official meditation thread.

Discussion in 'Religion, Beliefs and Spirituality' started by joe Biggs, Aug 11, 2008.

  1. saw a few random meditation thread floating around and thought itd be a good idea to get a collaborated thread going.

    first off a couple questions for all those whom meditate, here in the city.

    (1) how do you benefit from meditation?

    (2) sober or intoxicated, if so what drug?

    (3) advice from those beginning meditation?

    i have tried meditation a few times randomly through out the past months (all times sober). but i never seem to be able to get my mind to 'shut up'. not sure if this is due to OCD or just being a beginner in meditation.

    i also have read a few book on meditation and seems you are supposed to focus on a single word, for example 'one'. the author of this self-novel i read. used the word 'one' while meditating.
     
  2. both sober and intoxicated, and most of the time, not just while sitting in a meditative position at a certain chalked out time.

    Marijuana, mushrooms, DPH

    Do not try to make your mind shut up - that is an act of the mind itself. Simply observe your thoughts without labels, comments or judgements. Watch the thinker, so to speak. You will eventually find yourself in the space within which thoughts are perceived; naked consciousness, and realize that you are not your thoughts, and will transcend your awareness.

    Other meditative techniques I use are 'being' with an object, or with yourself, listening to the silence between each inhale and exhale or the silence underneath sound, 'being still', and listening to (being with) music, my heartbeat, deeply accepting the moment, living in the moment
     
  3. Yeah I've never been able to successfully relax my mind. Also my back begins to hurt a lot when trying to hold a good posture. Anyone got any truly helpful tips? I've always wanted to get into meditation but I just find it so hard.
     
  4. I've only meditated while high (marijuana) and sober. I do yoga every week, and my teacher is like a little buddha. it's so relaxing... definitely an experience. it's amazing to be able to clear my mind and be completely and totally relaxed, no matter what I've been through.
     
  5. the posture is irrelevant, they just do it that way to keep you awake and keep your back straight. i lay on my bed, flat on my back to meditate.

    ill get back to this later
     
  6. Suggestions for Daily Practice of Meditation
    A Place and Time for Meditation
    When you meditate at home, set aside a corner of your room which you can make absolutely pure and sanctified – a sacred place that you use only for meditation. For your daily meditation, it is best to meditate alone. Before beginning your meditation, it is helpful to take a shower or a proper bath. It is also advisable to wear clean and light clothes.

    To follow the spiritual life, you should meditate at least once a day. It is best to meditate early in the morning when the atmosphere is calm and peaceful. Evening is another good time. If you give importance to your meditation and are sincere, your power of meditation will automatically increase. If you are regular and punctual in your meditation, you will notice your own progress. Having a set time to meditate will help you fight against the lethargy and waywardness of the mind.

    Posture
    When meditating, it is important to keep the spine straight and erect, and to keep the body relaxed. You will find that your inner being will spontaneously take you to a comfortable position; it is up to you to maintain it. Some seekers like to meditate while lying down, but this is not advisable. You may easily enter into the world of sleep or into a kind of inner doze. Again, the lotus position, which is an advanced yoga posture, is not necessary for proper meditation. Many people meditate very well while they are seated in a chair.

    Candles, Flowers and Incense
    It will help if your burn incense and candles and keep some flowers in front of you. The outer flower will remind you of the flower inside your heart. When you smell the scent of the incense, you will gain inspiration and purification to add to your inner treasure. When you see the outer flame, immediately you will feel your inner flame climbing high, higher, highest.

    Breathing in Meditation
    Proper breathing is very important in meditation. When breathing, try to inhale as slowly and quietly as possible, so that if somebody placed a tiny thread in front of your nose, it would not move at all. And try to exhale more slowly still. If possible, leave a short pause between the end of your exhalation and the beginning of your inhalation. If you can, hold your breath for a few seconds. But if it is difficult, do not do it. Never do anything that will harm your organs or respiratory system.

    Lion's Meditation
    It is best to mediate with the eyes partly open and partly closed – the lion's meditation. Even while you are going deep within, you are focusing your conscious attention both on the physical plane and on the subconscious plane. Both the physical world, with its noise and distractions, and the world of sleep, are inviting you. But you are fighting both of them.

    Concentration
    As a general rule, seekers who are just entering the spiritual life should start with concentration for a few months at least. Once they have learned to concentrate, then meditation becomes very easy. But even when you start meditating regularly, it is a good idea to concentrate for a few minutes before you start your daily meditation. If you concentrate, you are like a runner who clears the track of obstacles before he starts to run. Once the track is cleared, you can run very fast.

    Concentration means inner vigilance and alertness. Fear, doubt, worry and anxiety are inner thieves that are trying to steal our inner poise and peace of mind. When we learn how to concentrate, it is very difficult for those hostile forces to enter into us. What concentration can do in our life of aspiration is unimaginable. In our concentration the entire mind has to be focused on a particular object or subject. If we are concentrating on the petal of a flower, we try to feel that nothing else exists in the entire world but is and the petal. While you are doing this, please do not allow any thought to enter your mind. Try to make your mind absolutely calm, quiet and tranquil.

    Meditation on the Heart
    Through concentration we become one-pointed and through meditation we expand our consciousness into the Vast. It is better to meditate on the hear that to meditate in the mind. The mind is like Times Square on New Year's Even: the heart is like a remote cave in the Himalayas. If you meditate in the mind, you will be able to meditate for perhaps five minutes; and out of those five minutes, for one minute you may meditate powerfully. First you may get joy and satisfaction, but then you may feel a barren desert. But if you meditate on the heart, you acquire the capacity to identify yourself with the joy and satisfaction that you get, and then it becomes permanently yours.

    There is a vast difference between what you can get from the mind and what you can get from the heart. The mind by nature is limited; the heart is unlimited. Deep within you are infinite Peace, Light and Bliss. To get a limited quantity is an easy task. Meditation in the mind can give it to you. But you can get infinitely more if you meditate on the heart. Suppose you have the opportunity to work at two places. At one place you will earn two hundred dollars and at the other place five hundred dollars. If you are wise, you will not waste your time at the first place.

    Garden Meditation
    When you meditate, feel that you are a child standing in a flower garden. This flower garden is your heart. A child can play in a garden for hours. He will go from this flower to that flower, but he will not leave the garden because he will get joy from the beauty and fragrance of each flower. Feel that inside you is a garden and you can stay in it for as long as you want. In this way you can meditate on the heart.

    Am I Meditating Correctly?
    If you are meditating properly, you will feel spontaneous inner Joy and Peace within and without. But if you feel mental tension or disturbance, then the kind of meditation that you are doing is not meant for you. If you have a good meditation, you will have a good feeling for the world. You will see the world in a loving way in spite of its teeming imperfections. Also, if you have a dynamic feeling right after your meditation, if you feel that your have come into the world to do something and become something – to grow into God's very image and become his dedicated instrument – this indicates that you have had a good meditation.

    Meditation Practical?
    If we are practical in the inner life, that is to say, if we meditate, then we will increase our inner awareness. When we have inner awareness, we have a free access to infinite Truth and everlasting Joy, and we are able to control our outer life.

    In the morning, when you meditate, feel that you have gained real wealth in the form of Peace, Light and Bliss. As you keep your money inside your wallet, so you can keep your Peace, Light and Bliss inside your heart. With money-power you can buy anything you want. Similarly, the spiritual power that you can get from meditation is a real power. When people are behaving undivinely, just bring forward the inner power which you have kept inside your heart. Peace is power, Light is power, Bliss is power, just as money is power. Just bring it forward. The power of inner Peace is infinitely more solid and concrete than any outer disturbance anybody can create on earth. Your inner Peace can easily devour the irritation caused by others.

    The Goal of Meditation
    We are all seekers, and our goal is the same: to achieve inner Peace, Light and Joy, to become inseparable one with our Source, and to lead lives full of true satisfaction. To live in Joy is to live the inner life. Thus is the life that leads to self-realization. Self-realization is the God-realization, for God is nothing other than the Divinity that is deep inside each one of us, waiting to be discovered and revealed. We may also refer to God as the Inner Pilot or the Supreme. But no matter which term we use, we mean the Highest within us, that which is the ultimate goal of our spiritual quest.

    If you practice concentration and meditation regularly, if you are really sincere in your spiritual search, then you are bound to make progress. The important thing is not to be discouraged. God-realization does not come overnight. If you meditate regularly and devotedly, if you can cry for God like a child cries for his mother, then you will not have to run to the Goal. No, the Goal will come and stand right in front of you and claim you as its own, very own.

    *EXERCISES*

    Breathing In Peace and Breathing Out Restlessness
    Each time you breathe in, try to feel that you are bringing into your body infinite Peace. When you breathe out, try to feel that you are expelling the restlessness within and all around you. After practicing this a few times, try to feel that you are inhaling Power from the universe. When you exhale, feel that all your fear is leaving your body. After doing this a few times, try to feel that what you are breathing in is infinite Joy, and what you are breathing out is sorrow, suffering and depression

    Breathing Cosmic Energy
    There is also something else that you can try. Feel that you are breathing in not air, but cosmic energy. Feel that there is not a single place in your body that is not being occupied by the flow of cosmic energy. It is flowing like a river inside you, washing and purifying your whole being. Then, when you start to breathe out, feel that you are breathing out all the rubbish inside you – all your undivine thoughts, obscure ideas and impure actions.

    Concentration While Holding a Flower
    A flower signifies purity. Try to feel that your heart has become as pure as the flower. Please look at the entire flower for a few seconds, and while you are concentrating on it try to feel that you yourself are this flower. At the same time, try to feel that this flower is growing inside your heart – in the inmost recesses of your heart. So you are the flower and you are growing inside your heart.

    Then, try to concentrate gradually on one particular petal of the flower. Feel that this petal which you have selected is the seed-form of your reality-existence. After a few minutes, concentrate on the entire flower again, and feel that is the universal Reality. In this way go back and forth, concentrating first on the petal – the seed-form of your reality – and then on the entire flower – the universal Reality. While you are doing this, please do not allow any thought to enter into your mind. Try to make you mind absolutely calm, quiet and tranquil.

    After some time, please close your eyes and try to see the flower that you have been concentrating on the inside your heart. Then, in the same way that you concentrated on the physical flower in your hand, kindly concentrate on the flower inside your heart, with your eyes closed.

    Sea Meditation
    Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface there may be a multitude of waves, but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence - that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then, when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils will just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. So when we are in our highest meditation we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. This is meditation.

    Sky Meditation
    Kindly keep your eyes half open and imagine the vast sky. In the beginning try to feel that the sky is in front of you; later try to feel that you are as vast as the sky, or that you are the vast sky itself.

    After a few minutes, please close your eyes and try to see and feel the sky inside your heart. Please feel that you are the universal Heart, and that inside you is the sky that you meditated upon and identified yourself with. Your spiritual heart is infinitely vaster than the sky, so you can easily house the sky within yourself.

    Feel that your body is becoming very light. Although you do not have wings, you will feel that you can fly. Feel that your while existence, like a divine bird, is soaring high, higher, highest. While you are having this feeling there will be no sad thoughts, no frustrating thoughts and no doubt. You are flying in the skies of delight and its is all joy, all bliss, all peace.
     
  7. I just want to ask a question. I was trying to understand the purpose of meditation in the above post, and it sounds like it's supposed to bring you closer to God? If you're athiest does meditation still bring piece of mind in other positive ways?
     
  8. now whos copying who Mr. Biggs;):p

    and here i thought meditation was my thing haha

    i got into meditation by my dad in 7th grade, and since then iv used it all the time, it wasnt a big thing in my life until 9th grade wen my band teacher got me really into again, and the whole chi dealio:cool:

    since then, iv been meditating on a daily bassis, i meditate anytime i feel i need to, sometimes i want to, but i really like to meditate for at least 5 minutes before i play bass, for really in my mind impossible to describe reasons.


    but really, meditation made me who i am really. its saved me from SO much shit. and deffinitly made me a better smarter person in my own opinion
     

  9. God is nothing other than the Divinity that is deep inside each one of us


    really, we havent talked once about it on aim. i just started getting into meditation a month or so ago. so far so good. my last post is a guide i find helpful.

    also thanks for the link melt.
     
  10. #10 j0nes1n, Sep 25, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 25, 2008
    the main thing i'm working on right now in my meditation is opening/empowering all of the chakra's

    it took about 2 months but i finally got my base chakra to start opening up, you can tell when their open cuz you literally feel them, its like a pressure feeling..

    at the moment i'm working on my 3rd eye, although their are 6 "eyes" that go from the bridge of your nose up to your forehead, these chakras help with clairvoyence.. i'm also working on the chakra's for clairaudience on the sides of my head

    i meditate for spiritual reasons (wont bother telling you about it, since its mostly atheists in here), but also because it helps me fall right asleep when i meditate before bed, but then i always wakeup exactly 2 hours after i fall asleep no matter what time i fall asleep, then go back to bed for the rest of the night

    also empowering your chakra's increases immunity (i havent had anything more than a runny nose since i was 18, i'm 21 now) and just makes you feel better overall.

    i'm just dialing in my chakra's for right now, gonna move onto sound meditation next (meditating to music and making your brain experience synesthesia, without the artificial aid of hallucinogens) and then after that flame meditation where you focus on a flame and then close your eyes and try to hold the image it burns into your eye (like when you stair at a light n close your eyes n still see like a litup shadow of it) for as long as you can, this greatly increases your concentration.

    i meditate to advance the mind, because as humans your mind is what has given you the edge over other creatures and kept you from going extinct, so if you want to continue advancing, the mind is what you should be working on. cuz in this day n age a physically fit body is no longer vital to survival since we dont have to run down animals with spears n shit.. although a fit body does help increase the bio-electricity which is vital to your mind as well.

    and as far as that link above with heart meditation about how you cant do powerful meditation with the mind because u'll be interrupted by thoughts... thats a major fucking element to meditating, obtaining absolute control over your thoughts, not meditating on your mind cuz u cant get random thoughts to stop is just bein a fuckin panzy, it takes fucking major time and practice to be able to totally block out all thoughts and music, dont just assume its impossible

    reading that part alone automatically just made me discredit the entire thing n not read the rest. the heart chakra is basically the powerhouse of the soul though, so it is important, but saying meditating in your mind is like being in time square, thats just being a total newb n shit, fuckin pwn your thoughts damnit, dont be a pussy, its your mind, take control!
     
  11. #11 sikander, Sep 25, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 25, 2008
    Kinda depends on what you believe. I'm perfectly godless but still derive a lot of benefit from meditation, but some meditative traditions take a more theistic stance.

    My outlook? Reduces stress and reduces mental noise, gets you out of the whole damn world for a while and allows you to basically relax and drop your problems when you need it. I don't do anything fancy, I just sit down and focus on my breathing.

    I've found this to be a helpful guide for getting started meditating: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/meditation.html

    Some people are mixed on the whole posture thing. I've personally found sitting in a prescribed posture helps me to meditate more effectively but I guess it's a personal preference.
     

  12. I recommend that you try the Energy-Control Meditation Technique (if you live in the United States that is. It's still only available to people living within the continental United States)

    http://www.unintimidatedpress.com/ecmt.htm

    I agree with its inventor that this technique is going to make all others obsolete.
     
  13. #13 drsnuggles, Sep 25, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 25, 2008
    First of all, I am not an expert in meditation, as I have only been dabbling with it for s short period of time. That being said, lets continue:

    1) I have an over active brain, meditation allows me to get to a place where I can focus on single aspects and really, really get to the meat and bones of a situation

    2) Sober, and stoned. Stoned is a double edged sword for me, it makes it harder to focus on a single thing at times, but as I mentioned it closes down a lot of 'lanes of traffic' in my brain.

    3) The only thing I would like to say is that people who don't know much about meditation who attempt it say "I can't get my mind to be empty, its not working"; this is not the goal.

    I would sugest this, as it has worked for me: Focus on your breathing. Feel the air breeze past your nasal passages, expanding your chest; then exhale. Feel everything about it. Notice how each breath is different and unique. Your mind will naturally want to be 'thinking' (ie: Mental images, past experiences, future expectations and plans), and every time that you notice your mind thinking instead of focusing on your breathing just become aware of that, and gently allow yourself to shift back to focusing on the breathing.

    When this stuff subsides, and it will eventually (might not be the first time), you can try thinking about problems you'd like to tackle.

    One last thing, one of the main purposes of meditation is understanding, experiencing, and mastering being in the 'now' rather than the past or future. A key concept of this is learning to have no desires or expectations. There is no one way to meditate. You'll find something that works for you, and that will be perfect. Be completely honest with yourself, don't attempt to defend yourself, and be as objective as possible.

    I would also suggest that people really give it a go. It can be a very useful tool.
     
  14. i think one area in joe bigg's eloquent description of meditation that might be causing some people some confusion is the correlation people tend to make between spirituality and literal divinity. Joe contends, and i agree wholeheartedly, that meditation is a practice which is at once deeply spiritual and secular. Meditation is used to connect with one's inner spirit, one's psyche, soul, whatever you'd like to label it. The feelings of joy, of freedom, of oneness and of becoming centered are, indeed, the feelings of a religious experience, and so some choose to call this encounter an encounter with god. It is in this sense that meditation is a "religious" practice, not in the sense that it is a christian or buddhist or hindi practice. For me, meditation is a quest for the spirit, to make contact with some sort of spiritual medium, but i am far from a religious person. I would contend, rather, that spirituality ought to be self-derived; it ought to come from personal exploration, such as meditation, and through one's interactions with other people and with the natural world into which we all were born.

    One other thing i'd like to talk a little bit about is the notion of meditating while under the influence of drugs. I would argue that meditation, in the truest sense of the word, implies a wholly clear mind... no externally introduced chemicals of any nature. And for your day-to-day meditation, i would recommend consistently meditating sober, as this is the clearest and most straightforward way to consistently explore your mind, your heart and your spirit. However, i do know the value of meditating under the influence of some of the more "spiritual" chemicals available to us. If you are seeking a truly religious experience, one which may be intensely beautiful or intensely unpleasant but one which will change your life either way, i would recommend eating a moderate dose (between 1.75 and 3.5 grams depending on potency) of dried psilocybin mushrooms, or a moderate dose (appx 200-300mcg, or about 1-3 'high' quality hits) of LSD. If you are lucky enough to encounter peyote or mescaline extracted from a san pedro cactus, ayahuasca or ibogaine, i would recommend any of those substances also. The psychedelic experience is unparalleled in its ability to eliminate one's ego, one's sense of self, one's derisions and judgements, one's justifications and prejudices, and exposing one to oneself. The most important thing about meditating under the influence of psychedelics, in my mind, is to learn from your experience. If you do it right, with a couple of other people to whom you are close emotionally, in a comfortable environment, you should enjoy your trip immensely. However, if you have an unpleasant experience, it is still important for you to look back the next day and think about what made you uncomfortable during your trip, what these negative thoughts signify about your personality, whether there are things about yourself that you don't like or that make you uncomfortable. Confront these things, think about why they make you uncomfortable and what you can do to either eliminate the negative parts of you, or embrace them, so that you become as much the person you want to be as you can. Use the psychedelic experience as a learning tool in helping you to become the person that adheres to the virtues you admire, and meditate upon these virtues when you're sober.
     
  15. #15 59mikemo50, Oct 10, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 10, 2008
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, and that first part couldn't have been explained better, thanks.

    :) :smoking:
     
  16. i love the feeling of opening my 3rd eye, it feels simply amazing.
     

  17. explain, define.
    i cant rap my head around the definition of a third eye. mind expanding consciousness, no?
    how do you know when you hit that point of using your third eye?
    i can never seem to be satisfied with my ability to perceive, even on five hits of acid...
     
  18. i am having difficulty with that as well


    just finished some meditation actully, feel good :)
    nice calm level head
     
  19. energy control meditation technique? that website looks like bs.


    i dunno what to say about meditation - either everyone does it differently - or everyone does it the same and describes it differently. words seem to fall short.

    i used to think i could meditate well - until i tripped. since then i am not satisfied with what i can do with my mind sober.

    i can do anything i want with my mind tripping it seems. sometimes i'm pretty sure i can tap into other people's minds - but sober i can barely keep track of my own thoughts while they're running away from me.
     

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