How often do you meditate?

BeachHouseGuy

I want to at least once a day for maybe 15 -20 minutes..

DaltheJigsaw

Once or twice a day.

Gui

when it is time to meditate

ThailandTom

There are many types of meditation, walking meditation, sitting meditation, mindfulness in everday situations. How often do I mediate?? I could not possibly answer such a question. If you are asking within the last month and just sitting meditation, maybe twice. I go through periods of not having a sitting period at all. That is just the way it is for me. You can meditate whilst in a que at the supermarket or even on a rollacoaster if you wanted.

BonsaiDoug

30-45 minutes at the beginning of each day, and 30-ish before I turn in for the night.

Funny thing - I struggled with my sittings when I sat for less than 20 minutes, and used a timer. For me, moving past that 20 minute mark has made a world of difference.

I now sit without a timer, and simply stop when I choose to do so. When I stop, 30 to 45 minutes have passed.

Something about 20 minutes and under bothered me.

Brian

I don't formally meditate. Instead, I try to do mindful things interspersed throughout the day. Sometimes is as simple as making coffee, sometimes while petting my dog, sometimes while playing a video game. Our lives are full of opportunities for meditation; all you need to do is start paying full attention to whatever it is you're doing at the moment.

Floating_Abu

Ajahn Chah -

You say that you are too busy to meditate. Do you have time to breathe? Meditation is your breath. Why do you have time to breathe but not to meditate? Breathing is something vital to people’s lives. If you see that Dhamma practice is vital to your life, they you will feel that breathing and practicing the Dhamma are equally important.


You’re blind and deaf without meditation. Dhamma isn’t easily seen. You must meditate to see what you’ve never seen. Were you born a teacher? No. You must study first. A lemon is sour only when you have tasted it.


When sitting in meditation, say, "That’s not my business!" with every thought that comes by.


When we are lazy we should practice and not only when we feel energetic or in the mood. This is practicing according to the Buddha’s teaching. According to our own, we practice only when we’re feeling good. How are we going to get anywhere like that? When are we going to cut the stream of defilements when we practice only according to our whims like that?

We don’t meditate to see heaven, but to end suffering.

Floating_Abu

Sogyal Rinpoche -

The whole point of meditation is to get used to the that aspect
which you have forgotten. In Tibetan "meditation" means "getting
used to". Getting used to what? to your true nature, your Buddha
nature.

One of the fundamental points of the spiritual journey is to
persevere along the path. Though one's meditation may be good one
day and and not so good the next, like changes in scenery,
essentially it is not the experiences, good or bad which count so
much, but rather that when you persevere, the real practice rubs
off on you and comes through both good and bad. Good and bad are
simply apparations, just as there may be good or bad weather, yet
the sky is always unchanging.

If you persevere and have that sky
like attitude of spaciousness, without being perturbed by
emotions and experiences, you will develop stability and the real
profoundness of meditation will take effect. You will find that
gradually and almost unnoticed, your attitude begins to change.
You do not hold on to things as solidly as before, or grasp at
them so strongly, and though crisis will still happen, you can
handle them a bit better with more humor and ease. You will even
be able to laugh at difficulties a little, since there is more
space between you and them, and you are freer of yourself. Things
become less solid, slightly ridiculous, and you become more
light-hearted.

Floating_Abu

Suzuki Roshi -

Most people may understand in this way. If so, there will not be—no need to practice zazen. But—but it is necessary. And why it is so is the point of my talk—discussion tonight...