Your favorite form of meditation

Does anyone have a favorite form of meditation? Does anyone like to meditate in certain places such as inside or out in nature or on the beach? What got you into this meditation and why is it so helpful?

Does anyone have a favourite form of meditation?

Mostly I root myself in the now. To quote Allan Watts I "go out of my mind" for a bit and become here, fully here. Still a work in progress, but I'm getting better at it over time. Also working on walking meditation.

Does anyone like to meditate in certain places such as inside or out in nature or on the beach?

I meditate wherever I am whenever I can. Sometimes at home, sometimes on the bus, sometimes during a quiet period at work or on my break when I'm having a rushed day. The important part is that I try my best to make time for it, not a place for it. I do prefer my room though, I have a lovely balcony that I go on.

What got you into this meditation and why is it so helpful?

Mostly this place. Tried it when I started but only really "figured it out" when I completed lesson three of the IP. Now, under tutelage from my master, I'm finding I'm getting more out of it. Since meditating my leg has healed (three years of a psychosomatic limp) and my mind is more steady. I also have been getting this feeling of how temporal things are and I'm able to analyse things with greater clarity than before the start of my Path.

Narrating:
"As I breathe in, I calm my body;
As I breathe out, I smile."
-Thich Nhat Hahn.

I haven't needed anything else in weeks.

I actually started Meditation and "Energy Work" long before I knew the Jedi or even Star Wars. Part of what got me loving star wars was the fact that I could point and say "Hey! The Force is like the energy work we do mom!"

Of course now that I'm older I don't put much stock into "Energy Work" At least....not in the same way as it was taught to me....

But I do in Meditation.

Being a stay at home mom, with two kids, and a constant house full of guests (And even more kids) Assigned Meditation i a very hard and nearly impossible thing for me.

Assigned Meditation meaning = One puts aside a specific time frame dedicated to a 10 or 20 or .....hour. Long meditation session.

As such. I do what i often call "Active Meditation" Meaning I focus on certian points during my daily activities

* Seeking a Positive Outlook in things that frustrate me
* Being hyper aware of what I am doing = Washing Dishes, Folding Clothes, Helping Kids with Homework....
* Focused Breathing = Ensuring I am always breathing deep and circular
* Being in the Now = The past in history, the future a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called a present. whenever I feel my thoughts going to the past of future in a negative way - I allow myself to stop and reign myself back to the present moments.

Yabuturtle wrote: Does anyone have a favorite form of meditation?

Shamanic journeys is my go-to, then repetitive crafts like cross stitch, crochet, knitting, leather tooling, or chainmaille. Otherwise I enjoy visual and textile meditations in general.

Yabuturtle wrote: Does anyone like to meditate in certain places such as inside or out in nature or on the beach?

Yes! If I can get to any place in nature I love it. Oceans, deserts, forests, mountains, or any moving water are my favorites in order. Although they're all very close. Really anywhere I can get that has few people. Most beaches around here don't fit that category but when I was deployed to Djibouti, I took a trip to a bay that had been formed by volcanoes. Swam out to an island and meditated out there on the shore. That was really an eye-opening trip all around. A year or so ago I went for a walk in a redwood forest, the scents are amazing.

More regularly I tend to meditate in my shower, on my bed with my drum, or in the sauna. Or the car

Yabuturtle wrote: What got you into this meditation and why is it so helpful?

When I decided to practice shamanism, I realized pretty quickly that journeys gave me the same kind of emotional centering that I found in other meditations. I enjoyed it, it was just much less time, kept my attention, and so was all around less frustrating for me than your more traditional meditations. I also learned a lot from them. I later found that repetitive crafts had the same kind of results too.

I find them helpful because they keep me sane and keep me connected to the world. They give me a place to retreat to when my life becomes unbearable. Journeys give me someone to talk to, to get help and love from someone when Depression convinces me that there is no one else in the world who cares. Crafting is what I love. There's just something fascinating about taking some raw materials and making something beautiful and/or useful from them. It's my way of giving back to the world, turning out a bit of beauty, or showing my love for my friends.

As a Je'daii I do what we refer to as "moving meditation". It is very similar in description to what Arisaig and Trisskar have already defined and so i wont go into details other than to say it is not a static thing done in with specific intent. Instead its the practice of having constant cognizance of our surroundings and of our interactions. Its the development of the ability to bring our awareness to the present as a continual process, not something we do in a closed and darkened room. Through this awareness we encompass the ability to create life as a fully present and available being that is free in the moment.

Especially here I add sycritism ... I have a plethora of listed proven to and not to... For me but one of my favs ..2 ok, one is meditation with my sunflowers. I planted them and grow them and we ... I have a few like 23 in a small long planter and I take em out ... Point then to the wind sun rain snow and we sit . Short game we chill and I redirect my attention to the vines sounds and colors as such . Long game, we chat in my mind. Flowers sun wing rain who Evers there. Helps me to remove my self from the crunch of my day to re focus. Like an anchor some times I have a go to every now and then! Wink! The second ...
My fav .
Galaxy in the palm of your hands. Great for energy concentration and growth. If u don't know what it is ... Giggels a bit , try not to google it lol find it at a library first? Finding things "old skoo" helps to keep them longer , be well and keep searching , you will find!

Tea.

Does anyone have a favorite form of meditation?
My 5 part Taijitu (not the yin/yang symbol), represented in part by the platonic solids, but symbolized for fun by the lightsaber

Does anyone like to meditate in certain places such as inside or out in nature or on the beach?
Different parts of the Taijitu do benefit from different environmental 'supports'. I love watching the movement of wind through nature, the complexity just lights up as if the living of nature was more perceptible... and to go the other way I do also enjoy the lack of stimulus like a dark room to support depth work. A middle ground could be 'movement', where the inner faculties are in tune with the reinforcement of the outer as facts.

As Taijitu, I think is a whole, benefiting from any particular supports tends to point to where weakness in other areas more often, rather then strength - as its pretty natural to want to feel like we're successful and gravitate to that (potentially further creating imbalance) - but I feel like progress is not the doing of 'anything' or the doing of the easy stuff, its doing the stuff that is holding you back (which is usually uncomfortable). Balance tho

What got you into this meditation and why is it so helpful?
Well I built it myself from working with different systems and inventing my own over 30 years, but original motivation could be traced back to when I was about 3 I was able to avoid danger by some strange extrasensory perception type of experience. Not to suggest it was supernatural, but rather more that humans have supernormal capacities.

So then to put it into that frame of reference in calling it a lightsaber, I would say I had that 'calling' at about 3, then when I was about 4 Star Wars IV came out in the theatres - which probably contextualized my curiosity about how 'that' might have worked. Fast forward to early adolescence, with Star Wars no longer around, I begin a 30 year journey to gather 'pieces' of useful stuff to build my own. It was not until 2011 that I even knew anyone considered Jedi as a spiritual path. I was just floating around under the umbrella of Tibetan Buddhism with pockets full of esotericism. So the Temple here offered a pathway to bind my galaxies together, and build the spiritual 'weapon' :silly:

I usually lay in bed, control my breathing and eventually fall asleep, nothing fancy but it helps.

I also like to sit while the shower is running. The thumping of the water on my head really helps me concentrate and focus on it instead of my mind going all over the place. It's very lovely.