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Help with meditation

Old 11-13-2012, 03:11 AM
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Help with meditation

Many people on SR have recommended meditation as a way to help further their recovery. As someone who can barely sit still for 2 minutes without feeling an overwhelming urge to jump up and do something, I think meditation would be a great tool to keep me calm, centered and focused. Can anyone recommend a good way to learn HOW to meditate: a book, podcast, video, anything? It may sound simple - just sit there and breath - but I know there's a lot more to it than appears. Any help would be appreciated.
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Old 11-13-2012, 04:41 AM
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There are some very good resources on the web. you just gotta look. When I did that, I found lots of info about it, as well as lots of info on how. It's not as weird or new-agey, crystals and kharma as you might think. People have been using these ideas for thousands of years, but our western society has yet to embrace it.

It is a very personal thing, and you might have to look for ideas that appeal to you uniquely. Here are some things that appealed to me.
Urge Surfing was my entry point into this idea of meditation. It is an important tool that showed me how to deal with my addictive urges calmly and successfully.

From that, I learned that this urge surfing was a form of Mindfulness, a word I had used before without knowing what it meant. It is about being able to have all of my attention on the present time, not my regretful past or my fearsome future. The first time I did this it was only for five minutes, but it seemed as though I had been on a vacation afterwards. What a relief it was to not have my chattering brain beating me up for a change.

From there, I looked for information on 'follow your breath' and 'progressive relaxation' and 'non-dual meditation'. For the last one, try this 10 minute guided exercise. Non-dual Guided Meditation - YouTube.

I also looked up this guy named Eckhart Tolle and read his book 'A New Earth'. I recommend it. The ideas in it are simple, beautiful and powerful.

I hope you find these ideas helpful, Shoebox. Mindfulness has been essential to me in maintaining sobriety. Namaste.
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Old 11-13-2012, 05:42 AM
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For me, the thing about meditation was I could read all kinds of ways to do it, but when it came down to it, I just had to make myself sit and do it. I try to follow my breath.
The best thing I heard that helped me sit there for 15 or 20 minutes was this:

Your mind is like a puppy. It wants to go and play (meaning, it doesn't have the discipline to be free of thought). Don't scold the puppy when it does this, just bring the puppy back.
So, when I am meditating, and I find all of a sudden I've been thinking about what happened yesterday, or what I'm doing later, I just bring myself back to my breath without beating myself up that I'm bad at meditating.

As I do it more, it becomes easier to stay in my breath, similar to the way you have to train the puppy.
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Old 11-13-2012, 06:28 AM
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Much like you, I experienced violent noise when I first tried to commune in the silence. I found guided meditations rather helpful in the beginning. One in particular, "The Ribbon Breath Meditation" by Ticia Agri
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Old 11-13-2012, 06:59 AM
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Meditation is so helpful. I'm sending you a link via PM.
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Old 11-13-2012, 07:06 AM
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There are many ways to learn how to meditate and I second that it is very useful! Practice is key though....at first it felt like a waste of time but after keeping at it I reaped the benefits of learning how to quiet my mind. I particularly like good guided meditation cds, they have helped me a lot
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Old 11-13-2012, 07:56 AM
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Meditation, yoga, runner's high, are all the same relaxation response you are describing as your desired end effect. I taught progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and using that with visualization anyone can get there. And yes it is all the relaxation response. I find progressive muscle relaxation to work for everybody when I guided them through the first session in a darkened room with them on the couch with loosened clothing and shoes removed.
Here is a set of search results with many free online guided PMR sessions and starter lessons:
progressive muscle relaxation - Bing Videos

If you spend a few hours reading and listening to several of the videos you should have it down pat in an afternoon. I also used it for training competitive shooters as once mastered you can get into the relaxation response for total focus, truly getting in the zone. I could get there in a few breaths. So to avoid the misunderstandings of mystical or spiritual trappings it is easier for me to teach PMR and in the first session prove that the mind muscle relationship is two way. That indeed when the mind is stressed, the muscles tense up. However it is just as consistent that when you relax your muscles, the mind follows. This is fact and requires only one to do, and one to teach only at first. The spiritual and mystical feelings are still there if you choose to frame the relaxation response in those schemas. The rewards are the same using any schema as the relaxation response is invoked with all of them. Getting there can be through repetitious athletics, focus, repetitious breathing or chanting, but PMR is a fast way to get there in a day. It is not a journey for me, it is a workout, and can even be done at a desk once learned for a feeling of getting a few hours rest in just a few minutes.
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Old 11-13-2012, 09:06 AM
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I have been using body scan medidation as it enables me to focus on the spoken words and stops my mind wandering.

Just type "body scan" into youtube and give it a go
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Old 11-13-2012, 09:38 AM
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Apparently I don't have enough posts to include a link, so just google the following:

Meditation In Plain English

It will be the first thing that comes up, it's free on the web, and it's widely considered one of the best meditation guides around. Don't worry that the author is a Buddhist monk; it's a general guide intended for anyone, not a sales pitch.
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Old 11-13-2012, 12:38 PM
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Thanks for all the great advice everyone. That's why I love this site. I'm going to try some of these techniques tonight when I get home. Thanks again!
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Old 11-13-2012, 01:51 PM
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To me, meditating is calmly listening in the presence of God.

I began to be able to do it for an hour at the AA meetings.

All the best.

Bob R
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