Decribe your meditation practice

Mindfulness Meditation
#1

OK I am totally lost now.

I read a lot about benefits of meditation and wanted to gather all information I could gather to do it myself. So somebody here suggested the aypsite.com.
I started practicing the meditation technique described on the site with a little variation. i.e. chandting “OM” in my mind instead of chanting “I AM” Don’t want to get into the reasons for this variation in this thread.

My choice of above method was just to get started while I find a teacher that would help me in person. I finally found a teacher who would teach me meditation. I have have taking the class in the weekends. Today was my second class. I was surprised that the method that was taught was totally different. I am told this is based on “Raja Yoga” I am also told I could do meditation with open eyes. I was told to meditate with some music on. I was told to meditate while visualizing I am soul and I am going to the soul world and I am a peaceful soul. My body is my contume…

I am not able to accept all of the above, what I read on aypsite.com made more sense than this. I really don’t mean any disrespect to any style but was wondering how most of you guys practice meditation and how was your journey in choosing the method you use at this point? Also any further advice to choosse the right teacher for meditation would be really appreciated.

#2

Namaste,
What kind of meditation resonates with you?
The Hare Krishna maha MANTRA
Transcendental meditation ™
Vipasana
Mindfullness???

Also do a search for meditation Q and A.

Those in the know recommend that once you decide on which meditation
to take, stick with it for the rest of your life. This has been true for me.

And the end of meditation is only ONE: to quiet the mind and discover that
you are spirit(eternal, immortal…) at that point you will develop love and
compassion, know that the creator is also SPIRIT…

There are many ways to put into words the preceding paragraph, this is
only mine.

#3

There are endless styles and methods for meditation, since we are each different in how we learn compassion, we have to experiment until we find the way that is right for us. So just try to be open and embrace experimentation in your learning process. You know what you need, just listen to that inner knowledge. And remember that meditation should be full of love and joy, and always be a way to build compassion for yourself and others.

I have also been learning about meditation over the past year. One great book I’ve read is “Mindfulness in Plain English”, by Bhante Gunaratana. You can download this book on-line, or most bookstores carry it as well.

Personally, I have been sitting each morning, eyes closed, and I visualize each person that I know laughing and being basically overjoyed. It sounds ridiculous I know, but…I start with someone I know is generally pretty unhappy or upset, than I let my mind just go with it, and I picture them as the happiest I’ve ever seen them. Then I move onto another person (a friend, work colleague, strangers I’ve passed on the street, the lady at the grocery store checkout) in a free-form way, like a spiderweb.

This came from reading I had done about Loving Kindness meditation where you basically wish yourself happiness & compassion, then a friend, then a loved one, then a stranger, and then an enemy. You keep cycling this through like this in your meditation and over time it affects how you interact in daily life.

Good luck and namaste.

#4

[QUOTE=Frangonia;19923]There are endless styles and methods for meditation, since we are each different in how we learn compassion, we have to experiment until we find the way that is right for us. So just try to be open and embrace experimentation in your learning process. You know what you need, just listen to that inner knowledge. And remember that meditation should be full of love and joy, and always be a way to build compassion for yourself and others.

I have also been learning about meditation over the past year. One great book I’ve read is “Mindfulness in Plain English”, by Bhante Gunaratana. You can download this book on-line, or most bookstores carry it as well.

Personally, I have been sitting each morning, eyes closed, and I visualize each person that I know laughing and being basically overjoyed. It sounds ridiculous I know, but…I start with someone I know is generally pretty unhappy or upset, than I let my mind just go with it, and I picture them as the happiest I’ve ever seen them. Then I move onto another person (a friend, work colleague, strangers I’ve passed on the street, the lady at the grocery store checkout) in a free-form way, like a spiderweb.

This came from reading I had done about Loving Kindness meditation where you basically wish yourself happiness & compassion, then a friend, then a loved one, then a stranger, and then an enemy. You keep cycling this through like this in your meditation and over time it affects how you interact in daily life.

Good luck and namaste.[/QUOTE]

Excellent!!! Thanks for your reply. I really like this idea. I will surely get the book you mentioned. I will also wait for what others have to say as well. Hopefully something will work for me as well. Thanks again.

#5

Yalgaar,

Here you will find a nice discussion on this Forum on meditation. Each person comes to meditation for different reasons and how each person does it is a very personal journey. To describe my own journey from the beginning with all its frustrations and disappointments would take many pages to describe. Point is we all started out somewhere, did something here and something there and eventually you end up with what resonates with you, and that is a very personal choice.

On my blog, which is listed under my profile on the Forum I have recently published and article on Mindfullness meditation, it is short and not cumbersome to read or to understand. Perhaps you might resonate with that.

Good luck and persist, the right practice will develop itself.

#6

My most preferred method is the simplest… simply breath in on a count to 4, hold for 4, and exhale for 4… so simple… but so powerful…

#7

The original, and still the best blueprint for meditation is contained in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet. You should at least become familiar with the asta anga portion. In the beginning, one should work on stabilizing the mind, but this is easier said than done. Patanjali mentions several ways of doing this. Typically though, yogi’s use asana (postures) and pranayama (breath control) as the primary means of achieving focus. Patanjali’s method is universal and applies to all types of meditation.

Patanjali also describes the obstacles that have to be removed in order to achieve success. Some people need more work in this area than others, but it’s good to do a little self examination in order to figure out what areas of your life you may need to work on.