Adventures in Meditating...... (page 2)

exjdub

Keep 'em coming Freedom, I enjoy reading your experiences and the discussions that your topics of late have been raising.

exjdub

man Frankie, how do you come up with all those u-tube clips? I've been watching all the ones you posted on the physcedelic mind thread also. so circular breathing huh? cool.

ANTI-CHRIST: wow. free dive to 60 feet. that's intense. I scuba but don't really know how I feel about free diving yet.

I would recommend trying different viewpoints on the meditation thing. things that worked for me didn't work for other people. I find that doing some simple yoga stretches and then meditating helps me. start small and don't worry if you're doing it *right*. Find a quiet, private place,(the same place each day helps me) and then find a comfortable position. somewhat upright rathering than laying down. and breathe.... concentrate on just your breath. in and out. see how long it takes for your mind to wander and then gently bring it back to your breath..

practicing regularly is what will bring long term results.

nvrgnbk

Your openness has rewarded you freedomloverr.

IP_SEC

FL,

I started meditating about 12 years ago when I was still a dub. What you discribe sounds somewhat like a Kundalini release. You might feel drained or even ill for a few days if it was.

Good luck to you.

quietlyleaving

good thread freedomloverr - I like that you've called it adventures in meditating.

I have recently started too and find I look forward to my 20 mins. Feel more comfortable with myself and more energetic.

Missanna

i've been told a lot recently that i should try really meditating and looking in to different types of meditating. where do I start? is it really as calming and good for you as they say?

freedomloverr

IP-SEC : a kundalini release huh? I'll go google it and find out what they say....

Missanna: I find it the most therapeutic thing in my life to deal with stress but also it's a tool to reach differnt levels of spirituality, at least for me it is. try it out. it does work best when it's done regularly and you truly enjoy it. it doesn't work if you are *forcing* yourself in any way.....

let me know how it goes.

poppers

It sounds like there was an energy blockage that released. You did the right thing by not resisting it; just allow the experience to unfold naturally.

For those who want to learn to meditate there are lots of different techniques out there, and all kinds of things on the net, some even worthwhile. Watching the breath is a very good one. Simply sit and relax with eyes closed and put awareness on the breathing. Notice the gap between inbreath and outbreath, and between outbreath and inbreath. Return to breath awareness each time you notice the mind wandering. Make no effort to control the breathing in any way, look for no particular experience, make no judgment of how you are doing - simply notice the breath. 15 to 20 minutes is enough for this technique and all of those that follow.

Other techniques use a mental focus, usually a mantra or short phrase. There is a very good technique called centering prayer which is almost identical to Transcendental Meditation except it uses a phrase or word of your choosing instead of a mantra that you have to pay $2500 to get from a TM teacher (that's right folks, $2500). Stay away from TM - the movement is more about sucking money out of your pocket and putting it into the pocket of Maharishi and his movement. His technique is no more effective than countless other ones despite claims to the contrary. I should know, I practiced TM for 9 years before moving on to others that were just as good. Here is a link to centering prayer: http://www.thecentering.org/centering_method.html

Another approach to meditation is putting attention on the "inner body". Let awareness rest in the sense of your own existence rather than remaining fixed on what's happening in the mind. Continue to feel/sense the body and the energy flowing through it. Again, look for no particular experience, make no judgment. If there arises an emotion then let awareness observe it without any intention of running from it or clinging to it. The same thing for any particular physical sensation. When you notice attention is back in the mind and its stories, return to awareness of the inner body.

Another sort of meditation is observation of the activity of the mind. Sit comfortably with eyes closed in watch thoughts come and go. With careful attention you can actually notice the beginning of a thought, its dissolution, and the resulting "gap" between thoughts. When you notice you have been caught in a story in the mind return to simple observation of thought. Again, let there be no judgment, no aversion, no clinging, no anticipation. To help disengage the tendency to get caught in story lines you can think of this process like this: you are like a cat watching a mouse hole, just waiting for the mouse (thought) to appear. Simply watch it come and go. You ARE this witnessing consciousness. This can be quite entertaining as your alertness to the arising of thought sharpens with practice. You will notice that there come times when no thoughts are present yet there is definitely a sense of presence and peace remaining. That sense of presence/awareness/alertness without thought is consciousness - your true essence.

Another kind of mental discipline that leads into meditation is to take a short phrase and gently repeat it once on the inhale and once on the exhale while breathing through the nose. Sit comfortably with eyes closed and gently introduce your phrase and time it to the duration of the breath. During the slight pause between breaths just relax. You will notice the breath getting more subtle as time goes by, and sometimes the breathing even stops - don't panic, you won't die, nothing will happen. When this happens then completely let go of the phrase. One good phrase that has been used is "maranatha". If you have nothing against using classical Sanskrit phrases then experiment with some of those until you find something comfortable, but then stick with it rather than changing phrases every few weeks. You can easily find these on the net. When you notice your attention has wandered away from your phrase then easily return to it without chastising or judging yourself in any way - that's just part of the practice of any meditation technique.

I hope some will find these useful.

Anti-Christ

free dive to 60 feet. that's intense. I scuba but don't really know how I feel about free diving yet.

It easier then it sounds, I'm going for 100feet this summer. It takes a little bite of training and focus it's similar to meditating. You have to listen to your body. The best way to start is by blocks of 10feet, 10, 20, 30, 40,... but never practice alone. If your interested I give free courses I'm a certified Dive master.

Thanks for the meditating tips Freedomloverr and poppers.

nvrgnbk

Another sort of meditation is observation of the activity of the mind. Sit comfortably with eyes closed in watch thoughts come and go. With careful attention you can actually notice the beginning of a thought, its dissolution, and the resulting "gap" between thoughts. When you notice you have been caught in a story in the mind return to simple observation of thought. Again, let there be no judgment, no aversion, no clinging, no anticipation. To help disengage the tendency to get caught in story lines you can think of this process like this: you are like a cat watching a mouse hole, just waiting for the mouse (thought) to appear. Simply watch it come and go. You ARE this witnessing consciousness. This can be quite entertaining as your alertness to the arising of thought sharpens with practice. You will notice that there come times when no thoughts are present yet there is definitely a sense of presence and peace remaining. That sense of presence/awareness/alertness without thought is consciousness - your true essence.

This is what I'm doing. Thanks for putting all that info out there poppers!

Ahhhhhhhh. True essence. Nothing and yet everything.

Adventures in Meditating......

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