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Thread: The proper way to meditate

  1. #1
    Andy Buttafuoco Guest

    Default The proper way to meditate

    I try to sit 2 hours a day. Once in the morning and once at night. I am curious to know what some other techniques people use to meditate are.

  2. #2
    rurouni69 Guest

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    Me I meditate in seiza with incense for 1 hour a day, like you, 30 min in the morning and 30 minutes at night.

  3. #3
    Andy Buttafuoco Guest

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    Thanks Aaron, I was just curious. I am trying to learn how to do it properly. I inflate my stomach rather than my lungs and breathing out and in through my nose. I am having difficulty keeping my mind set clear. Do you have a particular technique you use to keep your mind clear?

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    Originally posted by Andy Buttafuoco
    Do you have a particular technique you use to keep your mind clear?
    I know you didn't ask me, but I've heard that counting the breaths can help keep your mind clear. It seems to kind of work when I last tried it.
    Jonathan Wood

  5. #5
    Andy Buttafuoco Guest

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    Cool, that's what I've been doing and your right it does seem to work some. Thanks for the reply.

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    Default Proper?

    Depends.

    Wha kind of meditation are you trying to do? What's the discipline, the methodology?

    There are several ...

    The meditation we teach in our sytem is very simple It's just sitting and breathing. Nothing more.

    Other modalities I've explored over the years include everything foorm zennish sitting to chanting to walking mazes.

    There's no One True Way to meditate.

    Like doing good budo, doing good meditation can be greatly enhanced by having a good teacher, one who teaches a system you find to be 'sympatico' ...

    And doing 'meditation' without a framework and guidance can result in some, um, interesting results.

    And meditation and budo, by the way, don't necessarily have anything to do with each other.

    As with many budo questions, I'd say: 'Ask your teacher ...'

    Chuck
    Chuck Gordon
    Mugendo Budogu
    http://www.budogu.com/

  7. #7
    rurouni69 Guest

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    Actually, what I do is concentrating on LISTENING to my breathing rather than counting it. To me, counting just gets me confused. I also found some rather helpful sites on meditation.

    www.meditationcenter.com/
    www.learningmeditation.com/

    Hopefully these will help you with your meditation. Good luck with your meditation!
    Last edited by rurouni69; 21st November 2004 at 05:11.

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    When I once asked a great master about meditation, he told me some key things to consider.

    While there are many paths and types of meditation:

    1. Don't meditate until you understand how to meditate.

    2. You won't understand how to meditate until you find a master who will show you how to meditate.

    3. There is an initiation process where the master brings you across a point, and introduces you to either your next level, or the highest level which you would be able to survive.

    4. Meditation without a guide is more than just dangerous; it is stupid, may cost you your sanity and can be deadly.

    5. Meditation which is not is not inherently dangerous is not really meditation. It may however be somewhat helpful at some level, or a complete waste of time.

    While I am quoting someone else above, having spent over thirty years pursuing this path, I would have to agree from what I have been able to absorb from that which I have been fortunate enough to experience.

    ...for what its worth.
    Shaun Ravens - NY Aikido Center
    Aikido Doshinokai - an Aikikai affiliate

    "A real villain is always preferable to a fake hero."

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    Originally posted by Misogi-No-Gyo
    2. You won't understand how to meditate until you find a master who will show you how to meditate.
    I think with Andy is that he doesn't have access to a master to teach him how to meditate. Which is why he came here.
    Jonathan Wood

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    Originally posted by Chrono
    I think with Andy is that he doesn't have access to a master to teach him how to meditate. Which is why he came here.

    Jonathan,

    I am not sure this is, in fact, the case, as Andy never mentions anything about a teacher. I think that if you look at the basic guidelines I outlined in my last post, you may realize two things. The first is that many people have no idea what they are doing, or even why they are doing it. The second is that they continue to do it anyway.

    I don't have an answer for him, as I am not sure of his the goals he seeks, for which meditation is the path. If the goal does not come any closer via meditation, nor is meditation the best path which he should be following to achieve his goals, then he should stop what he is doing immediately, regardless of the fact that he has no guide to begin with.

    As for keeping the mind clear, which he indicates he is trying to do for some reason, I am not sure what he hopes to achieve. Of course, empty-headed is often what people are actually trying to achieve, and this has nothing to do with being clear-headed. Look around, those whom we consider empty headed don't usually sit high on our list... He also mentions breathing in and out of the nose, but does not mention why he is doing it in that manner.

    Personally, I think meditating without the express guidance of a master is akin to wandering into a pharmacy and dipping into the stock to alleviate depression due to jock itch. You may in fact need to simply wash a bit more, but instead take a pill which kills you due to an unknown allergic reaction. Sure medicine can be a cure, but it can also kill, just like anything else of power, which meditation certainly is.

    Without really understanding Andy's background, mentality, condition or intentions, advising him to meditate, continue meditating or how to meditate is simply irresponsible at best, spiritually negligent next, and possibly criminal depending on the context in which the referral is made.

    Them’s just my thoughts, but it is really up to Andy to understand this for himself.
    Shaun Ravens - NY Aikido Center
    Aikido Doshinokai - an Aikikai affiliate

    "A real villain is always preferable to a fake hero."

  11. #11
    Andy Buttafuoco Guest

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    Thank you all for your replies. Shaun, you hit it right on the head, you touched on some really good points. I have been traiing budo for serveral years now and it's principles are very new to me. I trained with an Okinawan karate master on Long Island and we didn't sit before and after class or even discuss meditation. I now train in Arizona under some great teachers and they have showed me how prepare for practice. I want to use this technique when I am out of the dojo and I was just curious what others were doing.
    I don't make it a habit to participate in something if I don't know how or why I was doing it. I was simply curious what others have learned, which is why I prompted this discussion. thank you for your honest insight.

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    Originally posted by Andy Buttafuoco
    Thank you all for your replies. Shaun, you hit it right on the head, you touched on some really good points. I have been traiing budo for serveral years now and it's principles are very new to me. I trained with an Okinawan karate master on Long Island and we didn't sit before and after class or even discuss meditation. I now train in Arizona under some great teachers and they have showed me how prepare for practice. I want to use this technique when I am out of the dojo and I was just curious what others were doing.
    I don't make it a habit to participate in something if I don't know how or why I was doing it. I was simply curious what others have learned, which is why I prompted this discussion. thank you for your honest insight.
    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for the reply and private e-mail. I sent you a reply to your private e-mail address. In your original post, you seem to be asking questions regarding breathing, specifically. Is that more of what you are focusing on. Or rather is it about integrating meditation practice, as a whole into Aikido practice and training?
    Shaun Ravens - NY Aikido Center
    Aikido Doshinokai - an Aikikai affiliate

    "A real villain is always preferable to a fake hero."

  13. #13
    Andy Buttafuoco Guest

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    My answer is (D) all of the above. I want to keep Aikido training in my everyday life, in and out of the dojo. Thanks again.

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    Originally posted by Misogi-No-Gyo
    I think that if you look at the basic guidelines I outlined in my last post, you may realize two things. The first is that many people have no idea what they are doing, or even why they are doing it. The second is that they continue to do it anyway.
    Oh, of course, I was guilty of those two things before, myself. But, I stopped because I said to myself that I didn't know what I was doing. I knew why I wanted to do it, but I had no idea how to do it.
    Jonathan Wood

  15. #15
    Goro Guest

    Lightbulb intro to meditation

    ***The Ten Rules for Meditation




    Internal Meditation is a scientific system to receive information. When the wise submerges into meditation, he searches for information.



    Scientific Meditation has ten basic fundamental rules. Without them, emancipation and liberation from the mortifying shackles of the mind is impossible.

    1st Rule - To be completely conscious of the psychological mood in which we are situated, before the arising of any thought.

    2nd Rule - Psycho-Analysis: To investigate the root and origin of each thought, remembrance, affection, emotion, feeling, resentment, etc. while they emerge from within the mind.

    3rd Rule - To serenely observe our own mind; to put perfect attention on all mental forms which appear on the screen of the intellect.

    4th Rule - To remember and recall the "Sensation of Contemplation" from moment to moment during the common and current course of daily life.

    5th Rule - The intellect must assume a psychological, receptive, integral, uni-total, complete, tranquil and profound state.

    6th Rule - A continuity of purpose, tenacity, firmness, constancy and insistence must exist in the technique of Meditation.

    7th Rule - To assist any time we can in the Meditation Rooms of the Gnostic Lumisials is affable.

    8th Rule - It is peremptory, urgent and necessary to convert ourselves into watchers of our own mind during any agitated or revolving activity, to stop at least for an instant in order to observe it.

    9th Rule - It is indispensable and necessary to always practice with closed eyes, with the goal of avoiding the external sensorial perceptions.

    10th Rule - Absolute relaxation of the entire body and the wise combination of meditation with drowsiness. *********



    Andy, don't let anyone attempt to scare you off from practising , you'll find more than enough info on the exact science of internal meditation here at these links. Good luck,

    http://www.gnosis-usa.com/medit%20topic.html

    Also, if you have any questions feel free to ask in the forum section entitled meditation.

    http://www.gnosis-usa.com/forums/index.php

    take care,

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