I use meditation so that my body recovers from fatigue or injury. I mean, if I am sore from training, or bruised from sparring, or cut but not in a serious way. A good night sleep will always help the cause. But since I dont sleep all day long. I use meditation to emulate a stillness of sleeping when i am not tired and i am on break. I dont overexert my sore muscle or my injury, and it gives my body time to relax. And usually at those time my mind is focused because I am usually thinking " AGHHH, My body is so freaking sore". Otherwise I dont use it. I dont have that much time to waste when I should be studying. A long period where your mind is not focused on a current task at hand, such as studying, is completely counterproductive to what meditation is supposed to achieve.
I meditate in complete silence - that is, mental silence as well as silence in my surroundings. Preceding a meditation session I like to light incense and place a lit candle in front of me. This doesn't reallt help, at least not the incense - I just like the smell, though some of them can be calming. I relax completely and clear my mind. After a session I feel revitalized, less like I want to hurt someone, and more aware of my surroundings. Sometimes after my mind has been cleared I'll think of problems I've been having, and in a sense, attempt to search for a resolution within my mind, something I hadn't considered. I also send positive energy toward thoae I'm concerned about, by means of thinking of them, and imaginig their problems resolved. I rarely do find the opportunity to meditate - it's hard to get people to shutup. What I mean by that is, most humans are pigs, and they tend to make unneccesarry amounts of noise.
The same holds true for me, though I still experience this to some degree. When I'm being overwhelmed by my current tasks, problems, or whatever else, I just like to drop it all for an hour or so, and simply disconnect myself.
I don't meditate so much in the traditional sense, but more to the fact I meditate on thought. I'll lay in my bed, or kneel beside my bed, say a prayer then meditate on what ever is on my mind. I know it sounds like it's not 'meditation' but it works for me and that's all there is to it. I always feel at peace afterwards, wether it's a placebo or not, well, dosn't matter.
Meditation for me means relaxing completely with a re-focused mind. It calms me down and allows me to gain energy later on. - Ceicei
About the emptiness theory, I think that emptiness can be related to all things. For instance all things are form and emptiness. While all things that we experience with the five senses have a form, or a way that they can be experienced, they are inexplicably connected with the entirety of the universe. This is expressed by the word emptiness. For if something is intrinsically empty then it can be filled with anything. Well if all things are like unto this fact then all things penetrate each other at all times. Leaving room for no separation. This mind set is called a non-dualistic mind set. Another way to look at it is while in the process of Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the one thing that can help you understand the connection between all things, a leading back to a source that in turn merely leads to the something before it that you might not have seen before you decided to be mindful of things in general. This chain of connection is never ending. That brings us back to emptiness. So in essence a “empty mind” can defiantly be a reference to a mind that is mindful of all things or even a group of things since this mind set allows us to see the connection, how one thing penetrates another. Stillness when in relation to your thoughts or ideas means that when one thing enters your mind you simply let it go. If you do this with all your thoughts you can say that this too represents a clear and peaceful mind. *laughs* I didn't mean for this to get so long, sorry. - xNejix
Mu-Shin From the first class I took in any martial art (it was judo & Ju Jitsu in a mixed setting) ... we learned Mu-shin - "no mind". I had never mediatated before... but I found it to be very refreshing. Since then I have started meditating much more. I find that even five minutes in the middle of a very stressful day help me refocus my energies.
I meditate everyday - at least 10 minutes! It helps me feel free, or relax. =) When I say feel free, I meant like I am the one who can do any thing; also, meditation has one purpose: to free your mind. That's it! No matter what, you can't argue that meditation frees your mind!
This is one area I really enjoy practicing as I do a lot of shamanic meditations and I love how you can go as far as you want to without having to worry about the time, you can easilly lose yourself and feel great at the end of it. When I used to go to a class I really enjoyed the meditation part as it was controlled and had some good music to listen too, you could always listen to that if you couldn't let go enough and not disturb anyone else while they were meditating lol. I think this is the only area I've kept up with just lately as I've been trying to get ready for some treatment I'm going to have very soon so I really need to work on the relaxing and not getting too stressed at the moment. If well worth doing some meditation as you don't have to include anyone in it, it's just you and the energy which is good for you. lisa xx
Thats the crap thing about bein new here, you miss out on all the good discussions! I meditate for 25 minutes everyday, I use the mindfulness of breathing mostly. It works great to balance the mind. It also helps enhance a little pyshic ability I have...
I still can't really do it properly yet. Maybe I'm impatient, expecting too much. Anysway, I might be getting better. It's all about learning to focus and concentrate and that's probably my achilles heel for the moment.
I like to meditate with the complete silence/emptiness method, though I've never reached the ideal state. The awareness of breathing method as well. And I like to meditate on death considering that: 1)Death is inevitable 2)No one knows when death will strike 3)At the time of death, only the spirit is of relevance. Sounds morbid, but for some reason it puts me in a good mindset.
I don't really know... just something... enlightenment? I don't realistically expect things but sometimes when I'm doing it my mind keep saying "Shouldn't something be happening? Am I doing it right? Does it even work?" although this train of thought it described in my book so I'm working on getting past that. I think that the idea is to concentrate on your breathing and let everything else gradually clear out of your mind, leaving you relaxed and focused. Practice makes perfect I guess.
Not enough options... There wheren't enough possibilities for answering that poll (no offense meant), as i must admit that i personally find it as equal between options 1 & 2. Though my meditation makes me more calm and relaxed, it also (through the calmness of my mind) make me more aware of everything around me (hope this makes sense, and doesn't sound like some mumbo-jumbo).
Enlightenment may take many lifes! But keep trying! The thoughts you describe are common for people beginning meditation. Don't be worrying about trying to make things happen..just let it go..just be alone with your breath. If your thoughts proceed to interupt just observe them and gradually come back to the breathing. Don't force yourself and don't give out to yourself... just be calm. There are other excercises you can do to prepare yourself for meditation. Keep it up!
Guided Meditation Of course there are different styles of meditation like there are different styles of martial arts. Some focus on problem solving, some on emptying the mind, some are guided meditations. For a really good guided meditation check this out .
