Meditation

I call it drinkin'. Haha, just kidding. I hear a lot of good things about meditation but have never tried it. I have a 30 minute commute and almost always never have music playing. It gives me time to think about things...whatever they may be.

I've been working on this for a while. I worked with a guy who asked me to try to clear my mind of any thoughts for 30 seconds. It took me over a month to learn to quiet my mind for 30 seconds. It is a very tough discipline to master.
I subscribe to Tiny Budha, good stuff.

Cheers,
Ralph

Always seemed like kind of a waste of time to me.

I did the TM thing for a couple of years in the early 70s. It was relaxing, but I can't claim any life-changing effect.

At my age now (59 next Monday -- yoiks!) I regularly practice a slightly different form of meditation, more commonly known as "napping." Its benefits are manifold and wonderful.

I use a technique I learned from Prem Rawat. Very simple, practical. I agree, the benefits are real. Even with simple techniques, though, the more "out of control" part of the mind revolts at giving over control to the sane, calm part of the mind. So it's simple, it's beautifully peaceful, but it can take some effort now and then.

I especially like your reminder that it can help get in touch with "who we really are." No way you can quantify or specify that, but when you experience it, man it feels good.

I have been doing it ever since the 1970s. I have done it in various ways. I have done Zen meditation both quiet and active. Presently, I have found myself just counting backwards from 100 to 1. I hardly ever get to 40-50 before I cleared my mind.

The Zen active meditation is also. We all do it without knowing we are doing it. For example gardening, fixing something, or figuring out how something works, almost always puts me completely "in the monument".

I also think that the goal of meditation is changing the way you live and think 24-7.

I used to start singing, "We all live in a yellow submarine", seemed to fit most things. Sometimes repeating, "When confused or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout", today, like Jim, a nap does the trick.
jud

I find that strapping on the instrument backpack and climbing a 30% slope with loose soil, brush and slippery slash lying around clears my mind pretty clear. It kills anxiety for sure.

Sometimes I sing, "I get no kick from Champagne, mere Alcohol doesn't thrill me at all but I...get...a...kick...outa you!" and my employee says Chief you have a beautiful singing voice, what are you doing out here? I detect a sarcastic tone in his voice, though.

I think meditation on nothing is...well....nothing.

I prefer to pray to God.

I would think one would have to define what they are after. Rest, peace, relaxation. Then they can better determine how they are going to acheive those goals. I must admit that I often turn to mindless entertainment, an old movie for example as "meditation".

I often find playing music "sooths the soul".

I think the major purpose of meditation is to get you in the here and now. Clear the slate, just like rebooting your computer when it seems to choke on everything it does.

> I think the major purpose of meditation is to get you in the here and now. Clear the slate, just like rebooting your computer when it seems to choke on everything it does.

:good:

When I was first learning Tai Chi, some referred to it as "meditation in motion". I suppose from a casual observer's point of view it could be taken that way. I took it far more serious than that and became a Master in about 6 months or so. Some people never "get it" but I did in short order. It's more about channeling energy than meditation. However, my personal experience was to be able to "do it right" was I had to clear my mind of all things. Reading the Tao Te Ching helped a lot with that.
In any event, after only a couple months of practicing Tai Chi I went from a complete a-hole after my one-way 27 mile Atlanta/hell commute to something akin to a Shaolin priest. At the time I was ready to dump everything and go to a Shaolin Temple in Tibet for some years.
Today I have given up those fantacies but on occasion, in a quiet moment, I find myself thinking back to my Tai Chi days and my Tao reading. Perhaps that is my current day moment of meditation.

Oh, and I do read my Bible and ponder on it as well.

Meditation Boot Camp

I tried to find the video but couldn't. It was a woman talking about going to a free camp where you meditated all day, every day, for 10 days. There were times they ate and slept but the rest of the time you meditated. Sounded pretty intersting, but I don't think I could do it.....o.O

Cheers,

Dugger

Meditation Boot Camp

> I tried to find the video but couldn't. It was a woman talking about going to a free camp where you meditated all day, every day, for 10 days. There were times they ate and slept but the rest of the time you meditated. Sounded pretty intersting, but I don't think I could do it.....o.O
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dugger

All day, every day for 10 days? Well hell, why just not go on a vision quest. That's only 4 days in total isolation (preferrably a small cave) with no food or water. You also are suppose to fast for 7 days prior. The isolation I could deal with. But, no beer and cigs? Nah!

Li Po drunk

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are
friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.

I don't know if Li Po smoked...maybe.

Don

I go for a run - or I work in my yard. Both get me right w/ the world again.

I just hop on my bike and pedal 40 miles. 2 hours of pain and suffering wash away everything else. Meditation is about focus, and I'm never more focused than when I'm pushing hard on the road.

Wow, that almost sounded cool.

-V

I think the range of these responses show...

There is value in "centering the mind". Sometimes this means focusing on a specific task, other times it means blocking out everything else, and letting "inspiration" hit.

There are many ways of achieving this state-of-mind, be they meditation (in any of its plethora of methods), or prayer (again, in any of its plethora of methods), or hammering a bicycle up a 30° slope.

Whatever gets you into that "state of mind", do it. The whole key is knowing that you need to be in that "state of mind" at least SOME of the time. And if you can figure out when you need to be in that "state of mind", but not spend so much time there that you get out-of-balance with the rest of your life, well then you're set. (Easy to say, I know...:-/ )

I've experienced various types of meditation, and haven't really found one that "clicks". I'm also more of a taoist sort of person in mentality, and don't think there's any single intelligent "creator", so most religions also have struck me as being very false.

So I suppose that's where music comes into play for me... Playing a song well can involve thinking of many different things all at once, to the point where it can become impossible to concentrate on any one thing. So it tends to force a sort of zen-like mentality, at least once you are no longer trying to master the basics of your instrument, and are now concentrating on the "music". And I'm also involved in lots of different disciplines at once... Many times, I'll be playing music, and will all-of-a-sudden discover the solution to that software engineering problem I've been plagued with for the last few days.

There is definitely value in being able to focus and de-focus your brain, and figure out how best to meld the results of each state-of-mind.