First Time "Meditating"

[bfrance]

So, I just spent the past 10 minutes meditating (or as close as I know how to do that,) and it was really refreshing. I put on some ocean sounds on my studio headphones, layed on the floor and just focused on my breathing, what I was feeling, etc. A few times I caught anxious or distracting thoughts creeping into my conscious and I had to push them back. But, overall it was a nice experience.

For anyone who practices this routinely, do you have any tips/websites that help guide, etc?

-Ben

[ktrp]

There are some audio tracks of guided mindfulness based meditation by John Kabat-zinn that i found quite good.

Focus on breathing. Move from there to body, then sounds (don't INTERPRET what the sounds are just experience them) what you are feeling physically, then consider thoughts and feelings.

When you catch yourself 'thinking', congratulate yourself for noticing, notice what the thought was, and then let it go. Don't push it, just release it, like a bubble floating down a river.

When you experience worry, or planning, label it. Like actually say (in your head) 'worry, worry'. Worrying is not actually useful, it FEELS like planning but is actually just a bad thought pattern. Identifying it as worry cuts a lot of its power.

Planning, label as planning as well, and defer. You can plan later.

Again, be forgiving of yourself. Whenever you notice you're doing something you don't intend to be doing, congratulate yourself for NOTICING.

[TaoZen]

Originally Posted by bfrance

So, I just spent the past 10 minutes meditating (or as close as I know how to do that,) and it was really refreshing. I put on some ocean sounds on my studio headphones, layed on the floor and just focused on my breathing, what I was feeling, etc. A few times I caught anxious or distracting thoughts creeping into my conscious and I had to push them back. But, overall it was a nice experience.

For anyone who practices this routinely, do you have any tips/websites that help guide, etc?

-Ben

Hi Ben,

Sorry, no websites or materials to offer at this point but a couple of tips.

First, there are a ton of materials out there and a lot of schools of thought around meditation, the how's and why's and many, many different practice methods. Look for the ones that speak directly to you. You will know pretty fast whether or not a guide or style of practice resonates with you or not. Be willing to let go of those that don't as soon as you recognize that they don't. Don't just keep trying or reading because there "must" be something you aren't getting yet. When it works you will "get" it pretty fast.

My second tip is not to push back on anything during this. Let the anxious and/or distracting thoughts float. It is the pushing back that keeps them active and in the foreground the longest. Yes you can achieve some moderate success by controlling them and "forcing" a focus on other things. Breathing is often the forced focus method. But the true value of meditation is to learn to let them float until they disappear on their own, and they will. As your practice deepens they will float for shorter and shorter periods and you will find yourself just naturally moving on to the deeper, relaxing acceptance of what ever is going on in your immediate experience. In my experience, that is the main purpose of meditation.

One of the values of allowing your anxieties and distractions to float and fade in and out naturally is that the experience carries over into your non-meditative activities also. As you get more comfortable with just letting them float in and out of your consciousness without necessarily reacting to them then they become much easier to handle.

[CrystalPalace]

Bfrance, great work. Meditation is a powerful way to build up an immunity to anxiety.

KTRP has got lots of good tips.

One thing I'd recommend is instead of trying to "push back" the anxious thoughts, be more accepting. It's a matter of acknowledging their existence rather than trying to prevent them or exclude them from your mind. You say "oh, there's an anxious thought. i'll just return to my breathing now."

Imagine your mind as a room with endless capacity. When you see an anxious thought coming in, don't try to keep it out of the room, just take it and set it down somewhere, then turn your attention to another part of the room..

Meditation is all about accepting things the way they are. Your anxious thoughts included.

You'll find, of course, that the anxious thoughts lose their power, and in fact diminish over time.

Best regards,

[YoungNG]

Interesting thread guys.

I like it! I'm also going to get serious on meditataion asap.

On recommendation of Montecristo i've ordered this book http://www.amazon.com/The-Mindfulnes.../dp/1572244992 , i hope it will do good

I am also waiting on my 'Self Therapy for your Inner Critic' book, hopefully i can integrate it together with the Susan Anderson dialogues (which i am still epicly procrastinating with).. But ok..

Nice thread really. Gonna read more about meditation soon. I want to master it