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ARTArticle***Finding Meditation Techniques That Are Right For YouWhen you are searching for meditation techniques or want meditation instruction, whether you are looking for relaxation meditation or spiritual meditation techniques, if you are an advanced student or a beginner, if you are searching for anxiety relief or anything else...whatever reason you may want to meditate, it’s important to keep in mind that there are many different kinds of meditation.ARTArticle***Finding Your Perfect Meditation CushionFinding the right meditation supplies, especially the perfect meditation cushion, can feel lot like looking for the Holy Grail.
I started meditating in 1970 and since then, I've tried almost every kind of meditation cushion ever created. I've spent so much time on this I even tried to design the ideal meditation cushion myself, contemplating how to make something that would hold my spine perfectly straight, let my knees be comfortable and my back to be free of pain.ARTArticle***How Not To Live With Regret“Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back... Regret is only good for wallowing in." Katherine Mansfield
“I never regret anything. Because every little detail of your life is what made you who you are in the end.” Drew BarrymoreARTArticle***How to be a Meditation TeacherWant to learn how to teach meditation?
It’s simple.
You can turn yourself into a meditation teacher in less than five minutes by following these easy steps.
First, pick a simple meditation technique and practice describing how to do it. You don’t have to be able to do it yourself, just be able to explain to others how it is supposed to be done.
Don’t know any meditation techniques? No problem. Just do a search for free meditation techniques online. Or you can try using this one: Pay attention to your breathing. Be aware of your in-breath; be aware of your out-breath.ARTArticle***How to Learn Buddhist Meditation TechniquesBack when I started doing Buddhist meditation in the ‘70’s, it was hard to find any Buddhist books or Buddhist retreats or Buddhist meditation classes or any information of any kind at all that could help me learn a daily Buddhist meditation practice. If you started talking about the "Dalai Lama," people figured you meant some kind of restaurant featuring sandwiches for pack animals from South America.
It's different now, of course.
In fact, I think people have gotten a bit Buddhist meditation happy these days.ARTArticle***How To Learn Zen MeditationWould you like to learn Zen meditation?
If you do, then you have to make a decision: would you prefer to sit staring at a blank wall, or would you like to have an idea what other meditators in the room look like?
Actually, there’s another decision involved: do you want your progress towards enlightenment to be gradual, or would you prefer to wait a long, long time and then have enlightenment strike instantly?ARTArticle***How To Learn Zen MeditationWould you like to learn Zen meditation?
If you do, then you have to make a decision: would you prefer to sit staring at a blank wall, or would you like to have an idea what other meditators in the room look like?
Actually, there’s another decision involved: do you want your progress towards enlightenment to be gradual, or would you prefer to wait a long, long time and then have enlightenment strike instantly?ARTArticle***How To Meditate"How to Meditate"
In 1970, I saw this title on a small ad in the back of a comic book.
I could learn to meditate for just $1, the ad promised. “Secrets of ancient yogi masters revealed: achieve psychic powers, control the mind!” Learning to meditate like a monk through this step-by-step course was only four quarters away. I could hardly wait.ARTArticle***How to Overcome Problems in Meditation PracticeAfter teaching meditation to thousands of people, when I ask what sorts of problems they encounter with their practice, I hear the same three answers again and again.
The problem I hear the most frequently is that people can't quiet their minds. They refer to having "monkey mind," or tell me, "I can't stop thinking." Sometimes they say they have "negative self-talk," or other unhappy thoughts they can't get rid of.
The second complaint on the list is not having enough time.ARTArticle***Improve Your Daily Zen Meditation PracticeJason Shulman, a friend of mine and Kabbalistic healer, tells one of my very favorite stories about Zen meditation.
He had gone on sesshin, a Zen meditation retreat.
He was at a place in his daily meditation practice where he had come to believe that the goal of Zen meditation was to have no thoughts.
So he sat on his meditation cushion in the lotus position, facing a blank white wall with his hands in the correct mudra.ARTArticle***Integrating Daily Life with Daily MeditationOn one of the meditation courses I did, we sat for fourteen hours a day. During that time, there was one three-hour period when we were supposed to sit in the meditation hall on our meditation cushions without moving in any way.ARTArticle***It’s Always One of Two Answers"For every complex problem there is answer that is clear, simple and wrong."
H.L. Mencken
"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."
William S. Burroughs
Questions and answers.
We spend so much time caught up trying to find answers to questions. Every time a question comes up that requires an answer we put ourselves through a huge series of mental gymnastics.ARTArticle***Learning How to MeditateNot long ago, I did a web search for how to meditate. In each of the top twenty results were nearly identical basic instructions:
Find a quiet spot.
Choose the same time to meditate each day.
Sit upright with your back relaxed and your spine straight.ARTArticle***Learning Meditation Where You LiveIt is easier than ever to get meditation instruction where you live.
You can find meditation classes in almost any American city. I’ve see
YMCA's in the middle of nowhere offer free meditation instruction. At one time, you could have listed all of America’s spiritual and meditation retreat centers in a book you could put in your back pocket. You can now find meditation centers and meditation teachers in every state in the Union, often no more than a few hours away.
Back in 1970, when I started meditating, there weren’t very many books on meditation.ARTArticle***Maturity and MeditationSeveral decades ago, I listened to a talk given by a Western teacher who had become a monk in a Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In order to protect the possibly guilty, I’ll leave out his name. He described how, in the years since he’d become a monk and began formally practicing meditation, he had grown calmer and improved his ability to manage life's ups and downs.
The audience responded with both envy and optimism. They were optimistic because of the possibility that meditation could lead to more happiness.ARTArticle***Meditate - How To?If you’d like to relax, take a mental vacation, gain some spiritual insight, or just clear your mind, a good way to do so is to meditate.
There are many different was to do meditation and there are even more methods to learn how to meditate.
Almost every religion has its own meditation techniques. Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Christian traditions all have some form of contemplative meditation in which you select a teaching from a sacred text and quietly consider it, looking to find the truth in it or to see how it applies to or affects your own life.ARTArticle***Meditate - How To?If you’d like to relax, take a mental vacation, gain some spiritual insight, or just clear your mind, a good way to do so is to meditate.
There are many different was to do meditation and there are even more methods to learn how to meditate.
Almost every religion has its own meditation techniques. Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Christian traditions all have some form of contemplative meditation in which you select a teaching from a sacred text and quietly consider it, looking to find the truth in it or to see how it applies to or affects your own life.ARTArticle***Meditation and DepressionAs I wrote the title of this post, “Meditation and Depression,” I found myself smiling at the concept that meditation could cause depression.ARTArticle***Meditation and Yoga - Pathways to Inner Peace?There must be something wrong with the way I talk.
I decided this must be the case because when I say I teach meditation, people frequently say, "Oh, you do yoga?"
Meditation… yoga… I don’t think they sound like the same words – do you?
Many people, however, seem to think they are the same thing. Yes, Pantanjali's yoga included meditation, and there is yoga in some of the Tibetan Buddhist schools of meditation. But meditation and yoga are not the same things and often not even remotely related.ARTArticle***Meditation in Motion - Yoga MeditationYou could say that yoga & meditation are two sides of a coin. They can be difficult to separate.
Doing both meditation and yoga isn't required, but they do go together well. They each can enhance your practice of the other. If you take meditation to your yoga mat, you may find more ease and flexibility in your postures and perhaps a greater degree of calmness than you used to feel.ARTArticle***Meditation ProblemsOne of my friends is a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He’s an actual Tibetan born in Tibet,
not an American who has converted to Tibetan Buddhism or learned Tibetan Buddhist meditation.
If you’re actively involved with some religious or spiritual tradition, I recommend getting to know a high-ranking leader within that tradition.ARTArticle***Meditation Retreats - 10 Tips to Get You StartedHere are some ideas on how to best prepare for your first meditation retreat:
1) Make sure details are handled before leaving. Pay your bills. Arrange for someone to check your messages and let them know where to reach you in case of emergency. Be sure someone will be checking on your pets and knows how to reach your vet. Record a new outgoing voicemail message so people know you will be unavailable till you get back.
2) You will forget some things… and it will bother you.ARTArticle***Meditation Won’t Help YouMeditation is not going to help you.
Meditation will not make you more peaceful and calm. It’s not going to eliminate your stress. Meditation will not cure your disease. It’s not going to advance you spiritually. Meditation will not help you do better at your job or sport or hobby. Meditation does not give anyone magical powers. It’s not going to assist you in making more money. And you most definitely will not become enlightened from meditating.
Okay, there, I've said it.ARTArticle***Meditation Yoga Techniques You Can LeaWould learning to do meditation yoga techniques create more peace for your body-mind?
Yoga and meditation both demonstrate how the mind and body are interdependent. If you relax the body with yoga, the mind will get the hint, too. If you calm the mind with meditation, then the body can let go as well.
You can find dozens and probably hundreds of yoga and meditation techniques.ARTArticle***Meditation: A Modern Look at the Practice and Science of MeditationI was a meditation failure.
I began meditating at the age of eight when I purchased a "Hypnodisk" I saw in the novelty Johnson-Smith catalog. The manual explained how to induce a hypnotic trance, information which soon caused my teacher to write to my parents asking me to stop hypnotizing the class. But it also contained some basic meditation instructions I began using at that time.
When I turned 14, my meditation practice turned serious and I learned biofeedback to help me with migraines.ARTArticle***Meditation: Is It a Relaxation System?Is meditation meant to be a relaxation system? I wonder about that.
When I was eighteen, I was introduced to a famous American meditation teacher and we became friends. Through him, I met another American who had spent the prior six years in Thailand as a Buddhist monk. This former monk had only recently returned to the US and traded out his monk's robes for regular clothing. He was still working out what his "right livelihood" might be - you know, work that would pay him enough to cover his food and rent.ARTArticle***Meditation: Mindfulness or Mindlessness?One of my closest friends wrote me to say he planned to go on a mindfulness meditation retreat to find some relaxation.
I picked up the phone to suggest that he might want to reconsider that plan.
Now, I’d like to be clear about this.ARTArticle***Music Meditation Mantra and MeFriends often talk to me about the hours they spend doing triathlons or running marathons, and usually I say that I can't imagine doing something I love for so many hours. So it surprises me to remember that I once spent three days chanting Hindu mantras, non-stop, at the top of my lungs.
This is sometimes called japa, or Indian meditation music. Sometimes it's just called crazy.
These days, a lot of people are only familiar with chanting music meditation through the work of the popular performer, Krishna Das.ARTArticle***My Problem with Transcendental Meditation® StudiesFirst, a message to my readers who practice TM® (Transcendental Meditation®):
I am not taking any position for or against Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the TM® organization, TM® itself, or anything else related to TM®.
Now that we've taken care of that…
I do, however, have a position regarding the studies that have been promoted to "prove" that TM® is the best thing since meditatively sliced bread.
My basic position is this:
Most of these studies, maybe all of them, are pretty questionable.
Before any of the previously mentioned TM® advocates "get all up in my grill," (lovARTArticle***New Meditation Practices That Actually WorkI was eight years old when I first began meditating. No, I wasn't raised in a commune by hippie parents. I checked out a book on meditation from the school library and practiced the technique in the book. So began my thirty years of meditation practice.
Over the course of my meditation career, I tried many different kinds of meditation practices - from simple meditation techniques to more difficult, advanced practices.