Spiritual Forum. Org

I don't know if what I practice is a form of meditation or not, in terms of the traditional sense, but I just lay down on my bed in total and complete silence staring at the ceiling.  I don't try think about anything or anyone at all.  I just let things come into my mind and go.  That's all.  At times I ponder about the complexities of life and how insignificant humanity is, how futile the acquisition of wealth is when we're all going to end up dead.  Other times, I just think about my test and how I should go about acing it.  Basically, I'm trying to say that I have random thoughts and revelations.

If you look at the dictionary definition of "meditate" you'll see that it means to engage in thought or contemplation/reflect .  So my strange way of meditation is quite valid in a way.

I don't believe meditation is simply a buddhist/hindu practice.  I believe all faiths and all atheists practice meditation. Everyone reflects and contemplates about life.

I tried to meditate before while sitting straight and with breathing patterns. I also like a total silence  but it could be with relaxing sound too. But usually my problem is to totally clear my mind and be focus.

Mostly, I focus on my breath.

Same here. I put my attention on how I'm breathing and switch my focus entirely to controlling how long my inhales/exhales are, how slowly I'm pulling air into my lungs, and exhaling to the fullest extent possible, etc.

I inhale through my left nostril and exhale through the right.

Is this figurative or rather, a mental idea? Without holding a nostril closed, I wouldn't be able to actually inhale/exhale through only one.

Sometimes I meditate while moving (Taijiquan).

Sometimes I meditate while being still (Qigong).

Sometimes I meditate while washing the dishes, taking out the garbage or having sex.



It all depends upon WHY I'm meditating and what I hope to gain from it.

I prefer to focus on breath. Though it is very easy and simple way to meditate.  It makes my mind relax and makes me feel good. I also love to do deep meditation, which is really helpful to provide peace.

It really depends on how I am feeling on a particular day or night. Sometimes I will meditate at night when I am in bed and relaxed and if I do this, I have no music on. I just try to concentrate on my breathing and after a while I usually fall to sleep.
There are times when I will meditate in a comfy chair we have and if doing it here, I might have some music on. If I have music on when I am meditating then it has to be classical or sounds of nature or the sea, if I have any music with words to it then I am thinking about that all the time.

At first when I started meditating fully, I found it very hard to concentrate and not start thinking about a million other things. Do you think about anything when you are meditating or do you try to totally clear your mind and keep it clear?

I suffer from Social Phobia and when I do have to go out, or have had jobs, then I often would go to the bathroom in my break and would sit there breathing and trying to calm down through mediation. I do not know if I have not been doing this right or for long enough but it calms me down a little but as soon as I am back in the situation that gives me fear all that calm disappears. I know though that meditation is something that you should practice regularly and it does do a lot of good.