Meditation

Depends on your goals and how it works for you and what you're actually doing during those 20 minutes.

A meditation teacher once said something like: it can happen that you sit in meditation for 1 hour, but are only meditating for 2 or 3 minutes.

 

I would highly recommend giving frequency meditation a try - if you search certain frequencies (on youtube, for example) and listen with headphones for 20-30 minutes, you can feel it having a physical effect on your body. 417hz, 432hz, 528hz, 7.83hz etc are all great to start with.

 

I’ve done meditation on and off in the past 2 years. I have been doing 10 minutes a day for the last week and I still feel it is beneficial and I don’t feel like quitting. I think whatever keeps you consistent is best and your mind will get stronger over time allowing you to do more.

 

Hi. Is this something like binaural beats ?

 

I'd recommend meditating just as you wake up and just before bed time, about 10 minutes each. No sense doing it for longer until you can master it in the short term.

 

The time that you would benefit from it the most depends on a meditation. I found it difficult to practice vipassana in the evening as it wasn't absorbing enough to me. Strange enough, I was completely fine with zazen. Maybe that's because I've kept my eyes open? I've also heard about people performing a certain meditation that were so energized after doing it that it rendered them unable to sleep if done in the evening. I believe that with some experimentation you'd find a routine that suit you . I'd only recommend being consistent and do it everyday. I think that's much like a daily shower spirituality-wise.

When it comes for samatha[1] (I wasn't sure for Tibetan term, so I used the Sanskrit one) meditations in general, Lama Ole Nydahl of Karma Kagyu lineage straightforwardly discourages doing them at the beginning of one's practice[2]. It's simply easier to focus on a rich Buddha form or repeat even the lengthiest mantra than to focus on the mind itself and that's something that I'd agree with. A friend of mine have told me that the Lama has also said that it's better to do a few shorter meditations if you can't do a longer sitting, although I can't back it up.

You could also try using a mala[3]. It looks much like a rosary without the cross attached. Personally I'm not sure if I see this much of a difference, but it is supposed to help you with anchoring to the present moment. After your thoughts have drifted away you still move it in your hand, so it makes sense to me. It can be used for counting breaths. Or mantras - that's the purpose that I use it for. I'm doing Refuge Meditation[4] as of lately and it requires 11,111 repetitions of 4-verse mantra. Using the mala helps with counting them.

[1] An article on samatha (single-pointed meditation) @ English Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samatha
[2] Fearless Death: Buddhist Wisdom on the Art of Dying by Lama Ole Nydahl
[3] An article on malas @ English Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_prayer_beads
[4] An explaination of Refuge Meditation @ Official Diamond Way Buddhism website - https://www.diamondway-buddhism.org/buddhist-meditation/diamond-way-meditations/#refuge

 

That is what I do every day (plus some 2-3 minute sessions in-between during the day) and it has helped me a lot to cool and stress down.

 

This is what i do
It puts me in a super relaxed state and i tend to focus better during my day.

 

Helps as in helps reduce or helps induce? What's your experience? I only had one lucid dream with false awakening and it was pretty scary.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you struggle with such difficulties. I wish you that you'd manage to get rid of them soon, as I know that such states can be debilitating. Being unable to do daily chores must be really disheartening to you.

If your back starts to hurt after a while, why don't you change your position? Once I was concerned about this as I meditate in kneeling position which is unusual in our Buddhist Center. I was starting to get confused because all of my friends sit with legs crossed which is uncomfortable to me. I asked the question to a teacher and he said that while it's recommended to sit like they do (presumably with a cushion under your buttocks), it's more important to sit comfortably than to think "when this is going to end" every single second. He also added that it's okay if you sit in a chair - that's the way that I started to meditate, by the way.

As for the specific meditation, I'd recommend you to check if you are able to borrow The Way Things Are. Its a compact introduction to Buddhism which also explains various meditations techniques. I hope that one of them would click with you. Some of them incorporate mantras and you would repeat them as many times as your time-frame allows you to.