And for what purpose/s do you meditate for?

For myself.(i am doing this only five-ten minutes for start,until i reach better concentration).

This post has been edited by Prudence: Jan 12 2006, 03:19 PM

I put occasionally because it really depends on what is happening here.

I tend to have impromptu meditations quite frequently and more dedicated and specific times when I am taking classes - it helps me get focussed.

My impromptu silent times are at my desk and when I want to connect to my deeper self if I am concentrating on an article that needs more than a cursory glance and a more in depth answer.

I have found that deciding to have a set time of day and moving into a different seating area doesn't help although that is what the books suggest. I find it justs distracts me as I have to get comfortable again and adjust to the new sensations - very distracting indeed.

I do it to centre myself, get clarity and to relax for the most part. With practice over the years I am able to slip into a light meditative state almost in any surroundings or situation if needed.

At times there is a specific reason for meditation for me - it has a purpose for something, or I'm using visualisation techniques for personal reasons or crafting purposes.

I have to regain control over my thoughts and emotions quite frequently throughout a day. They are like undisciplined children making mischief every time I look away. Thoughts may occupy time with meaningless associations or ripple in memories which have no meaningful application in the present or future moment. Emotions then will either aid the thoughts amplifying their nonsense, or they will make me feel more low or more happy than I asked for by themselves. Yes, I believe now that emotions can take over on their own and in turn control the thoughts as well. But when I meditate I always take control over the thoughts, and from there issue commands to the emotions.

Clearing my mind and centering myself I always do through meditation before ritual or divination. So the banishing part I deal with directly instead of making a ritual out of it. (The effect is not necessary the exact same however, since I do zero visualizations when I meditate this way.)

Else I can meditate simply because I am bored and have nothing better do to. It is relaxing in itself. Waiting for something, perhaps.

edit:
And of course, when I have problems falling asleep, I can just meditate until I black out.
Also, to achieve lucid dreaming or astral projection, I do it through meditation.

Meditation is of course not one technique, but several... how many? I dare not guess.

edit2:
Hell, the list goes on:
Coping with Stress
Denying Spirits influence over my mind
Denying anything influence over my mind
Healing

I bet I can come up with a lot more, but now I have to deny this post more attention.

This post has been edited by thief_and_a_liar: Jan 13 2006, 09:44 AM

I usually meditate every night before I go to bed for about 30min's to just see what thoughts come up and I try to think about why they come to mind. After about 10 min's of that I then focus on keeping my mind silent. My main purpose for meditation is to have more control over my concentration and to astral project.

I think I am going to start meditating in the morning also to see if there is a difference on how i think.

I meditate for a few times a week - more than 3 hours in total. Currently, I have been doing a mantra japa meditation for up to 3 malas then usually followed with void meditation or any meditation I am feeling like doing up until my feet hurts and cannot sit in my asana comfortably.

The purpose of my meditation usually to strengthen my mind power, calming emotions and general self control, also to practice my mental skills, and trying to reach spiritual enlightment when I can.

I enter into a sort of contemplative devotional state. It's always in the back of my mind (with a few exceptions.. sometimes I'll lose it if something really demands my attention). I'd consider it meditation because it's one pointed and it makes the day fly by (especially at work, where I just answer phones).

I'm not sure of intent. The way I look at it is that I'm offering my devotion, not my personal interests. I try to keep the "offering" as pure as possible. I try to do puja every day (offerings of incense, food and chanting) and am one-pointed (again with purity of devotion) when I do that. Would that be considered meditation, too?

I would say that, on average, it consumes most of my day.

This post has been edited by moonburn: Feb 3 2006, 04:29 PM

I recently have been meditating for increasing concentration.

More specifically: I have been exercising my ability to focus on bringing all my attention to bear on directing my body to perform simple tasks with efficiency, with precision, and with smooth grace. I am very slowly increasing the complexity of the tasks that I am performing in a state of such concentration. My goal is for this practice to expand until the process becomes how I perform every task beyond formal meditative periods.

I do it for many purposes, suck as taking in energy, reaching my higher self, making myself in a high state, empowering my chakras, etc. It really helps do alot of things, improves concentration, and helps when healing, empowering, destoying, creating, summoning, dismissing, repelling, sheilding, astral projecting, and fighting (non physical). I do it very often, well, not anymore but I used to.. I have a meditation that is straight from ancient runes and it's a series of mudras and chants and it is awesome.

That sounds interesting, where would we find that meditation?

I meditate to heal , reduce stress and gain spiritual insights . I enter meditative trance in an alchemy circle with peers for transmutation ,to project as a mystic to higher realms , to develop spiritually and to learn from the Mahatma .

I do it to calm myself down, for spiritual knowledge, and to get sone peace and quiet lol!

I try hard to maintain a daily routine meditation. Basically I take a really hot bath with an electric heater and the fan going at the same time. Light some inscene (vanilla sky) and turn on some tunes. Then dunk myself into the hot bath water, until my ears are under water, cover my eyes with a wet wash cloth and soak usually until the water is fairly cool. Once this is done I cleanse myself, literally, dry myself and sit semi-lotus until the rest of me is dry.

I do this for a variety of reasons but usually to relax and relieve stress, physical and mental. Doing this prior to bed usually psyches me out for lucid dreams or astral journeys.

At the end of the day I do a 20 minute meditation called Guan Shi Fa to clear my energy. I do bodywork on 4 to 6 people a day so clearing is necessary. When you do any kind of body work: massage, reiki, qi gong, carnio-sacral etc, it is an exchange of energy. You could say that I exchange my nice healthy energy for their sick energy. I have to clear it out and replace it with fresh healthy energy. I also do the microcosmic orbit different times during the day whenever I have some spare time. In addition, I tend to go into altered states of consciousness while I'm giving treatment. Then I have classes, some that I teach, some that I take.

i meditate for about 10 hours. most of it is for the energy work for my body. then some for kundalini, psionics, and body expansion. the joys of not having to work.

I never meditate. lol. Working out is my meditation. I mean when praying the rosary I'm supposed to 'meditate' on the mysteries, but that doesn't count. lol. I don't spend my time attuning chakras, or whatever else is done while meditating. I work out, altered state, that's my other state of conciousness. it's a win win, I get to do something for my body both physicaly, and mentaly.

.::Sempre Bene::..::Chris::.
-Fiat Lux.

I meditate to Clear my mind and to center myself. I meditate 30 minutes every morning and 30 minutes every night one in a while I will meditate in the afternoon as Well. I Meditate to balance and to I also like to create a sigil and meditate on it from time to time. I am going to visit the temple tomarrow morning.

Vesna (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blablabla.gif)

Melez, Kinjo!

Currently I meditate for a few hours everyday, usually in the morning and at night before sleep. The reasons for my meditation differ depending on current situations, but usually involve finding out more about myself.

My daily meditation session starts with practicing/fine tuning a couple of banishment rituals. Then it's opening and empowering the main chakras before pore-breathing in the position of the pentagram. After this I take a seat and go into a deeper meditational state for self introspection as well as other types of work. When I'm at work and it's a little slow, I find time for "mini" meditations by just fixing on a object and letting it happen.

Depends on when I have my coffee (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif). Just kidding. I usually do meditate a few times a week, due to being a mother with a busy lifestyle I don't have much time for personal time. And when I do, I usually read, meditate, talk with my husband or..end up falling asleep.

to be honest, about 2 ou 3 times on the week
i still believe that i need a 48h day lol

I meditate daily, sometimes for more than three hours, collectively... in the morning, before and after every massage session, then usually only for about twenty minutes or so. At some point I meditate for at least two consecutive hours, and usually for an hour before bed. Between sessions I meditate to clear my energy and 'refuel' as it were... in the morning I meditate for the intention of the day - you could say I use the time to reconsitute any magick that I am currently maintaining as well. THe longest meditation is normally an astral journey or some sort of ritual, and at night I prepare my body and mind for dreaming.

Regular meditation and the intention to develope my astral senses have allowed me to begin splitting my attention almost equally between the inner and outer sight. IMHO, meditation of some sort towards functioning in both worlds at once is the only way to permanently expand consciousness - and while they might have been biased, all of my benefactors since the very first book I read, have agreed. Strengthening your concentration is strengthening both your attention, and the intensity with which you can focus that attention. When you can split that attention, and then strengthen it, hightened awareness is attained as the two fuse and including both worlds in your natural attention, you litterally inhabit more than the physical dimension fully.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blablabla.gif)

Big fan of meditation....

peace

I should mention that the Chinese have claimed that too much meditation can lead to a form of psychosis. From what I know, what they mean by too much meditation is something like eight hours a day. It is unlikely that anyone here will have much to worry about, but thought I'd mention it. I would give more details, but the book from which I read this has been borrowed by a friend.

That's very, very interesting. There are some days when I have to admit I feel a little off - like functioning in 'normal' life is a bit hampered somehow, and I have very odd reactions to somethings.

I have noticed that there are times when I am really, really drawn to meditate, to the point where I can't really muster the interest to do anything else.

However, these are phenomenon i'm learning to function within just fine - I think that the goal is to learn to inhabit more than one dimension of consciousness, and integrate those extra dimensions into life so that you can still function in 'real life'. Perhaps psychosis is the result of the inability to integrate the seperate dimensions.

Early on, exploring other dimensions I couldn't possibly have functioned in the world while I was exploring - I required stillness, quiet, darkness, to withdraw from my physical senses; required sensory withdrawal at all. Now, I can observe some of the 'closer' dimensions with ease while still going about my daily life.

There was a guru who said, "Leave early, travel slowly, arrive safely." I think it was a guru anyway... in any case, a wise statement. Perhaps lengthy, frequent meditations are something that require a gradual assimilation. It was very gradual for me - I couldn't have possibly sat still for more than half an hour as a teen - much less two or more.

I'd be interested to hear more about that belief, though.

peace

I usually meditate when i am faced with a difficult or stressfull situation or person, which is quite a regular occurrence in my line of work. I simply sit at my desk and clear my mind of everything but the current situation. This not only calms me but also guides me as to what direction i should take.

5-10 minutes at a time, 5-10 times a day.



The reason I meditate is turn off my mind. "Me" needs a break from the incessant chatter of thoughts bouncing around.

This break from the avalanche of thoughts makes me significantly crisper, more energetic, focused and in tune with my intentions.

Another benefit is that throughout the day, I have become the silent watcher of my own thoughts and emotions. When my brain leads me off on an unintended tangent, I recognize it immediately and steer the train back on track.

many years ago. I was a Buddhist monk.. spent 2 years in retreat in India, Nepal and Japan..
often sat for 8-12 hours a day ...

now i still sit simply out of habit, it's part of my life..

At least a hour over the course of the day. Generally more but rarely more then three hours.

LVX,
Nick

I mostly meditate when I am in an extremely stressful sitution because it definately helps to clear my head and focus on one problem at a time. I wouldn't say it is a major part of my life because I only do it occasionally. Maybe for 15 minutes when I think the problems at hand are stressing me out too much.

This post has been edited by pnkwitchie: Sep 16 2006, 10:48 AM