meditation

[2years]

To what extent is meditating helpful to astral projection?

[Xanth]

You learn to focus your mind. 
Once you learn to do that, you can apply it towards learning to focus your awareness away from your physical senses.

[2years]

so any tips on how to start meditating, ive done research and there are multiple explanations of meditation and im not what to do

[Xanth]

so any tips on how to start meditating, ive done research and there are multiple explanations of meditation and im not what to do

Let's start off with this... what do you think meditation is?

[2years]

Basically an exercise in which you stand still in a position while focusing on something mentally

[Xanth]

Basically an exercise in which you stand still in a position while focusing on something mentally

That's as good a place to begin as any then!
Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

[2years]

Well typically i think one starts in a sitting position. After that they quiet their thoughts to a minimum and that creates a meditation affect.
Not really sure but that's my two sentence description of meditation 

[Xanth]

Well typically i think one starts in a sitting position. After that they quiet their thoughts to a minimum and that creates a meditation affect.
Not really sure but that's my two sentence description of meditation 

That's as good a place to start as any. 

My suggestion though would be don't focus so much on quieting your thoughts to a minimum.  Try more... observing the thoughts and allowing them to pass by unimpeded? 

See what kind of "meditation effects" occur to you when you do this. 

[FuzzyQuills]

I find also that blocking out light by rolling your eyes back (Someone else suggested this to me! ) helps too. Of course, don't roll them back too far, or you'll hurt them!

As for me, I usually meditate by visualizing a candle, then letting it flow out into other thoughts. (Reason i do so is because my first true meditation session used a video of a candle for stimulation)

[Lumaza]

I find also that blocking out light by rolling your eyes back (Someone else suggested this to me! ) helps too. Of course, don't roll them back too far, or you'll hurt them!

Yes, definitely don't roll them too far back. That can cause a bad headache.

As for me, I usually meditate by visualizing a candle, then letting it flow out into other thoughts. (Reason i do so is because my first true meditation session used a video of a candle for stimulation)

I had my first actual conscious projection after watching a video on "Candle staring", them applying what he said. I still use a simple visualized candle flame imagery today. Sometimes the simplest of techniques can yield great results.

[Samwise]

Hey Lumaza, was your video on candle gazing and projection something along these lines?? It is interesting to note that yogi's refer to candle gazing as a cleansing practice and have been doing it for thousands of years, and it is linked to siddhis (psychic mind powers), which include OBE's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3M-LuTRfcI

[chas688]

Like most people in the west, I used to imagine that meditation involved sitting in a lotus position, eyes closed, chanting OM and waiting for something to happen. As I started to meditate in my mid to late teens, I eventually developed my own type of system. Having said that, I'm sure that there are flaws in my system when viewed from a real yogi or monk high in the Himalayas who has truly transcended the earthy physical plane.

But recently I've been thinking about our modern society. In this day and age we have smart-phone consciousness and only a few seconds it takes us to check emails, SMS messages, facebook, etc. Our focus is continuously demanded by 100 things at once, all the time. Now take for example Vyasa's India of 5,000 years ago.  I've been to rural India and deep in the village life, not much goes on. Occasionally an Ox cart may come by at 1.5 MPH, bells clanking. Now think about the origin of the traditional forms of Yoga and meditation as laid down by Vyasa and others. While these methods still work, there are a lot more impediments to getting there if you are also trying to live a life in the world. I would also argue that our neurological pathways are wired differently because of all the technology around us. So, having said that, I feel that for myself at least, that I also can embrace technological advances such as Mindwave glasses, Hemi-sync, etc. in order to assist in getting into a meditative state. Do a search on Youtube for Bineural beats and you'll find a ton of things out there. Some may be better than others.

Plain Jane Meditation I still do, but I always find it helps to have some sort of music or frequency inducing thing going on. If you haven't heard of him, Jonathan Goldman has a ton of wonderful albums which I find induce meditative states within me. He also has an album called Vocal Tuning the Chakras. Here's a preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8kwc1lkiAQ

Anyway, best of luck
Chas688

[Xanth]

I can tell you this...
If any "real yogi" or "monk high in the Himalayas" would complain about how "you" meditate... then they aren't as masterful as you think they are. 

The point of meditation isn't to pick a time and place to sit down and quietly turn inwards.  I mean, yes, it CAN be that... however, that's all "ritual".  Anything which you feel you MUST do in order to be "successful" at meditation is your "ritual".

In the end, my suggestion is this: the more you can remove the "ritual" from your meditation, the closer you can be to living in the "now". 
Which means that you can have your focus pulled in a 100 different directions at once, yet still retain that meditative awareness.  You can retain that calm (grounded) and centered perspective.

[Lumaza]

Hey Lumaza, was your video on candle gazing and projection something along these lines?? It is interesting to note that yogi's refer to candle gazing as a cleansing practice and have been doing it for thousands of years, and it is linked to siddhis (psychic mind powers), which include OBE's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3M-LuTRfcI

Yes, but it was a much simpler version of that video. He made a different ones with just the basics in the past. The one you posted above has too much "clutter" in it. He could have just kept it simple, but in that one, he talks about too many things that aren't necessary in the Art of Astral Projection. But the main idea of just watching a "candle flame burning" is still there.

[Astralsuzy]

I did not read what the other replies.   You are asking what extent is meditation helpful to ap.   For me it is extremely important if you want to ap.   Because I meditate does not mean that I will ap but it can help a lot to ap.