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Does it matter where I meditate?

VioletHourVioletHour
edited April 2010 in Meditation
I've recently discovered a renewed interest in Buddhism but I'm finding it difficult to sit and meditate. I've read that one should find a clean and quiet place to meditate, I've even read that a beginner should not attempt to meditate without proper guidance from a teacher. Well, my home is cluttered and busy and I don't have access to a teacher. Are either of those things essential to someone who is new to meditation? Maybe I'm over analyzing...
Thank you for your feedback

Comments

  • StephenStephen
    edited March 2010
    I've never heard you needed a "clean" anything to meditate. You don't even have to be clean, as long as it doesn't break your concentration (i.e., massive stench).

    Quiet is helpful. I meditate on the breath, and I've found that the only thing that is necessary is to be in a posture that allows for unobstructed breathing. I've even meditated while lying on my side, or on my back.

    I would recommend meditation based on awareness of the breath before trying other types; this often does work, though some find it difficult, and the breath is always available to you; you don't need to imagine it. I'd search online for a good guide for this type of meditation, but it isn't difficult and you don't need to search out a flesh-and-blood teacher to learn or master it.
  • VioletHourVioletHour
    edited March 2010
    Thank you
  • TreehuggerTreehugger
    edited March 2010
    I meditate in the corner of my bedroom in front of a messy CD shelf, and the rest of my room is a wreck usually. It doesn't matter where you are, just as long as your mind is in the right place :)

    Find a room, clean it, make it your meditation place. Clean spaces do have a large effect on the mind, in my opinion. However, it is not essential.

    Teachers aren't necessary, either. There's lots of info online, lots of info on youtube. There's a very well spoken guide on mindfulness mediation by "Yuttadhammo" on youtube, and several more videos by Ajahn Jayasaro under the "Dhammatube" channel which I found very helpful and thought-provoking. Good luck.
  • GlowGlow Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Back when I was starting out, learning to meditate, the only place I could do so was in the backseat of my car. It was sort of cluttered, far from quiet, and somewhat cramped but it was better than my apartment which had no heating or air conditioning. I drove to a local lake and found a nice spot during my lunch hour. Not ideal, but it worked for me just fine.
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited March 2010
    .

    Hi VioletHour,

    Ajahn Jayasaro was already mentioned by Treehugger and this is a link to the introduction (Buddhist Meditation 1 )to his excellent meditation series on Youtube.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7a9Ur2x0o


    Hope you find it helpful.


    Kind regards,

    Dazzle




    .
  • VioletHourVioletHour
    edited March 2010
    Thank you for clearing up my questions, the videos are especially helpful.
  • KikujiroKikujiro
    edited March 2010
    nike-just-do-it-300x300.jpg

    But yeah find yourself a teacher if you can though. :)

    A good teacher will show you optimum settings for meditation, but a good teacher will aslo say to work with what you can work with. So be looking for a teacher, but practice anyway in the meantime.

    Good "luck"!
  • LincLinc Site owner Detroit Moderator
    edited March 2010
    I think having a designated spot for it is helpful; I think not having a spot yet is a bad excuse to not do it. ;)
  • LucasLucas
    edited April 2010
    My favorite place is to either meditate sitting on my porch at night, or lying flat on my back in my room. Whatever place offers them most calm and quiet at the time
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    edited April 2010
    Lincoln wrote: »
    I think having a designated spot for it is helpful; I think not having a spot yet is a bad excuse to not do it. ;)

    :)
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited April 2010
    VioletHour wrote: »
    I've recently discovered a renewed interest in Buddhism but I'm finding it difficult to sit and meditate. I've read that one should find a clean and quiet place to meditate, I've even read that a beginner should not attempt to meditate without proper guidance from a teacher. Well, my home is cluttered and busy and I don't have access to a teacher. Are either of those things essential to someone who is new to meditation? Maybe I'm over analyzing...
    Thank you for your feedback

    Clean ... in Tibetan Buddhism, cleaning & dusting your meditation spot is an "ease-into" the proper attitude ... "abandon dirt, abandon stains" you say as you clean, thinking of how your upcoming practice is going to do for you that in a metaphorical way. This activity "primes" your motivation, and after a while it becomes a conditioned stimuli for focus and concentration (just as Pavlov's dogs heard a bell and then salivated ... you clean and the motivation and focus gets triggered).

    Quiet ... oh yeah. No side-of-the-freeway meditation cushions for me! Yet, the goal of meditation should be to be ABLE to meditate alongside a freeway with a focus so one-pointed that you don't even hear the traffic.

    And yes, find a teacher. A good teacher, who knows you over time, can tell just by being around you if you're meditating properly and if you're grasping the concepts correctly ... I suspect it's just a matter of their alertness and observation skills combined with picking up on subliminal body language and facial cues. This seems to be a common experience within my group (and within my sister's group 1200 miles away) ... and it's something you can't get from a video or a book.
  • TheFoundTheFound
    edited April 2010
    meditate everywhere,
    if not you suck!

    learn to meditate in quiet, next to a busy street, next to a gun range...

    If u attach yourself to a habit or a place, well you know about attachment right?
  • TheFoundTheFound
    edited April 2010
    let me elaborate

    if you meditate in a noisy area, where you are distracted,
    the quality of ur meditation will decrease.

    but it's not about having a quiet peaceful session every time...
    and getting addicted to that peace.

    Meditation is about learning to see something that you couldn't see before (metaphorically).

    That can and will happen even if you are distracted and annoyed at your surroundings...

    for me meditation is a lookin back at the mind, a mirror of sorts, sometimes you should do it in crystal clear CALM,
    But DONT ONLY DO THAT!!!
    look in the mirror when it's hectic also...
    you get it!?
  • priyajiivanapriyajiivana
    edited April 2010
    I've found that beginning you'll need LOTS of quiet, as much as you can find, even if it means going outside your home. As you progress and learn to accept the sounds and distractions in and around you without attaching any thoughts to them, you can begin to incorporate your meditation into everyday life, which is very important, even essential. do what's comfortable, and accept that there will be sounds!! there will ALWAYS be distractions.
    best of 'luck'!!
    *namaste*
  • lightwithinlightwithin Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I find that as a beginner at meditation, I need as much quiet as I can get, otherwise my focus and mindfulness are affected, but I've learned to accept a certain amount of noise if I do it during the daytime.

    The book I got started with ("Meditation Now Or Never" by Steve Hagen), did mention that your place of practice should be clean and uncluttered, but I don't have a place like that available to me, so I meditate facing a wall, in my walk-in closet, next to a pile of dirty laundry. LoL. I don't mind it but when I meditate in a downstairs study, that is more open, I feel more "free" and less constrained, if that makes any sense.

    Not having a clean place shouldn't be an excuse not to do it, as the others have said. Also, as others have said, you can't always expect the world to accommodate you in terms of quietness, so meditating with a deep enough focus to not mind the noise around you, sounds like a good goal to have in the longer term. At least it is for me.
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