augustwest

that's a great idea! have you read the 12 step buddhist or one breath at a time? both great books and both authors are great guys. i'm friends with both on facebook and they've both been very willing to share info, particularly about starting a 12 step meditation group.

WakeUp

Kevin Griffith came to Seattle earlier this year, and I went to go see him. I told him his two books were my first sponsors.

LexieCat

Kevin's first book was the first sponsor for a good friend of mine, and I found it a wonderful read the first few weeks I was sober. I got to meet Kevin in Philadelphia, and I REALLY wanted to go to a retreat where he is teaching in the fall, but my schedule won't allow it. Next year, maybe.

Sealpoint

Hi Guys

I am a complete newby to meditation. There is so much onfo on it, quite overwelming.

Can anyone recommend a book / web site that they read and after they felt like ahhh it's all making sense now. A kinda breakthrough read.

However, I will be busy reading all the great posts here on SR :o) x

instant

OK may be not truely meditative, but perhaps mindful

To set the scene- you are under pressure at work, you feel you getting tied up.

option one- focus only on reflections of light
option two- focus on a colour and scan the room for all examples
option three- focus on all skin sensations you are experiencing at the particular point in time

others are sound, texture, other sensations etc

You can do the above whilst you are talking or listening and over time it acts to get me centred again. I do this all the time

coming_clean

I just sit half lotus, and breathe, let thoughts come and go

Blaizze

I practice a form of Druidic meditation. To include sitting comfortably (preferably outside, but a chair inside works as well), and focusing on breathing. Once settled into a relaxed breathing pattern I switch my thoughts over to a particular color. Each color signifying a different type of energy (yellow=strength, red=energy, blue=receptivity, green= grounding.... etc etc). Focus on the color's energy on the inhale, negativity/stress leaving on the exhale.

that is the brutally hashed and shortened version though haha.

GrowingDaily

This is the type of meditation I practice. The only difference is that I don't use the 'thinking' bit... I attempt to dismiss them without such a keyword. And yes - it's DIFFICULT when you first start out.

I don't think people realize just how hard it is (and is supposed to be) to gain control over their random thoughts. There's so much you learn from this practice, though. It's not only about controlling your thoughts - it's about understanding them. When you try to quiet your mind, you become aware of the multitude of thoughts running through your mind that lie just below the surface of awareness. Thoughts - often negative - which continually reinforce themselves, affecting your mood and actions.

Meditation is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

freshstart57

LaFemme, I was introduced to mindfulness exercise as part of my therapy for depression, and I found it very useful for dealing with my AV, and with my triggers of anger, frustration, anxiety and the rest of those miserable miscreants.

My instruction was simply to sit comfortably and tall, and follow the breath, concentrating on simple sensations. Intrusive thoughts were to be accepted without reaction or judgement, and then the attention returned gently back to the breath.

Soon after this, as I started to learn more about mindfulness, I found out that I had been meditating the whole time. The reading I had been doing of books by Kabat-Zinn, Tolle, and others was leading me to develop my own meditation practice. I am learning to become the watcher of the thinker, an ability I am finding to overlap with RR.

There are many many online resources for this sort of thing, and you can choose your own flavor, from yoga, to Zen, to New Age crystal vibrational energy, to Western mindfulness stuff. Through some of these blogs, such as The First 30 DaysI have learned that our thoughts influence our mood, and that sometimes the only thing we can change is our perception of the world around us.

All you meditators might enjoy the following:
30 Days of This?

IndaMiricale

Hi , I do every morning.

I have a bedroom set for it. Just set in tranquility. Candles art , blown glass ect. I sit on my favorite rug and breath like yourself. With some candles and insence. Usually good ol Nag Champa. And just be.