Home Meditation

[monkeyboy_ssj]

Hmm, I never actually noticed that there was a meditation forum!

I love meditation, I do Yoga and also some moving meditation from Tai Chi.

So here's the question, how do you relax at home? do you set aside a little room, or put off all lights exept a lava lamp?

I like sitting cross legged and practicing breathing in my room with just a cloud ball going and i can chill there for up to 3 hours not sleeping but just homonized.


Cheers

[Bodhisattva]

It is a matter of time. If you don't have a long period to meditate, don't do it, you'll never reach the state you need for it to be effective. And if you know you have "something to do" next, or that you have a limited time, you'll never meditate softly and gently as it is requested to do.

A good help comes from traditional sitting meditation (zazen) you can use a zafu (a pillow filled with hay or similar) where you can sit properly. Anyway find a position that allows you to stay as you sit for a long time without feeling pain, as if you put legs in lotus or semilotus position on an hard ground, the upper part of your feet will stop letting the blood pass and become unsensible very soon.

You see lots of people in movies and things like these, meditating in very strange and unconfortable positions, under a waterfall or upside down or even worse things, that is because when you perfectly handle meditation, you can be confortable with yourself not depending on your body posture, but that comes after years and years of meditation, we can't expect to do so with one hour when we have time during the week

my advice (my experience, i'm not able to give advices ) is to try to sit properly but in a confortable way, then to be sure noone will interrupt you, and take all the time you need, better if outside, not in home, some place with a natural connection, and control breathing or practise Yoga or Tai Chi movements as you prefer.

Ride The Waves Of Destiny

[bruceb]

After the tensions of this past holiday week, Christmas and New Years, I am sure there is a whole lot of unresolved issues that are rattling around in everyones brain, so maybe it is time to bring this Home Meditation to light and compare notes.

I know the many sessions of class, at least in my aikido class, have a couple of minutes of quiet time in which one can settle the self, but in essence, it is far too short a time to do what must be done to reconcile wander emotions, thoughts, urges, and events in ones life.

By chance, one of my aikido buddys gave me a book called "The Heart of Buddhist Meditation" which is from the 1960s but in its simplicity tells of many behavioral conditioning drills that help one with meditation, or thoughts to calm one's center. Notice that repetition is the means of overcoming the thoughts of imbalance just as repetiton is the means of learning to master techniques in physical practice on the mat.

Page 126; from the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

When the enlightenment-factor of investigation of reality / energy / rapture / tranquility / concentration / equanimity is present in him, a monk knows, " The enlightenment-factor of equanimity is in me"; or when the enlightenment - factor of equanimity is absent he knows, "The enlightenment-factor of equanimity is not in me." And he knows how the arising of the non-arisen enlightenment factor of equanimity comes to be; and how perfection in the developement of the arisen enlightenment-factor of equanimity comes to be.

Thus he dwells practising mind-object-contemplation internally, or externally, or both internally and externally. He dwells contemplating origination-factors in mind-objects, or he dwells contemplating dissolution-factors in mind-objects, or he dwells contemplating both origination- and dissillution-factors in mind-objects. Or his mindfullness that "there are mind-objects" is established in him to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfullness. Independent he dwells, clinging to nothing in the world.

Thus indeed, monks, a monk dwells practising mind-object-contemplation on the mind-objects of the seven factors of enlightenment.

**********************************************

Now what in the blue blazes does that mean?

It means you let the thoughts do what they do, give up trying to make sense of them, but let them find their own place as you come to that calm place where the mind and body are relaxed. In finding the repetition of going over certain thoughts over, and over, and over, and over, the mind and body find enlightenment. Gee, just like martial arts practice, eh?

Well, the more I apply my new enlightenment of the HUMAN CONDITION to these old ideas, I find that the behavioral conditoning is pretty much a guide to understanding how human beings tick. That is, what it takes to change the thoughts and behaviors of a human being by modifying ones thoughts and actions. Since Home Meditation is an attempt to do just that, modify ones thoughts and behavior by understanding oneself, I thought this would fit right in with this stressfull time of year for those of us in the northern hemisphere who face the cold dark months ahead.

Home meditation is just the ticket to deal with those winter blues.

[glad2bhere]

I was put onto an interesting a approach some time back that I thought I would share.

Certainly I do my meditation daily at home in the quiet of my own mind. However, I also take "mini-meditations" when I am out in the community. Good times to do this are at those annoyingly Looooong stop lights at certain busy intersections. You know the ones I mean. They tend to be skewed in favor of the busier road--sometimes as long as two or three minutes. Another good place is in queues in grocery stores or banks which can be notoriously long waits. On these occasions I may use a mala in my pocket, but more often I simply focus on a point on the floor and practice breathing ("shikentaza"). Still another occasion is when I take the dogs to the local dog park. The walk is about a mile around and if the weather is nice I set a pleasant pace and synch my breathing to the same number of steps for the entire trip around the park. I have even taken to memorizing various tracts and was able to learn the entire Heart Sutra for memory by simply reciting the tract each day and slowly expanding about a sentence at a time. I can't see why someone couldn,t do the same with Bible or Koran verses. I have this challenge I have set for myself to memorize the 108 injunctions for Buddhist monks in this next year. THAT oughta keep me busy!

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[choombatta]

Funny... I only need a few moments to meditate effectively, and release the tensions that have built up over the day.

Obvously the longer I go, the deepr I get, but I've always felt, and have read in a number of books that if you only have 2 minutes a day to meditate, take it. Take a deep breath, smile, relax. See?

[captnigh]

I like to sit in seiza and count my big abdominal breaths with my eyes half closed.
I take that back.
I LOVE to sit in seiza and count my big abdominal breaths with my eyes half closed.

[PRehse]

Home meditation = Monday night football.

[kokumo]

Snow Lion Publications seems to be having a post-holiday overstock sale on unstuffed zafu. That wouldn't be such a great deal at $25, but they're also giving away buckwheat hull stuffing during the sale.

Details can be found at:

link to snow lion zafu sale

Fred Little

[steve schoen]

kokumo,

I was wondering since I am new to this, can you clarify if the cusion will "block" energy (like I was told). Or will the cusion make me comfortable to where my energy will flow easy ( like I was also told), So very confusing......

[glad2bhere]

Dear Steve:

There is always the risk that people will make of meditation something greater than what it truely is. The same thing happens with other activities such as Education, Body-building, Religion and so forth. It is a very human thing to embellish a simple activity.

Meditation is nothing more or less than training for the mind. Its as simple as that. One can do it in the name of Transcendental Meditation, a religion, yoga, New Age disciplines--- whatever. It does not alter the process or the results--- only ones judgements regarding those results. In the case that you mentioned, if you believe that a cushion will block energy I can pretty much guarentee that will be the result. If you believe that the cushion will anchor you and therefore facilitate conducting energy then I foresee this result occuring for you.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[kokumo]

Originally posted by steve schoen
kokumo,

I was wondering since I am new to this, can you clarify if the cusion will "block" energy (like I was told). Or will the cusion make me comfortable to where my energy will flow easy ( like I was also told), So very confusing......

My tradition doesn't actually use the cushion, both the Rinzai and Soto Zen traditions do; that was my first instruction in sitting meditation, so sometimes I revert just for old-time's sake.

At the simplest mechanical level, the cushion relieves some portion of the pressure on your knees in full-lotus posture. If you're sitting on a cave floor (or more likely, on a concrete slab in the basement), then use of a cushion will decrease the likelihood of hemorrhoids.

There is defintely some benefit in aligning the spine appropriately, especially at the beginning if you are not familiar with or limber enough to sit in full or half lotus. If you are sitting seiza, again, the cushion relieves some of the pressure on the knees, thighs, and arches.

But if you have the idea that you must have a cushion to meditate, or that if you don't have a proper cushion you can't meditate, or that if you do have a cushion your meditation isn't proper, then any one of those ideas about the cushion could "block your energy" by keeping you from meditating in the first place, or distracting you while ostensibly meditating.

Best regards,

Fred Little

[steve schoen]

Thank you for the replies. As stated before, I am venturing into "uncharted" waters.

Maybe I should put down the books by different authors, and go into seiza.......to listen inside.

[glad2bhere]

Dear Steve:

In my order (Order of Buddhist Contemplatives) we recite the directions for meditation quite often and these are simple and to the point. In fact, I suspect that most people would probably find them a bit stark as there are none of the usual allusions to Things Cosmic. Speaking for Buddhism, the practice of meditation is ancillary to conducting ones' affairs appropriately in the community. Even though long term practice can produce some interesting "side effects" like lucid dreaming, most guidance in the Buddhist faith downplays such abilities. In fact, in an orthodox Buddhist community announcing that one has develped special abilities as a result of regular meditation can get you ousted from the community as a divisive element. Cohesion in the community (sangha) is strongly pressed going all the way back to the Shakyamuni Buddha.

As far as reading goes I would drop the books ABOUT meditation and just practice it. It will help somewhat if you continue to read but select books which support contemplative and introspective approaches to your life and behaviors. This isn't just a Buddhist approach. The same would be true for Christian, Jewish, Islamic, etc, faithes as well. FWIW.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[kokumo]

the directions for meditation..... are simple and to the point. In fact, I suspect that most people would probably find them a bit stark....As far as reading goes I would drop the books ABOUT meditation and just practice it.

Ditto what Bruce S. said, with the following two exceptions, mainly because they are useful technical guides to the practice of meditation and offer simple and useful answers to many of the questions that arise for both beginning and advanced meditators. In other words: guidance for the maintenance of sound basic practice.

Mindfulness in Plain English
by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Publisher: Wisdom Publications; (September 2002)
ISBN: 0861713214

The Practice of Tranquility and Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation
Publisher: Snow Lion Pubns; 2nd edition (October 1998)
ISBN: 1559391065

Hope this helps,

Fred Little

[steve schoen]

Thanks to all of you for the replies. I'll look up the titles above and let the others collect dust.