How do you meditate?

[Conifer16]

this question is a big one, and is sort of dependent upon *what* you want out of your meditation - for eg, meditation for 'relaxation', to just quiet the mind, or a meditation as a preparation for magical work ('white magician') etc etc.

but that aside, how do you practice meditation?

the most classical technique would involve a watching of the breath. And one can watch the inbreath, the outbreath, or the pause between the inbreath and outbreath, when the lungs are 'full'. It's all a matter of choice I guess. I read Osho's Book of Secrets a little while ago (or at least I read some of it -- it's a massive tome!) and he goes through some of the various breath techniques and what sort of traditions they come from.

My own preference just recently is to observe the breath at the pause point; that is, the pause between the inbreath and the outbreath. That moment of infinite stillness, where you can observe, perhaps, more closely some of the thoughts with which you are then 'programming' into your experience via the outbreath.

You can also choose to observe the outbreath; and if the exhalation is not full, deep, and complete (as in my case), you can sometimes key into the things that you are unwilling to let go of, and release back into the wider world. Sort of the anxiety, and the things being held back, for whatever reason.

The breath is symbolic; but at the same time, according to many traditions, the function of taking in the commonality ('the air'), how we extract it and then infuse it, and then re-release it can also be a metaphysical/energetic mechanism we are just ignorant of most of the time.

so how does one meditate? I've definitely meditated before without a focus on the breath - more using affirmations/tuning processes.

When I do meditate, and I could probably do so more often, I tend to just sit up straight. Sorta relax my thinking. And then rest in silence. Sometimes I will focus on breathing in for 7 seconds, holding for 5 seconds, then breathing out for 7 seconds. At least for a little while. And then eventually I will stop counting and that breathing pattern will just kinda continue on its own.

I don't usually meditate on a specific topic or idea. I'm just kinda resting in simple "beingness". Kind of "feeling" and observing how it feels to exist and just "BE".