How does one meditate?

There are many excellent suggestions and methods discussed here. I have found as I aged meditation became easier but I'm glad I started when a teenager. Mindfulness is that kind of attention that provides me with access to both a feeling of peace and an appreciation of whatever it is I'm attending to. Mindfulness is for me attending to what I am doing or what is happening without distraction. It becomes the only thing in the world.

The most challenging mindfulness is when I am teaching. Knowing my subject well allows for some measure of focus. When a student asks a question I cease pacing and listen carefully; but, when I ask a student a question and get a blank stare as a response that's when I need mindfulness the most, because impatience and frustration lie ready to pounce upon my best intentions.

Listening to the depth of sound is one of my favorite meditative practices. When out of ear shot of urban noise I like to meditate of what I hear, attending to different sounds, singly and to the exclusion of all others. As a birdwatcher, this is an easy activity. I can sit for a long time, doing nothing in particular, and listen to the world.

One of the best natural listening situations is to sit close to a brook (stream, creek, etc.) where I can attend to the pitches of the sound of the water moving over the stones. Moving water has a chordal structure of distinct pitches. One can hear high and low tones. It is random, chaotic even, but attending to its dissonant harmonies to the exclusion of all else is marvelous, transformative, peaceful.

I like to keep it simple and just sit/lay still and just breath.

Cyan Sarden wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03nifVj9pqI

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Great post! One of the best. Thank you very much. KISS, I love it!

A different aspect of meditation: Alan Watts briefly mentions the importance of incense for meditation, as this gives the breath a bit more 'tactility' (my expression) and thus facilitates watching the breath. Does anyone here use incense? I've personally refrained from doing so because it's considered harmful (same carcinogens as smoking released in the air) - but I guess doing it once in a while won't do much damage.

Before I buy the 'equipment', however, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

Cyan Sarden wrote: A different aspect of meditation: Alan Watts briefly mentions the importance of incense for meditation, as this gives the breath a bit more 'tactility' (my expression) and thus facilitates watching the breath. Does anyone here use incense? I've personally refrained from doing so because it's considered harmful (same carcinogens as smoking released in the air) - but I guess doing it once in a while won't do much damage.

Before I buy the 'equipment', however, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

I did when I started for about 3 years, before I stopped for about 14 years, before restarting meditation again... I do not use it anymore, so only those initial 3 years - where it was central to my meditations.

I didn't really ever breathe it in as it was always at least 4ft away from me. I used it in a dark room for single pointed meditation (the glowing red dot of burning incense) to imagine it burning away the barriers to relaxation as an entry exercise to deeper states. In my experiences of mindfulness meditation, the breathing should be let to happen naturally (even though they often say to focus on it or count it etc) as it will seemingly adjust naturally depending on your state of relaxation, so I never used the smoke as a tool, but did enjoy watching it reflect air disturbances. The smoke usually ended up in the ceiling area anyway away from me sitting on the floor.

I tried it but found I was focused on smell and not my breath and moving energy around my body.

Smell distracted me to focuse outside me and not inside me.

You know what they say....if it works use it. Don't make it a crutch or excuse not to meditiate if you don't have incense.

Adder wrote:

Cyan Sarden wrote: A different aspect of meditation: Alan Watts briefly mentions the importance of incense for meditation, as this gives the breath a bit more 'tactility' (my expression) and thus facilitates watching the breath. Does anyone here use incense? I've personally refrained from doing so because it's considered harmful (same carcinogens as smoking released in the air) - but I guess doing it once in a while won't do much damage.

Before I buy the 'equipment', however, I'd love to hear your opinion on it.

I did when I started for about 3 years, before I stopped for about 14 years, before restarting meditation again... I do not use it anymore, so only those initial 3 years - where it was central to my meditations.

I didn't really ever breathe it in as it was always at least 4ft away from me. I used it in a dark room for single pointed meditation (the glowing red dot of burning incense) to imagine it burning away the barriers to relaxation as an entry exercise to deeper states. In my experiences of mindfulness meditation, the breathing should be let to happen naturally (even though they often say to focus on it or count it etc) as it will seemingly adjust naturally depending on your state of relaxation, so I never used the smoke as a tool, but did enjoy watching it reflect air disturbances. The smoke usually ended up in the ceiling area anyway away from me sitting on the floor.

Very interesting points - both concerning incense and breath counting. I use breath counting, normally during the first 5-10 minutes of the meditation until my mind has calmed down a bit. But I think it works against the idea of awareness - living in the moment. As soon as I start counting breaths, I have a future aim in mind (e.g. reaching 20 without losing focus etc.). Using incense as a point of focus sounds like something I'd like to try

Rickie The Grey wrote: I tried it but found I was focused on smell and not my breath and moving energy around my body.

Smell distracted me to focuse outside me and not inside me.

I can definitely see where you're coming from. But external stimuli could also be used as an exercise in acceptance. I often use them (sometimes voluntary, sometimes not -e.g. when I miss my early-morning window and meditate when the kids are up) - I'd have to see if it makes sense for myself or not

Cyan Sarden wrote:

Rickie The Grey wrote: I tried it but found I was focused on smell and not my breath and moving energy around my body.

Smell distracted me to focuse outside me and not inside me.

I can definitely see where you're coming from. But external stimuli could also be used as an exercise in acceptance. I often use them (sometimes voluntary, sometimes not -e.g. when I miss my early-morning window and meditate when the kids are up) - I'd have to see if it makes sense for myself or not

You know what they say....if it works use it.

These are all great entries!

If I might add a bit here...

If you want to hone your imagination, or to have a something to focus on, this bit can be fun, and is a great way to cultivate presence of mind through honing the imagination, and to cultivate receptivity, in trying to sense things that may be a bit subtle, even if you create these things yourself.

First off, comfortability is the key in this; too often, a person focuses too much on what might be the "correct technique", and far too little on actually performing the action... however way you wish to sit, as long as it's comfortable enough to allow you to be able to "forget your body", so to speak. If you're sitting in a way that cramps you out, you'll never get anywhere.

Breathing also - just breathe in a way that you can easily forget about, and not feel that it's happening so much.

Here's the visualization; Imagine a clear cube shape (any shape is good, but to start with, simple is best) that is surrounding you with you at its center. This cube of Force shall be your plaything. Now, imagine that the Force cube will turn clockwise (or otherwise) to shift just one facet over. You need not imagine sounds, but for the purpose of this explanation, I'm going to use the word "click" for this one-facet movement.

Now move it in another direction for one click. Try two.

Now, imagine JUST ONE FACET, the one presently just in front of you, to be a warm colour, a light red. As you click the Force cube about you, see where it goes, and keep track of it.

Now let's try something different. Imagine that the red facet emits a comfortable bit of warmth. Feel it warming you from wherever in the Force cube it faces you from, shedding warmth on that facing part of your body. Click one or more clicks in any and all directions. Go slow, and FEEL that facet of the Force cube shedding it's warmth on you.

Now let's imagine it behind you, warming your back, and that the facet diametrically opposed to it, the facet in front of you, is a pale, sky blue. This one feels cold, but it does not seem to emit such... rather, it seems to cool you by drawing the warmth away from you in a sort of very faint pull.

The one behind you warms you through emitting it's low heat, the one ahead of you cools you, by pulling the heat off and away from you. There is a clear direction of flow now, in from behind you, to out and towards the front of you and away.

Try "pulsating" it along, drawing the flow in with an inward breath through the nose, and out with an outward breath through the mouth.

Make one click to have this direction of flow be felt coming in from the left, and out towards the right.

Click it to a position to feel it come in from above, and out through below.

Try different positions.

There is much further to go beyond this, but this is excellent enough for honing mental acuity and receptive accuracy in your senses' grasp.

Have fun with it!