Thread: Where to learn meditation.

I love to meditate and do it daily. Anything that is going to make you more mindful will help you LD. There's lots of great books like 'mindfulness, bliss and beyond' by Ajahn Brahm or 'the new mediation handbook' by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso to help you with mediation. Also, I'm sure a quick google search will pull up a lot of sites for meditation. I'm a newbie to this site so I cant post any links yet sorry.

I've learned a lot about meditation from books at the library (don't remember any specific names), and I'm sure you'll find a bunch of information from searching on here. It requires a lot of concentration so it probably helps a lot with getting LDs. I've been practicing meditation for about a year now and I've found it really helps with all areas of my life. Plus, you don't have to sit in a dark room with your eyes closed to meditate, you can incorporate it into your everyday life. I practice meditation while walking around my park at night.

I'd recommend the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. If you're looking for something online, here's an interesting youtube video. It's just an introduction to the whole subject, but it's a good watch: YouTube - Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

I watched that video. I'm going to check out some of those books.

Meditation is just sitting still and being at peace with your mind. Your mind has racing thoughts usually and so being able to stabilize those racing thoughts is how you achieve meditation.

I for one cannot sit still long enough to learn meditation (at least i couldnt before)... I need to be actively doing something otherwise I am very antsy...I can teach you some meditation techniques to try if you wish. PM me about it...

Sincerely,
~Icy

There are all sorts of different styles of meditation. Personally, I simply sit still- lying down will make me relaxed and everything, but then I fall asleep! Sitting will keep me awake. I then just try to focus on my breathing. Just like when you attempt a WILD, your mind may have wandering thoughts and everything. Just focus on breathing and eventually those thoughts will stabilize and your mind will be clear. Breathing is a good conscious "anchor" for meditation. It is the only thing I intentionally and consciously focus on. Don't worry about doing it right or anything like that. Just focus on your breathing and relax. Don't consciously think about anything else. Let your thoughts go. Focus on the breathing and nothing more.

Like I said, there may be wondering thoughts and emotions and everything else. But as you continue to relax and focus solely on your breathing, your mind will clear.

It might take a little bit more practice for some than others. But that's what I do to clear my mind and relax during meditation.

Reading up on the subject is a great idea! This is just my personal style and it relaxes and refreshes me.

Lucidipedia has a couple of videos about meditation that I thought were interesting. Learning Lucid dreaming On the right side of the page, under "Pro's Course"

So going into WILD and meditation are the same thing with 2 different ends. WILD is sleeping (hopefully lucidly) and meditation you wake up (hopefully lucidly).

I'm still going to check up on some of those reading materials.

EDIT: I've been looking about google (haven't had a chance to procure books yet). I'm not sure I quite "get" meditation. You might say I don't see the point to it. I understand it has benefits. By what means does it achieve such benefits?

I'm going to try it out with what I've gathered so far. Maybe then I'll feel it.

Originally Posted by sisyphus

I'd recommend the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. If you're looking for something online, here's an interesting youtube video. It's just an introduction to the whole subject, but it's a good watch: YouTube - Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn

I procured from the Aether copies of "Mindfulness in Plain English" and the one mentioned in the video "Full Catastrophe Living."

I also checked out lucidipedia. Very interesting those last couple of videos in the Pro Course.

Meditating is really no different from self-hypnosis. When you meditate, you are putting yourself into hypnosis. Usually. If you are doing it right. Hypnosis is an extremely relaxed state where your consious, critical mind is pulled back somewhat from your subconscious, and is not sleeping, but is like a second cousin to it. Very much the way meditation is described here. I prefer to know it by the name hypnosis, because then you can do some really interesting things with it.

I tried out some meditation today, as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, I guess.

As he describes it, it is existing in the moment and being aware and appreciating each moment as it is. Not thinking about past or future.

I tried to do (or not do, as he says) it a few times today. I also noticed that when I was petting and cuddling my cat, I was as described. I tried doing it inside on a couple of chairs. The first one was an office chair. I found I kept leaning back. The second one was a dining room chair, but I found that I was slightly hot. So I stormed outside into the slightly chilly weather. I found that I was able to sit still. And that there were tons of things to pay attention to, like birds, wind chimes, my shivering body, my even breath. I did his "eating exercise" at one point with a Reese's. Much better that way. I also used some of it to power through some homework I was having trouble with.

I still don't quite comprehend it, but I guess I understand on an intuitive level. I'm still reading my way through his and some other books.

I think this might help me have a breakthrough with WILDing, though.

I have found doing a wild before pre sleep to be a great way to "meditate", because when you stop and get up your mind is completely empty, seriously, it's just empty.

Most people tend to think Meditation is thinking of nothing. But I disagree, I feel meditation is more like thinking of everything. I try to feel my entire body, every single nerve, try to hear every single sound, try to experience everything equally. I quiet my conscious, but let my subconscious wander. When I'm in a really good state of meditation I will have a constant flow random thoughts and images that my conscious is simply observing. The better you get you can learn to direct those thoughts to a particular subject. It's a good way to relax and explore your subconscious.

Originally Posted by LikesToTrip

Most people tend to think Meditation is thinking of nothing. But I disagree, I feel meditation is more like thinking of everything. I try to feel my entire body, every single nerve, try to hear every single sound, try to experience everything equally. I quiet my conscious, but let my subconscious wander. When I'm in a really good state of meditation I will have a constant flow random thoughts and images that my conscious is simply observing. The better you get you can learn to direct those thoughts to a particular subject. It's a good way to relax and explore your subconscious.

Oh yea I agree, It's just that when you finish meditating, your mind is empty because you are at peace, well thats how I feel.

Just watched those two meditation videos on Lucidipedia. :Two thumbs up: He talks about Lucid Living which is one of the things I've been working on over the past few days. I'd never been to this website, thanks for bringing it up Insideout!