KerBearz

One of the areas of recovery that I really struggle with is meditation. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that work for you?

This feels important to me and I really have the desire to learn how to meditate, but I just can't seem to quiet my mind enough to get anything out of it.

I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

wicked

oh, me too kerbearz.
i can read and read about how to quiet my mind, and logically i can figure it out, but cant seem to get the stillness.
yes, i would love to hear any knowledge shared here.

beth

yorkiegirl

I know the following are not meditative (?):

Reading this forum has helped to calm me (even when it brings up sad emotions, I still find it reassuring).

Reading from authors I like (Gabor Mate, Deepak Chopra, Barack Obama, Helen Zia, etc.)

Doing mindless cleaning, yardwork, sweeping (just doing nothing but cleaning, sweeping-- not thinking about anything, focused on cleaning) usually with music.

Writing helps (although it gets me emotional too but it's therapeutic).

I haven't tried yoga in a while but I remember that really helped.


I could use some assistance in this area too. Thank you for starting this thread!

ItsmeAlice

I am horrible at meditation when it comes to quieting the mind and clearing it of all thought. I have had success with a couple techniques.

One is to use more of a linear focused thinking rather than a blank slate. I read aloud a journal entry, a post from SR that resonated with me, one of the 12 steps, etc. Reading aloud requires focus. My thoughts don't wander when I read aloud. I then close my eyes and contemplate the words. I give myself free rein to let other thoughts follow but I try not to force connections. You know how when you think of something random and that brings another random thought and so on. Well I try to let those flow and not stay too long on one subject. I often time myself with a digital timer.

When the timer goes off I often feel like I've been lost somewhere else for a while. Some completely random world that has bits of emotion and ideas all stemming back to the original reading. Often gives me insight to what the reading really meant to me on a subconscious level when I follow some of the thoughts back to the starting point.

Hope the idea inspires you!

Alice

catlovermi

Sometimes people have difficulty meditating while being still, so doing a kinesthetic, repetitive activity might help, then you just relax your mind and open it up to whatever comes.

Examples might be closing your eyes while on an exercise bike, rocking in a rocking chair, swinging in a swing at the park, taking a meandering walk in some natural setting alone... any number of ways.

It's easier for me to think of prayer as speaking to my HP, and meditation as listening to my HP than to try to think what I'm supposed to be doing as I "meditate."

And the other thing is you can have a mixture of prayer and meditation, periods of both. It doesn't have to be one big chunk of only one, or the other. I personally think the key is relaxation, to relax the mind to an honest state, speak to my HP, and listen to what happens.

CLMI

KerBearz

I'll give your suggestions a try. It would be nice to have a shutoff valve for all the garbage that I let in. Thanks for responding!

TakingCharge999

The Corpse posture in yoga is excellent. You lie there but mindfully. In a relaxing setting (or if not relaxing at least closing the door of one room and playing some relaxing music, piano, new age, lounge, classic, boss nova, whichever you find soothing) lie there and feel your body against the Earth. Imagine the day you will no longer be around here..when you become part of the Earth again. Imagine you start merging with the Earth.... normally the hands lie with the palm facing up. But you may also want to move your hands and put them on your heart.

Then repeat for yourself

I see myself
.. in peace

I feel myself
.. in peace

I hear myself
.. in peace



I see myself
.. accepted

I feel myself
.. accepted

I hear myself
.. accepted



I see myself
.. being loved

I feel myself
.. being loved

I hear myself
.. being loved



And you can add to it ... that, I just learned from the Pilates teacher...



Yoga-any kind-is also moving meditation, and even when my mind is racing 40 minutes of an hour session, the last 20 minutes I am somewhere else and feel refreshed and really rested. They say yoga makes you rest more than sleeping and I agree. Try yoga

LaTeeDa

Some days, I can meditate with the best of them. Others, not so much.

Something I found really helpful was a suggestion out of one of the Eckhart Tolle books. (Can't remember which one.) Anyway, he suggests working on 'presence' throughout the day. He says that a few moments of conscious presence, several times a day, is more calming and beneficial than a long period set aside specifically for meditation. Now, I know there are others who will disagree, but I really do find that if I can center myself in the present moment, as often as possible, I see more positive changes in myself than just meditating for X number of minutes each day. Also, I think it's much more beneficial to integrate mindfulness into my everyday life.

So, what I'm saying is, I'm not that good at 'purposely' meditating, either. I try to remain mindful as often as I can, and sometimes I find myself 'meditating' without really meaning to--like watching a sunset, or waterfall, or the stars, etc. I found when I sat down and said, okay I'm going to meditate now, I couldn't. Then, I would beat myself up because I wasn't 'doing it right.' LOL

L

TakingCharge999

Here they explain Corpse much better:

Yoga Journal - Corpse Pose

In Corpse Pose, we symbolically "die" to our old ways of thinking and doing. The normally perceived boundaries of body image dissolve, and we enter a state of blissful neutrality. In reply to the question "What does Corpse Pose feel like?" one of my teachers always said "Nothing."

To practice Savasana, start by aligning the body. Make sure that your two sides are resting evenly on the floor and that your ears are equidistant from your shoulders. Physically relax the muscles and bones. Imagine that the mass of your body is sinking down into the floor, then spreading out like a puddle of oil. Next calm the senses. Soften the root of your tongue. Cradle your eyes in their sockets and turn them down to gaze at the heart. Release the inner ears to the back of the skull (yet keep them alert to the sound of the breath). Smooth the skin at the bridge of the nose and melt it toward your temples.

Finally, surrender any and all psychological effort (or at least as much as you can). Even as you lie still on the floor, you'll discover that you're still trying, wondering what to "do" in this posture. Drop your brain to the back of the skull. Remember the words of the great sage Abhinavagupta: "Abandon nothing. Take up nothing. Rest, abide in yourself, just as you are."


http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/185

The Profundity of Stillness
"Sava means corpse in Sanskrit, and Savasana is a preparation for a conscious death in which supreme consciousness that is everywhere and in everything is released," says Suzie Hurley, Senior Certified Anusara Yoga teacher and director of Willow Street Yoga in Takoma Park, Maryland.

By emulating a corpse through conscious relaxation, one symbolically dies in order to be born anew. During Savasana we have the opportunity to relinquish our individual limitations in order to merge with a power greater than ourselves.

"Savasana is where people are most likely to experience the meaning of yoga, which is their conscious unity with Infinity," says Erich Schiffman, author of Moving into Stillness and a teacher at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement in Venice, California. "You lie there and look dead, but as you relax and sink into the feeling of the very alive energy that is being you, it literally feels like you come to life again."

Yoga Journal - Yoga Methodology - Sink into Stillness

And now I'll stop and let YOU try tonight

TakingCharge999

I like what LTD says, to "habitate the moment" IS meditation, you are not regretting the past or worrying about future, you are in peace with what is. Moreover you are in peace with who you are... not a year ago or perhaps in the future just YOU, NOW.

I have found ,when I make an effort to do it and I also dedicate time daily to HP, yoga or enjoying my chocolate milk, or something only for ME, I feel very much alive and happy.


I read somewhere New agey that sitting and thinking of clouds, going to remote places etc. was "the old way" and no longer works.

That the "new way" is what LTD describes, you don't have to go to India or meet a guru or talk to a religious man or torture your body or eat mushrooms or drugs to feel God's presence.... just stop and feel loved wherever you are, whoever you are

Scooter77

I find that the more consistently I meditate - the easier it is.
I have ADHD so I struggle to sit still and quiet my mind but if I do it every day, just for 10-20 mins, it's a little easier each day not to give up.

I also have to keep it really simple, I focus on my breathing, I let my mind sink into my breath like a ship that rises and falls with the water.

And if I get distracted, I just acknowledge the thought and go back to my breath.
If I'm really distracted, I follow the thought without connecting emotionally to it. I remind myself that moods/thoughts etc are just transient states of mind and if it's really urgent then it will still be there in 10 mins.......it never is.

That's just what works for me, maybe it'll help, maybe not. Good luck :-)

BuffaloGal

If I try to forcibly quiet my mind, the harder I try, the less I can do it. But if I try to find the part of my mind that's already still and just stay there in it, that works better. --BG

naive

hi kerberz-

i've been meditating since 1998. here's what works for me:

1. i sit indian style, against a wall or the bedframe. i do not lie down as it's too easy to fall asleep.

2. make sure that you will not be interupted and decide how long you commit to your meditation. i began with 20 minutes.

3. in the beginning, i needed to relax my body first, in order to permit the mind to relax. i do this by a series of tensing and relaxing all the muscles in my body. i work up one side of the body, then up the other side. for example, inhale and tense the foot for 3 seconds, exhale and relax the foot. inhale and tense the calf muscle, exhale and relax. do this all the way up one side (left foot, left calf, thigh, butt, stomach, torso, neck, left hand, left forearm, left bicep, left shoulder....all the while inhaling on the tense and exhaling on the relax) then go up the right side in the same way. then do the neck, mouth, forehead) ok, now your body should be in a relaxed state. time to begin meditation!

4. you will need to coax your mind to release. for me what works is i tell myself the following:

it is good to be still.
leave earthly worries for now.

5. so now, you are sitting relaxed and have coaxed yourself and re-affirmed what you are doing. raise your energy from the base of the spine up, all the way up the spine and resting the energy in the center of your forehead.

6. now, simply sit.

7. you will see your thoughts coming into your head. do not engage any thought. simply watch them go by like a parade.

it takes a bit of practice. it took me many months. personally, i committed to 20 minutes a day.

make sure that you will not be interupted. lock the door, turn off the phone.

in the beginning as your energies re-align, you might get sleepy in the middle of this. if that happens, stand up, splash cold water on your face and sit back down and finish out your time. you may sleep afterwards but fight thru the sleepiness during the meditation.

hope this helps. you can pm me if you want further coaching.

naive

KerBearz

Wow!! Thanks for some really great ideas ~ I will definitely try some of these and find one that works. Maybe a different one each day depending on my mood. Also, I think a treatment center nearby is going to be offering meditation training this fall and I might check that out too. I'm excited to give this another go.

HoopNinja

You guys know me-I hoop. Turns the brain off and calms the mind. I can be in a total state of chaos and being in my hoop for half an hour will make it all go away. Not sure why it works--but it does for me.

Sometimes, for me, being quiet is too hard. Thoughts become intrusive. I guess when I hoop my body goes into that and my brain and mind follow.

Jadmack25

I have always had trouble turning the brain from fast forward to relax, and had to go to hypnosis to start me off. Now I can listen to my heart beat and use this to count myself deeper til I am where I want to be.
I did some tapes of my own to use in self hypnosis sessions, and can come out of a wonderful state feeling renewed.

So how come I still get side tracked when praying or saying my Rosary????

Tried to imagine me hooping, and all I could see was me in traction. Not for me I fear.

God bless

Summerpeach

I picture that every breath I take in is a white soft smoke, entering my brain, covering every inch of my brain, eliminating each thought and relaxing the mind. I exhale and picture black smoke as the negative leaving my body.
It works like a charm for me.

If that doesn't work, shoe shopping will ;-)