How to learn to meditate

[seeker5]

I'm looking to learn to meditate. I've put that off for a number of years as the thought of sitting still, alone even for 5 minutes without thinking seemed quite a hard feat for me to do. However, I feel the need now to learn to meditate. I did a search and to start with I thought I'd try the following:

Set timer for 20 minutes
Close my eyes
Breath in and out regularly, and attempt to focus all of my attention on the breathing.
Any thoughts that come into my mind, let it go once I realize it.

I thought I'd try that each day for a few weeks to get used to quieting my mind before eventually moving on to more advanced meditation techniques. Is that a good idea, or is there something better for a beginner to learn to meditate?

ps. I didn't see a forum that listed "meditation", so I figured I'd put it in here since I want to learn to meditate to better help me do Intention-Manifestation.

[Rose of Cairo]

In my opinion, 20 minutes for an absolute beginner is way too much. Start with 5 or even 3 minutes, and increase very progressively.

Don't beat yourself up when you notice you're thinking again, it's normal. Just peacefully come back with your attention to the breathing and observe how your body breathes. Don't try to control your breathing, or to breathe slowly, or anything like that.

[TheOpusMovieCommunity]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Is that a good idea, or is there something better for a beginner to learn to meditate?

Thats a good start. You may want to try Free Meditation Music. They have great instruction on meditation techniques, plus several free meditation music tracks you can listen to. I use it a lot. Hope that helps!

[wellbeing]

I agree with Rose: start out small, like 5 minutes (it'll feel plenty long the first few times), and add a minute or 2, as you progress.

A couple of other tips:

• Use a timer or set an alarm. Keeping an eye on the clock is just a form of distraction.
• Try to meditate at the same time every day. It'll help to train your mind to go into meditation mode. Also, meditate in the same place, position, etc. to reinforce that training. Another advantage of sticking to a schedule is that you're building a habit into your daily routine which will help you keep up with practice.
• Be gentle with yourself. Your mind will wander; just bring it back to your breathing without any fuss or judgements. Don't worry if you're doing it right or well or whatever; those are judgements as well and just distractions.

Some people use fancy techniques, sounds, incenses, etc. but you don't need anything more than your time, some quiet and your attention. The most important part is to simply do it.

Hope this helps.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Set timer for 20 minutes
Close my eyes
Breath in and out regularly, and attempt to focus all of my attention on the breathing.
Any thoughts that come into my mind, let it go once I realize it.

I thought I'd try that each day for a few weeks to get used to quieting my mind before eventually moving on to more advanced meditation techniques.

Concentration meditation is so fundamental that no matter how advanced you ever get, you will still be doing some concentration meditation. For example, even advanced meditators will do some concentration meditation to kick off their session, before they move on to use some other approach within that same session.

Concentration meditation is just any form of meditation which helps to focus, steady and concentrate the mind. Watching the breath is a form of meditation.

[seeker5]

Thanks for the suggestions and feedback!

I like the idea of starting with 5 minutes and moving upward. I did 5 minutes yesterday and it went by quite fast. I would guess I managed about 10-20% of that time without thoughts. I'm going to increase it to 6 minutes today. I'm assuming I should increase when I feel a level of comfortableness of sitting there trying to meditate, not whether I actually succeed in spending most of the time without thoughts right?

[wellbeing]

Originally Posted by seeker5

...I'm assuming I should increase when I feel a level of comfortableness of sitting there trying to meditate, not whether I actually succeed in spending most of the time without thoughts right?

That would be my suggestion (the "level of comfortableness" one). And, remember, it's not about "succeed"-ing, it's about being.

Enjoy!

[pianoperformer]

Really, totally without thoughts? Usually it is very difficult, nearly impossible, for someone to shut off all thoughts until they are very advanced at meditation. Remember any thought counts, even "Hey I've not thought for a while." We're so used to having thoughts constantly barraging us that it can take a while to shut them off totally. But that doesn't mean you are failing. I would say there is no failing, as long as you constantly bring your attention back to that which you are focusing on.

There is a course on another site that suggests using the mantra "I am." I don't know how well it works, but I imagine as well as any. I've been trying to use it.

Just meditate, and don't worry about results, expectations, or anything. Even if it goes really well one day, it may not the next. It doesn't matter. Make it part of your daily routine.

[Mags]

I'd suggest that you have a look at Andrea Hess' videos on meditation (I mentioned these on another post - here are the links):

Originally Posted by Mags

Empowered Soul Blog » A little something different
Empowered Soul Blog » Meditation - Part Two
Empowered Soul Blog » Meditation - how to get started

One thing that Andrea mentioned in these posts that I found very useful was that people often think that "success" in meditation involves achieving a state of absolutely no thoughts. However, meditation can help you to discipline your mind (which will help you with manifesting your intentions) - as such, "success" is more about increasing your ability to bring your mind back to present moment awareness by decreasing the amount of time it takes for you to notice your mind wandering off thinking all it's egoic thought.