Tricks to trick my mind

Mindfulness Meditation
#1

hello all

i started meditation two weeks ago…read a lot of books and topics form this forum…

i first stared with following my breath that went well for 2 days, then i tried counting and following my breath that went well just once, but since then i can’t focus enough, i tried with following the candle light, music (brainwaves, ocean waves) walking meditation but still no results.

i was thinking about trying with mantras, but i read that mantra is given to you by somebody and it’s not something that you search for it online:).

can you help me out

Thank you

#2

Keep your attention above your head and don’t think.

#3

" don’t think" -this is my main problem, while meditating a lot of thoughts appear i try not to get distracted by them but some are very powerful.

thanks for the reply

#4

You may try to start by concentrating, rather than meditating. You pick a subject of concentration, and try to keep your mind on this subject. If you have difficulties to stay concentrated, you can also pick several subjects of concentration, like four, for instance. Everytime you notice your mind wanders off too much, you go to the next subject in line. You could imagine yourself in a square garden and place the subjects in every corner.

#5

I have recently started meditation in earnest and had difficulty emptying the mind. So I am focusing on the chakras, starting at the root and working my way up. At each chakra I place my hands in each mudra, focus on the chakra point, breath, the colour and the mantra for each. I began with 5 breaths each and now up to 20. It seems to be working. I think less and it is becoming easier.

#6

[QUOTE=danciu;43902]hello all

i started meditation two weeks ago…read a lot of books and topics form this forum…

i first stared with following my breath that went well for 2 days, then i tried counting and following my breath that went well just once, but since then i can’t focus enough, i tried with following the candle light, music (brainwaves, ocean waves) walking meditation but still no results.

i was thinking about trying with mantras, but i read that mantra is given to you by somebody and it’s not something that you search for it online:).

can you help me out

Thank you[/QUOTE]

Look at the book “Power of Thought” by Swami Sivananda, posted on the thread “Another Meditation Question.” It deals specifically with these problems.

Another book dealing with these problems is “The Practice of Meditation” by Swami Sivananda. I bought it in Romania, Bucharest, used books at the University Place.

Salutari.

#7

Meditation video instructions:

http://www.yogananda-srf.org/tmp/meditation.aspx?id=120

#8

thank you all
@oak 333 multumesc :slight_smile:

#9

It is natural for you to experience thoughts when you meditate. They are to be expected. You are just a beginner, even experienced meditators experience thoughts. I have been mediating on and off for years now, and I get loads of thoughts when I meditate.

The trick is not to stop the thoughts - the trick is to observe the thoughts as and when they occurr, but not to react to them. Here is a practical example to show the difference between observing and reacting: the thought of a recent argument you had with somebody comes up, and you start to think how they made you felt, and what you could have done or said for a different outcome. This is not just one thought, this is an entire sequence of thoughts(a narrative of thoughts). In this case you have reacted to the first thought. On the other hand, observing the thought would be just allowing the first thought to come and acknowleding it, and then returning back to your object of meditation.

Of course, you may not react like this. You might react by thinking you don’t want that thought, or thinking how bad your meditation is going. Do not do this. Do not beat yourself up when thoughts come up. It is perfectly natural. After a while, after more practice, you will find it easier to concentrate your mind.

You cannot expect to have a fully concentrated mind in 2 weeks. That is lilke going to a gym with a belly and expecting to have a six pack in 2 weeks :smiley:

#10

[QUOTE=danciu;43907]" don?t think" -this is my main problem, while meditating a lot of thoughts appear i try not to get distracted by them but some are very powerful.
thanks for the reply[/QUOTE]Put your right hand on your forehead and use mantra Ham-Ksam for purification of your Ajna chakra.

#11

I think Surya Deva has it right. You’re not expected to empty your mind of thoughts. You just need to observe the thoughts passively and practice not attaching to them. This practice facilitates non-attachment in life. When a thought arrives, don’t follow it, judge it bad or good, or label it with some name. Just observe it coming into your mind, and let it drift back out. Nothing to get upset or frustrated about. It will take a lot of practice, but you will find that thoughts lose their power if you don’t feed them.

#12

I have to echo what Surya Deva and Trinley are saying. There are different techniques that can be tried, of which some have been posted.
Two that work for me have been to think of the thoughts as you would leaves on a slow moving stream - they come, they float by, you let them go down the stream, not paying attention to them.
you can also treat them as if they are children vying for attention, and tell them “later, I will attend to you later”, letting them go into the background, and bringing your focus back to the emptying of the mind, or the focus of your meditation.

#13

One of the most effective meditations I have found is Vipassana (Insight) meditation. This is especially good for those who have trouble with “chatter”. You simply allow thought to come and go, placing no value on them. You don’t try to understand them or solve them. Just know that they are. Whether it is one thought or many, it doesn’t matter. (a very condensed version) I know my students whether new or seasoned enjoy this very much. For more info go to:

http://www.dhamma.org/ This site is Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka.

I also have a book Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein that is quite good.

#14

when I first started meditating years ago in my 20’s I just counted 1-10 with the breath. It’s amazing how many times I will lose count and have to return to 1. Later on I would sit there and ask myself “who am I?” over and over, until I would get to a point where each word had little meaning other than the noises or sounds they make in my minds eye.

Other times I would simply gaze at a spot on the wall. Many thoughts come and go, I would think about every single person I’d ever met and examine myself while doing it, and let them go. I was coming to realise that my thought and the thing itself are two different things, was as if I was letting go of my hold on the world and making way for a truer experience of what is here and now as oppose to all the thoughts I have of things…

Where I am in my life now, I don’t spend much of any time meditating, but I am almost always mindful, watching the thoughts coming and going, just observing and letting them pass.

Namaste

ps. wow I took quite some time typing this, I’ll bet when I click post it dissappears on me lol - just as well I just copied it to the clipboard…

#15

i don’t know how to thank you all

after reading other threads i have noticed that even my timing was bad…i used to meditate before going to sleep…and that also did not help:)

Thank you again

#16

Oh yes, I gave up trying to meditate when I was working night shifts because I would ALWAYS fall asleep, no matter how rested I thought I was (which I wasn’t, 6 hrs of sleep a night is NOT good for someone my age).
Now I work days but commute and there seems to be no quiet time to be alone. :frowning: I suppose I’ll just have to TAKE it!

#17

[QUOTE=lotusgirl;43994]One of the most effective meditations I have found is Vipassana (Insight) meditation. This is especially good for those who have trouble with “chatter”. You simply allow thought to come and go, placing no value on them. You don’t try to understand them or solve them. Just know that they are. Whether it is one thought or many, it doesn’t matter. (a very condensed version) I know my students whether new or seasoned enjoy this very much. For more info go to:

http://www.dhamma.org/ This site is Vipassana meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka.

I also have a book Insight Meditation by Joseph Goldstein that is quite good.[/QUOTE]

Thanks LG. I will look at these sources. It’s tough for a troubled mind to simply observe and let thoughts go. I find I need to distract my mind with a mantra or sound. But then the mantra becomes a big part of the meditation.

#18

@flexpenguin what mantra or sounds do you use? I still have a need to distract my mind

#19

There are different “sorts” of meditation and some of those sorts are in fact meditation while others are prerequisites for meditation. Never the less, the feedback should be tailored to the meditation in question. For example I could give you feedback based on the meditation in Purna Yoga? however that would likely muddle the pond if you are doing a completely different meditation with a completely different purpose/intention.

I suggest asking those who’ve taught or are teaching you meditation. Of course if books are your source then you are limited to only that which is contained within them.

#20

Perhaps this may be of interest to some of you:
I found it Very Helpful...It should help you overcome those unwanted thoughts.
Just Another Buddhist Monk's Weblog
http://yuttadhammo.sirimangalo.org/posts/how-to-meditate-iso-torrent-new-link/

1023×687 115 KB