Questions about meditation?

Question

I am still new to this and still learning so I need help with some questions.

1) How do I really tell if I am meditating or not? Are there any signs i should notice?
2) Why do my legs get really, really numb? How can I stop it?
3) How do I keep my mind focused from all the thoughts that keeps popping up?
4) How long should a meditation session last?
5) Does meditation really help with depression? If so, how long should one wait to see any effect?

Thanks. :)

Answer 1

The awareness, the peace and the relaxation that you experience or attain indicates that you have meditated.

One can meditate in any posture that one finds comfortable,

so you can change your posture to avoid numbness in your legs.

It can take years to experience even the glimpses of the thoughtlessness

and the way may vary depending on the type of the meditation you are practicing,

so better discuss it with fellow practitioners or the master.

Since meditation is a way to experience the timelessness,

so factually there can be no time and sessions for meditation.

Meditation may help with depression,

but it is better not to meditate with desires and ambitions of any kind in the mind.

Answer 2

Now that all the fundamentalist Christians have weighed in, I will intelligently and authentically answer your questions.



1. You are meditating when you decide to sit down and meditate. It is a practice. When you say you are practicing it, you are doing it.

2. You do not have to sit cross legged to meditate. You can sit in a chair or on your sofa (you can even do walking meditation). More important is to keep a straight (but relaxed) spine and neck (no slouching). If you want to sit on ground instead of a chair, sit on large pillow or you can buy meditation cushions or benches that are low to the floor help you sit more comfortably.

3. It is natural, esp for beginners, to realize that their minds may be very noisy and distracted when they want to meditate. Some types of meditation suggest that you simply sit quietly and recognize that thoughts are happening without following thoughts. They become quieter and more distant in time when this is done. Other techniques rely on concentration exercises such as focusing on your breath, or lightly watching a candle flame, or mentally reciting a short prayer, affirmation, or holy word with the rhythm of the breath.

4. At the beginning, sit for 10 to 15 minutes, once or twice a day. If you feel restless or discouraged, continue to sit for the whole time you've decided to allot for meditation practice. As you practice, it will be easier to meditate for the time allotted if you do this. Little by little expand the time you sit up to an hour.

5. Meditation can help you overcome depression if it is done in combination with other things to help you. Relaxation and specific guided visualization techniques are better than standard meditation for depression because sometimes depressed people get to brooding over their emotional state during meditation and this can make the situation worse. Aerobic exercise and a low-sugar diet is also helpful for depression. If you are seriously depressed, it is a good idea to speak with a doctor and get professional help.

Answer 3

We are into Vipassana the original path of Buddha. In this we start with focus on breath then all over body for sensations and finally within brain & spine.



1) If you have sat down for mediation you are meditating , tell tale sign is whether mind is wandering , if yes , stop thinking and start focusing again w/o lamenting about lost time.

2) Get up , pace around with slow walk w/o losing meditation , meditation is not about endurance nor about striking a pose.

3) Dont, you may say its strange or contrary but the fact is that mind never gets focused permanently (it does only in trance state ) . Rather mind gets focused only for a time which increases slowly with practice. So meditation is like a lawn, as new grass grows , mow it again & again. As new thoughts come up , kill them all and start again. This is the only way. Remember focusing mind is not the only objective, the real objective is to become a better person by removing bad emotions & tendencies like greed, anger, hatred, jealousy , passion, lust etc. and you do that step by step whenever the mind gets focused by eliminating thoughts because thoughts are the vehicles for emotions.

Specifically , if you want to make mind focusing easier, follow these 5 moral principles of Buddha , no killing(nor hurting) any, no sexual misconduct(celibacy is best), no lies, no stealing & no intoxicants. These moral principles make your mind cool down (not racy) & calm naturally. One secret, Sex has very bad effect on mind and within 24 hrs you surely have uncontrollable thoughts & lusts , dont believe it, try it & know.

4) Simple, the longer the better, minimum 20-30 minutes and max any. The longest you do the faster results come and dont worry there is no bad effect of any Buddhist meditation (about others I cant say).

But long meditations may make you get visions/hallucinations , but dont worry , its a sign of progress .

5) Depression :

Depression is a clinical condition. When a person feels threatened repeatedly or due to other emotional reasons , depression may develop. There is a thing in the brain called Amygdala .



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala



Amygdala can get activated due to various social , emotional activities. When Amygdala starts misfiring then it releases chemicals which make you depressed.

Sexual activity or drinking alcohol/intoxicants may also lead to temporary depression after few hours because both affect brain so reduce these as much as possible.

How to get out of depression using meditation ?

I suggest you do this 10 day Vipassana meditation course (its tough) in a retreat near to you first :



http://www.dhamma.org



Hopefully your problem will evaporate but if not then do this (both together) :

(a) Do the same meditation every day , find time for it .

(b) Another important thing is to meditate within your CNS (central nervous system) i.e. within brain & spine , normally you cannot access it , not even with the meditation initially (because this is the ultimate objective and hard to do) So use this method - focus on top of brain and try to move inwards within brain , it will appear impossible to do but persist , try , try & try , it may even take days, weeks, months or years but dont lose patience because it is possible , many achieve it as I did too. So when you do it spread your awareness within entire brain and then spine , now you will feel a great bliss , suddenly you will feel as if you touched a live wire, this is electrifying experience accompanied with a great bliss . THIS IS TRANCE. So you will enjoy this trance and it will go on for a long time (may be hours) . This will completely change you and your perception about life because you have found the Holy Grail hidden within you , the unlimited source of happiness. And you will try again & again to attain this state of trance .

After experience of this , looking back, you will realize amazingly that depression is gone away for ever.

Answer 4

1. stop noticing, just feel peaceful. Sign: letting go of a thought.

2. with more regular practice, body with become more accustomed.

3. if the thought about the world came, it came... you are neither attracted to it, nor repulsed by it.

4. slowly increase the time... 5min. in a month, if you're not reading any knowledgeable books or you are not guided by any Guru.

5. you help yourself, meditation only acts as a catalyst in that process.



probably not the exact answers that you're looking for... sorry for that..



good luck friend :-)

Answer 5

Well i personally meditate every day after I read a portion of the bible and meditating doesn't necessarily mean crossing ones legs but it means thinking deeply on one subject at a time therefore you could be sitting down at the table or lying in bed but meditating on the bible helps us to more or less repeat what we just heard to ourselves and really get the core matter of what God is trying to convey to us. If you are trying to clear every single thought from your head I am sorry but it simply can not be done we even think about random daily activities when we sleep.

Answer 6

Meditating is studying the Word of God--the Bible. It is how we learn about the Bible after we have gotten saved. (If you want to know more about getting saved please visit this site: http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/mobile/?gclid=CNH7m_jEl7kCFdGj4AodQVgADQ. It is the most important decision you can make while on earth).



I hope this helps :)