Does anyone here meditate?
 

I tried a guided meditation on YouTube tonight. I'm thinking its an avenue I want to explore because my thoughts in general can be so overwhelming at times. I'm looking for a healthy way to be still :) anyone have any books or guided meditation recommendations?

No, but going to try it in a couple of days when my head settles a little bit... There are some good meditation threads with links around here somewhere. Not sure about books. Let us now how your meditating works out! There's also some good stuff on you tube.

:Meditate::Meditate::Meditate::Meditate:

The Inner Tradition of Yoga by Michael Stone is good. It has a chapter on meditation. The website meditation station is where I started. I will look in my library for some more titles. Those are two I thought of for you off the tip of my head.

I do centering prayer, but not as regularly as I should. Like meditation it is supposed to help with anxiety.

I meditate often.

There is a Sticky with a List of Books at the top of the Newcomers forum. You might check it out. Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" teaches you how to go within to that quiet, peaceful and safe place, which is always there for you. Deepak Chopra's books also give lots of advice on meditating. Dr. Wayne Dyer also has lots of books which talk about meditation. John Kabat-Zinn is a specialist in mindful meditation.

I practice yoga at least 4 times a week. We begin and end each class with a short meditation. We also do more extended guided meditations and they are absolutely wonderful.... Very transporting and calming. There are plenty of YouTube videos on meditation you can check out. If you are interested in reading an excellent book by a yoga master, I highly recommend " A Life Worth Breathing" by Max Strom.

I do meditate. I just use a few basic ideas I learned from googling though. I have a friend who went to school for a related subject and he is really into meditation so he told me some stuff. Also a guy I know in AA taught me some.

I used to visualize a certain place I had never been to start. And meditate with my eyes closed. Focusing on breathing. That visualization usually gave way to nothingness in a sense and I would forget the breaths. I remember at first 5 minutes seemed like an hour! I used to go meditate on my 15 minute break and keep thinking I was over 15 minutes :). I did meditate that way for months until recently.

Now after some talk with friends I meditate with my eyes open. Same sitting position. No visualization. I simply focus on be-ing in that exact moment. It is difficult at times but great. Everything is happening at that exact time no past or future. When it feels 'right' and my brain quiets down at least. I can sit that way for quite some time when its right. 'Conciousness' has a way of sneaking back in at times but I have grown to love the feeling of just letting everything go. I love this method and testing it at meetings with others in the room just seeing how deep onto that meditative state I can get in 3 or 5 minutes.

I practice every day. Usually 15 minutes or a half hour. I find it very helpful for my state of mind in general on top of recovery.

I would love to learn a lot more on this and read some books too!

I usually pull up a few verses from the bible about the Lord's love for me.

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

The God of the Universe is rejoicing over me with gladness? Me?
He is in my midst? Me?
He quiets me with his love? Me?
He is so happy that he is singing loudly for me? Me?

Wow if that doesn't put me in a peaceful meditative state I don't know what will. That's how I meditate! Amen!!

You guys are so awesome, thanks so much for all the recommends so far! Anna, I did a meditation guided by Tolle tonight & I really liked it. For years I was going to yoga & always hoped I'd learn to meditate outside of class. I stopped going when my drinking got bad. I'm so happy I have the chance to explore this again. Recovery really starting to work it's way into all aspects. So grateful

Hi QF79,
The simplest way is to pray 1st(u talking) then meditating(God speaking to u) is as Ms Dee suggested, read some good verses then if @ all possible be in a room that is as quiet as possible & doesn't matter time of day & just sit & be comfortable in the presence of the Almighty. Don't worry about thots such as this bill needs to be paid or didn't finish homework or what's for dinner etc....that will naturally happen @ 1st but the more you practice it the more your mind will settle down w/ time. Its great once you get the hang of it. Read Joshua1:8 for starters

I was taught mindfulness meditation in a mental health unit years ago.
Contemplative psychotherapy training.
It was a great help as I am not very spiritual.
Will definitely be getting back into it.

I'm going through a course in what's called "mindfullness training". It's basically meditation. It takes a lot of work but it's been a really great way to work on my focus and provides a way of handling those thoughts that come out of nowhere.