To Meditate or Not?

there is a lot of kinds of meditations... once I liked is merkaba meditation you can hear it here is guided. It boost you up, your energy and concentration. Really worth it.

 

I tried three meditation exercises so far:

• The one proposed by Clark Strand in "The Wooden Bowl", during which I once started hearing soothing sounds right in my head,
• an initiation sequence for an out-of-body experience, which I did not actually achieve, but nevertheless I reached a state in which I felt an intense tingling vibration throughout my whole body,
• a microcosmic orbit meditation which is supposed to distribute your energy evenly through the body, including sexual energy.

The first two I did years ago. I had the experiences I mentioned, and they were exhilarating, kind of giving me a glimpse of things that are going on deep inside of me, deeper than I am usually able to feel. Experiencing this yourself is different from hearing somebody talk about this kind of stuff. Nevertheless, I did not feel devoted enough to actually pursue this further and make it a part of my daily or weekly routine.

The third meditation I started only few days ago. I am doing it twice a day, and it takes only three to five minutes. It is also the perfect thing to do if you are feeling urges to M.

I say that if you are interested in meditation, give it a try. As @StencilBenjamin said, there are different kinds of meditation. Taking a walk in the park can be meditation, too. Even doing the dishes can be, or any kind of routine work. In the end, it is about achieving a state of awareness that is perpetual, developing an attitude.

But of course we are talking about actual meditation practices here. The Youtube video posted above is a guided meditation. I never liked that, I always wanted to meditate out of myself, thinking that I don't need anyone distracting me and telling me how to feel, but I slowly recognize that this attitude may be was a bit arrogant. I am wiser and more open-minded today.

EDIT: As for your question whether I feel this has improved me, I'd say: No. May be it would have if I had pursued it further. Anyway, I suppose that you can set goals you want to achieve using meditation, but you must not cling to them. Meditation is always about being in the moment, and if you're only thinking about your goals and how you are either fully achieving them or not achieving them at all you are not actually meditating. The most important thing is that you enjoy it. That meditation itself is the reason you do it, just like you're doing a hobby, be it painting, canoeing or meditation.

 

I am not necessarily saying this. Of course you will need some kind of motivation to just sit on your butt and stare at the wall for a certain time on a regular basis! It's just that you also need to enjoy this, feel an actual relief while doing so. This doesn't even have to happen every time, but it should be that way most of the time. It should put a smile on your face. Permanent change will not occur quickly, only gradually. It's nothing you can buy with money, it all depends on yourself. Listen to your gut feeling, and try it if you like to! There's really not much that can go wrong in the beginning, the worst thing that might happen is that you feel disillusioned.

May be just try to sit down on the floor in a comfortable position today or tomorrow for twenty minutes, try to feel your breath naturally streaming in and out of you, focus on the feeling inside your mouth, inside your throat, inside your lungs. And count your breaths: 1... 2... 3... 4... 1... 2... 3... 4... 1... and so on. Try to sit perfectly still as long as it doesn't hurt. If thoughts appear, let them come, but let them go again, and if you lose track focusing on your breath just return to that activity and start off counting again: 1... 2... 3... 4... 1... That would be a first step with the method proposed by Clark Strand

 

Sounds like a good beginning! You were probably focusing on your pituitary gland, which is also referred to as the 'third eye' in hinduism. The method I described does not have to be better than yours. Furthermore, I gave you only a quick glimpse, in reality it is not as static, but more of a dynamic process. You gradually calm down your mind until you can let go of that counting and focusing and just be. It happened a single time that I was able to clear my mind of any thought at all for a few minutes, however that is not even necessary for meditation to be a rewarding experience. Your thoughts are like clouds passing by, and your consciousness is the clear blue sky behind them. You can enjoy the day just as much when there are a few clouds, so do not worry about that too much.

 

Some nice posts around here

Namasté and ॐ