For those individuals who find it difficult to focus during a meditation, one way to quiet the mind is to give it something to do. Breathing exercises are a very good way to keep that wild little monkey of a mind of ours busy so our subconscious can free itself. One method is to rapidly breathe in rapidly to the count of four (doesn't have to be four seconds). Then hold that breath for a similar count of seven. Then exhale for a count of eight. While exhaling, you'll make a wind-like noise through your lips. I tend to try to make each count a second so as not to go too rapidly and end up hyperventilating, but it is up to you. The point is to establish a specific breathing pattern.
DW adds:
Any slow, regular breathing where one concentrates on the outbreath, is good for inducing meditation. Feel the breath leave your mouth, feel your lungs shrink as the air departs, feel each molecule of air as it passes over your tongue and out of your lips. This is a very Buddhist form of mediation to concentrate on the outbreath. Sierra again: This might take some time to achieve. Our minds can be very busy and intrusive.
If you find you are unable to concentrate on the breathing then allow the thoughts to flow in one side and out the other, rather like a ticker-tape, so that they simply flow through and you can disregard them in their passing. One method I have used in the past to gain control is to count ever so slowly to 10. When saying 1 all I think of is 1. I try to hold that thought for a minute. If I think of something other than the 1, I start over. I look at the 1, see the textures of the numeral, etc. and focus on it rather the way one would focus on a candle flame. Which is another form of focus.
Some individuals find that a candle flame is a wonderful meditative technique. One can gaze into the depths of the flickering flame and lose themselves within it. I tend to enjoy soft meditation music. It might be Douglas Spotted Eagle and the Navajo chanters or Enya or Pachabel's Cannon in D minor, but it isn't intrusive. Sometimes aromatherapy will enhance the meditation. Incense can be problematic for those with asthma, but oils are usually okay. Some of you may prefer a hard chair, no sound, and no scent. That's fine too.
This may seem tedious to some, but honestly, many people simply don't know where to start on meditation so I'd rather be too basic than too complicated. Probably my favorite meditation early on was a tree meditation. I do have it written out on the pagan-home book of shadows but I'm not certain if everyone has web access, so I'll see about posting a copy to the list as well.
I would probably still recommend that particular meditation to anyone who wanted to learn the feel of different elements in terms of the four (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) that most Wiccans acknowledge. I personally find "Breathing Through The Universe" (a shamanic meditation) very effective as well but it doesn't lend itself quite as well to specific energy identifications. DW prefers what I refer to as the aerobic version of BTTU. I won't post that here. If anyone is interested you might be able to get him to describe it. I personally don't do well trying to exercise and meditate simultaneously - I'm always worried about falling over. (grin)
In the stationary version of BTTU you hold your hands out in front of your face, palms facing outward. Index fingers and thumbs are touching so that the index fingers are creating the top of a triangle and the thumbs are creating the base of the triangle. I tend to keep the rest of my fingers extended as well. Having gotten into a comfortable position and breathing slowly and evenly, raise your hands into the BTTU position and breathe OUT through the triangle. Feel your consciousness move in and out of your body through the window. Feel your body breathing in and out, expanding and contracting with each breath. Slowly move your hands apart, allowing your consciousness and breath to move into the room, the house, the block, the neighborhood, town, state, region, hemisphere, world, solar system, galaxy, etc.
One way in which to learn the feel of air energy is to ride the solar wind of our sun, or other suns, or breathe with and become part of the winds of our planet or myriad others. One way to learn the feel of fire energy is to breathe in and out the plasma of the sun or to breathe in the magma of a volcano. Do the same with earth and water found in the universe. One day Saono was quite perplexed because he felt as if he were no longer grounding and centering. That was when he and I learned that at a certain point one becomes so grounded and centered that you then tell when you're NOT grounded and centered rather than the other way around. That can be quite disconcerting for awhile. (smile) Better to be prepared, although it can take quite some time to happen (months, in our case).
As with everything, you get out of mediation what you put into it. If you meditate three times a day you will achieve more in a shorter number of days/weeks than if you meditate once a day or once a week. The goal of the meditations is to increase them slowly but surely. After the first week my teachers had me meditate any time I thought of it. Of course, this meant learning to pare my meditation time down significantly. This doesn't happen over night. I was fortunate that I'd had meditative experiences through Eckankar so I was a bit ahead of the game already.
The goals are: Meditation 3 times a day for the first week to month (depending upon your state of experience and time time you can devote to it). Meditation many times a day, doing brief meditations as well as at least one full meditation a day. Continuous grounding and centering meditation - making a conscious attempt to draw a meditative breath with each breath taken. This takes a goodly amount of time (months) to achieve. At least, it took me months!
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