Meditation?

How does one actually prepare themselves to meditate? If someone were to, say, have racing thoughts or something along that like, how could they overcome it? I realize that something like this must take a lot of effort, but is there any good advice for beginners?

Ok, this might be a weird question, but here goes: is there something involving chanting or repeating certain words, over and over again? Is meditation complete silence? Focusing on something for a period of time seems difficult for me, and I was also wondering what the best method was in order to gain true focus?

If anyone has any suggestions on this, then please post them! I am serious about learning this sort of thing, so any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Hello again!

Im going to share my little experience and what i learned to do for a basic meditation.

Basically just lie down or sit comfortably in a warm but quiet room or area. Close your eyes and dont think of anything in particular. Place one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. Now breath in from your chest, so that the hand on your chest rises and the one on your stomach stays still. Breath in slowly counting to four. Ten exhale slowly counting to four. You can also hold your breath for a count of four if you wish. Its personal preference. Repeat the chest breathing four times, then switch to stomach breathing, so your hand on your stomach rises and your chest hand stays where it is. Again inhale to a count of four (hold your breath for four if you want) and then exhale for a count of four. Repeat this four times. Then switch back to chest breathing four times, then stomach etc.....

Youll find the act of thinking about your breathing clears your mind of everything else which is a good start. If you find your mind is still racing simply let a thought into your mind from the front, look at it and then file it at the back for later. Its hard to explain but tell yourself you;ll think about that later and resolve it later and for now it can sit at the back of your mind and wait until you are ready.

Once you get used to the breathing techniques you can stop counting and let your mind be silent for a while. It will take some time before you can truly be silent in your mind but you'll get there. you can add some chanting if you want, pick a phrase you like and repeat it either aloud while exhaling or in your mind. Again personal preference really. Once you get into the silent state you can then use this state to examine yourself mentally, and begin using your mind for other things, perhaps trying remote viewing, empathy, psychic ability etc...Because your mind is silent you will be able to feel responses, but if your mind isnt calm enough you wont feel them or you will second guess the feelings or even imagine or change them without realizing it.

anyway, thats just a pretty basic technique and the first and only one i learnt in my short time. It worked for me though and it something you can even use in stressful situations out and about. Just dont close your eyes but control your breathing and you will feel a lot calmer

Very glad to see that you are interested in meditation. And your doubts are common for every beginner. But it is very difficult to answer those in a single post. My first advice for these questions is read topics about meditation, available in this spirituality section. Most of your doubts will be answered. I'm answering to only one question here.


According to yoga, there are different types of meditation practices. One of them is Japa, which uses chanting of certain spritual words. It may be somewhat easy because if you conciously pronounce some words you can easily concentrate on them. But not all practices have this chanting. They have different methods.

Don't worry about concentration. If you start practicing meditation seriously you'll soon achieve good concentration.

Please first read some topics in this section topics on meditation. You'll get some understanding about meditaiton. And then ask any doubts you have. I'll answer them.

This post has been edited by xpress: Nov 17 2008, 02:17 PM

It depends, really.

There are two types of mediation.

You could sit in a quiet room, close your eyes and try to get every thought out of your head and just sit there in peace for 30-45 mins.

The other is inducing drugs. I do not recommend this, because they are illegal.

However, I meditate with Cannabis, Salvia D, DMT, Mescaline and tobacco. They're quite introspective and wonderful for spiritual experiences. If you're interested-- do research, otherwise-- stick to sitting in a quiet room and letting every thought melt into the stillness.

Meditation is a beautiful experience and it actually works. It is something that has to be tasted. Just like you can taste a mango and describe it in many ways, every person has an experience about meditation. Even the biggest scientist who is an expert on mangoes, can barely know what it is, unless he eats it. So, same is the case with meditation. What happens during meditation is that we focus our breath first, and then our mind, on something. Usually, something is God. So, just like prayer is asking God questions, meditation is listening to Him for answers.

A beginner of meditation would find it helpful, if he could treat it as part of his life. In your case, if you're really interested, then it means that you are really trying to understand about this and you are showing yourself that there is more to your personality than what you knew. If done properly, meditation will only help you unravel more and more about yourself. Just as you shop for things, go ahead and do some "spiritual shopping" and check out the different kinds of meditation. All of us, as human beings, are magnets and I believe that each magnet has it's match. So, if you are genuinely interested in spirituality, then soon, you will attract to yourself whatever kind of magnetism you need to progress.

I wish you good luck in your practices and hope that you will begin to enjoy yourself with this science. As always, there is the trap17 forums that would help you answer your questions. This is a nice magnet to such stuff and there are tons of people who are out there to help you out!