Well, @cko is definitely right; and there are many kinds of meditation techniques. But for one, without getting into too much detail, there is Zazen (without koans), where you are trying to "just be"; and think nothing. Just be, do not cling to any other ideas or thoughts, and when you realize you are thinking, stop it. Just be.
A Simple Guide to Meditation
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Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#22Meditation is one of those things that people think they're talking about the same thing when actually they're not. It's not just one thing - different religions and traditions have completely different approaches. Sure, there are some key concepts common to all like "awareness" and "mindfulness" - but awareness and mindfulness of what? Christians might "meditate" on a passage in the Bible. Theravada Buddhists have t…
I like Castaneda's wording on meditation - stopping the world and not doing. Well, it's not actually on meditation but the outcomes are very similar... or could be.
To perceive the world as it is and not as it's described to us. To experience it directly without any thought or language.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#23Here's a more complete beginners guide: Mindfulness in plain english. I believe its something of a classic.
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html
Scroll down for the ToC.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#24For those who are interested in advanced meditation and pushing the limits, I can recommend book "Focused and Fearless". Covers very powerful techniques. I went from unable to sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour of effortless deep meditation within a week. YMMV.
http://www.leighb.com/jhanantp.htm I'm definitely going to check out that book. I heard about the author from above site. What are your experiences so far?
Jhanic states mostly. Proper meditation gave me a new perspective on Zen and Buddhism as a whole. I've studied it extensively before and disregarded meditation as being superfluous. I was really wrong. It helped tremendously with understanding esoteric parts of Buddhism.
The first experience that got me 'hooked' or rather made me realize that it's not hogwash, is the arousal of piti. The warm sensation in solar plexus that came out of no where after long breath meditation concentration and it turned into waves with each breath-in. It's hard to describe but it's unmistakable when you start getting better at meditation. That book covers everything.
Make no mistake, it's not easy. For whatever reason I got lucky with being able to tune in to deeper meditation, some people struggle for weeks and months to get there. I did Zazen previously on and off and this never got me anywhere. Anapanasati meditation is what will get you to jhanas. From then on, as some scriptures say, the real path to Buddhism begins.
Even if you are not into Buddhism, the pay off is still tremendous. Here is the practical and measurable result of proper deep meditation: ability to calm your mind and achieve total equanimity with virtually no thoughts, just pure awareness and tranquility that lets you sit for hours if you wish to, with zero desire to even move an inch, just sitting still. The ability to exercise your brain like that is pretty huge. In the long term and consistent practice it's beneficial to overall well being.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#25Here's my issue with meditation. There's no guide to what progress should look like. As in, everything I read says you shouldn't have any expectations and to just do it and there's a lot of benefit in it. I get that, I've been doing it for over a year now regularly but how can I know if it has any effects whatsoever? Since I suspect there might be other techniques than focusing on the breath or body scans, I try to f…
There are measurable results in meditation, you just need to know what they are and the proper technique to get there. The problem with meditation is that it's not being taught right, plus there are many variations of it.
If you are seriously looking to incorporate meditation in your daily life then get "Focused and Fearless" book and follow all instructions and exercises as they are taught. You will see measurable results.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#26Meditation is one of those things that people think they're talking about the same thing when actually they're not. It's not just one thing - different religions and traditions have completely different approaches. Sure, there are some key concepts common to all like "awareness" and "mindfulness" - but awareness and mindfulness of what? Christians might "meditate" on a passage in the Bible. Theravada Buddhists have t…
Your comment is a breath of fresh air. Meditation really is very very complex. Primarily because there is the visible side and then there is an invisible side, and the invisible side is not only different in different traditions, but also it is supposed to be different for each practitioner.
Even if you focus on Muslim meditation traditions, there's a huge variety. The Chishti tradition considers a state of dance to be meditation (eg the twirling dervishes) where as the Naqshbandi tradition is more inline with the Buddhist side that involves sitting still and focusing.
> Sure, there are some key concepts common to all like "awareness" and "mindfulness" - but awareness and mindfulness of what?
This is perhaps the most fundamental difference and its astonishing how most "meditation guides" completely ignore this part. See, while a lot of people sell meditation as a relaxation technique, almost all of the original traditions have much deeper goals than this.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#27Here's my issue with meditation. There's no guide to what progress should look like. As in, everything I read says you shouldn't have any expectations and to just do it and there's a lot of benefit in it. I get that, I've been doing it for over a year now regularly but how can I know if it has any effects whatsoever? Since I suspect there might be other techniques than focusing on the breath or body scans, I try to f…
Hopefully this doesn't seem an obvious response, but to my mind there seems to be at least two schools of thought regarding meditation. These schools are not mutually exclusive, FWIW.
One school seems to see meditation as an end to itself, the other as a tool towards some other end. I can't speak to the former, but for the latter - one approach you could follow is to identify experts who have written on the area of improvement and who prescribe meditation as a tool. For example, if you're using meditation to improve willpower, then a book on willpower will help you identify whether your meditation techniques are improving your willpower [1].
[1] For example, "The Willpower Instinct" (K. McGonigal) discusses the use of meditation to improve willpower, as well as the 'state of the art' on the subject, so it provides you with some tools you can use to evaluate whether you're making improvements or not
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#28> Close your eyes and take one breath in through the nose and one breath out through the nose.
Should I take this literally? I have a condition which makes it very hard for me to breath through my nose. Is it a requirement?
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#29> Close your eyes and take one breath in through the nose and one breath out through the nose. Should I take this literally? I have a condition which makes it very hard for me to breath through my nose. Is it a requirement?
It doesn't have to be the nose. You can use the rise and fall of your stomach as your focus. It is merely a point that allows you to notice when you've become distracted.
Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation
#30> Close your eyes and take one breath in through the nose and one breath out through the nose. Should I take this literally? I have a condition which makes it very hard for me to breath through my nose. Is it a requirement?
It's not a requirement. The reason many vipassana guides say to breath through your nose is because most people can easily feel the air at the tip of nose and it gives them a clear point of focus. You can breath through your mouth too. Some people prefer focusing on air coming into the stomach instead.
When I have a cold or some other build-up in my nose, I just breath through the mouth, no problem.