Meditation... how and why

Try zazen meditation Traumganger, good against stress and good for lds.
If you dont like it you can always change for another form of meditation.
you have to start from somewhere anyway :smile:

Jeff

A less comforting side remark about zen meditation: you have to do it regularly. Every day if possible.
Really, regularity is the most important aspect and the most difficult one, because it’s one of the biggest ego tests zen confronts you with: “oh I am tired I’ll just sit tomorrow” or “oh I have better things to do one day off is not that bad” is just cheating yourself, and you just know this from the beginning but it can take some time to stop fooling yourself. I’m practicing zen for 2.5 years and it took me 2 years!!! to get this… If it’s the painful legs that bother you, just take a chair, if you want to. As long as you sit and pay attention it’s OK, every sitting is a good one. If monkey mind bothers too much start with counting breaths, and let the counting go when the mind has settled down.
Yes I have more lucid dreams without practicing lucid dreaming techniques or even writing down my dreams, but the other presents zen opened up for me are much more important… But you have to see it to believe it, the proof is really in the pudding here. Anyway, regular sitting is the essence and much more important than the “depth” of the mind state you’re in. Actually, the mind state you’re in is not important at all, just sit still with back erect, gently pay attention without focusing too much, just being where you are, trusting the process, that’s all it takes… Looks like a simple exercise but doing nothing seems to be one of the toughest jobs for our crazy minds!

yes, that’s why i chose another kind of meditation instead of the zen one. Because you don’t need to sit in a special and sometimes uncomfortable position all the time. while watching the breathing and regularity is something that seems to be important and common to almost every meditation technique the sitting positure is not required by other meditations than zen.
after all, the first positure i tried was lying because it was comfortable on the one hand and relaxing on the other hand. the problem was that you fall asleep very easily especially after a hard day. but i got nice results by meditating in a lying position. later I changed that to some kind of sitting cross-legged. it seems, that this makes it easier for me to reach the states of mind that i usually reach while lying.

so when i meditate should there be like a click that i will know im doing it right kinda like a LD?and meditating should be done inbetween a 15-30 minute period for a normal technique type of meditation?

from my opinion there is no “click” or something that tells you that you did it right. but when less thoughts or even no thought arise in your mind than your not doing it wrong. that does not mean, that when there ARE any thoughts arising you are doing it wrong. just notice these thoughts and let them go. do not hold onto them. but do not try to make these thoughts go away, too. just notice them and they will go by themselves. keep on concentrating on your breath or some other thing depending on what kind of meditation you are practising.

concerning the time I recommend that you start with a time of about 10 till 15 minutes or any time that feels comfortable for you. you may prolong this time when you think your ready to do so. but the time isn’t the most important thing. the most important thing is REGULARITY. You may meditate every morning or evening or on both times. and try to be aware not only while meditating but even in your daily life. be aware when you are angry and notice that you probably will say things that you wouldn’t say when being calm. notice your anger and become calm again.

good luck to all of you and don’t give up!