Newbie Meditator Tips?

I'm worried I'm not doing it right. I'm finding it hard to enter a no-thought state. Any advice?
Maybe the master I apprentice to (hopefully soon) can help me in this area too?

Hi Heiach,

There are many methods to meditation. The only thing that determines if you are doing it right is what your reason and aim for it is and if your method is successfully achieving it.

However, I can say that the traditional aim of meditation is most often misunderstood in that people think the goal is supposed to be achieving a no thought mind, and then they realize they cannot adequately accomplish such a thing. What the tradition actually is, is not a no-thought state of mind but a state of mind where you let your thoughts run as they will but you disconnect your immersion of them in order to observe them at an objective distance and without judgment. Through practice, you will find yourself being pulled back into immersion of the thoughts and the idea is to gently pull yourself back out of it and continue observing it objectively.

One method of achieving this is to imagine each thought as a cloud floating above your head. It arrives, floats by, and then leaves. One after another. A different scene to use could be a stream of water with Lilly pads each carrying a thought floating by down the stream. If you find yourself pulled into a thought, you can use something such as your breath to put your focus back onto as a pull-line. Other things can be a phrase that reminds you to be lucid, or the sensation of your feet on the floor our some other sense.

The benefits of this meditative exercise is that you are training your mind to be able to function through the day, through situations without letting worry and anxiety wisk you away so much, letting you have better focus on what is most important during the present moment.

I hope this helps.

Oh wow, holy cow. Thank you!

I'm new to the Temple, but I've been attempting a solid meditation practice for several years now. I am no meditation teacher or expert, but here is some anecdotal observation from my life. There are many types of meditation, each with different aims, and your spiritual needs can dictate which type of meditation you want to use. Generally, I separate MY PERSONAL meditation practice into 3 categories: 1. Mindfulness Meditation, 2. Contemplation and 3. Serenity Meditation. I include mindfulness meditation in all three just to ground myself. Mindfulness meditation FOR ME includes things like what @Proteus said: feeling sensations in your toes, etc. Focusing on sensory input, or focus on breath. I try to do this several times a day, and I start out my contemplation and serenity meditations with this as well. This really helps me stay aware of how I'm feeling, and gives me some peace throughout my day.

@TheDude clued me into an interesting twist on this in the Discord yesterday, he advised me to pair this with some emotional mindfulness. To recall an experience that made me feel a strong emotion, and then concentrate on the physical changes in my body that happen when I recall this emotion. How my breathing changes, how my posture changes, my pulse, heat, if I hear anything, if I feel flush in my cheeks, if I shake, all of the changing physical manifestations I can identify with recalling the emotion. I can't wait to work this into my regular practice.

Contemplation is exactly what it sounds like. I focus on a very specific idea, a topic, a sentence, etc. and try to look at it from all angles: how others interpret it, how I interpret it, how past me might have interpreted it, how it makes me feel, how it makes others feel, causes, consequences, alternatives, etc. I use this to try to defeat obsessions and fixations on things. Get things out of my head that are bothering me. It helps me let go of things.

Finally my serenity meditation is exactly what @Proteus describes above. Observing my passing thoughts without interacting with them. Thanks for the cloud, idea, Proteus, I'm going to try that one! I use this to set an emotional, spiritual and mental baseline for myself daily, though I do it at night before bed, because when I try to do this in the morning when I first wake up and am still tired, I have fallen asleep before!

Hope this helps!

Is energy healing like this considered part of Jedi meditation?

I know how to do it. I’m new.
I was going to make my username apprectice, but I didn’t know if I could change it later.
I also practice kungfu because I think that it helps my Jedi abilities. I know about the Shaolin monks.

I’m not soliciting. I just didn’t know how else to come up with an example.

Logan, neither master or apprentice are appropriate usernames, as the homepage quotes -

"(Usernames containing Master, Darth, Lord, Knight, or titles, will be deleted) To become a Temple member, you are asked to complete the Lesson 1 of the Initiate's Program (IP) in full before you submit your application."

I'm sure an admin will help you change your username.

As for energy healing, I suppose any activity that helps you stay focused and mindful in the present can broadly be considered meditation. I didn't read that much into it, but praying is broadly considered to be meditation, and I suppose that would include most types of faith or energy healing.

Logan,

I have PM'd you.

Just carving out the time to Focus on the process of meditation is the first step. From there using any technique that helps is acceptable.

You can start by just listening to your breath. The goal of meditation is never to create a specific state or have a specific action it is simply to become aware of your senses.

I let my thoughts run freely during meditation. Return to the sound of my breath, and then my mind gets going again. When I realize I am having thoughts I just return to Focusing on my breath. I listen to the sound my breath makes.

It could be said that trying to clear ones mind defeats the purpose of meditation entirely. Let those thoughts float into your mind and then like clouds just let them roll away. I do not try to interact with the thoughts. I let them form and then disapate.

~~May the Force the be with you

I love this Meditation tip!

Hello everbody,

in my opinion there is no right or wrong in meditation. For me, good preparation for meditation is essential.

Here is my Way:

1. See meditation for what it is, a path, nothing more and nothing less.

2. Do not expect or force anything. Relaxation and inner peace cannot be forced. On the contrary, the more you concentrate on what is expected, the less you will be able to let go, since your mind will not come to rest.

3. Meditation needs to be trained every day.

4. Do not treat meditation like you are taking a pill. Meditation only helps if you allow it.

And last but not least: Do not try to make to much around it. Many people I met, who started with Meditation began to make an "extraordinary Place" with much new stuff like candles, incense sticks, aromas, new clothes etc....

In such an new extraordinary Place it is hard to find relaxation because the mind is stressed of the something new.

Be yourself, and let yourself be.

(Translation help from google)