m1k3

I haven't started a thread in a while. I have been working on making meditation a permanent part of my life and so far it has been going well. In fact there is a new al-anon meeting in my area that is focused on meditation and the 11th step. Thank you HP, your timing was impeccable.

Since there are so many types of meditation out there I thought it would be interesting if we could share our experiences on what type(s) of meditation we do, techniques and anything else along these lines.

I am using Zen meditation which is primarily just sitting. For beginners you focus on your breath. I count breaths, as you get better you just follow your breath, in and out. You don't try to stop or manage your thoughts you just watch them pass by. The best definition I heard was sitting like a mountain. Your thoughts and emotions are clouds. The mountain does not grasp the clouds and the clouds do not move the mountain.

If you google Zen Meditation you can get a lot more detailed information.

I have to admit I really like it.

Your friend,

MsGrace

Mike I follow a Zen path called "The Way of Sudden Awakening"...and the meditations involve becoming quiet and noticing that which is upstream of thought, emotion, body concerns. There is a part of us that was never born, will never die, doesn't come and go. Eternal. When I'm struggling with some hurt, going to this meditation that re-connects me with that which ISN'T hurt...is hugely liberating. Just for the price of looking, we can be free.... Enlightenment in this tradition may be described as the end of conceptual thought. What a concept!

I recently added a second approach: recovering from two surgeries while in this divorce stuff someone recommended "The Healing Codes" a meditation approach that targets our deepest childhood wounding, brings it up, infuses it with light and wisdom. I swear working these codes had a direct affect on my eye surgery healing in unheard of time (according to my surgeon). I find both meditative practices are hugely beneficial to me with the ultimate result: a release from suffering. A restoration of peace, joy, energy and serenity. Good stuff.

laurie6781

I follow, and have for many years now, a routine based on Native American meditation:

Native American Meditation Techniques | LIVESTRONG.COM

I found this, after finding out the 'deep dark skeleton in the closet secret' of my family and heritage. My maternal grandmother was a full blooded Lakota Indian.

I find the 'routines' helpful to getting me in the 'right frame of mind' whether I am in my home, in my yard, or I have gone up to the mountains (2 miles away). My Totem is the Wolf and my totem is with me when I meditate. Little did I know until about 15 years ago, that the translation of the Lakota name, my grandmother gave me when I was 5, depending on dialect, translates to:

She who lives with wolves

or

She who walks with wolves

And the 'corker' to this is that "Wolves" have been a very BIG part of my life MOST OF MY LIFE. Talk about 'second sight'. She sure had it!!!!! In so many ways!!

Meditation has helped me through many a 'crisis' or 'rough time' in my life, and if I am in a really bad place, I will go out to the Navajo reservation and sit with an elder and meditate with an elder to get once again get myself centered.

I have had people 'chuckle' at me, when they hear that I meditate, that is until they see the 'before and after' when there is a 'crisis or stressful time' in my life. They no longer chuckle.

I believe meditation is a GREAT way, no matter what method is used, to once again get centered and focused within ourselves.

Thanks Mike for starting, what I believe will become a very INTERESTING thread, as we hear from others!!!

Love and hugs,

TakingCharge999

Thanks mike!
I am bad at finding "peaceful moments" and when I try the cats are playing around.. well .. its not good.
But there is a user in youtube called "liferegenerator" which is all about healthy foods, positive thought etc... from him I stole the "word association" meditation

So I go, for instance:

focus, mental peace, clarity.. clarity of thought, inner light, inner garden, strength, flexibility, flexibility of mind, trust, trust in myself, trust in the future...

I link recovery related words as they come...

Tuffgirl

I did too - thought maybe you, Mike, were needing some mediation on something! ; )

I haven't specifically tried meditation - I journal which allows me to sort through my thoughts and such - but sitting still? Impossible - I am too antsy. But I do look forward to reading others' experiences here.

laurie6781

Sitting still? Nope. For me it is getting QUIET and OPENING MY EYES and EARS to what is going on around me. Especially, when sitting outdoors, I can watch the ants, the eagles and hawks soaring, or a jack rabbit, or a coyote moving quietly through the desert and scrub sagebrush. Far from 'sitting still.'

If in the house, and listening to music, I allow my mind to 'image' whatever the 'music' is triggering. Far from 'just sitting still' it is a very 'intense' experience.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

ps: to me 'GETTING QUIET' and 'SITTING STILL' are 2 very different actions.

m1k3

For me the sitting still and focusing on my breathing brings me back to the present, to the here and now. I can't make my mind stop thinking crazy thoughts, the the more I try the wilder it gets.

But, when I don't pay any attention and just focus on sitting and breathing it quiets down all by itself.

Kind of like dealing with a 2 year old.

Your contemplative friend,

Tuffgirl

LOL! Shows you how much I know about the concepts of meditation! I envision monks in orange robes chanting while sitting cross-legged. But the way you describe your experience here, Laurie, I can totally relate to that. I find my peace outdoors; the way the wind rustles the leaves or the deep quiet of snowfall, watching and listening to water (river/creek/lake), etc. But I am always moving, be it walking, hiking, or skiing, so I never considered it "meditation".

That is my reflection time, when I can quiet everything else in my head and just be in the moment.

Thanks for clarifying!

SoloMio

I LOVE meditation. I am a big devotee of Thich Nhat Hanh (he wrote The Miracle of Mindfulness and a bunch of other great books). But I also self-identify as Christian--there are a lot of people who cross Christian with Buddhist contemplative practices.

I really am working hard at awareness, attention and living in the moment. It's getting easier for me to really be in that slice of now. But I'd love to have a community of like-minded people, as you do in your AlAnon group. I know there are several in my community--so perhaps I'll make contacting one a resolution.

strengthtobeone

Hi Mike, I really enjoy meditating and I haven't been practicing for quite some time. Unfortunately when everything goes a little crazy, I tend to neglect myself, which only exacerbates by troubled mind and circular thinking!!

Thanks for this thread and reminding me to be mindful!

I enjoy focusing on my breathing and there is one style of meditation that I enjoy in particular. It is kind of reverse of what most meditations suggest, but let me explain:

I learned this from a book by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and in this meditation technique, we focus on a most beautiful aspect of our infinite potential; we can take in all negative and transform it into good.

So, as a kind of reverse of all things new-agey where you envision all the stress leaving you in bubbles(which NEVER seemed to alleviate my troubled mind), you actually breathe in the bad of the world, the pollution, ignorance, cruelty, and you breathe out the good, all light. We can transform ugly into beauty. This works for me, it reminds me that my HP is total abundance and that I have everything I need inside me. All the answers, all the light, all the good that I think I need. Consciousness and clarity. It really brings me into alignment...

Laurie, I also love being in nature, and I read a really cool article recently about how when children with ADHD get to go for a walk in the park during school, their attention is softened in the natural environment and upon return to the classroom, it is more effective than taking those darned attention drugs. Cool.

I have had this described to me as "wide-angle vision". Imagine going outside and looking off to the distance, like at a mountain. Now bring that openness of your field of vision and use it as you walk around. You will begin to notice sights, sounds, smells you never imagined. Try to hear the animals walking on that distant hill. Look for movement while in wide-angle vision. Smell the air, taste your lips, listen to the birds and squirrels alerting the rest of the forest you are here! Look for tracks on the ground, anything that is moved is a track. Fascinating!

My kids love to play outside, too, so we try to track together

Ahhhh, I am ready for a walk now!

mattmathews

Thanks for starting this thread Mike. I occasionally lurk on the "Spirituality" forum in SR, and I thinking today about how that area of SR just doesn't seem to get a lot of traffic. For me, the spiritual side of Al-Anon is just hugely important...so I'm glad to see some posts on one aspect of it.
Shortly after joining Al-Anon, I made a commitment to myself to start a spiritual journey for the next year...and at the end of that year I felt like I'd barely scratched the surface. I tried meditating by myself, but seemed to have a hard time keeping up with that commitment. So I tried something different (for me): I joined a group. I've always been such a loner that joining a group really was something different for me (going to Al-Anon meetings gave me the courage).
I ended up with a Tibetan Buddhist group doing weekly meetings mixing a little meditation with a little instruction in Buddhism. My work took me out of town for the past several months, and lately I've been sitting with a non-denominational group of Buddhists on a weekly basis. Very nice people.
My New Years resolution is to start daily meditation, combined with my weekly group sitting.
Like you, I just sit...focus on my breath and work on quieting my mind. They say it takes some time before you really start to experience the effects. Time and regular practice.
I hope to find a group to sit with closer to home once my work situation returns to normal. In Buddhism, your group is called your sangha...and is considered your refuge. Like my Al-Anon meetings, I think the support of the group is beneficial. We get better results than when we try to go it alone. Or so I believe.

LifeRecovery

I joined a class based on the work of Jon Kabbat Zinn called MBSR or Mindfullness Based Stress Reduction. It was a fantastic beginners class (I know we are all beginners) but I had been fearful and unsure of the potential religious implications with other meditation courses.

It was a great fit and I have gained a lot from it. My therapist is also very versed in mindfullness and the techniques she works with me has been very helpful. One of my great fears that I had to overcome to meditate was that it was not going to be a therapy session that was bringing me to my "edge" each time.

I have found that it has added so much to my life in the positive though I am not as regular about my practice as I would like (I am working on that).

bluebelle

I use the meditation podcasts at meditationoasis.com. They are free. They have different guided meditations for different situations. I have also done some meditation in yoga classes. I find it to be extremely beneficial when I do it. Sometimes, I have to remind myself because I get so busy!! However, once I take time out to meditate, I feel so much better.

24Years

Interesting that no one has mentioned a higher power or God. I meditate via prayer. It is part of my Christian faith and very different than meditating on "emptiness" or "nothingness". It is to be filled and not emptied so to speak. I highly recommend adding a higher power to meditation.

MsGrace

while I respect everyone's personal spiritual approach, it is also helpful for us to be reminded that not everyone believes in the Christian concept of a God. I think we can each practice in any way whatever that we find helpful. I believe it's even in the steps: "God as we understand Him".

Just my two cents worth!

MeredithD1

I saw psychic medium Alison DuBois on a talk show one day. She described it thus: "Prayer is when you talk to God. Meditation is when you listen." I thought that was useful.

I've been meditating for a little over 30 years. I have done different styles. The first was where I met spirit guides and they told me things to do in life that would be useful. I got good information there that did help. The second was where I met a specific inner guide who took me to meet archetypal energies that took something of human form, to talk with them and help myself to find balance in life. There have been many more types. What I do now is get peaceful, centered, close my eyes, and take whatever comes and do what is needed. There are many energies on the spiritual planes and meditation is a way I see them. I learn much about the world and myself. Meditation is an integral part of my life.

m1k3

24years, I can only speak for my understanding go Buddhism but when you discuss "emptiness" you have to ask yourself, empty of what. I understand it to be empty of a independent existence. It goes back to one of the core teachings of Buddhism, dependent arising. As I understand it means that there is nothing that exists on its own, everything came from something else and as such has elements of those something elses as part of it's self. I carry the genes of my parents who carry the genes of their parents and so on until you get back to the first living things on this planet. I contain an unbroken chain of existance back to them. It goes even beyond that, that elements that make up my body were at one time part of early suns in this galaxy which exploded sending their matter far and wide to be used again.

It,s not reincarnation in the traditional sense because the part of me that sees itself as me, my ego, is a temporary thing. But that's ok. Think of a wave in the ocean, it is made of the water in the ocean, it can travel large distances or very short distances and when it is gone the ocean and it's water are still there.

This is the second main teaching of Buddhism. The impermanence of all things. So paradoxically the ocean has been both changed by the passing of the wave yet it is still the same ocean.

I hope this helps.

Your impermant friend,

MsGrace

Well said! One of the other tenets of Buddhist thought is that life is suffering...this suffering comes from the human tendency to want to make permanent the stuff of life in a universe where everything is impermanent. It is easy to spot: there isn't a single particle in the Universe that isn't undergoing constant change. From this view it is patently insane to think we can force our will upon our relationships, our careers, our health to "ensure" we will never experience change there. Suffering exists right there..that junction that refuses to accept it is the very nature of the Universe for constant, never ending change/evolution. I know the moment I cling to my notions or the concepts in my mind that my will can force something to not change to keep me comfortable...suffering arises the same second. I can continue to battle for non change or I can drop the notion. Depends on when I'm ready to stop suffering.

strengthtobeone

Nice! This concept is immensely helpful for me when meditating on the slogan "Let go and let God". THIS is why I have to let it go... In my relationship with a RA, I was always saving certain text messages that were special to me at that time, but as time passed, our relationship changed and I found myself holding onto an idea that we had long since outgrown. It was no longer my reality....

LifeRecovery

This quote was what inspired me to work on meditating. I am comfortable with my current spirituality and of turning things over, but I have not always been as good as listening for a response.