Persistently Unfocused Energy

this is how I started mine and try to keep doing:
SEISHIN TEKI KYOYO
Spiritual refinement is a strange thing, you either believe in it or you don't. If you are a believer then you will quickly increase your internal energies, if you are not a believer then the path is a long and winding one (but not impossible).
Below I will give you instructions in increasing your CHI (internal energy). I will assume nothing and begin as if you are a new student.

Before you start these exercises you must be sure that you will not be disturbed. (later this will not be so important.) You should be relaxed and not under time pressure. The first exercises take only 5 minutes. (but will seem more like 5 hours).

FIRST 2 WEEKS
This is just a way of practicing the exercise so that you will be relaxed and comfortable with it.
Sit comfortably on the floor, you may use a mat or cushion if you wish but your back must be straight.
You may close your eyes or keep them open.
Place your hands in front of you (palms towards you) with the fingers of the left hand resting in the palm of your right hand. Press your thumb tips lightly together.
Think of some nice things that have happened to you.
Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathe slowly, each inward breathe should take 7 seconds. Hold the breathe in for 7 seconds. each outward breathe should take 7 seconds. Repeat this for 5 minutes.

You may find it hard to manage even 5 minutes at first but do your best and you will find each time that it is getting easier. Also you may find that you get excess moisture in your mouth, and that it is hard to keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth, this is quite normal.
By the end of the second week you should feel very relaxed with the exercise, you will feel like you are walking taller, that your head is clearer when you think and that you feel much better inside.

WEEKS 3 AND 4
In the next 2 weeks just repeat the first exercise but instead of thinking nice things try to clear your mind of everything.
Try to increase the time you meditate to between 10 and 15 minutes.
Imagine that you are looking up into a black night sky. You may see stars or just the blackness. Marvel at how much there is contained within nothing. Look into the blackness at its beauty.
Feel the path of your breathe as it journeys through your nose, down your back under your body and up through your chest and out of your mouth, taking with it all the cosmic energy of the universe.
By now you should find your tongue automatically goes to the roof of your mouth and that your mouth is dry.

WEEKS 5 AND 6
Now it is time to increase your inner strength fully and without fear. By now you should be able to empty your mind. You should not be distracted by unnecessary thoughts or feelings. It is time to feel within. With your mind empty you can concentrate on your Spirit.

Within each of us burns a fire, a globe of light and heat. we will now focus on that fire making it burn bright and warm. Increasing its radiance throughout the body.
As you meditate try to imagine this ball of fire deep within you, somewhere between your sternum and your groin (It is different for everyone). As you breathe your breath will be like the air through bellows, fanning the fire, making it flare and glow. This heat will begin to expand outwards from the ball of fire through your body, a little at first, then further and further until it reaches your finger tips. This may take many weeks but you should feel something within days of beginning this training.

Soon you find that you can perform the breathing exercise without the need for sitting and in any environment such as in the car or at work.
You will feel warmer and need to wear less clothes in the winter. You will feel confident and alert. Your hands may feel warm and when you touch others they may comment on this. You may even be more resilient to illness.

To increase the speed at which you develop your Chi there is another way. This exercise must be done for 15 minutes.
While doing the breathing exercise for 5 minutes cup your right hand to your left ear, for the next 5 minutes cup your left hand to your right ear, and for a final 5 minutes cup your right hand to your left ear and your left hand to your right ear. This increases the flow of energies around the body.

These exercises should be carried out at least 3 time every week for the greatest effect, although even once a week will work.

My method of meditation is quite simple to start with but like probably any method, it takes time to really fall into and more and more elements are added to increase the experience.

Position?
By default, as usual, it's good to sit. Doesn't matter if its in a chair, on the floor, on a bed, etc, just so long as you are comfortable and most likely to be able to be still, with decent posture. If, while doing this, you feel too uncomfortable (maybe your back is hurting or something) you can lay down just the same, but if you feel you will end up falling asleep, I like to actually stand up, and it still works.

Start by closing your eyes. Don't worry about the breath, let yourself breath however you will. Just begin paying attention to sounds around you.


Gathering Sound
Start with paying attention with one sound. Then turn your attention to another sound.
Now combine the two sounds in your head.
Gather a third sound (if you hear one).
Gather as many detectable sounds as possible into your attention. Treat them all as one sound.
Acknowledge for a moment the idea that the sounds are coming from other places.
Now imagine that the sounds are instead coming from inside YOU.
You are the sounds.
Turn your attention inward into your own body, where the sounds come from.
Feel the textures and tones of the sounds together.

Thought Play
The first few days, only put your attention on these sounds.
Naturally, your mind will wander into random thoughts.
Let those thoughts run.
The TRICK is to keep yourself from being the subject of the thoughts and instead, become the observer of the thoughts (meaning, when you find yourself thinking for example "The other day was a bad day for me. I can't believe what happened!", let that thought run and then turn it into "Oh, I must be thinking of a thought about the other day", and let the voice in your mind that is talking about it just become noise, floating among the rest of the sounds.)
If the sounds of a verbal thought seem like its trying to overtake your attention, just let it run and instead simply focus your attention back onto the other sounds that you've gathered.
Play with those sounds, blending them into the verbal thoughts you are having.
See how much you can combine it all into one single sound in your head, unified together, and unified with you.

Gathering Touch
Simply spend one, or maybe even two (or longer depending on how much time you need) weeks with JUST sound play. But afterward, when you feel you are ready to step it to the next level, begin including a new sense, like touch (itching, the temperature of the room, a breeze, your current inner bodily functions, any inner physical pains, aches, tensions, etc), and do the SAME thing with them. For this level, you will start with sound and after you've combined all the sound with you, then begin combining external and internal physical feeling with it.

Gathering Smell
The next phase could be smell (by the way, these don't necessarily have to be in this particular order, simply pick which sense you feel you can add on next). During this phase, you'll start with your eyes closed, combine all sounds, combine all physical feeling, and then begin detecting and combining smell.

Gathering Sight
Eventually, you might want to add on the sense of sight.
In this phase, you'll start off with all the previous senses, combining them, and afterward, let yourself open your eyes.
Keep them relaxed.
While your eyes are open, you can either stare at one single point somewhere, be it far off or near by directly in front of you, or you can simply stair into empty space.
Begin paying attention to the general colors, shapes, lightness or darkness of the scene before you.
Imagine what you are seeing is just a screen like a television, or maybe a picture you are looking at.
Everything is 2 dimensional.
Zone into the picture and let it all absorb into your sight together.
Afterward, begin putting your attention on your peripheral vision (the outer corners of your vision).
Do the same thing with your peripheral vision as you have done with your normal vision.
Now combine them together.
Now imagine everything you see is not existing outside of you.
Actually, what you are seeing is all taking place INSIDE of you.
It is all a part of you.
You are now inside your own head.
Let yourself bask and simply exist in this state.
Here time does not exist.
You are watching yourself, as seen through everything around you.

You basically get the idea here. And by no means do you HAVE to start with one sense and then start adding others immediately after. You can start with isolating just sound, and later on, you can move to isolating only touch, or isolating only smell, until you get them all down really good in your ability to combine them in your head together and with you.

Gathering Emotion
Also, the senses aren't limited to only physical ones. A very powerful and important one to eventually include is your sense of emotion. Pick an emotion you want to use and focus on that emotion. Evoke it by a thought, or a series of thoughts and once you've evoked this thought or thoughts, catch the emotional that it gives you and lock yourself into observing that emotion. You can give yourself control of "turning up the volume" on the emotion, which is letting that emotion become larger and deeper. You might find yourself smiling very very wide, or maybe you might begin to cry, or maybe you might feel a deep bitterness about something (I personally don't keep negative feelings out of the mix as it lets me surface emotional pain I might have, to acknowledge and let myself let go of them through this process). The ULTIMATE idea is capturing one emotion this way, and then capturing another emotion and combining it together, and then another and another (just like with your physical senses) and then combining them all with you. This becomes a very very deep and ultimate state of mind and can really bring out feelings and motivational powers within you that you never thought you had.

Anyway, you get the idea. FOR NOW, start off with just ONE sense. I recommend sound since it tends to be the easiest at least to me, to put your attention on and it has the most influence with controlling distracting thoughts.

In addition to the excellent suggestions already mentioned, you might want to try Hara Breathing. It's designed to improve focus and to balance and centre energies. Visualise your Hara (otherwise known as the "lower tantien" or the "sacral chakra"). It's a point around 3 finger-widths below your navel.

When you breathe in, visualise the energies of your breath being brought into this point. When you breathe out, spread those energies throughout your body and beyond. Continue breathing in and out of the hara for at least 5 minutes.

If you find your attention wandering, take note of this and then bring your attention back to the task. After a while this will become easier. This exercise also improves your overall energy flow and focus.

Thank you so much Hal_littleeye, for the great advice! I will definitely try your form of meditation shortly!

I'm currently trying to make salaat (a kind of prayer with meditative qualities) more of a part of my regular schedule. A part of it includes dthikr, which is often done in a way that involves a regulated breathing pattern corresponding to the word/phrase one is chanting. I'm going to see what happens when I include some of your methodologies into my salaat. I'll also try doing your meditation in the original format you've told me. Hopefully all goes well!

May the Force be with you wa alaikum assalaam - always!

You're very welcome! I'm happy to help and look forward to hearing how it goes for you a month or so down the road.

"salaat" - that's a Muslim practice isn't it? A friend of mine is a practicing Muslim, it's given him a really great outlook on the world and a sense of inner peace I was worried he'd never find. There's some really cool stuff in there; I'm going to have to do some more reading on the subject.

Live long and prosper
and May the Force be with you