Originally posted by bulletproof_monk Hi, this is bulletproof_monk. I began meditating a few months back. I try to have 2 20min sessions
every day. One right after i wake up in the morning and the other right before i go to sleep. The way I have been doing it up until now is just by
either sitting or laying down and relaxing. I try to focus on my breathing, taking slow inhales, holding for a few seconds, then exhaling.
It is important to relax your muscles with each exhalation in my own experience and also to focus on the simple act of breathing so that it becomes
all there is to experience as to live in the moment allows the mind to become still. Eventually as you become skilled in this focus you will find that
even sitting in intense cold is not a concern because the cold cannot bother you if you no longer notice it but it is a dangerous endeavour however so
I do not advise it – just an example of the power of focus however.
Originally posted by bulletproof_monk At first i listened to calm music and sounds of nature, but ive gotten to the point where i dont
really need that, and instead i usually just sit in silence and try and clear my head of all thoughts. I was just wondering if anyone could give me
some advice on meditation, and maybe give me some different approaches? I want to try out different things and see what type i would feel the best
with.
I quite like the visualisation technique in that I am utterly relaxed, my ears are ringing like a bell and the full body vibrations are rippling up
from my feet to my eyes and then I see the red ball with the single seam in my mind, a vision so strong I am actually seeing it. Make the seam turn
and twist as you will it and you will find that the more you practice this the more powerful a sense of vibrational awareness you become.
The singing in your ears will drown out the world and – Whoosh you have achieved lift off and if you are really lucky you will perceive a hidden but
what feels to be a very important room that surrounds our waking spaces lined with in my own experience can only be termed brushed gold and bronze”.
The mind is a very powerful thing and always wants to show you things if only you could forget the world for even a short while.
Originally posted by bulletproof_monk Also any advice on things like lucid dreaming and astral projection would be appreciated. I have
also heard about a book called "Cannabis and meditation: An explorer's guide". I was wondering if anyone has read it before. Sounds like a good
read. Any advice on the use of cannabis for meditation, or would that affect your consciousness in a negative way for meditation? Thanks,
Bulletproof_monk
For lucid dreaming I found a very simple aid to allow me to lucid dream whenever I wish.
During the waking hours remember to touch a door as you pass one and say ‘I am dreaming’. Eventually with practice your mind will learn to
associate any doors you might come across in dreams with this waking mantra and suddenly as you remember this sentence you said many time while awake
you open your eyes within your dream and find the world is yours to do with as you wish and yet you may be shocked to find that your ego wants to
educate you to its true desires by turning the dream into something less than wholesome so take care.
As to using drugs as an aid to meditation well some might subscribe to that path but for me I see no reason to poison the experience with an outside
chemical as for me the reason for meditation is to cut the mind off from external influences and drugs therefore are quite a powerful external
influence upon the human mind so I would advise that to the serious traveller that to use drugs to get there is to cheat only yourself and to pollute
the true spiritual experience as it is meant to be experienced.
In my experience the serious meditator does not need to use drugs to get to where they wish to go and I am one of them! A drug induced state of
meditation is not true mediation, it is just an escape that will teach you nothing about yourself in my opinion.
The above is the short version I have many tricks up my sleeve and I enjoy them all but to leave them in this post would be a serious overload and I
would come across as a rambling self confessed guru and I am neither as my experiences tend to be for my eyes only. My own path into meditation was
initiated many years ago for self healing purposes but now used to gain personal insight and answers.
My long term aim to make my own contact with shining beings I have met before during meditation and that I ache more than anything else to meet again
but that said I am in no hurry as I am firmly of the belief that everything happens for a reason.
I am patient for now to wait and practice what I have learned – honing what I know to become second nature.
Happy travels my fellow traveller!
[edit on 26-3-2010 by SmokeJaguar67]