How to Meditate.

[cambraceres]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Doing visualizations or breathing exercises or whatever for long periods of time will probably have strange, not necessarily beneficial, effects on your personality.


[/ QUOTE ]

FWIW, your personality is your ego. They're both bound up together. True meditation is about freeing yourself from this condition. As far as your ego is concerned the effects from meditation are most certainly not beneficial.

[/ QUOTE ]

And what are the implications of ego death?
or ego maiming

[amplify]

[ QUOTE ]
And what are the implications of ego death?


[/ QUOTE ]
Satori I imagine.

[TxSteve]

hey ads,

a few dumb questions

1) eyes are closed i assume during a beginners meditation?

2) you mention that achieving the meditative state is very restful. do people who meditate regularly sleep less or need less sleep?

[DonkBluffer]

deleted by me.

was meant as a PM [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[adsman]

[ QUOTE ]
hey ads,

a few dumb questions

1) eyes are closed i assume during a beginners meditation?

2) you mention that achieving the meditative state is very restful. do people who meditate regularly sleep less or need less sleep?

[/ QUOTE ]

Steve,

Yeah, eyes closed for sure. You want to block all distractions, both visual and audial.

Some people can sleep less as a result of meditating. I can't. You do feel very refreshed after 20 minutes of meditation though.

ads.

[theBruiser500]

what did it feel like hwne you meditated for 5 minutes without any thoughts arising?

[adsman]

[ QUOTE ]
what did it feel like hwne you meditated for 5 minutes without any thoughts arising?

[/ QUOTE ]

It only ever happened once. It was an extremely bizarre experience. I actually don't want to go into it on a message board.
FWIW, the best I've ever done since that one moment is about 15 seconds.

[adsman]

I've had quite a few posters PM me asking me about this thread. I haven't been posting lately as the rafting season has kicked in and I'm flat out. So I've knocked together a few points based on what people have been asking and what I thought I didn't cover well in the original.

If you started to meditate and then it slowly petered out, then this can be your nice little wake-up call. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I want to underline at this point that anyone who is serious in practicing meditation would be advised to find a guide. Meditation is a spiritual and religious practice which has its roots in Eastern philosophy. The Western mind is often prone to misinterpreting the practice of meditation and has limited tools to deal with any possible adverse effects should they arise. If practiced improperly or too intensely, meditation techniques could give rise to psychological and physiological problems that were already present in the student but are brought to the fore when the student delves unwisely into the unconsciousness.

So what is the best place to find a guide? It depends on what the student is looking for. Firstly I will advise on those that I feel are not a good idea. Transcendental Meditation (TM) charges $2500 for a meditation course specifically tailored to the individual. Once widely popular they have seen a marked drop in new practitioners in recent years. I seriously question their claim that this is money well spent. The New Age industry is fraught with charlatans and con-men. You will be wasting your money and usually not learning anything of value. Avoid these. The more happy and ‘loving’ they are, the more they’re off their trolley.

The best place to look into meditation is in the religions where they originated. This does not at all mean that you must become a religious convert to learn. It is not necessary to go to a temple to find your teacher. Your guide may be the chef at your local sushi bar. But if you are open and sincere about finding a guide, then the right one will appear for you.While all religions utilise meditation the two religions most associated with it are Buddhism and Hinduism. These two religions are also the most open with regards to teaching meditation to non-converts. Buddhism is an important religion in Japan and China and a good teacher can often be found within this social group. Hinduism has it’s roots in India.

An excellent place to begin looking is a yoga centre run by Easterners. Meditation has been described as ‘yoga for the mind’. There are many different yoga disciplines but to my mind Hatha Yoga is the best. Hatha Yoga is a complete yogic path. It encompasses meditation, breathing, yogic postures and moral disciplines. A meditation teacher will often be found in a Hatha Yoga ashram.

The right guide for you is the one that you feel is right. There are no fixed set of rules. It could be a man or woman, young or old, Westerner or Easterner. You should have no fixed idea of what you are looking for apart from the fact that you are searching for a guide. A guide over the internet is not possible. A spiritual teacher is not there to tell you right from wrong. A spiritual teacher is merely there to help you along your path. Do not use them as a crutch or begin to worship your teacher. A good teacher won’t allow this to happen. An average teacher may do. A false teacher will encourage it.

[MagicNinja]

Yo asdman,

I was meditating every day for a while and i'm in Thailand. I talked to a german backpacker that described very odd things happening at the monastery where he went to study meditation, and so I found out where it was. I will be going to Chiang Mai and going to a temple there in a week or so.

He said at times he meditated over 10 hours a day. He was newish to meditation as I am also, but described the experience in a very positive way, almost too positive he said, after the temple life he noticed the world of Bangkok as being very dark, the sudden change was too much but he seemed very happy with his studies.

Would you advise against doing one of this intense week long courses, which probably involves meditating for 10 hours a day? The people teaching are very legitimate, the location is well known, I don't even know if there's a charge, I don't really think so. You just join their temple.

[adsman]

Good to see a fellow perth person here,

10 hours a day? For a beginner? I am very reluctant to recommend that. It's always best to start new things slow. You don't get a first time weight training partner to work out with extremely heavy loads. Well, meditation is a work-out for the mind. In a way.

Ask them if they have less intensive courses for beginners. A couple of hours a day in the morning and in the afternoon would be the maximum that I would recommend for any beginner.

As far as the world seeming dark afterwards.... yeah, absolutely. But you have to put things into perspective. This is the world we live in. Either move to a temple and spend your life there or view meditation as a great benefit which opened your eyes to the reality around you and use that in a positive way in the outside world.