Where to start? How to begin?

vlrox

As most of you know i am farely new to Buddhism. How do i begin to meditate? What if i can not get my mind to slow? Do i concentrate on the thoughts that come to mind or only focus on breathing?

Sabre

Hi!

This helped me a lot. It touches upon a lot of subjects of meditation including how to still the mind:


Sometimes it may use some terms unknown to you, but try to overlook that.

Hope it can help.

But as a disclaimer: There are multiple meditation styles with some differences. Not everybody fully agrees on what is the right thing to do or not to do. So if you get familiar with written and spoken topics on meditation, you can come across different interpretations. I know this confused me a bit at times, so that's why I wanted to warn you. Don't let this confuse you and practice what has results for you. Try to see what progresses you towards peace. Every mind is different, so everybody may need a slightly different approach.

With kindness,
Sabre

how

vlrox said:

As most of you know i am farely new to Buddhism. How do i begin to meditate? What if i can not get my mind to slow? Do i concentrate on the thoughts that come to mind or only focus on breathing?

I usually recommend reading up a bit of the different schools to find what resonates best to you. Ask a representative of that school for info on their practise of meditation.
It is often easier in the begining to step into the practise that you choose to get some consistant grounding in meditation as opposed to taking bits and pieces of different forms.
Exciting times ahead.

Bunks

I found this free online book about vipassana meditation very good......like the other guys said though, find what works for you.

http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/mindfulness_in_plain_english.pdf

karasti

It's like house training a dog. Consistency and practice. Your mind is just as out of control as an untrained puppy, and until you train it, it'll continue to run rampant. But the training takes time. You can't expect to sit to meditate the first time, or evven the 10th or 25th time and expect your mind to be quiet and still. It comes with time and practice. Some times of day, it's harder to do than others. I normally meditate right away in the morning and it works really well for me that way. However, for 2 weeks I have to get up much earlier than normal to drive my son to practice, so I can't meditate until I get back. The waking up and driving, wakes my mind too much and I have a very hard time meditating when I get back. So it takes longer to get to a point of peace than normal.

Make it just as much a part of your day as breakfast or dinner or brushing your teeth. Put it into your routine and don't waver from it. Experiment with the different types of meditation, visualizations, chants, etc. But to get results you have to practice. The mind is used to running all around however it wants for years on end, it's going to take time to tame it And don't have expectations of your meditation. Don't stop because you feel you aren't doing it right, or not doing it well. The times it doesn't go as well as others are the best opportunities for learning. Start small or you might get frustrated. Meditate for 5 minutes a couple times a day. Then when you feel comfortable sitting that long (or even find you wish it was longer) add a couple minutes, and build up. It took me about 3 months to go from 5 minutes to a half hour. I also found it most helpful to have a meditation timer, you can get an actual timer or if you have a smart phone, you can get apps for it that do the same thing (most of them are free). That way you can just set the timer and not worry about the clock.

Songhill

vlrox:

As most of you know i am farely new to Buddhism. How do i begin to meditate? What if i can not get my mind to slow? Do i concentrate on the thoughts that come to mind or only focus on breathing?

Many years ago, the first thing my teacher taught me about meditation, is never to stare (yep, I was staring). During your entire life, don't stare anymore. That is the first teaching.