What counts as meditation?

They say how you meditate isn't wrong or right. There are many different ways of doing it in several positioning and styles. But then I ask you TotJO; what do you see as meditation? Meditation is something that calms you down, makes you get to know yourself and improves you. Therefore you could say doing whatever you like is meditation. Somebody gets relaxed and get to know themselfs and how they really are by doing hobbies like reding books, playing videogames, gardening or whatever....... what is meditation?

The removal of all external distractions from the center of one's focus, temporarily allowing the individual to experience the simplicity and wonder of being in the timeless present...

That's what meditation is to me...

I tend to classify it as any adjustment in focus/awareness which mediates the awareness between subconscious and conscious processes. Ranging from subtle influences to applied transformations with various types and states in between (going either way)... since awareness tends to be considered what is the elf in self
But to do so seems to exclude the potential of metaphysical modes of existence or awareness so its only a working definition to link back to my interest in the body and science... so its not a rigid, set definition.

Meditation is the act of freeing the mind from servitude of distractions and letting it master itself for a while, I think. It stops reacting and starts acting.

It's...whatever gives me a sense of balance within myself and a bit of rightness in my world. As much as I love games and reading, those aren't meditations for me. Too active. I find shamanic journeys, repetitive crafts (cross stitching, chainmaille, knitting, crochet, coloring, hand-sewing), and gardening to work for me. It gives me a chance to stop the world for a bit. The journeys will often give me lessons, comfort, or information. The crafts and gardening lets me add a bit of beauty and sense to my world. Crafting is my special talent I guess you can say so exercising it is one big way I can show my love and myself.

"Any movement towards the (Great/Mystic) Center (Dai Bendu)".

For a Jedi, I would surmise that the Force is this mystic center that is the spiritual link that runs through all things, and by following it or observing it's patterns, we get a "feel" for its flow, and in observing or moving with this flow, one gets a sense of where this universal impulse came from, how it manifests, and where it is going so that we ourselves can embody this flow, making a path of conductions of spiritual light shared between all things.

OR something like that.

Who knows really? It's expressed differently by us all.

Meditation is the act of Awareness.

Being Aware of Peace
Being Aware of Focus
Being Aware of Spiritual Journey
Being Aware of Self
Being Aware of Healing
......Strength
...........Desire
.................Passion
.........................Breath

No matter what kind of Meditation you choose to engage in, it all starts with Awareness.

I see a lot of answers of freeing ones self from all distractions and things, and becoming more aware of every little thing. I like to personally see it a step further. If it can even be called a step further. There are various methods to reach meditation, whether it be through sound or music or just listening to the world around you, you make an effort to shut your brain up and just absorb life, sound, sights, and so on to clear your head out. But your just replacing the sound of your head with the sound of the environment in the end, something fresh, something new. I try and aim for not just being aware of things and flooding it full of stuff but to take it and kinda play with it a bit.

I actually got the idea from the fidget spinners and I'm experimenting with it, and it involves recording a few things into a video, like tough questions or choices in my life, but I tie it into my meditation music I listen to, so I get into a meditative state, and then while there while head is clean and emotions are out and world is in, then start asking myself the tough questions of what I should do, and just see what answers come to mind mid-meditation without me having to put effort into thinking about asking myself, cause that just defeats it, but if I do it with a recording no real effort is made at the time.

I haven't quite been fully successful with it enough I wanted to try and share it or see if anyone else would try something similar, but my goal is to be able to question my inner self without having to think about questioning my inner self, when I'm in a state of which emotions and other distracting thoughts and feelings aren't having an effect on me kinda thing.

I've just recently started to break out of a pretty rigid definition of meditation. It's helped me to use the word "mindfulness" as a synonym sometimes. That feels broader to me right now, allowing more creativity.

For example, I just had a meditation with my dog. She was lying quite still and relaxed as I pet her. I took advantage of the moment to create a meditation of feeling her warmth and the texture of her fur, and growing my love for her.

Tellahane wrote: I see a lot of answers of freeing ones self from all distractions and things, and becoming more aware of every little thing. I like to personally see it a step further. If it can even be called a step further. There are various methods to reach meditation, whether it be through sound or music or just listening to the world around you, you make an effort to shut your brain up and just absorb life, sound, sights, and so on to clear your head out. But your just replacing the sound of your head with the sound of the environment in the end, something fresh, something new. I try and aim for not just being aware of things and flooding it full of stuff but to take it and kinda play with it a bit.

I actually got the idea from the fidget spinners and I'm experimenting with it, and it involves recording a few things into a video, like tough questions or choices in my life, but I tie it into my meditation music I listen to, so I get into a meditative state, and then while there while head is clean and emotions are out and world is in, then start asking myself the tough questions of what I should do, and just see what answers come to mind mid-meditation without me having to put effort into thinking about asking myself, cause that just defeats it, but if I do it with a recording no real effort is made at the time.

I haven't quite been fully successful with it enough I wanted to try and share it or see if anyone else would try something similar, but my goal is to be able to question my inner self without having to think about questioning my inner self, when I'm in a state of which emotions and other distracting thoughts and feelings aren't having an effect on me kinda thing.

I do this kind of thing sometimes. I sort of clear my mind (as best I can) and then say, aloud or maybe just mentally, the subject or question I feel I need guidance on. I concentrate on that idea, while also picturing myself as an open vessel of some sort. I pay special attention to what feelings or images or gut reactions come to me as I imagine the vessel being filled with the answer and tools to my query. Often, when I feel done and come back to my day to day self, I have at least the beginning step of answer. For me, the tricky thing is to then trust and act on that answer.