Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Beyond Human MEDITATION

Tomorrow, I am starting a course on how to meditate. Today, I am gathering all the helpful information I can on meditation. I have never meditated before - oh sure, I have sat quitely at an area and just 'prayed' but not meditated.

Does anyone here meditate regularly? I have a couple of questions and would appreciate an expert's opinion - although, I have also done some reasearch on the web, but still feel the following have not yet been answered

1. Do I have to meditate at the same time every day? I did read on a website that it should be the same room - but they failed to mention time.

2. Should I start this only if I intend to carry on for the rest of my life or can I do it for as long as I feel the need and then give it up (like paraliminals) and return back when I need to.

3. I am starting my practise with Brain Sync's "awaikening kundalini" - although the program takes you through breathing exercises before you actually meditate, I was wondering if I need to "purify" myself before sitting down for a session. Like, must I take a bath and purify the area of meditation beforehand?

Thank you in advance for anticipated responses.

Hi D2C:

Meditation isn't about using a program to put yourself into a certain "mind-frame". So, at the outset, I'd say forget the "Brain Sync" thing for the time being, and actually learn how to meditate without "props". Also, just the title of that "awakening Kundalini" puts me off a bit. Awakening Kundalini is only something experienced meditators should do, and most experienced meditators will tell you that unless it happens "naturally" it could cause more problems than you'd want. Don't try to fly before you learn to crawl!

I've been teaching meditation for over 25 years, so my own experiences with this are pretty solid.

So, answering your questions:

1) It is helpful, but not entirely necessary, for you to establish some form of regularity of practice, and when you do, you'll probably find it's something you want to continue, not just something you "have to do". Keeping a specific area is good, but not absolutely necessary. In fact, learning to meditate in any place under any condition is quite beneficial as well.

2) Partly answered above in #1, however, to expand a bit, sometimes we are drawn off path for a while, because we need to move through more of life's experiences, and then we find ourselves once again drawn back to the meditation. It's like breathing - if you force yourself to breath in a certain pattern for a long period of time, sometimes that will cause certain mental and/or physical difficulties. If you allow the body to breath normally most of the time, it performs quite well. So with meditation, if you allow your spirit to guide you in what is confortable and healthy for you, you'll probably find a natural rythym that works quite well for your life-style. And one of the most effect, yet simplest meditations of all, is to simply observe your breath, and when you notice (as you will) that your mind has moved elsewhere, or something is bothering you, then simply move the awareness back to the breath.

3) I addressed some of this above in my opening remarks, but in answer to your adjacent questions, you'll find yourself being much more comfortable if you are "fresh" - even the act of washing your hands and face before meditating will give you some sense of separation from what you're leaving to what you're intending to do. It's little rituals like that, that will set the tone for your practice. If you like incense or scented candles, and it's convenient and won't bother others, then these also will provide an "atmosphere". If you set up a regular area for meditation, then having a small vase of fresh flowers is a nice touch - flowers tend to raise the vibration of the area with their colour and scent.

I trust this has been helpful. And congratulations on your decision to start meditating - I'm sure you'll find it a very worthwhile endeavour.

Cheers!
Unis

There is often a lot of rot talked about meditation and this or that method.
What Unis has said is true - keep it simple.
Just sitting quietly and calming the mind by observing your breath is ideal.

What you are going to do is to get to the point where you reach the stillness/emptiness within - which is the only place you can experience unity with the Oneness.

If you haven't done this before, you can find the mind tries to keep chattering on about anything, and it can be a bit frustrating trying to stop it. But if you give it attention, you give it power, so just let it be and observe it like a naughty child, eventually it will subside and the chatter will cease. With repitition you will eventually find that you can go into the emptiness, where there are no words - just knowing and being. Things you thought were important melt into nothing as you become One with the Universe.

Enjoy!
Love and light
Faune

I agree that keeping meditation simple and straight forward are important in the beginning. The main thing though is to cultivate a regular practice. Do what it takes it to keep yourself practicing regularly. This is where you'll get results. I've been practicing meditation now for 40 or so years and regardless of styles, affiliations, props or otherwise, the people I know who have achieved positive results and sustaining benefits are the people who stick with it and make it a regular practice.

One thing regarding tech/cds and the like: Although I myself lean towards the tech-free approach, I know quite a few people who've said to me that they wouldn't even be meditating at all if it weren't for these programs. In this light I can't help but hold the opinion that you should do what you need to do to get yourself meditating. After you've put in a good number of years of practice either with or without technology you'll find that you have the tenacity and discipline to continue practicing for the rest of your life. This is what is important.

I know many long term practitioners from many styles and what we've noticed is that even when technique, approach, systems and philosophies seem to very markedly differ, they often have the same destinations.

I don't know what your goals for meditation are, so it's hard to answer these questions in a way that I think you will find satisfactory.

For some, the goal of meditation is not like the goal of, say, exercise is for many. That is, it's not something you do to get something as a result later or to build a lasting result as a consequence of something you do and forget.

Rather, it is a movement into a new way of relating to everything in the world.

Practice is not limited to something you do and then forget, although doing something and forgetting can certainly be practice.

This is one interpretation of "the path is one but the path is many."

Anything can be practice. Practice is simply being mindful, and meditation is one way to be mindful that can help you be mindful more often.

Some forms encourage various different kinds of meditation so that it becomes easier to follow the thread of it, to experience the similarities of mindfulness during different forms of activity... hence still and moving meditations and all sorts of other meditations.

Having a set time and place to meditate can be good. The end result can be that everything is practice, every activity is meditation.

Good luck.

If your experience is anything like mine, you will acquire moments of silence. Along the way, you might experience times when the activity of your mind during meditation is unbearable. Just keep in mind that this is pretty normal. It can feel like you're going crazy, but you're not. I don't know if the best response is to keep going or just to stop and pour all that energy into some activity. Probably the latter, doing the former when I used to meditate absolutely sucked.

Right now I am not sure if the silence thing is really all it's cracked up to be.

Have your seen Children of Men?

There's a scene in the movie when some pretty heavy stuff is going down, and this new-agey character and this girl start chanting in order to deal with it. It's pretty apparent that they can't handle the situation and are trying to hide behind their mantras rather than be awake, aware, alive, responsive, and deal with the situation.

The most zen-like person around is the main character who is staying completely involved in the situation. Without him the others would be dead, and, perhaps, the future of the human race lost.

I am growing pretty skeptical of this self-contradictory notion that going away inside is the same thing as being deeply involved. I think it's probably the opposite. I don't know. Devices involving fixation seem pretty suspect to me now.

I'd advise quiet observation of everything around you, letting your awareness flow and your responses occur, rather than fixating on a mantra or centering your focus on your breathing. Your body will achieve homeostasis on its own. You don't need to focus or make yourself center or anything.

Just my current opinion on it.