Meditation for beginners

[Philosophia]

What tips/tricks/advice do you have for beginners?

[Pink_sheep]

Best advice I can give is to not let it be a chore. Also to give it time - when I first started after about a minute all I could think was "Nothing's happening! I'm doing this wrong! I'm so bad at this - I'm going to give up!" and thinking like that WILL make you edgy and defeat the purpose!

Also, try different methods. Some people prefer to lie down, some like to sit. I like both and just go with what's convinient. You can also get tapes/cds/mp3's of "guided" meditations - I know a lot of people swear by them, but they drove me nuts! Also consider things like music - some soothing music can really help or you may prefer silence. Smell can help a lot too - try a nice incense or burning oil to help you relax. When incense isn't a good idea, I like to use a balm I got from Lush called "Flying Fox" - it's supposed to help with PMT, but it really helps me shake off things that are bothering me :)

It frustrated me like mad when I tried all those things out, but once I found out what worked, it became Soooooo much easier! I still have days when I just CAN'T get into it and that's frustrating, but for the most part it becomes more "natural" over time :)

[RavensEye]

Well most of my thoughts were covered in Pink_sheep's post, but I would like to add that if a persons not good at visualizing or concentrating to use aids to help them.( mentioned some the aids I used in my other thread.) Once you can Visualize easily and concentrate better carry on to guided meditations and then go from there.

[aluokaloo]

believe it or not, trying to force it will make it difficult, just zone out and breath slowly and deeply.

[Against The Tide]

Little and often.

Just cleaning a space, getting everything quiet and being ready to meditate is a skill in itself, concentrate on that and then the rest of the meditation will get easier.

I keep a journal nearby so I can write observations after my sessions, the percieved deepness of trance, what my mind experienced, the ease and comfort of the trance, the ease of correct breathing, any unexpected feelings, how I felt afterwards - little snips like that.

Also don't force it. Its something that gets better with time, a little effort often beats huge effort once in a while. When you meditate you are actually changing the way you think - the mind is incredibly stubborn when it comes to change, an annoying self defence mechanism, but established a routine and then you will start to break down your minds ressistance.

I notice that 'progress' is something that comes both quick and slowly with meditation. It depends on expectations and goals. Set little goals and you will fly by. Expect too much too soon and you will be undoing your good work.

[Astara Seague]

Meditation helps us quiet our mind and release the past hurts by being fully present, knowing the joy of the moment and transforming the quality of our thinking and begin to heal the heart.

When practicing meditation or visualization aim for the balance between creating the image and allowing the image to form, the key is being playful without loosing the gentle concentration to be creative.

Never struggle with thoughts and feelings instead simply observe them, with observation comes a natural detachment that allows you to continue taking steps towards the heart of yourself, relax and just be.

[Nitefalle]

Try not to go in with preconceptions or compare it to other experiences you've read or heard about. Everyone will experience meditation differently, so let your experience be just that: yours.

When I first started, I thought it was supposed to be one thing and when I didn't achieve it, I thought I was doing it wrong and sucked at meditation. Then, I just kept going, trying different things and taking yoga classes helped me see all the different ways there are of meditating. After that, I just sort of fell into it and now it's so easy for me.

[SylverMoon]

I know that I am a little late in chiming in with this thread, but I wanted to share my experiences.

I meditate with my eyes open mostly. It was really weird to begin with, but I find that it helps me to mesh the meditation with my whole world. There will be sometimes when I need to close my eyes and I do that too, but primarily I keep them open.

I also started off very easily with 5 minutes at a time. I would also just pay attention to my body, especially my feet. I found that there were a lot of parts of my body that held tension that I wouldn't have thought of. I would take a good few minutes to get comfortable, stretch, scratch, just be in my body and get all the wriggles out of my system.

Then I was just rest on the out breath. Things will come up, the key is to just let them be. You will get different emotions, different thoughts, different sensations. Just experience them and let them be, you don't have to go along with them. I have heard it described as greeting guests at a party, you just acknowledge them and move on.

A lot of what I do is based on buddhist techniques, so it may not be quite what you are looking for.
Just experiment and see what works.

How have you been going since you started this thread?

[Beemer_Man_Wong]

I know that I am a little late in chiming in with this thread, but I wanted to share my experiences.

I meditate with my eyes open mostly. It was really weird to begin with, but I find that it helps me to mesh the meditation with my whole world. There will be sometimes when I need to close my eyes and I do that too, but primarily I keep them open.

I also started off very easily with 5 minutes at a time. I would also just pay attention to my body, especially my feet. I found that there were a lot of parts of my body that held tension that I wouldn't have thought of. I would take a good few minutes to get comfortable, stretch, scratch, just be in my body and get all the wriggles out of my system.

Then I was just rest on the out breath. Things will come up, the key is to just let them be. You will get different emotions, different thoughts, different sensations. Just experience them and let them be, you don't have to go along with them. I have heard it described as greeting guests at a party, you just acknowledge them and move on.

A lot of what I do is based on buddhist techniques, so it may not be quite what you are looking for.
Just experiment and see what works.

How have you been going since you started this thread?

I would agree with SylverMoon. Sequencially relaxing the body and then focusing upon breathing is the simplest way to get started in the meditation practice. In Bhuddist meditation practice, there are whats known as the four mindfulness trainings: mindfulness of the body in the body, the feelings in the feelings, the mental formations in the mental formations, and the conciousness in the consciousness. Of these four, the simplest to begin with is mindfulness of the body in the body, and the easiest thing to follow in that category is the breath. There are many ways to do so, either by counting, or by thinking "breathing in I know I am breathing in, breathing out I know I am breathing out", or "in, out". The effect is to produce mindfulness, as is true of all Buddhist meditation techniques.