How do you meditate?

Hi livebytruths, hello dear reader.

If this post helps just one person, then it's been totally worth it.

When I meditate, I very roughly have two kinds of goals.
- To center myself, to calm down and be able to relax (I am very prone to fall into a bodily stressed state and then stay there for several hours (there's been whole weeks apiece of that shit). I mean a relaxation which can be felt somewhat like "tension in the belly, which loosens up". I consider this as a short-term goal.
- A more long-term goal is the confrontation with myself. What do I mean with that?

Here's some basic crash course on meditation by a buddhist monk, which can be used for a quick start:

The monk introduces the "monkey mind", that "needs a task".

Then a longer interview with a Ph.D in developmental biology about "The power of consciousness"

I do not necessarily share all his views, but in the end he's got a point about the "habitual mind", which I more or less can identify with the "monkey mind" - this is something that our body runs without us noticing, more or less. When the monk says "the monkey mind which is always chattering" then I think one can expand this "chattering" to all sorts of things which we do out of habit, e.g. having a cup of morning coffee, watching P (thinking about that: It is a habit, it is something which has been programmed into the brain, and it is ALSO something which can be unprogrammed, can be overwritten with something more constructive! Keep on going!), jumping out of bed early and taking a cold shower, taking "a couple of minutes for ourselves" to calm down a bit. All this can be done out of habit, once one has become accustomed to it (and it can also be forgotten again, if not practiced regularly)

And then a TED-talk about procastination:

Here, the speaker introduces an "instant gratification monkey", which does not like to work and loves easy and fun things. Basically he states that the monkey likes to seize the steering wheel, which leads more or less to wasted time and dreams that never have been chased.

I actually did not plan on including the third link, but then it occured to me that, basically, all three describe the same process from a different perspective. I do not think that there is some universal last truth to that fact, there's just some common ground.
The way I see it: A human being is able to look into the past and into the future with the creative mind. Nevertheless our bodies can act on their own. Emotions are something that is very difficult to master (I think one rather has to figure out a way how to cope with emotions instead of trying to ignore/supress/overrule them), and they DO have quite a lot of influence on the behaviour of a human (just imagin how differently you act when you are all chilled out vs. when you are stressed because of to much traffic on the road). When meditating, one can take a look into oneself by concentrating on the question "How do I feel right now?" and become more aware of this, so that it is possible to actually reflect.

There are different techniques for meditation. But that's just decoration - I like to compare the picture of different meditation techniques with different kinds of bikes: There's trekking bikes, mountain bikes, racing bikes, bmx bikes and so on. These bikes all have pedals, a chain, a handlebar and a set of wheels. Everything else is just decoration. So it is not the central point how you meditate, but that you meditate - that you take some time to become aware of yourself in the here and now. With that, one can make a step to tweaking an actual habit, little by little - that's the long-term goal. A rapid change is not a steady change - the monkey/habit will come back, because that is how our system is working. So one has to teach the monkey slowly, so that it can remember every little step (insight gained from reflection can be used for that).

That being said, I like to meditate while doing some standing excercises (for the experts: Yi Chuan), but also just trying to become aware of my breathing when driving a bicycle (for one hour on the bicycle there may be in total 5-10 minutes of being aware of my breathing - it can be quite hard to shift your attention back and back again ), then there's also meditation which in daoist practice is called "Microcosmic Orbit";
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcosmic_orbit
it goes something like concentraing on certain acupuncture points - which again is "being aware of one's own body".

Coming back to the short-term goal: I regularly try to relax consciously, so that it can become a new habit. When I started this, it was a huge success, if I could relax 3-4 times a day (the effects holding on for maybe a couple of minutes). After a year or so it has become a bit easier and a kind of routine has formed. When I go somewhere by bicycle, there often come short moments when I become aware of the sun/wind and can enjoy a small moment of peacefulness.
Nevertheless, the old patterns are engraved in the brain, and can rise up very quickly. So it is a tedious process, but totally worth it! And it gradually becomes a new habit

Feel free for critique! I would love to get some feedback and/or new input!
Amendos

 

For me there are three types of meditations

1. Standard meditation: I simply put a timer on my phone, sit down, close my eyes and watch my breathing. Do thoughts come to me? i don't fight them, i go back to the breathing. Does something itch or does a body part bother me? well, if it's back pain I correct it haha but the idea is to sit up straight from the beginning, the point is that if my nose itches or I experience another kind of body sensation then I simply watch it but don't fight it.
2. Guided meditation: There is not much to add, I look for something on the internet and follow the instructions
   
3. Exercises: There are many exercises in books, blogs and other written media. I have a notebook where I write them down and from time to time I do one of these exercises.