coffeenut

Who uses it? Do you find it useful?

I was watching Oprah the other day. She said to start the year with one minute a day of meditation in January. Everyone can spare one minute, right?! Increase it to 2 minutes in February etc.

I think it's an excellent idea....I just can't seem to do it!

least

I will have to be taught to relax/meditate, as I'm perpetually tense. But I will learn to relax so I won't break apart.

flutter

I do! I had to learn (and force myself?) to do it thru a really cool yoga class I took for a few years. We always started the class with meditation, and ended it. One time, we did 30 min, seemed to fly by in 2.

This is going to sound weird, but one technique I was taught (especially good for me, as I have a hard time quieting my mind) was the "sa ta na ma" chant, for meditation. We sat crosslegged on the ground, back of your hands on your knees, and say slowly and outloud "sah, tah, nah mah"... oh here I found a link to it, I was doing HORRIBLY at trying to explain: Sa Ta Na Ma Meditation

I use a timer, it's amazing, once your mind is quiet.. DING! 10 min, 20, 30 go by in a flash, and the calm and "right" feeling that follows is amazing.

Here's some info I just found too, this is really interesting stuff!

TRANSFORMATIONAL MANTRAS
Mantras are powerful tools for clearing and restructuring the subconscious mind. SAT NAM and its derivative SA TA NA MA are the two basic mantras taught by Yogi Bhajan to reorient the mind and thus open us up to the possibility of transformational change.

SAT NAM seeds the truth in our consciousness by waking us up to our divine identity. SAT NAM is the seed or bij mantra.

SA TA NA MA incorporates the nuclear sounds of SAT NAM. SA TA NA MA uses the primal sounds to connect us to the evolutionary nature of existence itself. It is referred to as the panch shabd, which means a mantra with five sound currents. The fifth sound is "A." When we chant SA TA NA MA we imprint the evolutionary code of the universe into our human psyche.

SA is the beginning, infinity, the totality of everything that ever was, is or will be.

TA is life, existence and creativity that manifests from infinity.

NA is death, change and the transformation of consciousness.

MA is rebirth, regeneration and resurrection which allows us to consciously experience the joy of the infinite.

SA TA NA MA is so primal that its impact on our psyche is like splitting an atom. The power of his mantra comes from the fact that it rearranges the subconscious mind at the most elementary level. It has the power to break habits and addictions because it accesses the level of the mind where habits are created.

tkdan

Meditaion is a usefull tool. I can tell a difference when I get out of the habit. Starting with a minute a day is a good idea. Just remember there are not rules to meditation so all you have to do is sit and try to focus on only something like your breathing and you are meditating. Good luck and enjoy.

Fubarcdn

I meditate 3 times a day. It is not the mystical type of meditation but more of a breathing type of meditation. I started doing it to lower my blood pressure but it also has a calming effect on my nerves. It is more of a physical exercise than a spiritual one.

StrongBird

I meditate but not daily... a couple times a week. It's very helpful.

Anna

I use it and find it helpful.

But, I do struggle with doing it often enough.

James13

I have been going to Buddhist meditation every Sunday morning again. There are 20-30 of us there, and it has been really beneficial to my well being. It's really a community for mindful living.

I had a good session today. Took me a little while to detach, but for the last 10 minutes or so of sitting meditation, I was in my "center", so to speak. I mean detaching from the millions of voices in my mind and just "be", hearing every little sound, and paying attention to my breathing. We usually do this for about 25 minutes.

Then we do walking meditation for about 15 minutes in a circle. I pay attention to every movement my body makes.

Then we sit back in the circle, and share positive readings, stories, and other things with the group. I highly recommend joining a group and trying it sometime.

By the way, coffeenut, that Aristotle quote is one of my favorites.

SummerSkye

A few years ago now I became a buddhist ( that unfortunately fell to the side the more my addictions encompased me) and I used to do daily meditations. It can be very hard at first to quiten your mind but as with everything the more you practise the better you become. I think starting slowly is an excellent idea and build it up gradually from there. You can get cd's with lovely musical meditation chants on them and these can really help you to focus if you are finding it hard to sit in silence, you just chant along to the music. I can still remember the beautiful feelings you get from meditation and you have inspired me to start again.

CarolD

Yes.it's part of my daily recovery routine.
I like starting my day with calm serenity...

SummerSkye

This is fantastic for people who find it hard to sit still for any length of time. I used to go to a Tibetan Temple called Samye Ling and you would often see people who had been given this meditation from their teacher walking incredibly slowly around the grounds

coffeenut

Thank you everyone, for your replies (and for the link, flutter). I really feel the need to do this.

I hear about drunks being angry ( I know I was)...and I just don't need/want that in my sobriety.

So...a minute a day I can do. And according to all of you, I can't do it wrong...so, I'll give it a try.

matt88

I'll meditate about once a week or so give or take. Very relaxing. I do a pose too that decompresses the spine somewhat. I always feel so relaxed, and calm afterwards, almost like a sedative.

It's better for me to just do it once a week. If I do it everyday sometimes it feels like I'm just going through the motions. But plenty of people do it everyday with success, do whatever works for you.