Meditation

[elmagicochrisg]

Does anybody here meditate?...

If yes, would you be so kind to share some thoughts on the matter?...

Anything at all really. Why, how, where, effect, tips, other...

[Gnashvar]

I do some sort of meditation which helps me out quite a bit to relax. I sit on my knees with a straight back. I do not try to control my breathing I just focus on the air that goes in and the air that goes out. How it passes through my nose, if it's warm or cold, how it fills my lungs. And just focus and think about that. If I stray from that I accept it and start again. I have a class where I do this.

It also helps me when I'm running and I'm getting tired and I start thinking I can't go on. It helps me keep going.

Too me there's nothing mystical or magical about it... just an exercise.

[Inazuma]

The main point of meditation is to relax and release some stress right? Or is there more to it that I'm unaware of?

[Gamerforlife]

The main point of meditation is to relax and release some stress right? Or is there more to it that I'm unaware of?

It kind of depends. Spiritual minded people think you can find answers to important questions by clearing the mind or just use it as a way to connect to whatever divine entity one believes in. Then there's the whole path to enlightenment theory, otherwise known as Nirvana

Obviously, anyone who is an atheist would think that's silly

I never could meditate myself, too hard to quiet my ever active mind. To some people, that's the whole point. It's an exercise to learn how to quiet the mind so that one can achieve more focus

[AznKhmerBoi]

meditate to relax your body and mind, in the process you are learning to heal your body and mind. Remember it all begins with the mind. What you think is what you will be.

[Inazuma]

The main point of meditation is to relax and release some stress right? Or is there more to it that I'm unaware of?

It kind of depends. Spiritual minded people think you can find answers to important questions by clearing the mind or just use it as a way to connect to whatever divine entity one believes in. Then there's the whole path to enlightenment theory, otherwise known as Nirvana

Obviously, anyone who is an atheist would think that's silly

I never could meditate myself, too hard to quiet my ever active mind. To some people, that's the whole point. It's an exercise to learn how to quiet the mind so that one can achieve more focus

Meditation could be useful for religious people because they are forbidden from masturbating or having sex before marriage. If you look at the types of people who are serious about meditation, it makes sense.

For the rest of us, just jerk off or have sex. It works better and it's healthier for you.

[elmagicochrisg]

The main point of meditation is to relax and release some stress right? Or is there more to it that I'm unaware of?

Well, that is also what I thought. Just to relax. But there seems to be more to it. A friend of mine lend me a book about meditation and they seem to go pretty far in explaining what meditation is. It's somekind of spiritual thing where you explore your inner and outer self, tackle the problems in your life through doing nothing at all (literally), change the way you observe your thoughts, life, the things around you...

Far deeper than I expected meditation to be. Which kinda makes me doubt if I can really reach that point. In other words, if I have it in me to get that empty and to reach a state where I start exploring my inner self and stuff...

I am open for it though...

It kind of depends. Spiritual minded people think you can find answers to important questions by clearing the mind or just use it as a way to connect to whatever divine entity one believes in. Then there's the whole path to enlightenment theory, otherwise known as Nirvana

Obviously, anyone who is an atheist would think that's silly

Spiritual doesn't mean you have to be religious or believe in a God IMHO. It can also be somekind of pantheism, where you see the thruth, perfection, a system, etc in everything around you without having to give it a name. Be it God, Allah, or any other divine creature...

meditate to relax your body and mind, in the process you are learning to heal your body and mind. Remember it all begins with the mind. What you think is what you will be.

That's about how they describe meditation in this book. It sounds very interesting to me. I have a lot of stress in my life, and I feel part of it (or all of it) can be eliminated by changing the way I think about these problems, life and myself. Be it by dissolving the problems or giving them a place in my life or maybe even something else. Fact is my body (immune system, chronic shoulder and neck pain, stomach aches, reversed sleeping pattern, etc...) and mental health are very very out of balance, and they have been for quite a while, not to say since the very beginning. So I know I will have to change something about the way I do my thing, because if I don't I will never be happy, or even close to being happy, and I will quite literally dig my own grave prematurely. I know this sounds kinda exaggerated, but it's not. Life in our western civilization is just very hard, whether we like it or not. And life has given me a shitload of lemons up to this point. Some of the lemons I got because of my own mistakes, others just because luck was not on my side. You can't chose your own family (or the lack of such) for one...

On a positive note, I am ready to change my life. Even though my country has given me zero chance to build a decent (to western standards) future in the coming years. That's why I started taking Spanish lessons - and Japanese, but the latter is just for fun. To broaden my vision, maybe go that extra mile and leave the country in a few years. Follow my dreams, whatever they may be. Trying to live, instead of remaining in this state of hybernation where you kinda let the years pass you by untill you die. Something most people do I think...

JT said it very well in the smile/ticked thread a few days ago...

Smile:

I read this quote from lThe Dalai Lama, which was his response when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said:

“Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Ticked:
He's right.

That sums it all up really...

I say fuck that!... Even if I fail miserably at whatever I do, I prefer being able to say I tried and failed, than to say I didn't even try at all. But I will have to do something about the way I think about life and as a result of that the way my body feels before I will be able to accomplish anything. Like AznKhmerBoi said, it all begins with the mind. What you think is what you will be...

I'm not saying meditation is going to be the solution to everything. But it could be that first step to a different life...

... ... ...

Dang, where did that all come from?...

[o.pwuaioc]

Obviously, anyone who is an atheist would think that's silly

Not necessarily the first part. The mind is a powerful tool, and many great ideas come to me right before drifting off to sleep. If someone wanted to recreate that clear-headed time by excluding noise and thoughts during a certain part of the day, there's a great chance that some great idea would come to them. No spirituality needed.

[Xeogred]

I've got the flu so I'll re-read this thread later lol, but yeah I'm totally not against meditation at all either. Lots of stress myself this past year or so and I'm totally down for learning ways how to handle it and things like that. I think we even talked about it before elmagicochrisg in some other threads when I brought it up, but I definitely think yoga's a pretty cool option too. The DVD I have is a lot more physical, but the short meditative cooldown at the end is extremely relaxing and pretty interesting stuff. So that's also really gotten me interested in some yoga that might be more meditative.

Also I don't totally know what you guys are saying since I just skimmed the thread, but yeah I really do think there's a difference between religion and spirituality.

[arion]

There is a huge diffrence being spiritual has little common with religion. A religoius person will do good deeds because the rulebook says so. Spiritual person will because he honestly wants to.

There is diffrence between obidience and honest will to do good.