Meditation?

[galaxy_storm]

Ok, everyone talks about meditation, but I've not been able to find anything on how to actually do it. Am I right that it's just "focusing inward" and noticing, or is there more to it?

[AncientLokiRemains]

It's more.

Never doubt the power of Google.

[wow_nonamesleft]

 I found this long ago and added it to my 'favorites',although I dont remember alot about this article honesty I do believe I found it interesting/helpful.

http://www.shinzen.org/shinsub3/artHow.htm

Its not a how to meditate, but how it works.

[LittleJoe]

You don't need a guide, it's different for everyone.

How many people you know ever said "I wish I could just leave my problems behind for just a little while". Well, you can.

Meditation is a time where you focus purely on yourself. Leave all your physical problems and affairs behind and go back to your primal nature. Focus on your feelings rather then your thoughts.

The most important thing to remember if you start meditating, is that meditation is a pleasant experience. So don't meditate and practice exercises like a robot just because you want to achieve something, but enjoy every session and always be open, since sudden realisations or solutions to a problem sometimes spontaneously come to you while meditating.

If you have never meditated before, you can try the following:

Sit or lay down in a comfortable position, inhale deeply and exhale slowly. Feel the air going in and out of your lungs. Do thing for about a minute, afterwards you should feel relaxed and comfortable.

Then start talking to yourself in your thoughts. It can be any subject. Make sure you keep your thoughts under control, think slowly and don't start rambling.

In the beginning you may think 'what the hell am I doing', but if you get past that you will be surprised at how many unresolved feelings and emotions you have. You will think deeply about subjects you pushed to the back of your mind in physical life.

And such is the nature of meditation, self exploration.

Let me know how it went,

- LittleJoe

[The Present Moment]

The basic technique is to focus on one thing, usually the breath. Sit comfortably but alertly, and be gentle with your mind as it seeks to wander. There is an old analogy of training an animal: a leash too short makes it restless and anxious, and a leash too long makes it forget what it is tied to.

[Silver Incubus]

If you want to effects without doing too much just learn hypnosis. It is the same as meditation. Its all about an intense inner focus. Milton Erickson was the best so look it up and I'm sure you'll be happy with what can come from it.

[The Present Moment]

If you want to effects without doing too much just learn hypnosis. It is the same as meditation. Its all about an intense inner focus. Milton Erickson was the best so look it up and I'm sure you'll be happy with what can come from it.

Meditation can actually produce very different states than hypnosis, depending on the type of meditation. This webpage gives a pretty thorough breakdown of the various states you can achieve.

[Silver Incubus]

Firstly, I am almost certain that you have no Idea what hypnosis is, how it works, and what you can do with it. I have read sites like the one you provided before. The names given to the states are just alternatives for the ones used in hypnosis. There is such things as light trances, Ie daydreaming (stage one focus) then there is a deeper state and even deeper- until the conscious mind is so distracted and shut off that all that remains is mostly unconscious processes (the conscious is still active but not doing anything) the deepest level of trance in which most phenomena that is amazing is achieved (like catalepsy, negative[not seeing something that is there] or positive[seeing a pink elephant] hallucinations, removing pain/sensations, vivid recall of any past event(unless the unconscious decides it is too painful to relieve) etc. That deepest state is called somnambulism

I have learned Hypnosis in the process of learning NLP(Neuro-Linguistic Programming) which essentially has become a set of tools created from modeling peoples inner processes and techniques to achieve an end result. One of the originators of NLP, Richard Bandler, tells a story about meeting a yogi/tantra master who he asked first how he achieved bliss states and the like. After the guy told him he would have to join and learn Richard descibes the story as taking the tantra master and holding him over the cliff and saying tell me how you do it or I'll let you go because I don't have 10 years to wait for you to tell me the secret. A humorous story and the point is that I had already read such things as Robert Bruces NEW and also merkaba, kundalini meditations and the like and had been practicing them. I found that the descriptions of the motions of energy from the tantra master to be the same things I was attempting to achieve but now I can do such things with ease by putting myself into a deep hypnotic trance and changing, creating and experiencing a more clear, focused and accelerated state of mind.

So to put it as an analogy, instead of picking up an instrument and figuring it out as I go, without any instruction, I learned from a trained professional and  have mastered it.

Astral Projection seemed like a pipe dream for me, but now that I learned how to disassociated multiple layers, I have gone even further. I have not heard of anyone instantly changing beliefs through meditation but I can do it now with ease. SO why comb the beach with a rake when you can use a metal detector. I am sure you will say that it's the inner journey that matters, well, if its going to take me years to achieve what I want through meditation, or minutes/hours/days to be there and further with hypnosis, I'm going to take the more direct root because as a finite being, I only have a finite amount of time to live and I'd rather not waste it. The brain is a wonderful thing that can do many amazing things, and although you can still put a nail into wood with a wrench, I'd prefer using the hammer or better yet, the nail gun.

[Stookie]

I've used hypnosis to reach meditative states, but it's my own personal thinking, willing, & feeling through meditation that has led to experience. I think it's all a matter of what method works best for you. One person's method might not work as well for someone else. Hypnotists say that not everyone can be hypnotized. Your nail gun might be someone else's wrench.

[ariesr]

Plenty of links out there. Here is one in particular I felt was easier to digest.

http://www.meditationcommunity.com/meditation1.html

[The Present Moment]

[snip]

I've used self hypnosis to enter a trance to facilitate lucid dreaming and astral projection, and I also practice vipassana meditation to study my mind. The difference I see is that in meditation my awareness can increase dramatically, allowing me to see the subconscious processes that fuel my experience of the present, while entering a trance through hypnosis feels more like sleep. As the Buddha taught, you should follow what you know to be true based on personal experience rather than blindly following tradition.

[galaxy_storm]

Thanks for all the replies. I found this http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Self-Hypnosis and I'm gonna try it in the evening.

[Silver Incubus]

I've used hypnosis to reach meditative states, but it's my own personal thinking, willing, & feeling through meditation that has led to experience. I think it's all a matter of what method works best for you. One person's method might not work as well for someone else. Hypnotists say that not everyone can be hypnotized. Your nail gun might be someone else's wrench.

The only hypnotist that say that are bad hypnotist. Milton Erickson could hypnotize anyone. Richard Bandler is also another example of someone who can hypnotize anyone. The reason some hypnotist believe that is from a study they did where they played the same bland hypnotic induction for a bunch of people. That isn't how hypnosis works. It is completely subjective and the hypnotist has to tailor the induction to the person being hypnotized. If they notice that what they are doing isn't working, then they will go another route for success. If someone is said to have a mental disease that cannot be cured, then why diagnose them with it? That just implies that they cannot be helped, which is something that is not very useful to believe.

Think of what I am talking about from a pragmatic point of view. If it takes you 4 hours to meditate and get to that certain state of mind, wouldn't it be much easier to reach that state of mind in 4 minutes? Then you would have more time to do the things you enjoy besides meditation.

As for the replies about self hypnosis. Such things that you may have learned may only be one path to the goal. The more you know about the brain and how it functions the more benefit you can achieve through hypnosis. Its like this. Meditation is like using a saw to cut down a tree. Yes it is proven to work wonders and it does get the job done. Why not use a chainsaw and save yourself the time and get all the same results? Can there really be a benefit to wasting time? I don't think so.

Its kinda the same line as PSYCHOtherapy. It's very slow and as humans we learn very quickly. Its like if you have a flip book that is of a little animation and as you flip through it you see the animation and see how it works. Therapy is like a person giving you one frame of the animation at a time and expect you to notice how it changes. Nobody learns to be phobic over time, it is instantly. One minute they are not and the next they are. Another good analogy is sheet metal. If you bend sheet metal real slow it will pop back into place. When you snap it really quick it stays bent, this is how change occurs in the brain.

I hope this helps you understand why a little bit better.

[loppoppy]

very defensive about hypnotism aren't you?
heres my opinion
spiritual exploration and growth is best attained through meditation
self hypnosis works better for relaxation, reducing stress, sorting out jumbled thoughts in your head and such.

i believe both hold their differences and simililarities. but as i'm no absolute genius in either, i'm not gonna start an intellectual debate =)

*thumbs up*

[Silver Incubus]

the thing is that they are essential the same results but one method is slower(meditation) and one is quicker (hypnosis). The thing is that hypnosis is a very focused state as is meditation, as I have done both and know the differences.

I am not getting defensive, just clearing up some misconceptions about the subject

[Stookie]

From what I understand (and experienced) is that conscious activity is different between the 2. Scientologists use a form of hypnosis for their "auditing". During hypnosis, the mind is much more suggestible (which can be both good and bad, like making someone think the are Elvis) whereas in a meditative state the conscious mind is more in control. Self-hypnosis and meditation can be very similar though. They both have their place.