Zen meditation
atmosphear commented on an entry by The_Hybrid titled "I want to learn to meditate as par of becoming more laid back in life..." regarding Learn to Meditate...:
Meditation is very easy and difficult at the same time.
It depends now on the way you wish to meditate (there are many different ways), but I can give some pointers to zen meditation.
I usually meditate while sitting on a block, in half-lotus position since it helps breathing, which is essential in all kinds of meditation.
Position itself is irrelevant as long as you feel comfortable in it and you are able to breathe with ease. You can lay down if you want to, but it’s too easy to fall asleep while laying down. Meditation should be considered to be precisely the opposite: you should be relaxed, but very aware of the surroundings.
Breathe with your waist. Forget the Western idea of flat stomach and just let your abdominals to let the air pass in deeply.
On the first time concentrate on your thoughts. Just to learn the amount of noise inside your head. Hear them and take a note: usually they are very ridiculous and just random words or sentences. Some people suggest to start with a writing block and writing all the thoughts coming to your mind; mind flow.
Second mind (or subconsciousness) is very loud and zazen meditation is aimed also to quiet the mind, giving space for concentration, which needs the silence to work.
On the next time (or if you have already listened to yourself for a few minutes) stop thinking. Now, this is the difficult part: how to stop thinking completely? You will notice that thoughts will arise and mental noise usually emerges very quickly.
Tips on stopping thinking:
- When a thought arises, think the sentence up to the end. Don’t start a new thought after it.
- Count continuously from 1 to 10. If you lose the track (either going over 10 or forgetting the number you were supposed to think), start again. Start by counting on both inhales and exhales. When you have mastered this (might take even weeks), start counting on each breathe.
- Remember that learning meditation is not the goal. The goal is to meditate. It’s like hunger: learning to eat doesn’t take away the hunger, but eating will. It’s an endless process, not a project.
You might want to read information on the net, but the most important advice I can give is: don’t concentrate on learning about meditation – just meditate instead.