather to let go. I don't try not to think about anything. I just stop trying anything at all.

At first, like a small boat on a shore, some tides will push me back to land, but eventually I find myself in the open sea of relaxation.

Don't try anything, just stop trying. Breathing heavily helps if you can manage not to think about breathing.

For me, the point of "emptying" my mind is to get in contact with my inner self, and that involves thinking, but without interference. I "empty" the cup to fill it with something else; a perpetually "empty" cup is useless. So, if I feel relaxed, and some ideas come to me, it means I'm finally "re-filling" my cup with the good stuff.

I don't try to clear my mind like I clear my desktop, I let go of old thoughts so I can get some new ones. I need to spill the rotten milk before I fill my cup with fresh milk.
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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 3
I meditate practically all the time, while in everyday conversation or in a transcendental state. I like to mediate or carry stones with me, that have an emphasis on what I feel the day should focus on, or correlate to. When I am in conversation, I see how others resonate and correlate that with what is talked about. When I want to get into a relaxed state, or "therma" I call it, is when I am between sleep and awake, I am letting things come and go. There are many different meditations, one can do, and it may have to do with that person's goal or intent is. Gestures of the hands may be used also, and I find them very powerful or moving. I would try amethyst because I walked into a hospital once, and I can't stand hospitals because of all the residual energies, and I held my amethyst as soon as I got to the ER, and most of the tension went away. In a sense, amethyst guides a person. Its an interesting stone and I think everyone should have one. I like lighting incense, or using essential oils. Peppermint really gets me relaxed. Try stretching before you meditate. You know, whatever gets you to a calm state and to a relaxed breath.
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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 4

Webstar, first I have to say that I absolutely adore your analogies, and for the most part I would agree that emptying your mind for the sake of emptying it is a useless and tiring battle. For me and the way I explain it to others, is that meditation isn't about trying to empty or clear your mind, but instead meditation is the practice of focusing one's mind for a specific purpose or goal at hand.

For example if I am stuck whether it be on a article I am writing, or trying to come up with a new idea, or I am trying to resolve a situation that hasn't been solved yet; I take a step back, take several deep breaths and then I begin to clear my head of all the thoughts, worries, fears, anxieties and so on that are a distraction and those of which aren't relevant to my task at hand.

For me I often imagine different scenarios and this is where visualization comes in. Let's say I am writing an article and I get stuck, when I meditate sometimes I will visualize myself in my study, and I look around the room and see a bunch of books and clutter. So what I do while I visualize this is I start to remove the clutter one by one, things that aren't relevant, and after several minutes or longer I take a look around the room and I start to see things jump out at me that spark creativity and imagination which gives me ideas of where to proceed from the place that I got stuck. Sometimes I have to repeat this process until I finally get enough junk out of the way to find what I really needed but nonetheless this method works for me.

Of course that was just an example for one type of situation. I personally have a handful of meditation methods and techniques I employ depending on the situation. When I meditate to relive myself of stress, anxiety, or frustration I often meditate while focusing on the trigger, and reflect on what is or has been bothering me so much. In that particular method or when I become angry I will sometimes start using the breath of fire which is a deep physical breathing exercise which helps purge your mind, body, and spirit of negativity. Although I urge caution when using the breath of fire for those that have uncontrolled breathing problems or conditions, as it is an advanced method and should only be used by those who have been trained or taught to use the technique with safety and awareness; people have fallen unconscious and worse from not paying attention and being aware.

As far as positions are concerned when it comes to meditation I am not all that concerned with strict rules and following specific instructions especially for detailed methods. I know very well that life is demanding, fast paced regardless of whether we want it to be or not. Life also doesn't always allow the opportunity or time to conveniently find a private and serene space where we can comfortably relax and meditate. Because of this I have personally trained myself to consciously block out my surroundings which allows me to meditate regardless of the time or environment that I am in. Of course I do seek out my own sacred areas for meditation when I can, in those cases I just get comfortable in my own way, set the ambiance according to my purposes for meditating, and then relax.

Another thing I often do is meditate while on the go, if you have patience, effort, and discipline you can train yourself to meditate while walking to work or school, while riding the bus, and even while out running errands and grocery shopping. Personally I use music as a tranquil medium for this purpose, which can be a great aid for anyone trying to meditate while for others music is just another distraction. Anyway I just wanted to share a little bit about my experiences with meditation as well as give some advice for those just starting or having a hard time. I hope this helps.

Green Blessings,

Othala

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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 5


Webstar, for the most of your post , i do agree with much of it , especially with the part where you stated about emptying your mind for the sake of simply doing so is not really effetive and useful in that sense.

However , there is something i disagree on however.It is actual possible to empty your mind totally , leaving out everything and you just become simply a object of existence.

Most are usually unable to empty the mind instaneously at the speed of thought and they are constantly plagued with other thoughts , emotions and matters , and for most meditatiors , they usually work on simply letting go of their thoughts and if more thought arises , they simply direct it off.

But , your mind being totally empty is plausible in a very real manner.Though usually , one is unable to be free from obsticles of thought during their course of meditation for several years and even if they can achieve a thoughtless state of mind,there are usually thoughts lying dormant at the very corners of their mind , thus i could understand how that thinking of it being impossible to derived from. But , even that state can be transcended eventually , though some for not many years.I personally took 2 and a half years for me to achieve that .

A mind is not exactly a cup and i personally feel that same theory cannot be applied to the mind as they , while have similar corrospondance , cannot be spoken throughly of.

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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 6
I know several forms of meditation and i use different meditations catered to different purposes but since i have gone through that particular form of meditation before as you described , purusforma , I can assist you with it.

Willow , i think you are taking too big a breathe that it somewhat exagerate the gesture and thus not really useful in helping you in your meditation.Eventually , you will find doing this for your meditation rather tiresome and stupid , especially if you wish to meditate on hours on end.

You should simply just keep your awareness on your breathing.Breathe normally as you usually do throughout your day, and just keep your awareness on it. Simply be aware of it , do not control it , let it be. Use the breathe as your meditation object , basically.

Now that i have corrected your breathing technique for your meditation,here is another good meditation technique that instantly allows you to drop away all other trappings , shared to me by a monk from thailand.

Basically , you first watch your breathing with your mind.Then summon a happy memory from your head and bring the energies generated from that from your heart , up to your crown and let your consiousness expand to your surroundings.If done correctly , you will immediately feel a powerful feeling of bliss that can last you several hours to days.

Then , use your mind and heart to watch your breathing next.Now , also include in your other senses.Include your hearing and capture every sound possible.Include your sight and be able to see everything within your field of vision.You should also let your consiousness reside above you to allow you to see yourself from above.

Be aware of all your senses.At this stage , if you progressed this far , your initial feeling of bliss should have been replaced by a powerful feeling of solitude and your mind should be crystal clear.

If skilled enough , in this state , you will be able to see energy in the surroundings more easily , see people's auras easily and even feel their presences.You would also be able to see what is occuring behind you even with your eyes closed.Though if you reach as far as that i discribed in this paragraph , it is clear that you have ascended to a higher level already.

Well Wishes.

DarkSphere

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Re: How do you meditate?
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Post # 7
I guess one way to simply put it; it is how we formulate that knowledge that we take in, to understand information. Part of it has to do with being grounded, and I think that is a basic step. Then I feel once we are ground in grace, we start to see the beauty in things. We become one with things; we start to relate with our surroundings. Hematite is a great grounding stone. I think the answer is what makes sense to you, or how you feel and think about what it is that's going to take you where you want be. We resonate with our surroundings, but whether or not we understand our surroundings, depends on our ability to be be in the present. By the way, I like blue apatite because it helps me focus. It helps me see. I would start on what colors mean to you, and correlate them to each other, because I think if you can understand the rainbow, you can start to see colors. See how I told you, that we have all this information, then we fathom it, and then it starts to take a three dimensional form; its just not one thing, or two things, but many aspects put together. Although sometimes we answer, and that answer that we want isn't always the best answer.
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