How does meditation work?

Question

I want to learn how to meditate becasause i am learning about sprits and paranormal etc and have been told i need to learn how to do so. Can anyone tell me how this works? I have bought a disc off the net but not received it yet. Had n e one got any onfo?

Answer 1

Willow, the whole aim of meditation is,
1. to calm your mind, and
2. to focus the mind on one thing.

The mind of a normal person is like an uncontrolled monkey jumping from one thought to another. To process all these thoughts a lot of body energy is used. Thus if your mind cease to process thoughts you will be saving a lot of body energy which can be used to cure a lot of ailments in your body. That is why a person who continues to meditate regularly even gets a nice body complexion.

Anapana or concentration on the breath is the best form of meditation.

If you sit down and close your eyes you will notice that your mind is jumping from one thought to another. Even though you want to concentrate on your breath you will find other thoughts also coming in between.

In learning to meditate you must first learn to calm your mind. You do this by following every thought that comes into you mind. You must be like a Manager of a Hotel who stands at the entrance and observes the customers coming in. Without getting attached to the thoughts try to observe them. You will find that a thought comes in and that it goes nowhere and another thought follows it - try following that too - with same results. This way you will find that your thoughts gradually subside. Do not try to force out your thoughts.

Of course do not expect results in one or two days. Practise it for at least 40 minutes every day for at least 2 months you find that you have 'killed' your train of thoughts. I have practised for nearly 2 years and still vagrant thoughts come in.

Thereafter start concentrating on your breath. Notice the breath coming in and going out. You should not concentrate only on the tip of your nose. Notice the breath coming in and thereafter your lungs getting filled and then gradually exhaling the breath.

After you finish that for the day start to think of a person or several persons whom you hate most. Having those people in mind start to think in a compassionate manner "may he be healthy, may he be happy, may he go up in life, may he live long". Keep on doing this for about 10 minutes a day for a few months you will find that you do not get angry even when you have to get angry.

You should be able to get some guidance from the following sites,

1. http://www.dhamma.org/vipassan.htm/
2. http://www.meditationexpert.com/ and click on the free articles on yoga meditation - it includes articles on all types of meditations including Christian and Muslim meditation.

Answer 2

The most simple form of meditation is counting or focusing on your breaths. It's not easy, but it's simple to explain!

Sit down, get comfy, close your eyes. If counting, begin counting from 1-10. Every time a stray thought intrudes, start over. You may never get to 10, but don't sweat it. The whole point is concentration and control of your mind. If I do this, I count my breaths so I have a cadence to follow.

Focusing on your breath - start the same way, but simply pay attention to your breaths. Same rules apply - don't let your attention wander.

These are some of the simplest methods. Others you can do are to focus on something, then close your eyes and try to keep that picture in your mind. Don't consciously think about it, but let your thoughts wander around it.

For starters!

Answer 3

I used to have a link to a pretty nifty site that showed you how to do it, but alas I can't find it.

But you can do a search for "online guided meditation"

Answer 4

Books, videos and a lot of material available but do not try without teacher. Try any Yoga teacher for results.