How do you meditate?

[Meedan]

Meditation is the opposite of concentration, you have to clear your mind of all thoughts. Both meditation and concentration are beneficial and it is probably best to practice both in cycles (meditate then concentrate straight after).

Many people have meditation confused with concentration, and say that you should visualize something, but that is not meditation. Just try to clear your mind of all thoughts, it takes practice to maintain that state for long periods of time.

[Rex]

Thank you






Rex

[SpectralDragon]

Actually that is only one kind of meditation.

some kinds of meditation require some thought. A regressive meditation, for example, is a reliving of past. however, you have to clear yourself of any unneccessary thought for it to work.

In meditation you are excercising your mind without use of your body. that is the simplest way I can put it. Even clearing your thoughts can be considered excercise. If you ever try it you will find it is hard to do.

[Meedan]

quote:some kinds of meditation require some thought. A regressive meditation, for example, is a reliving of past. however, you have to clear yourself of any unneccessary thought for it to work.

The word 'meditation' has just been added to the phrase 'regressive meditation'. I would call it regression - which happens to be an exercise in concentration.

quote:In meditation you are excercising your mind without use of your body. that is the simplest way I can put it. Even clearing your thoughts can be considered excercise.

Both meditation and concentration are mind exercises, at the two opposite ends of the scale.

[SpectralDragon]

Different ways to meditate my friend. One cannot know them all. Some do require thought. Chineese meditations especially. 9 heavens meditation for example is focusing on the forces of nature on the body.

Of course, in some cultures they look at the word differently. That could be the problem here.

[rodentmouse]

yeh i think  the proper meditative state is  to  be  free from  all thoughts and to  not use the brain whatsoever.

breath awareness  uses focus,   this IMO only weans the mind off thinking,  it isnt actually the aim in doing this meditation.

id say breath awareness at first needs focus,  but eventually the goal is to not even have to focus on the breath because, since  you will be meditating properly,  you wont need to do anything, youlll just bask in liberation.

ive  had a few meditation experiences which i trancend space, time and ego-  and  it really is a state where there is nothingness, focusing on the breath when doing breath meditation still occupies a small area of  our brain which we are keeping there to remind us what we are doing when  we get lost in thought when trying to focus.

rex-  you should do  some reading into it, look at all the tecniques and  ideas available on it.   But i reccomend  breath meditation-  just  be aware  of each breath  you take,  if  you get lost in thought the best time to regain focus  is on the outbreath,  this gets  you back  to the ~objective~  and makes  the difference between a thinking and empty mind  a lot more obvious.

Id say the actual focusing on the breath is training the mind to eventually stop focusing on it,  rather  be passively aware of it.

[Cruel Tendencies]

There are a lot of ways to meditate - clearing the mind of all thoughts being one way.  Simply contemplating on a subject, going over it in your mind, is a type of meditation, whether you're sitting alone in the lotus position, or washing dishes, or whatever daily task you need to do.  I like to meditate while driving or riding in cars, personally.  Clearing the mind of EXTRA thoughts is an important skill, though, so that you can stay focused on one thing, and hopefully gain some insite on it.  

So anyway, meditating on nothingness is one way to go about it; typically a classic Eastern method.  But concentration is an important aspect of being able to meditate effectively.


Paul

[Michael_E]

quote:Originally posted by Rex

how do you meditate?






Rex

my favorite meditation is to smile to my whole body and mind, to feel a smile flow down from my face through my bones and organs and muscles like a gentle stream. then to smile to the sub-navel area and feel gentle openness there, being aware of the universe surrounding me and its immensity in front in back above below me and feeling the universe charge my navel area till it spirals around like a galaxy.

[jonas]

Meditation is not ONE thing, it is but a word used in many differnt ways, but the (to me) "real" meditation is either those techniques that calms the mind, or those as uses visualization to achive experiences like, for example, OBEs.

Most meditationtechniques that is used to calm the mind and slow down the bainactivity, uses CONSENTRATION. You need concentration to keep the mind blank. At first, when you practise meditation, your mind is crawling with thought, feelings and other trash that stops you from being calm and focust.

What makes different techniques different is the object for meditation(/consentration), and of course  the less important; the physical position your in.

It's said that mantric meditation is the easiest to learn and practise. At first you repeat a simple word or phrase (when you start you can do it aloud, and make it more and more silent, until it's just mental). Consentrate and repeat the mantra over and over. When other thoughts disturbs tou (that is EVERY other thought than the mantra), you simply return to the mantra and start repeating it again. Don't giv a damn if you think you're no good; everyone thinks that it's difficult in the beginning.

Here's a mantra to use: OM MANI PADME HUM.
Make googlesearch on it and you'll find soundsamples of how to say it correctly.

When you after training find that tou don't need the mantra to stay focust, then jast let it go.

[SpectralDragon]

quote:Originally posted by jonas

Meditation is not ONE thing, it is but a word used in many differnt ways, but the (to me) "real" meditation is either those techniques that calms the mind, or those as uses visualization to achive experiences like, for example, OBEs.

[]

quote:Spectral Dragon

Different ways to meditate my friend. One cannot know them all. Some do require thought. Chineese meditations especially. 9 heavens meditation for example is focusing on the forces of nature on the body.

Of course, in some cultures they look at the word differently. That could be the problem he

[Rex]

how do you meditate?






Rex