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[autumn953]

Could someone help me with some of my questions about meditation?

I have only just started to meditate for the past few weeks. I have no formal training in meditation, I just have been sitting with my eyes shut and here is how I began ...
1. First I tried to see how profusely I think... and it was a lot of mental blah blah blah .... you get the picture.
2. I then worked towards avoiding Past and Future related thoughts.
3. Then I simply stopped building upon any chatter and detached myself from it all.
4. The thoughts were now lacking in variety but there were no gaps or intervals.
5. Now I am at a stage when there still are no gaps or intervals but the entire thought process is revolving around staying focused. So the quantity has not really diminished at all.

The nature of my thoughts at present are like Major thoughts that take the center stage almost loud subvocalisation and then there are some very tiny ones that fill all gaps .. these are more like verbal inaudible whispers that can easily be dismissed as non existent, but lol lol they do exist, no matter how insignificant but they are there. Although mostly pertaining to the task at hand - meditation and focusing. I know I am not being pure awareness when I am thinking 'ok, back to focusing' lol .. because that too is just a thought after all.

Am I moving in the right direction? Are you more focused when you are only thinking about focusing?

Any input will be great help.

Thanks and hugs everyone.

[curiotrope]

I think you are moving in the right direction. It's only natural that when you first start meditating you'll have a lot of thoughts bubbling up. Somebody told me once that the key to meditation is not to attach to those thoughts but to let them come and then leave your mind freely. Your mind doesn't have to be silent in order to meditate "properly".

Now having said that, a technique that usually helps me clear my mind is to focus on breathing or one of my senses. For instance, what is the farthest thing away that you can hear? Is it the birds outside? A distant highway? A jet?

Perhaps more important is how does your meditation make you feel? Do you feel relaxed and focused? Are you finding it helpful? I don't really believe that there is a "right" way to meditate. You should do whatever seems to work for you.

[thequestforthequest]

Hi autumn953,

I also think that you are moving into the right direction.

When meditating, I find it crucial to see that any thought or emotion that is right now, is OK. Acceptance.

When I try to fight a thought it creates an opposing force. What you resist persists.

Acceptance is key.


Please don't take my word, but figure out what is right and true for you.

I hope this has been of help.


Also, the best technique that puts me to the present is to focus on what I hear or on an other sense.

To focus on breating helps to put space beetween my thoughts.


These exercises you might find helpful:

http://roage.free-forum.net/exercises-and-meditation-techniques-vt365.html

http://members.shaw.ca/burtharding/Reading.html


_____
@Seamus and others you accuse me of "trolling":

I am just trying to help, I am no authority on anything and I do not claim to be.

[autumn953]

Hi guys, I read all your posts several times. Honestly, I am a little confused as to which practice I should adopt. Answer that comes to my head is to stick to what I have been doing so far. I don't think I am a candidate to do a regimented practice with a definite grammar. I am raw and too much of a beginner to delve any deeper at this stage. Something tells me that remaining gentle in my approach and not stressing will gradually get me into a disciplined kind of meditation, a more traditional style. At the moment I am very discouraged as I have not made much progress. I know it is because I have not taken your advice but, it seems that I will not be able to remember the rule book while meditating I feel flustered while trying to remember the protocol and become very distracted and anxious instead.

Right now ..... I am unable to 'plug in' during meditation. Nothing bites.
Just keep looking at those dark floating colours like a lava lamp. I hear the tinnitus like sound for focusing and it helps a bit.

Please guide me on how to 'tune in' while meditating. I have cut out the noise, the internal dialogue to a large extent. Now I just need to go beyond this stage.

I told one of my friends that I have been meditating. She had never meditated before and is not a spiritual/religious person by nature. She tried it out and reported the following ...
She sat down and allowed thoughts ...
They stopped and she was in complete and utter darkness with her eyes half open.
She said everything disappeared from her sight and then she saw what she claims 'light' is not a suitable word for. It was bright enough to bedazzle you if you otherwise, but, it did not. It was a rather soothing bright illuminance or something. She came out of this trance very refreshed and said that whatever it was .. it was verrrrryyyy nice.

This gives me hope that someone as raw as that could do it, that means I am doing something wrong. Maybe I am approaching the issue totally wrongly.

Help ... please.

And many thanks for all your replies. Hugssss

[curiotrope]

At the moment I am very discouraged as I have not made much progress.

What do you consider progress? You are practicing, trying new things, and learning. That sounds like progress to me. Don't expect to experience the same things during meditation as other people. Your experiences might be more subtle, or the supreme authority might speak to you in ways you cannot yet imagine.

You mentioned that nothing seems to be "biting". Have you invited anything in? Just a suggestion.

Don't worry about a rule book. Do what meditation works for you. If you want to try new techniques, I recommend you try them one at a time so it will be less distracting and overwhelming. In the meantime, try not to get discouraged. Maybe for you this is a lesson in patience or some other thing that you have not yet realized.

[autumn953]

Hi thanks for the reply.

Every word you said resonated with me. If with 'invited' you mean me trying to contact other souls ... lol no. Just meditating for the purpose of having those extra sensory experiences everyone keeps talking about. Say feelings of expansion of awareness, seeing light, Oneness etc.

Yes it is a great idea to thoroughly read one particular technique and try to practice it. Thanks.

Meanwhile, I meditated today avoiding ANY focus. I put a blindfold on my eyes so no light can pass through, I find it easier to meditate as there is less distraction caused by air and ambient light disturbing my eyelids. So what happened today was that the coloured lava lamp like movements almost went away leaving a dark visual field. I could feel this field all around my head and my body slightly buzzed for a couple of seconds. I was not free of thoughts and was totally aware of the ambient noises and sensations. A thought arose about feeling larger than my body and I did feel nice. But, the feeling of expansion and bliss felt unfulfilled and somewhat stunted within a few seconds. I was getting thoughts such as wow ... I am perhaps crossing a stage in my meditation. Perhaps this spoilt the crossover and I started going back to square one. Yet this was definitely something different from what I have been getting at so far. An inch forward.

Thanks again for your response
Hugs

[Moose]

Meditation......

Can you speak of what is it that you seek most.?
Is there a goal you have set, while sitting in the dark?
Meditation brings the need to experience what another has spoken about. The little Me hears the outcome's of others and thirsts for a piece. But what is the piece or to the latter the peace many find.

There are many ways to travel, some are quick, yet some are slow, and others never really get there.

One could try to examine every thought and discover it's motive and root, instead of ignoring, thus foundations are taken down.

[autumn953]

Yes, you got me. I have but one goal, to experience what 'they' say they have experienced. Insights, feelings of oneness, expansion of consciousness, direct experience of Reality, a kensho. I don't know what to call them but any out of ordinary experience so that I have something solid to work with. I am sure that this 'darkness' will only disperse with some insight. It will be worth a thousand words. I have had none.

They say what I seek is not in time or space or mind. It is in a different dimension and golly gee, it is where there is no ego. How do I get there? I am pulling my hair out, looking at trees till my eyes start to water. Meditating like it is an addiction. I read stuff on the net and shut my eyes. I have been living with eyes shut for the past few days. I have not been able to go any deeper than the surface. I know when I will get 'there' I will KNOW I am there. No such knowing has taken place yet. I am that much useless?

[curiotrope]

Have you pushed the button yet? I found it helpful.

http://www.roage.com/thebutton.aspx

Ironically, while you are seeking your ego's idea of "meditation" and transcendence or whatever, you are not likely to reach that ego-free dimension of which you speak.

This is not something that is in your control, so it might help to stop trying to control it.

[roage]

I have found that the best way to meditate is to not meditate. Remove all expectation, all process, all ritual, all timing, all action and all directed thought. Let it flow. One meditates by knowing only when it is interrupted by actions required through the course of required necessity of the life experience.

Meditation is the normal state of continual awareness and acceptance of surroundings and is not a limited period of ritual.

It is being. One does not choose a point in the day to be. One either "is" or they are distracted/hypnotized by the experience.

The more energy you put into it the more it eludes you.

Relax, kick back, be useless in a physical sense.

You have an eternity to get it right so you need not worry if what you do is correct by any physical or arbitrary standard.

All is as it should be.