r2i forum

Can someone share simple medidation practices which you practice
successfully everyday.

hi
i know a simple and effective meditation practice which my whole family has been practicing for the last 15 years. you can get information about this from
www.srcm.org

RK

Two questions, but I need concrete answers.

What is meditation? How is it done?

Why do I need to meditate ? What beneficial purpose does it serve for me?

Tejasvee,

Thanks. That was brief, concise, to the point.

Just an addition.

Why is watching the breath important ?

Its because it helps anchor your mind to the present. Otherwise, within seconds, the mind is off constantly thinking of something else, (why did the
Indian market crash ? Will I Get screwd etc.)

Watching the breath helps anchor your focus to the present.

Not jumping from one thought to the other every few seconds helps keeps the mind calm and fresh because its conserving mental energy and helping ur brain relax. A sense of rejuvenation can be felt after 20-30 minutes.

I have never been able to stop my mind from wandering off after 2-3 minutes. But the deep breaths bring my focus back to the present.

I don't know what it means to unclutter a mind.
why should even one do that whatever it is (ie unclutter a mind).
I do not know what a connection with inner self is?
What is inner self?
Does only focussing on breath help anchor mind to "present"?
Why not focus on a dream that I am in a hammock in Tahiti?
Why is focussing on "present" important?

I hold very few things as sacred in my life and they do not happen to be OM etc. Why does focus has to be sacred? Can't I instead focus on a picture of Mallika Sherawat and mutter "oh yes, mallika"? for five five minutes? Is that meditation? Will it unclutter my mind?

These questions are genuine to get a better understanding of purpose of meditation and methods.

I fail to understand how deep focus on something without much purpose is helpful (if the reason is so called spiritual, then I understand we just have different beliefs as "spiritual" is something else that I do not fathom). When studying for an exam, I can have deep focus and I have deep focus during other activities.

If forgetting about stock market or some other worries is important, I can just watch Borat and focus on him.

I have little experience, but here is my understanding.

I think the goal/purpose of many types of meditation is to try to get to a different neurological state than one is in usually san meditation during work, relaxation, sleep, play, ... the neurological state that is aspired is one that produces (or is associated with) a feeling of peace, joy, lower stress, ...

As to methods, it appears that over the ages, people have experimented with different techniques and propagated the ones that have worked better for them. As to why and how they "work", I dont think they know - neuroscience is trying.

I do not know if meditation has any side effects (e.g. lower drive, creativity, proclivity to be dogmatic, ...) and whether some forms of meditation can actually harm - and am curious about these.

Not everyone needs to meditate. People gravitate towards it only when they feel a need to.

I needed something to help me with my anger. I was either expressing it ( and so making it unpleasant for me and everyone) or suppressing it ( making it most unpleasant for myself).

After a couple of techniques, I found Vipassana taught by S.N.Goenka. www.dhamma.org. It has been taught in Tihar jail since Kiran Bedi introduced it in the 80s. I think there's a documentary made - Doing time, Doing Vipassana. Now they're trying to teach it in prisons in the US (one in Washington and another in Alabama).

I liked it because there was no mantra, no gurudom, no symbols, no idols and no fee charged to teach the technique. It's taught in 10 day residential courses and you only pay a donation if you feel you have benefited from it.

Has it helped me with my anger? I've been trying to practice this since 2004 and I know it's going to take me a lifetime, maybe more...but I now have a tool to observe my anger when it comes up.