what are good meditation techniques?
539063
The whole aim of meditation is,\n1. to calm your mind, and\n2. to focus the mind on one thing.\n\nIf you sit down and close your eyes you will notice that your mind is jumping from one thought to another. Even though you want to concentrate on your breath you will find other thoughts also coming in between.\n\nIn learning to meditate you must first learn to calm your mind. You do this by following every thought that comes into you mind. You must be like a Manager of a Hotel who stands at the entrance and observes the customers coming in. Without getting attached to the thoughts try to observe them. You will find that a thought comes in and that it goes nowhere and another thought follows it - try following that too - with same results. This way you will find that your thoughts gradually subside.\n\nOf course do not expect results in one or two days. Practise it for at least 40 minutes every day for at least 2 months you find that you have 'killed' your train of thoughts. I have practised for 1 1/2 years but still vagrant thoughts come in. The whole idea is to silence the mind.\n\nThereafter start concentrating on your breath. Notice the breath coming in and going out. You should not concentrate only on the tip of your nose. Notice the breath coming in and thereafter your lungs getting filled and then gradually exhaling the breath.\n\nYou should be able to get some guidance from the following sites,\n\n1. http://www.dhamma.org/vipassan.htm\n2. http://www.meditationexpert.com   and click on the free articles on yoga meditation - it includes articles on all types of meditations including christian and muslim meditation.
949534
take bathe before going to Bed and light a candle of purfume which candle or stick u like and do medittation . if u can not do maditation then chant any Mantra like Gayatri mantra etc.\nbefore sleep take long Breath . \nit will helpfull \nall the Best
780801
Meditation is enormously powerful.\n\nI'm not sure this is what most teachers have in mind, but...
51228
Meditation is the best answer. Chose a quiet place and start concentrating on your breath, you will be distracted dont worry again concentrate on your breath only on that, i tried this and it worked for me do this daily for 20 mins your charm will back dude............
415325
I would look into the practices of Thich Nhat Hanh, the famous Buddhist from Vietnam.  His mindful waking is awesome.  He has so many spectacular books on mediation.  To start, I would recommend meditating on his 5 Mindful Trainings.  If you can master that, then you should attempt his 14 Mindful Trainings.  If these for some reason, do not suit you, he is the most flexible with learning.  He says that if it doesn't suit you, you can always do some other meditations of his, or even somebody's else's, as long as you achieve the desired result.\n\nHere is a link:\nhttp://www.plumvillage.org/MindfulnessTrainings/MTTrainingInfo.htm
774006
I just wanted to say that meditation is not something that has helped me personally, I know many of these posters recommend it though. For me, I cannot get my mind to "quiet" enough to meditate, unless I take some of my tranquilizers (I have OCD and GAD along with depression). This is not the "best" solution, but as I'm sure you've experienced, sometimes these negative thoughts and the stress from them are debilitating. \nWhat helps me most (medication aside) is doing something else. I most often have to force myself to do it and it is hard, but throughout whatever the distracting activity is it will get easier. When I'm lucky enough to have the oppurtunity I call a funny friend. Making me laugh always distracts me. Good luck.
234169
there are many many kinds of meditation. i'm doing pure concentration meditation, designed to quieten and clear the mind so that i can use it to look deeply, to see what's going on in my mind, and develop mindfulness & insgight. its a difficult form of meditation @ the beginning, but it's well worth becoming competent in. it forms an ideal foundation for further practice in the future, and it's also very conducive to a happy, stable life in the present.\nchoose a suitable place in your home where you can practice meditation uninterrupted. it needs to be quiet, not too bright, and out of sight of other people.\nonce you found the spot, find a good firm cushion, so that you can sit cross-legged, having something to cushion your ankle.\nto start, sit down on your cushion, sitting towards the front of it so that your body is sloped very slightly forward. experience will show you the optimum position. fold your legs so that your knees & ankles are touching the floor. the important thing is to have a good straight back & reasonably comfortable legs, so that your pgysicaly energy isn't blocked. place your 2 hands in your lap, palms up, one on top of the other.\nonce sitting there, wriggle a little bit to find an effortlessly comfortable position for your back & arms. you don't want to feel tension anywhere. then you can begin.\ntake a breath, hold it for a moment, then let it out gently. pause for a moment, then take the next breath. again hold it for a moment, and let it out again. do this for 10 breaths. once you've got the rhythmn, start to count your breaths. a breath is a complete cycle-- in, hold, out, hold- and most meditators find it better to count towards the end of a cycle rather than @ the beginning. in other words, you are counting complete breaths. simply count 1 to 10 in this way. when you've reached 10, start again. if your mind wanders and you lost the count, start again from one.\ndo this for 10mins @ a time for a week or so. when you are ready, increase your sitting time to 20mins. you can do it anytime, but most people do it regularly @ the beginning of the day & @ the end of the day.\nthis is all there is to it, and @ first you'll wonder why on earth you are doing it. your mind will wander, you'll probably feel twitchy, and you'll be bored. but persevere. ther's absolutely nothing better than this for calming the mins & opening mental doors that you never knew were there.\nwhat comes after this? once you've got to a stage where you can follow your breaths effortlessly, so that you can say, 10-20mins, and not lose count even once, you'll be ready for the next stage. in this, you start to observe the contents of your mind. you'll still be using the method of following your nreaths, but now, beacause of the concentration you've already developed, you'll be able to add in a new activity. it's not possible to do this until you've gained control of your mind. \n\n2nd stage:\nThis is called "Vipassana" meditation, which means "insight" meditation.  It's a practice where you develop mindfulness of your own mind.  This is the most popular form of meditation among Westerners because it's very practical and really, really helpful.  The main way in which it helps you is to show you what's arising in your mind almost before it arises.  That way you become master of mental states like anger and attachment and so on instead of them becoming master of you, because you never saw them creeping up until they were right there, completely occupying your mind.  Mental states can occupying your mind in the same way an occupying army of soldiers becomes firmly entrenched in the country they've been sent to occupy.  By the time the local people realize what's happened they can't do anything about the occupying force -- they just have to live with the misery.  When a meditator becomes adept at Vipassana meditation, menta
449699
In meditation, we try to develop wisdom, learn to observe our own mind, decrease negative mind states and develop positive mind states. To develop wisdom and insight, we need a calm, clear and concentrated mind. To observe our own mind, we need to develop a kind of inner "spy" - a part of our attention that checks our state of mind. To decrease negative mind states we need to understand where they come from and transform them into positive energy with the wisdom developed from observing our own mind. To develop positive mind states, we need to focus away from selfishness and again develop wisdom by observing our own mind.\nAs you may realise from the above, we should actually become our own psychologist, or like the title of a booklet by Lama Yeshe: "Becoming Your Own Therapist".\n\nIn order to find the right state of mind for meditation, we need concentration instead of being scattered, and clarity of mind instead of dullness. We need to observe our own thoughts and mind states instead of getting lost in emotions or becoming prejudiced. We need to be honest towards ourselves instead of fooling ourselves and walk away from unpleasant problems. Furthermore, we need to be patient (one does not become a meditation master over night), generate self-acceptance, confidence and enthusiasm to make the mind peaceful.\nAll these factors need to be in balance: we need to be somewhat relaxed as well as concentrated, we need to avoid both sleepiness and excitement. \n\nIn Buddhism, the continuum of the mind has no beginning or end but changes moment by moment.\n\nthat said, meditation alone don't bring enlightenment.
389497
Meditation is a great one.  There are hundreds of ways to meditate.  One thing that works very well for me is to get your hands busy doing something they know how to do well, so only a small fraction of your awareness needs to be focused on that project.  (I cover hexagons in the English paper piecing method of quilting.)  Then let your mind wander where it will, avoiding focus on anything in particular, until you can feel the peace and quiet.\n\nMy Methodist Sunday School teacher mother used to say prayer is talking to God, and meditation is listening to God.  If this description works for you, it's probably all you need.  Get quiet and listen.\n\nAs to increasing concentration at the moment you need it, start with a meditation/prayer for focus.  It may help to align yourself to the four quarters (north, east, south, west) in order to feel at the center of the universe.  Which is to say, at the center of that compass rose you have just defined.\n\nIf you live where it's legal, marijuana can increase concentration quite remarkably.  If you live where it is illegal, the paranoia may be sufficient distraction to ruin that effect.  Pity; ought to be legal.
351364
hi. allow me to share with you a couple of  highly effective yoga techniques which a am sure will do u a whole lot of good. \nthe exercices or "PRANAYAM" as they r widely known, not only cures respiratory illnesses but also takes care of exceessive weigt gain, eyesight and also heart ailments in many patients. people have understood the benefits within weeks of starting these exercises, and i beleive u will 2.\n\n1. sit with an erct posture on the ground. both legs crossed. this is the common position in all yogic asanas.  relax. and do this one slowly. inhale air deeply from left nostril while holding the other closed with the thumb of the right hand. after completing the inhalation close the left nostril with right mid finger and exale slowly from the right nostril. follow this with an  inhale from the right and exale from the left using fingers as mentioned. do this task for 10-15 mmins daily.\n\n2. take a deep breath and slowly expel the air with mouth closed. simultaneously make a humming sound from ur mouth. do this for 5-1o minutes everyday.\n\nnote. these exercises need to be done on an empty stomach. so it is important that u havent eaten anything 3-4 hrs prior to doing these exercise. hence early morning is the best time to perform yoga. 1/2 na hour will put u enroute to a life of healthy living
1040213
The whole aim of meditation is,\n1. to calm your mind, and\n2. to focus the mind on one thing.\n\nThe mind of a normal person is like an uncontrolled monkey jumping from one thought to another. To process all these thoughts a lot of body energy is used. Thus if your mind cease to process thoughts you will be saving a lot of body energy which can be used to cure a lot of ailments in your body. That is why a person who continues to meditate regularly even gets a nice body complexion.\n\nAnapana or concentration on the breath is the best form of meditation.\n\nIf you sit down and close your eyes you will notice that your mind is jumping from one thought to another. Even though you want to concentrate on your breath you will find other thoughts also coming in between.\n\nIn learning to meditate you must first learn to calm your mind. You do this by following every thought that comes into you mind. You must be like a Manager of a Hotel who stands at the entrance and observes the customers coming in. Without getting attached to the thoughts try to observe them. You will find that a thought comes in and that it goes nowhere and another thought follows it - try following that too - with same results. This way you will find that your thoughts gradually subside. Do not try to force out your thoughts.\n\nOf course do not expect results in one or two days. Practise it for at least 40 minutes every day for at least 2 months you find that you have 'killed' your train of thoughts. I have practised for 1 1/2 years and still vagrant thoughts come in.\n\nThereafter start concentrating on your breath. Notice the breath coming in and going out. You should not concentrate only on the tip of your nose. Notice the breath coming in and thereafter your lungs getting filled and then gradually exhaling the breath.\n\nAfter you finish that for the day start to think of a person or several persons whom you hate most. Having those people in mind start to think in a compassionate manner "may he be healthy, may he be happy, may he go up in life, may he live long". Keep on doing this for about 10 minutes a day for a few months you will find that you do not get angry even when you have to get angry.\n\nYou should be able to get some guidance from the following sites,\n\n1. http://www.dhamma.org/vipassan.htm \n2. http://www.meditationexpert.com/   and click on the free articles on yoga meditation - it includes articles on all types of meditations including christian and muslim meditation.
309630
Try the MARV technique -- meditation, affirmations, relaxation, visualization
394744
Chad the whole aim of meditation is,\n  1. to calm your mind, and\n  2. to focus the mind on one thing.\n\nIf you sit down and close your eyes you will notice that your mind is jumping from one thought to another. Even though you want to concentrate on your breath you will find other thoughts also coming in between.\n\nIn learning to meditate you must first learn to calm your mind. You do this by following every thought that comes into you mind. You must be like a Manager of a Hotel who stands at the entrance and observes the customers coming in.  Without getting attached to the thoughts try to observe them. You will find that a thought comes in and that it goes nowhere and another thought follows it - try following that too - with same results. This way you will find that your thoughts gradually subside.\n\nOf course do not expect results in one or two days. Practise it for at least 40 minutes every day for at least 2 months you find that you have 'killed' your train of thoughts. I have practised for 1 1/2 years but still vagrant thoughts come in.  The whole idea is to silence the mind.\n\nThereafter start concentrating on your breath. Notice the breath coming in and going out. You should not concentrate only on the tip of your nose. Notice the breath coming in and thereafter your lungs getting filled and then gradually exhaling the breath.\n\nYou should be able to get some guidance from the following sites,\n\n1. www.dhamma.org/vipassan.htm\n2. www.meditationexpert.com and click on the free articles on yoga meditation - it includes articles on all types of meditations including christian and muslim meditat
34803
If you try to notice the activities of your brain for sometime, then you will find that you seldom find yourself in PRESENT, and your brain always keep trying to lead you towards PAST or FUTURE through various THOUGHTS. Infact, when you are in PRESENT, you are THOUGHTLESS as PRESENT has NO THOUGHTS. \nAnd, the best technique, the unique one, for meditation is Sahaja Yoga through which you may be able to awaken your mother kundalini spontaneously. This is absolutely free to as one can not pay for divine love. This can be done on internet too using www.adishakti.org , www.sahajayoga.org .\nTry it. \nWarm Regards !
486907
Anything that tells your body to relax.  I repeat the Lord's prayer, even tho I am not a Christian.  The whole idea is to concentrate on something other than not sleeping.\nAnother trick is auto-hypnosis.  Tell yourself to relax, first your mouth, cheeks, tongue and ears.  Those parts of the body are most apt to be tense.  Then work down your body from head to feet and tell each part to relax. \nNext thing you know.... it's get up time.
515684
Deep Breathing\nRelaxing Techniques\nSelf Hypnotism
56459
Meditate. It's relaxing and really improves your concentration and mood during the day.