For quite awhile now, I have been meditating using the transcendental technique where you sit in a chair and repeat a mantra. It has been quite effective for me, putting me in a form of trance and achieving bliss.
I have recently been reading books by Krishnamurti who was a teacher of enlightenment that never offered any guru or religious connotations.
He advises that repeating a mantra in meditation is a form of self hypnosis and says it is ‘stupid’. He recommends discovering what you think and exploring self knowledge and through this method you can achieve an inner silence.
I am mixing it up by using both methods at present.
I also nod slightly when meditating and concentrate on my breathing.
What techniques do you use to meditate? Do you ever experience states of bliss, inner peace and calmness? Do you think about things as you meditate?
What is your type of meditation called? How long have you been doing it? How often do you practice it and for how long?
I just thought it would be interesting to discuss.
The only therapy that have ever worked on me, was practicing mindfulness. You sit on your but, and listen to the sounds around you, feel your body, observe the fleeing thoughts without following them.
Mindfulness and reading up on buddhism (im not a buddhist) is the only thing that ever worked for me.
I guess this thread may be closed. But this is not a matter of religion. This is a matter of therapy.
I usually count my breathingcycles. I explore occuring thoughts but than i start counting again. Don’t know, i got my thoughts in control. Someone said to concentrate on the silent gaps between the thoughts. That is what i practice. When i lie in bed i experience peace ( silence ) in my mind. I know when i lie on my back i won’t fall asleep for reasons i don’t know.
I find it really hard to find the desire to meditate unless I am finding real life overwhelming and I feel extreme anxiety.
I like meditating when I do it, but I hardly get to the place where I decide I’m going to do it.
Routine. Set a time and how long you are going to do it for. Within a few days you can get used to do doing it.
Know that it is going to get easier with practice. I have read that the idea is that you don’t set a goal of something that you are going to get anything out of it, like nirvana or bliss. If bliss happens that is a bonus, but don’t set out to get it.
I’ve done a few guided meditations, but I am not that much of a fan of them. I guess it is because meditation for me is so personal. My memories that come and go are specific to me. If someone else is talking then I am not so connected to myself.
I just get more out of a more difficult to begin with process of silence and being still with myself.
How about sitting comfortably in a seat in a quiet room. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. The inhalation and exhalation, and then ask yourself, " What am I going to think about next?" Just sit there and become aware of your next thought, like a cat outside a mouse hole.
Once you have that thought. You can recognise what you are thinking about. Don’t attach yourself or your thinking ruminating on the thought. Return to your concentration on breathing, then ask yourself again the same question. “What am I going to think about next?” in your inner dialogue. Do this for twenty minutes and see how you feel after.
This is my adaption of Eckart Tolle’s practices of being present.
That helped me a little on the matter… which is no small feat because I tend to worry a lot… but asking myself perhaps out loud at first? ‘What will I think of next’ is something that might help, something I can try.
This is exactly what you are doing when following this technique. The pause while waiting to recognise the next thought. The longer the cat waits outside the mouse hole is the emptiness that is required for the stillness to be realised. It will get longer and longer with practice. This is meditation.
