Meditation techniques?

Question

Can any pagans/buddhists (or other people who practice it) give me some tips/ideas on meditation/visulaisation? And other, similar ways to feel spiritual?
Thanks x

Yes, kvedulf_ has very useful and interesting comments, thanks :) And also - I can't wait to get started!

Answer 1

kveldulf_... has avery good answer and should win
for shamanism try
http://www.joydancer.com/
for meditation
http://ishaya.org/

Answer 2

Here's some basic meditation techniques...


THE MEDITATION OF BREATH COUNTING



Start by placing yourself in a comfortable position so that you will get as few distracting signals as possible. The god or earth postures are best for the first few sessions. Set a timer for fifteen minutes. Now simply count each out breath. Count "one" for the first breath, "two" for the second and so on up to four and then start over with one again. Allow no other thoughts to intrude and if the mind should wander, gently but firmly direct it back to the counting.

One permissible variation is to include an "and" on the in breath. Do not make any attempt to control or alter the breathing in any way, simply allow it to be. Practice until you can keep this up for a whole hour with no distracting thoughts.

THE MEDITATION OF THE BUBBLE



From the god posture, picture yourself sitting quietly and comfortably on the bottom of a clear lake. You know how slowly large bubbles rest through water. Each thought, feeling, perception, etc., is pictured as a bubble rising into the place you can observe, passing through and out of the space. It takes between five and eight seconds to complete the process. When you have a thought or feeling, you simply observe it for the time period until it passes out of your visual space. Then you wait for the next one and observe it for the same time period and so on. You do not explore, follow-up, or associate to a bubble, just observe it.

Do not be thrown off if the same "bubble" rises several times. If you just go on this will pass and do not be bewildered if you cannot see the connection between he bubbles of the source of your thoughts. If you simply stay with the discipline long enough, most confusing connections will clear up. If your mind seems to go blank, shy, blank makes a fine bubble.

Practice until can perform this exercise for a full hour.


RISING SMOKE



For those who find the idea of sitting at the bottom of a lake unsympathetic or disturbing, they can picture themselves on a warm, windless day on the prairie watching large separate puffs of smoke rise from a campfire as if it were an Indian signal fire.


THE MEDITATION OF THE THOUSAND-PETAL LOTUS



The symbol of the lotus with a thousand petals is widely used in Eastern Mysticism. It is a symbolic rendition of the idea that everything is connected to everything else and nothing is really separated or isolated from the rest of the universe.

A word, idea, or image is chosen by you to be the center of the lotus for this exercise. Once you have chosen a word, get comfortable, contemplate it, and wait. Presently your first association to it comes to you. You look at the two words connected by the first "petal path" and regard them for three or four seconds. You either understand the reason for the association or you do not. In either case, you do nothing more than regard the center, the path and the association for the three or four seconds then you return to the center word and wait for the nest association and repeat the procedure and so forth


THOUGHTS ARE LOGS


Another variation of the bubble meditation is the Tibetan "Thoughts Are Logs" discipline. In this, you picture yourself sitting on the bank of a gentle river. From time to time logs come floating down the river; you follow the same procedure with the logs as with the bubbles.

Answer 3

I lie down on my back in either silence or with meditation music (nature sounds). I try to clear all my thoughts and relax my muscles from head to toe.