Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] 

WildColonial
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2019
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Posts: 836
Location: Cleveland, OH, USA

04 Mar 2020, 8:43 pm

I’ve found that meditation really helps me. I can practice mindfulness while doing something else, say, walking my dog or cooking. I can follow guided meditations reasonably well. However, I’m not good at just sitting still and clearing my mind. Does anyone have any tips?


_________________
“‘Why was I chosen?’ ‘Such questions cannot be answered,’ said Gandalf. ‘You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.’”


elbowgrease
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 Aug 2017
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,509
Location: Arcata,CA

04 Mar 2020, 11:13 pm

Don't try to clear your mind.
You won't.
Focus on something specific. And be ok with it when your mind wanders.
Then focus on the specific thing again.
Try to feel your bones. Then the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones being what moves your body.
Try to feel acupressure point k1 (roughly).

Think about what a bird thinks about while it stands on a post.



revlar
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 5 Nov 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 120
Location: New Jersey

13 Mar 2020, 11:48 am

Try concentrating on your breath (lungs mostly). Count an inhale as 1 then the exhale as 2 then inhale as 3 and so on up to 10. Then restart from one. Keep doing this and let your mind wander when it wants to, but then eventually come back to your breath and counting.



sarahgood
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

Joined: 21 Apr 2020
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 2

21 Apr 2020, 5:48 am

revlar wrote:
Try concentrating on your breath (lungs mostly). Count an inhale as 1 then the exhale as 2 then inhale as 3 and so on up to 10. Then restart from one. Keep doing this and let your mind wander when it wants to, but then eventually come back to your breath and counting.

The best advice!



Sahn
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jan 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,503
Location: UK

21 Apr 2020, 7:16 am

I don't do it anymore but when I did I'd just let thoughts trail off rather than try to stop them. Maybe that wouldn't work for people who think in images, my thoughts are a monologue so it's possible let them fizzle out without bringing them to a conclusion.



revlar
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 5 Nov 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 120
Location: New Jersey

23 Apr 2020, 7:46 am

I think more in a monologue too but sometimes images as well. Those times I would let the images blend into kind of a kaleidoscope effect. The best analogy for meditation is like you're sitting on a bus stop bench and simply watching the cars go by. The cars are your thoughts and you simply let them pass instead of following it as it goes past you. I does take "practice," but it's not wrong to every now and then get stuck on a thought.



TomTheTraveler
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

Joined: 22 Apr 2020
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 6
Location: New England USA

23 Apr 2020, 9:50 am

What has helped me is joining a meditation group. Collectively it is easier and they guide you through it. I don't have to spend much time with this group with chit chat. Right now we are using Zoom but it still helps.

At home I just focus on my breath and let my mind be.

I also use the following, just google

OM Chanting @417 Hz | Removes All Negative Blocks - YouTube

And that helps me stay on track.



blazingstar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Nov 2017
Age: 70
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,234

23 Apr 2020, 11:28 am

Remembering back when I was much younger, I was not "getting" meditation. Then I did a series of visits with a licensed hypnotist and she taught me to self-hypnotize which gets you into a similar state. After that, I could move into mindfulness. At this point, most of my meditation is walking meditation, or cooking or cleaning medication. Meditating while petting the cat. You can make almost anything into mindfulness once you've learned. I am not sure you have to be able to sit.

There are some very good tips posted here. Keep trying until you find something that works for you.


_________________
The river is the melody
And sky is the refrain
- Gordon Lightfoot


techstepgenr8tion
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Feb 2005
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 24,503
Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi

14 May 2020, 11:47 pm

elbowgrease wrote:
Don't try to clear your mind.
You won't.
Focus on something specific. And be ok with it when your mind wanders.
Then focus on the specific thing again.
Try to feel your bones. Then the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones being what moves your body.
Try to feel acupressure point k1 (roughly).

Think about what a bird thinks about while it stands on a post.

Franz Bardon actually had something that I thought was good for this at the beginning of IIH step 1 - ie. watching your thoughts flow over like an independent third party. That process may work differently for everyone but for me the act of looking directly at them caused them to halt.


_________________
The loneliest part of life: it's not just that no one is on your cloud, few can even see your cloud.