Meditation - Problems

[Astpro]

Thanks for all the help everyone gave!

[Ash]

it sounds like you are running into resistance. what is your goal while meditating? are you doing it to calm your mind, raise energy, or project? I would recommend making your goal for meditation just meditation. That is, decide you are going to sit down for a specified time (say, 15 minutes) and during that time you are going to meditate. Focus on your breath or whatever you do and try to let all thoughts go. This includes thoughts like "this isn't working" or "my trance isn't deep enough" or "i'm tired i want to sleep".
Just let them all go. Often people stop meditating after a little while because the newness and the momentum wears off and the effects aren't as dramatic anymore. Also, meditation changes us whether we like it or not, and there can be a lot of subconscious resistance to that. It is when you can discipline yourself to meditate even when you don't want to meditate that real progress will be made.

good luck!
ash

[Tom]

It takes a certain level of accomplishment to be able to meditate lying down, and that includes mostly reclining. Most people don't get to that point. Ever. There are plenty of people who try it anyway.

What technique are you using and why don't you think it is working properly?

[Lysear]

Tom, I've never come across this before. Why shouldn't you meditate lying down? I have been meditating lying down for about 7 months now, and I can silence my inner-voice for a fair while, but not as long as I would like.

[Slavo]

Try to learn the Corrector technique (I assure you it works - u can find it on the web http://www.lclark.edu/~crowl/hypnosis.html ) - just dont give up from the beginning - it will come (I learned it in 1 and half month)

[Tom]

Lying down to meditate quickly generates stability. That would be a good thing except that it is at the expense of clarity. Laxity quickly develops. The problem is that it is hard to recognize laxity even doing meditation in a seated position. Stability is the first thing to develop, not clarity, but it is important to do it in a way that will not detract from meditation later on.

There is thinking and there is the absence of thought. It is important to observe thinking when it arises without being disturbed by it. You do not need to crush thinking or destroy it. When you can detach yourself from thinking by observing it, you can allow the energy of your thoughts to dissipate without being lost. That energy can be redirected toward your object of meditation.

[Astpro]

It is strange that everyone replied on the 30th of March after I had been waiting over 20days for a reply.

Anyway, thankyou to all above who posted. I managed to correct most of this problem myself. Before I think I was too eager for it to work and because I tried to force the meditation, I attained little trance. It is true that the effects after the first few months had worn off and this caused part of my frustration. It is no longer a problem.

[Tom]

It is both my belief and the teaching of my religion that there is a very big difference between going into a trance and learning meditation. The techniques can be very similar for both to the point that it is only the intention behind the technique separating the two. There is nothing wrong with using a little bit of force initially to get results. The problem is that after the results start to come it is important to back off to avoid covering up the more subtle signs of success. Often it takes force in the beginning to establish and maintain a correct seated posture. The body has usually been trained to slouch, especially when it is relaxed. Holding the attention in a single point usually requires a bit of force in the beginning, too. The important thing to remember about meditation as opposed to trance is that often it will feel like nothing is happening and that your state of consciousness is just like in normal waking consciousness of daily routine. In trance states you get more symptoms, side effects, and obvious alterations of consciousness. Both meditation and trance work have their uses.

[sloppyjoe42]

Hey Tom what religion are u? the reason i ask is because your discription of meditation sound alot like the buddhist meditation. the is pretty much no objective in it other than just to sit and think about sitting. i know it sounds easy but keeping a clear mind and sitting in the right posture for awhile is very difficult.

[Tom]

Good guess. There is a lot of variation in the forms of meditation in Buddhism, though. "Just sitting" is one of the branches of Zen. The posture itself supports a clear mind. That is why there is so much emphasis on perfecting the posture.

[sloppyjoe42]

actually its the chan buddhist meditation but chan is the chinese version of zen so they are pretty much the same.

[Tom]

Before it was Cha'an in China, it was a school in India called Dhyana. This would be as in pratyahara -- > dharana --> dhyana --> samadhi. The word means meditation.

[Squeek]

You know too much...

Hehe...

Useless posting... I will make it to page one of the members page.

[Links Shadow]

Is it alright to lean against a wall or some solid object while meditating? Right now my back muscles are not strong enough to keep a straight back for more than about 8 minutes straight.

[Tom]

The reason for sitting up is to avoid drowsiness. This is especially important if you plan to keep your eyes closed. Zen and many other forms of Buddhism advise against closed eyes. Standing up and walking are okay, too, as places to begin. Sitting up happens to be best. Using tools to support your seated postures is fine. Your back will be able to adjust to a correct seated posture. Often it is actually the hips and neck which need to be adjusted, not the actual back. As you adjust to sitting to meditate it will get easier. Until then, frequent sessions of 5 minutes or less is good, too.

[Astpro]

When I first began meditating it was great. I used to feel a pressure or heaviness after I'd finished. After several months this feeling went away probably because my body had adjusted to it. But now I can't seem to meditate properly at all. I don't get a good feeling of trance or rarely and I can't stay there for long. I also have a problem because I can only do it lying down. This isn't good because it messes up my sleeping patterns and I usually wake up several times during the night after meditating. I can't think of a way out of this. I have tried to meditate while sitting but it doesn't help and when in a semi laying down state, "breakfast in bed" if you like, I have fallen asleep twice. Help me!