What's your meditation technique/method?

Hey,
apparently a bunch of people here meditate...
so I want to ask you, how do you meditate? What's your technique?
How did you learn it? Are there any mistakes you've made when you started meditating?
How long and how often do you meditate?
Do you do focal meditation (focus on an either physical or abstract object/thing), or do you prefer void meditation (emptying your mind)?
Do you visualize something while you're meditating? (Like flows of energy, mantras, etc)
Do you experience any kind of hallucinations?
In what position do you meditate (sitting cross legged, lying, etc)?
Do you also meditate when it's noisy?
Where do you meditate?
and last but certainly not least: Why do you meditate? What keeps you practicing?
Of course you don't have to answer all those questions...


to answer those questions myself, I used to meditate when I first practiced dream recall a few years ago. I learned it on the internet by using a breathing technique and visualization. After awhile I started doing void meditation, I feel and listen to my environment without thinking about the sensation. If a thought pops up I try to dismiss it to clear my mind.
but I've only meditated once a week or so, after a few months I stopped, but I decided to start again and meditate daily
When I get to a state which feels like trance to me, I see flashes and my tinnitus gets louder
I do meditate even if it's noisy sometimes, I focus on the noises then until I'm very relaxed, then I kinda ignore them (but still perceive them)
I used to meditate in a lying position, then I started sitting cross legged. I recently need a pillow to support my back coz I'm pretty stiff (due to an injury I can't exercise)
I meditate on "my spot" normally (a spot on my bed with lots of pillows), but I wanna start meditating outside in the woods and on my balcony as soon as it gets warmer.
I meditate, because it helps me with anxiety, nervousness, worries and aggression. It kinda stabilizes my personality and my emotions.

I simply meditate on my awareness. Not awareness of external things, but internal, like watching my thoughts and emotions and generally maintaining self awareness.

How did you learn it. There's really not much to learn. Meditation is easy to understand but very difficult to master. It takes years for most people to meditate easily, effectively and in longer sessions. As for mistakes, I can't think of many, just the usual, which is getting distracted. It's easy to get distracted by random thoughts and forget what you're supposed to be doing.

How long and how often do you meditate?
Personally I meditate at least 45 minutes per day. In sessions of 10/15/20 minutes, depends how I feel on the moment.

Do you do focal meditation (focus on an either physical or abstract object/thing), or do you prefer void meditation (emptying your mind)?
I guess my method would be the latter. No thoughts, just awareness.

Do you visualize something while you're meditating?
Nope, I am pretty bad at visualizing so I don't even try.

Do you experience any kind of hallucinations?
Rarely. Auditory hallucinations, I guess. Sometimes I would start hearing what people were talking on the radio. No radio around though.

In what position do you meditate (sitting cross legged, lying, etc)?
Sometimes cross legged, sometimes just sitting on a chair.

Do you also meditate when it's noisy?
Yes. The noise is just another of the things that can distract you, like your thoughts, and don't give it attention.

Where do you meditate?
Either on my bed or on my computer chair (to listen to binaural beats and other relaxing audio).

Why do you meditate? What keeps you practicing?
Because it increases my dream recall, awareness, relaxes me physically and mentally, and many others

I meditate 4 days a week, 10-20 minutes each session.
I learned from you guys, your experiences and seeing some videos. But i guess one must find it's own way of meditating.
I meditate always on my work room, sitting on a chair near the computer where i'm listening to some ambient meditation music. Sometimes i medidate with no music but with earplugs to avoid any sounds from outside.
The technique i use is just pay attention to my breathing or to just try to think of nothing.
I don't get hallucinations, but after 10 minutes of meditation, i don't feel my hands.
The reason why i meditate is to calm myself down, take away the stress of the day and to think clearer.

oh, that's a great link mimihigurashi! :)

@DreamHighlander: interesting, I don't feel my hands either. I guess they're totally relaxed