MEDITATION TECHNIQUES:

We all know that controlling the mind is not really possible. The less we try to think of something, the stronger it will get. The mind does a constant interpretation of the things we experience; the experiences that are going on externally or even the ones going on internally in our head. We can’t stop the mind from stirring up thoughts, it is what the mind does. That’s its job. Thoughts will come, but what we can do is to stop getting onto ‘the train of thoughts’. Notice the difference between ‘thoughts’ and ‘thinking’. It feels like ‘thoughts’ come by themselves from nowhere, but ‘thinking’ is a choice. Thinking starts when thoughts go unobserved. You can either be thinking OR be aware of your thinking but not both at the same time. Your job is to become the awareness behind the thinking. A thought comes up but you don’t need to follow wherever it takes you. Don’t analyze your interpretation or connect it to a memory. Allow the thought to come and let it pass by. Just imagine how we swipe between the screens on a smartphone – Next -> Next -> Next. Swipe the thoughts on the screen of your mind.

In Zen, meditation is not trying to get into some sort of trance. It is not daydreaming or to stop thinking. Neither should you try to control your mind. Zazen (a Zen meditation) is to practice to experience directly. To not pass judgement or analyze your sensorial experiences and thoughts. For that is all they are- just your senses being triggered. It is not reality itself. Just sit and let the thoughts/images in your head pass by. Thoughts may come but you will not follow them.

Before starting with the below meditation techniques, if there is a lot of mental/emotional activity going on with you then do the breathing exercises mentioned above at first. (http://dev.tinybuddha.com/topic/relaxation-meditation-techniques/#post-114812)

1) Counting you thoughts exercise:

– Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes
– For the next few minutes relax yourself and begin to watch your mind
– Stay in ‘alert stillness’ and simply notice the thoughts as they appear on the screen of your mind
– Begin to count the thoughts as they arise
– Any single judging, labeling, interpreting on the thoughts that arise are again thoughts. So count them too. Be alert of the next scene/thought that is going to come on your mind. Any single ‘scene’ wherever your mind takes you is a thought to be counted too.
Don’t try to stop any thought, ‘allow’ it to come. Your job is to only count that.

Do this for a few minutes, maybe 1 or 2, or continue if you are able to.
Note down the count of thoughts. Keep doing this practice regularly and see the change in the numbers. You will notice that the count of thoughts per minute will have been reduced. If, at a later stage, it takes a long time for a thought to come up then you are on the right track.
This simple act of being alert and mindful of your thoughts will itself slow down your mental activity giving a feeling of increased sense of peace and calmness, a sense of being present. This happens because, when you are counting the thoughts you are no more getting pulled onto those thoughts. You have become aware of a thought by counting it.

2) Count the breath exercise:

– Sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes
– Move your attention to your breath
– Feel where you experience your breath the most. Is it in your nose, your throat, your belly, or may be even in your chest? Each one of us will feel the breath at different places.
– Say for example it’s in your chest region. Focus here and imagine the air flowing in and out.
– It’s now time to start counting- 1 with each inhalation, 2 with the first exhalation, 3 with the second inhalation. Keep counting until you reach 10. If you lose count because of any thoughts don’t get frustrated or think that you can’t do this. Just start with 1 and continue until you reach 10.
If you cannot count 1 for the inhalation and 2 for the exhalation, then count 1 for a complete cycle of an inhalation-exhalation and then 2 for the next set of inhalation-exhalation.

Practice this technique. Once you start to get comfortable reaching 10, gradually increase the count to 20, 30 and so on.
After you’ve got some experience with this type of meditation you can try to stop counting and just focus on the movement of your breath. Then you’re really ‘just sitting’ and ‘simply allowing’ the flow of life to happen mentally. If the flow of life happens mentally ‘as is’ then what’s going on externally will hardly bother you.

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Read Me:
The techniques on this page are a follow-on of it’s original thread at http://dev.tinybuddha.com/topic/share-your-technique. Any one-to-one conversations that you want to do can be done on that thread and if you have a technique that you do in your daily life then please share them here. Thanks.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by VJ.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by VJ.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by VJ.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Joshua Denney. Reason: Removed invalid HTML code

Dear sherrysagecmw,

It’s nice to see your own method of releasing for tension relief. Thanks.
Yes this post of yours is definitely going to be read and practiced by somebody on the planet.

For spreading more such wonderful tips and techniques I encourage more and more people who come across this post to go ahead and comment your own technique on this thread. It will definitely benefit someone looking for something exactly like what you have posted.
It could be something as simple as counting from 1 to 10 when you are angry or upset or something about your own way of practicing mindfullness. Just make sure that it is clear enough for the reader to be understandable by simply reading it and starting with the practice.

Thank you once again!

Warm Regards,
VJ

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by VJ.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by VJ.

Inner Body Awareness

Excerpt – The Power of Now ~Eckhart Tolle
Source: https://www.eckharttolle.com

When you are unoccupied for a few minutes, and especially last thing at night before falling asleep and first thing in the morning before getting up, “flood” your body with consciousness.

Close your eyes.

Lie flat on your back.

Choose different parts of your body to focus your attention on briefly at first: hands, feet, arms, legs, abdomen, chest, head, and so on. Feel the life energy inside those parts as intensely as you can.

Stay with each part for fifteen seconds or so. Then let your attention run through the body like a wave a few times, from feet to head and back again.

This need only take a minute or so. After that, feel the inner body in its totality, as a single field of energy. Hold that feeling for a few minutes.

Be intensely present during that time, present in every cell of your body. Don’t be concerned if the mind occasionally succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.

Dear all,

Here is an excellent resource for Meditation.
This channel has everything right from waking up in the morning to feeling charged up during the day till the end of day for a peaceful sleep.

This channel also has a varied list of guided meditations. For anyone having trouble meditating can simply follow Rick Clarke’s soothing voice in the guided meditations, or simply listen to any of the non-guided meditations.

(https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHonestGuys)
[Make sure to click on ‘Show More’ under each category]

Try listening to this one before going to bed tonight.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfpLea9OurA)

Happy Meditating!

Lots of Blessings and Best Wishes to ‘The Honest Guys’

~VJ

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by VJ.