Meditation habits and tips

[Lighthead]

I've built very little karmic accumulation within this lifetime, I've only had one person in my whole life that did bring me catalysts and I've had made peace with it. The rest of my life was mostly about not being bored.

If I ever meet you in person I'm going to count how many times you look at your watch while I'm talking to you.

There's some really weird synchronicity going on right now. The track I'm listening to right now on Last.fm is Junkies Bad Trip by London Funk Allstars. That is so beyond bizarre. I think that we're going to see more of that as we get more fully into 4D.

I never look at the time, I've got a poor notion of it and usually work with alarms to make sure I do what I need to do.

While talking with someone I'm someone who won't shut his trap (gemini ascendant leo) , it's being bored when alone. Most of my life has been about playing/watching/reading things. I'm not necesarily easily bored, it was just my main concern...

I understand. I feel exactly the same way. Except for the not shutting up part. My double Scorpio-ness keeps me pretty quiet, for the most part. But then my Aquarius moon will want to ask people weird, inappropriate questions for no apparent reason.

[Raz]

Found a pretty nice article on lying down meditation.

Thought Regulation: "Yi-mwot-go?" and the Great Doubt:

1. Continue to perform diaphragmatic breathing, but when you exhale, in your mind intone, "Yi-mwot-go?" and generate the Great Doubt.

2. "Yi-mwot-go?" means "This. What is this?" What is this that directs my body when I move? What is this that generates the thoughts that I think? What is this that feels the emotions that rise up in me? When someone calls my name, what is it within me that recognizes the sound of my own name and looks to see who called? What is this that is asking, "What is this?"

3. By repeatedly asking ourselves this question in coordination with our breathing, we create, maintain, and increase the state of Doubt. Mentally, this is a condition of urgent questioning, the state of attempting to know the unknowable and see the invisible. Emotionally and physically, it is a sensation of feeling stuck -- the way you feel when you can't remember where you put a set of missing keys. Ultimately, we are attempting to direct our attention back at its own source.

4. Then, the Great Doubt acts as a cleansing flame in our bodies and minds, purging us of tension, worry, hostility, fear and sorrow. We feel consoled and unburdened, luminous and at peace with ourselves, and in the end, free.

*sniped* and cut for context from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hwansan-su...54652.html

[Stranger]

Found a pretty nice article on lying down meditation.

Thought Regulation: "Yi-mwot-go?" and the Great Doubt:

1. Continue to perform diaphragmatic breathing, but when you exhale, in your mind intone, "Yi-mwot-go?" and generate the Great Doubt.

2. "Yi-mwot-go?" means "This. What is this?" What is this that directs my body when I move? What is this that generates the thoughts that I think? What is this that feels the emotions that rise up in me? When someone calls my name, what is it within me that recognizes the sound of my own name and looks to see who called? What is this that is asking, "What is this?"

3. By repeatedly asking ourselves this question in coordination with our breathing, we create, maintain, and increase the state of Doubt. Mentally, this is a condition of urgent questioning, the state of attempting to know the unknowable and see the invisible. Emotionally and physically, it is a sensation of feeling stuck -- the way you feel when you can't remember where you put a set of missing keys. Ultimately, we are attempting to direct our attention back at its own source.

4. Then, the Great Doubt acts as a cleansing flame in our bodies and minds, purging us of tension, worry, hostility, fear and sorrow. We feel consoled and unburdened, luminous and at peace with ourselves, and in the end, free.

*sniped* and cut for context from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hwansan-su...54652.html

Sounds a whole lot like Ramana Maharshi's method.

Beginners in self-enquiry were advised by Sri Ramana to put their attention on the inner feeling of 'I' and to hold that feeling as long as possible. They would be told that if their attention was distracted by other thoughts they should revert to awareness of the 'I'-thought whenever they became aware that their attention had wandered. He suggested various aids to assist this process – one could ask oneself 'Who am I?’ or 'Where does this I come from?’ — but the ultimate aim was to be continuously aware of the 'I' which assumes that it is responsible for all the activities of the body and the mind.

[Night Owl]

Do you consider comfort and silence/peace to be important aspect of meditation or is that only the mind trying to find excuses not to do it?

[Lighthead]

Do you consider comfort and silence/peace to be important aspect of meditation or is that only the mind trying to find excuses not to do it?

I personally think that it's relatively important. I advise to, as much as you can, close all your windows and do as much as you can to have peace and quiet. I tend to have noisy neighbors that make noise when I'm meditating sometimes. They're being kind of noisy right now and I'm due to meditate in about half an hour, so I'll try to let you know if I get distracted. The other time, my neighbor who was talking on his cellphone was distracting me, but I'm not sure if I snapped out of the "trance" because I scratched my nose. So I don't know. But I'll try to keep you posted in a couple of hours or so when I'm done meditating.

[Night Owl]

anyone noticed difference with different circumstances? like before/after eating, exercise or doing it in the daytime/nightime?

[Lighthead]

anyone noticed difference with different circumstances? like before/after eating, exercise or doing it in the daytime/nightime?

I wouldn't recommend eating right before meditation. I tried it, I think it was yesterday or the day before. I ate some sunflower seeds right before meditation. There was this annoying phlegm in my throat for the first part of the session. It eventually went away, but it was time that could have been spent going further inwards.

As far as exercise goes, I don't exercise much, so I wouldn't know about that.

Daytime or nighttime... I think that it depends on the preference of the person. The daylight could make it hard for a person to close their eyes. But on the other hand, I remember reading that you can even meditate with your eyes open if you really wanted to. I think that whether daytime or nighttime also depends on the person's schedule. If you're too busy during the day, it wouldn't be too practical to meditate during the day.

FYI: I didn't get distracted by noise because I was able to fully close my window. The only thing is that it got hot because of that, so I got distracted by that. So I think that there has to be a measure of peace, not just with noise, but with other stuff that distracts.

[AnthroHeart]

I've built very little karmic accumulation within this lifetime, I've only had one person in my whole life that did bring me catalysts and I've had made peace with it. The rest of my life was mostly about not being bored.

If I ever meet you in person I'm going to count how many times you look at your watch while I'm talking to you.

There's some really weird synchronicity going on right now. The track I'm listening to right now on Last.fm is Junkies Bad Trip by London Funk Allstars. That is so beyond bizarre. I think that we're going to see more of that as we get more fully into 4D.

I never look at the time, I've got a poor notion of it and usually work with alarms to make sure I do what I need to do.

While talking with someone I'm someone who won't shut his trap (gemini ascendant leo) , it's being bored when alone. Most of my life has been about playing/watching/reading things. I'm not necesarily easily bored, it was just my main concern...

I understand. I feel exactly the same way. Except for the not shutting up part. My double Scorpio-ness keeps me pretty quiet, for the most part. But then my Aquarius moon will want to ask people weird, inappropriate questions for no apparent reason.

My aquarius ascendent has me saying stupid things too. Like the first day I worked, I told my boss's boss's boss that this other person said that the bank was doing poorly. Put my foot in my mouth.

[Night Owl]

what about indoor/outdoor?

[Lighthead]

I've only meditated indoors. But I'm pretty sure that feeling a connection with nature would help with the other. Apart from the distractions like insects...people walking by, etcetera.

[Raz]

for me, saying "now I´m meditating for 1 hour" is like saying "now I´m breathing for 1 hour". What I really do is cultivate a space where I can give the medit@ion that is always taking place my full attention by including everything within my total perception (or the simple perception of the spectrum of perception, as I like to call it).

There is allot of directions we can take with our meditation. I´m a big fan of using different words/names as a center when slowing down my mind and promoting an emotional sense of well being and direction in the stillness phase. Like; "Love" "Joy" "Togetherness" "Unity" "Oneness" "understanding" "bliss" or whatever feels right to use in the moment. I will simply rest in the word as a pleasant slow rhythmic mantra and follow the rhythm back to it´s source, while my mind is preoccupied with the mundane task designed to avoid creativity attacks (solving problems etc) and allow me to go deeper.

Then we have the "I *insert assumption*" technique. In deeper states of consciousnesses assumptions become reality. "I know" takes you in one direction "I don´t know" takes you in another. They can be equally interesting to explore. a deep meditation with "I am safe" can be very healing. Be creative with it before you stick with it for the session. "I am loved" is one of my favorite centering phrases and can bring you to some very interesting places. it´s all done very naturally, vigilantly and effortlessly...

[Lighthead]

I also think that when people meditate, they get into this habit where they think they have to suppress their thoughts. I think that that is a very nefarious myth that has permeated the minds of those who attempt to meditate, in a subtle way. I would say, if anything, that we should experiment with our thoughts when we meditate. For example, lately while I meditate, I try to even make my thoughts as forceful as possible. I don't break a sweat or anything, but we shouldn't try to stuff our thoughts down or anything. If my mind wants to go this way, I just say, go that way. It seems like the opposite thing that you should do, but, in a weird way, it conditions your mind in a positive way.

That's why I don't like how mindfulness emphasizes that when your mind gets distracted, that you have to go back to your center. That's a subtle way of demonizing your thoughts. Your conscious mind doesn't get it, but your subconscious mind knows exactly what's going on. It starts to make you think that this state of mind is good and that state of mind is bad. That's like black and white thinking. If you let your mind follow its natural course, it eventually gets quiet and goes to unity.

That's why I like shikantaza so much with its emphasis on, let your mind do whatever. The only thing is that I don't think it's appropriate to mentally do anything that requires too much concentration, like a math equation or anything like that. I've actually been tempted to do stuff like that while I'm meditating and that's where I definitely put the brakes on. That kind of thing really distracts.

[Minyatur]

I'd say gaining control of your thoughts and being able to impose silence in your mind is the first step in meditation. Helps you not to be enslaved to your subconscious mind.

Once that is achieved, there are probably infinite ways that the state of meditation can be used. But without any control whatsoever upon your thoughts, you can't really reach a deep state IMO.

Some people reach gnosis by overloading their brain, I think there are just as many ways as we can think of. Ra did say there is no better way to meditate too.

[Lighthead]

I'd say gaining control of your thoughts and being able to impose silence in your mind is the first step in meditation. Helps you not to be enslaved to your subconscious mind.

Once that is achieved, there are probably infinite ways that the state of meditation can be used. But without any control whatsoever upon your thoughts, you can't really reach a deep state IMO.

Some people reach gnosis by overloading their brain, I think there are just as many ways as we can think of. Ra did say there is no better way to meditate too.

Your last statement is true too. Maybe people derive different benefits from certain types of meditation. The reasons may be that they're at a different level or that they're mind resonates with that specific form of meditation. Everybody's mind is different. It could be the same thing as not understanding why somebody likes a certain type of music. They just simply do.

[Aion]

No one question anything because nothing is wrong.

[Minyatur]

No one question anything because nothing is wrong.

We keep questionning everything... because we are confused fools.

[Aion]

Nah, anybody can just do whatever, that's the only truth. There is no confusion, there is just people doing things.

[Minyatur]

Nah, anybody can just do whatever, that's the only truth. There is no confusion, there is just people doing things.

I'd say I am confused about myself not others though. So the thing I am doing is being confused.

I think I know myself, but everything seems to tell me I am still disonant with myself. Pershaps I am supposed to become an evil person... haven't tried that yet.

[Aion]

Confusion is just a word.

[Minyatur]

Confusion is just a word.

That denotes a lack of understanding.

[Aion]

Take away the descriptions and what do you have?

[Minyatur]

Take away the descriptions and what do you have?

arranged symbols I guess. 

Pershaps I am just impatient. I expect things to go fast when for some obscur reason they're supposed to take time.

My synchronicity of the day is 22.

The repeating Angel Number 22 is a message from your angels to maintain your convictions and keep an optimistic outlook and a positive attitude as your desires are currently being manifested for you.

[Lighthead]

Nah, anybody can just do whatever, that's the only truth. There is no confusion, there is just people doing things.

But I do think what Ra meant about not endorsing any certain form of meditation is that some people resonate with certain types of meditation. For example, I've tried different types of meditation and since I've discovered Shikantaza about a year ago, that's the only one that I've been able to stick with. I've tried mindfulness and I just can't do it. Maybe it's because I'm a beginner, I don't know.

[Aion]

My number, fancy that.

[Aion]

Nah, anybody can just do whatever, that's the only truth. There is no confusion, there is just people doing things.

But I do think what Ra meant about not endorsing any certain form of meditation is that some people resonate with certain types of meditation. For example, I've tried different types of meditation and since I've discovered Shikantaza about a year ago, that's the only one that I've been able to stick with. I've tried mindfulness and I just can't do it. Maybe it's because I'm a beginner, I don't know.

All we are doing is focusing our attention.

[tamaryn]

I believe we incarnate into these hearts and minds with extreme limitation as to grow more fruitfully. I believe Jesus had the opposite case where every bit of catalyst imaginable aided him on his path to his true self. We also must find our way to the true self if we so wish, however I think we do this through many dense lifetimes. I believe it was Ra who compared it to polishing of a crystal

[Minyatur]

I believe we incarnate into these hearts and minds with extreme limitation as to grow more fruitfully. I believe Jesus had the opposite case where every bit of catalyst imaginable aided him on his path to his true self. We also must find our way to the true self if we so wish, however I think we do this through many dense lifetimes. I believe it was Ra who compared it to polishing of a crystal

I do wonder how I was when I first started all of this here. Probably less caring and loving toward others, seems to be what I'm working and I seem to have gone already far down that path.

[Lighthead]

I believe we incarnate into these hearts and minds with extreme limitation as to grow more fruitfully. I believe Jesus had the opposite case where every bit of catalyst imaginable aided him on his path to his true self. We also must find our way to the true self if we so wish, however I think we do this through many dense lifetimes. I believe it was Ra who compared it to polishing of a crystal

Either through many dense lifetimes or many more lifetimes with little catalyst. It takes longer, but it's the same goal. And I personally think that if you pace yourself with not as much catalyst, you learn to more efficiently deal with catalyst. I think of it as, if you're life has very little catalyst, whatever catalyst comes along you gobble it as if you haven't eaten all day. You basically get hungry for catalyst.

Even though I hold this view, I apparently didn't program for easy catalyst. It seems strange that I would see this as more efficient and yet my higher self is not taking my advice. I don't know why that would be. Maybe my catalyst is to present myself with catalyst that doesn't align with the way I think the world should work, or "works better."

[Minyatur]

I believe we incarnate into these hearts and minds with extreme limitation as to grow more fruitfully. I believe Jesus had the opposite case where every bit of catalyst imaginable aided him on his path to his true self. We also must find our way to the true self if we so wish, however I think we do this through many dense lifetimes. I believe it was Ra who compared it to polishing of a crystal

Either through many dense lifetimes or many more lifetimes with little catalyst. It takes longer, but it's the same goal. And I personally think that if you pace yourself with not as much catalyst, you learn to more efficiently deal with catalyst. I think of it as, if you're life has very little catalyst, whatever catalyst comes along you gobble it as if you haven't eaten all day. You basically get hungry for catalyst.

Even though I hold this view, I apparently didn't program for easy catalyst. It seems strange that I would see this as more efficient and yet my higher self is not taking my advice. I don't know why that would be. Maybe my catalyst is to present myself with catalyst that doesn't align with the way I think the world should work, or "works better."

What you described is how I feel I programmed for myself. 

A life without worry in which my worry at the end will have to not have done enough for others. I feel that having harsh catalysts would have made me close an harder shell around my heart and wouldn't have helped open toward others. When I found something in life that would bring me catalyst despite there being extreme sorrow, I would cling to it wholeheartedly. (that's the scorpion moon, although being closed emotionally was kind of contrary to it) In short I loved having something that could destroy me emotionally just as it could uplift me.

With time I come to be more and more disatisfied with only being satisfied myself and seek that anyone could actually break my heart with their sorrow or uplift me with their joy.

I'm getting at a point I feel bad for not feeling bad because there are others that do and I do think it should make me feel something which up until not so long ago it never did.

tl;dr : We were born in one strange world.

[Minyatur]

Am reading about archetypes, the experience I had which I described earlier in the thread during my last psychedelic trip goes well with this quote about the Experience of the Spirit.

Even the most unhappy of experiences, shall we say, which seem to occur in the Catalyst of the adept, seen from the viewpoint of the spirit, may, with the discrimination possible in shadow, be worked with until light equaling the light of brightest noon descends upon the adept and positive or service-to-others illumination has occurred