I’ve read a lot (online, admittedly) about it… and I’ve been trying to meditate. Its difficult for me, however, to truely think of… nothing. I know some people that can do it, and I know that nobody is INCAPABLE of meditaiton, but I wanted to get some tips, maybe.
I’m not sure if any of you meditate, but I’m guessing one or two of you do, and so any pointers that you could give me would be helpful. =p
Oh- my motives for meditation? I need to relax, and this has been suggested to me above any other method.
Wait, think of absolutely nothing? But what if you meditate on a subject? I dont think thinking ABSOLUTELY NOTHING is possible. All of those monks are just faking it.
The basics of meditation include a comfortable stance. Any will do: most people think you’ve got to sit in a lotus position, but you can do it while laying on bed or sitting normally on a chair.
Next, you need to control your breathing. It has to be sooth and regular. Search for the word Pranayama on google - these are breathing exercises that help in this part.
When you’ve found your stance and caught up with a good breath, the only thing you have to do is focus your mind into something really specific. A lot of people simply think nothing - erasing all thoughts is the most well known way. But you don’t necessarily have to keep your mind clear. You can fill it with one thing, as long as it keeps you from thinking into anything else and does not change in any way over time. You can focus on a continuous sound, or a dot somewhere, as long as it takes all your focus in it.
If you are into it, you may chant a mantra and focus solely on it. That way you’re doing both an effort on a respiratory exercise and keeping your mind tied to something.
From what I know about mediatation, you’re trying to get into the same state of mind that hypnosis takes place at. There are names for the various levels of brain activity and I believe the level at which meditatation ocurs is called the “alpha state,” but don’t quote me on that.
Someone tried to teach me how to meditate once, and from what I understand, there’s a sort of “barrier” you need to let yourself cross, and instinctively most people back away from it. Once you get across the barrier your first time though, it’s much easier to get back the next. I couldn’t tell you if I’ve ever managed to get into the alpha state or not though, because I honestly haven’t felt any such barrier when I try to meditate.
Anyway, as Ren was saying, you don’t need to focus on “nothing” to meditate. In fact, in trying to get you under hypnosis, a hypnotist will usually tell you something along the lines of “think of a calm, soothing place you’d like to be.” Good examples might be a beach, a forest, your bedroom, etc. Just imagine you’re there and you’re relaxed. Once you’re there, you’ll have a much higher attention span, a clearer focus, and you’ll feel more awake.
Of course, I’ve never actually been able to <em>do</em> any of this, so don’t ask me about my personal experience with meditation. I couldn’t tell you if it’s real or not, but I hope what I do know helps you out at least a little.
Meditation is fun ^^ I’m glad other people do it too =D
CC, what works for me is to just think. Let all those thoughts be thought. It takes a while, sometimes, but once you do it, it becomes easier, like GM said, each time.
Meditation is just… relaxing, and you can think clearer. It’s fun ^^ Very refreshing I find.
Thinking nothing is extremely difficult. I’ve been meditating for a while now but I think my best in nothing- thinking was 10 seconds or less, I don’t know.
Take a few deep breaths and calm down completely. Concentrate on your breath and heartbeat. From that point, you could start trying to think nothing, but it’s still extremely difficult. With a lot of practice it might be possible for a longer amount of time though.
Whoa. I tried it like Ren said before I went to sleep, only I tried to let all the thoughts flow out of my mind, and it worked.
Well- for about five to ten seconds. But it was the first time I’ve tried. I’m sure that if I did this every night before bed I’d get “better” at it. It was extremely refreshing. =D
You don’t think of absolutely nothing when you meditate. You contemplate your navel, go cross-eyed, or stare at a tiny black spot on the wall for hours on end.
After a while you achieve nirvana for no apparent reason.
Reminds me when me and my friends tried attempting some meditation coz’ we really needed a couple of hours of sleep and were going to London early the next day…
Problem was, we had a few cokes earlier, so the caffeine like, rushed our veins. Needless to say, it didn’t work well. Our thoughts were just like, FUBAR. X-D
And it’s not that hard to channel your thoughts for me, especially when I’m thinking of an object, but when I’m speeded on caffeine… Well, you get the idea. :hahaha;
Originally posted by Chris StarShade
[b]You don’t think of absolutely nothing when you meditate. You contemplate your navel, go cross-eyed, or stare at a tiny black spot on the wall for hours on end.
After a while you achieve nirvana for no apparent reason. [/b]
While I am not Buddhist, I must say that is the most grossly oversimplified summary of Buddhist beliefs I’ve heard in my life.
Nobody reaches Nirvana by just meditating, for one thing. Maybe you should actually read a little bit (here is a place to start).
I think you’re trying for too much too early. Try thinking about one thing only, like your breathing. When you can do that for extended amounts of time then go for thinking nothing.
It is believed that meditation helps relaxing and refreshing because when your mind is in a very low load, everything obstructing it goes loose and is purged out. As for how much time you can spend meditating, it takes only practice to get longer times, but I suggest against timing it
