Meditation

Yesterday I came across Diamond Way Buddhism and they have a number of centres across the country and all the centres offer regular meditation sessions. No prior experience is required and there is no charge for attending the sessions:
https://www.buddhism.org.uk/diamondway-buddhism/

There are plenty of books to help you learn meditation but I found the course I attended (a few years ago) to be of additional use.

The book I bought (Wildmind: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditation) contained a section called 'The raisin experiment'. This involved taking a raisin (or something similar, the actual food item is unimportant providing it is something ordinary) and exploring it; the exploration involved sight, smell, touch, and taste.

After a minute or two exploring the sight, smell, and touch of the raisin, it is put into your mouth and explored by touch (using the tongue) and taste. The raisin is then bitten into and the exploration continues.

If your mind wanders during any part of the exploration then you have to let go of the entangled thoughts and bring your attention gently back to the experience of the raisin.

When you feel you have thoroughly explored the raisin, it can be swallowed, but you should continue to notice the lingering flavour.

Once the exploration is finished, notes are made about the experience and you are asked to describe the eating experience, what (if anything) you learned about raisins, how the experience differed from other times you have eaten a raisin, and what implications the experiment has for other aspects of your life.

I will only say about my raisin experiment except that I was very sceptical and yet the experience was something else.

I think I will look into this,thank you caretwo for raising the subject,although it is for you to gain help it has helped me understand what is possible for myself.I hope it has helped you too.

The closest I get to "switching off my brain" is after a really hard day at work I find a quite spot make a cuppa from my flask and just sit back and let the wave of sensation coarse through my body, as a youngster if I couldn't sleep at night I would get very uncomfortable? It would cause me pain and fatigue,but that released some kind of chemical? I would then lay down and the sensation or tingling would flow up through my body, a self made drug to relax.

Ooohhh! Going to check that out! 

Lol! Sounds idealic to be honest with you! Maybe that's where I am going wrong 

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/vaughan-williams/music/ralph-vaughan-williams-lark-ascending/

And you can apparently download your favourite version

I'm not very well read about classical music. I will try to find it on line somewhere.

i live in the history zone, cobbled streets, gas style street lamps, its really nice, I am very lucky!

Hi 

the Lanark ascending is a piece of classical music that try's to mimic the sound of the sky lark.

owls are also good..

having space to enjoy both ... even better 

Sharing wine is a great thing, very good for soul & spirit. Drinking alone makes you feel more alone and I always avoid that if ever I can.

i am sorry I don't know anything about shamanism BUT I do believe that animals have spirits. I had a beautiful dog pass away about one year ago. She was very special to me. Black and White Welsh Springer. This breed do not bark much. If she got really really excited she would treat me to a very special single "woof!". Always just the one, never more. Sometimes in meditation I hear that one special "woof!". I don't think she is that far away.

i am very lucky next door to where I live is a 13th century church yard. There is an owl that lives there. He starts his calls at about nine to nine fifteen, I turn the TV down and listen to him, gosh its eerie but very special indeed. Who else is lucky enough to have a wise old owl in his next doors garden?

my favourite bird is the black bird. Rumour has it he never repeats the same song, true virtuosa, every song is quite unique alas they do not seem to like to live in churchyards. "The lark ascending" is that a poetry quote?

cheers Buddy!

What a great post.

i undertook a meditation course a number of years ago as a uni student and indeed found it useful....and much healthier than the glass of wine that I meditate with nowadays.

very interested in what you said about encountering people and animals....are you familiar with the the idea of shamanism.... this brings to the fore the idea of spirit animals....that help to guide you.

sea sounds are good....for me it has always been the sound of the countryside and birdsong...."the lark ascending"

I hope I have something to offer on this subject.

Meditation is very good for us.

I did not use to do any meditation at all and then I saw an advert for a meditation group who meet on Tuesday and Wednesday Evenings.

I went along. The room is candle lit and all the electric lights go at the commencement of a meditation.

There is a low power Audio CD player that provides various background soothing noises. My favourites are seagull calling, the sound of waves, heavy rain fall and water movement, whale callings. There is a theme here, I discovered I am drawn to the sea and creatures that inhabit it.

The first week I went not very good. I was advised that I have a scientific mind and that my thinking is a bit Black and White and there was some discussion on thinking in various shades of grey [no not that book - it caused some laughter at the time though).

As the weeks went by I went deeper and deeper into the meditation and I sleep like a baby when I get home.

My tips...

Never fight it, nothing that appears in your mind can hurt you, it might surprise and amaze you but it cannot hurt you.

Do not try to divert any thoughts, go with them and see where they lead.

Enjoy the colours, especially Green and Purple they are the best

If images of people or animals appear then talk to them (not out loud, of course, people will think you are crazy). Ask them what it is they want and then listen, I have had some very interesting replies to this question.

Enjoy this inner little world of your own creation, you are safe, nothing bad will happen, go with the flow.

Don't try too hard - My brain is always fretting about money, the car not starting, other people opinions etc. get into a habit of saying to that inner voice "not interested now, come back later!'. George Harrison was a great believer in Meditation and his proud boast was that after many years of dedicated practice he could manage a whole 5 minutes without his brain screaming at him a subject to worry about. In fact he claimed that four 5 whole minutes he consciously thought of absolutely nothing at all.

Keep working on the calm [Karma] Guys

Take Care Buddies!

Thank you for the replies.

I shall have to be more disciplined with setting aside time for meditation. The current problem is that meditation is not a regular part of my routine and I do not like changing my routine.

Meditation is like a muscle, it takes work and can stop working well if you have injuries!

I'm a Quaker by convincement, which means I took my membership as an adult from a non Quaker family. If I'm in practice I can sit with expectant waiting for the hour no problems. Because of a whole heap of things many of them around some pretty serious BS to do with SOs ex spreading rumours, I'm very out of practice and barely manage 10 minutes.

Timetabling time to focus inward is important, but if you are struggling initial limit it to 10 minutes. Find a position to sit in that's comfortable. If the "washing machine brain" (love this description) is present focus using either a mantra or another focus. I'm strongly tactile so use beads that are like rosary but not.

I also use a walking meditation of the washing machine is on spin cycle.

Keeping records of progress by noting time spent, focus point and anything that came strongly through your meditation can be helpful particularly if you fall out of practice, because then you can look at what the benefits were for you

ElephantInTheRoom said:

Something I recently read from and Aspie and her partner is to plan events to put in place windows of time when you can be "off grid" and have a space to get some peace and reorientate yourself 

I have a very established activity schedule in this respect, as I rather prefer not getting excessively exhausted, and controlled zoning in by way of mediation has allowed me to deal with the external environment more efficiently. So I very much agree with this going "off-grid" information.

Something I recently read from and Aspie and her partner is to plan events to put in place windows of time when you can be "off grid" and have a space to get some peace and reorientate yourself 

caretwo said:

Does anyone have any tips on how I can ensure regular meditation, please? Thank you.

Any intentional focusing of the mind on something or the other in particular is a meditation, so recognising you are doing that much regularly is important as a contrast, and involving states of conscious and consciousness itself are more involved variants of meditation.

In terms of establishing a regular pattern of meditation, make time for it as a fixed part of your schedule, even if you fall asleep, providing you wish to follow it as a more serious discipline. Mediate for say twenty minutes at a time, resist falling asleep and keep an alarm set ready to wake you up if you are two tired to remain focused. If you feel yourself slipping off in to slumber whilst resisting it ~ end the meditation there and then, and consider doing as such to be an achievement of great value. Build up your psychological stamina rather than overworking it, or burning it out.

As far as the noise of the external environment goes, listen instead more to the soundings of your internal environment, such as your heartbeat and breathing to begin with. Closing your ears off with your finger tips is a good means by which to get going with this, and as your ability to tune in develops, you can learn to tune out the outer racket to become a subtle back-ground state of affairs, rather than have it be an intrusive distraction or disruption to your meditational process ~ you may as such be able to make it a productive part of it.

Learn not to react to external noises that are not important during the meditation period, focus on deep pelvic breathing instead. Crossing your ankles, calves or legs helps also to create a semipermeable field around you to provide an insulation of sorts from the external environment. Most people do this in social situations that are engrossing for this reason, particularly when sat.     

Thank you both for the replies.

I have thought for a while that I would like to attend a Tibetan Monastery or something similar but that is something for the future when I do not have an animal care for.

Some time ago I attended a meditation class run by Buddhists but did not continue because the round-trip travel time was two hours minimum.

I definitely do not want to meditate to chants. There is enough noise in my world without chanting.

I like the idea of imaging being in a place but I have never been able to achieve that. I meditate by concentrating on my breathing. I have read that counting helps but I found that a distraction.

Sorry Caretwo, we are drifting off your thread. Hope our replies are of some use. I'm off to meditate in my chair :)  Laddie.

Same here.  The idea that each of us has all of these elements as a part of us - anger, jealousy, selfishness, etc., and that we can - through conscious effort and spiritual exercise - reach above them and obtain mastery over them... that seems like an entirely true and realistic approach.  It's helped me, even though I don't adhere to the religion itself.  It's basic spirituality.

Buddism is the only religion I have been attracted by Tom. The core principles make sense to me.

Where I came unstuck was at the chapter on reincarnation in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.

Like all religions you have to suspend logical science and believe in the supernatural to believe.

I find it interesting that it is those of us who search for answers to the meaning of life who eventually have to accept we are not the same as most people.

It is good you have decided to stick with the forum bye the way. I always appreciate your input. Thanks for that, Laddie.

I do pretty much the same.  If I wake in the middle of the night with 'washing-machine' head - thinking about all the things I've got to do, etc - I reach a place where I just stop, shut it off, and imagine what I learnt in mindfulness classes.  I put myself by a gently-flowing river, and see my thoughts as leaves washing away on the current.  Works every time.  It also reduces anxiety.

I went to a Buddhist group locally a couple of times - but I actually found the group chanting distinctly unsettling.  I need peace!