new to meditation...help!!

amylynn518

Hi all
I am thoroughly enjoying this website and have been finding out a lot of great information!! I have done my fair share of reading the basics about Buddhism, but haven't done much on meditation. I've checked out a few things about concentrating on breath, but here is my question:
where do I start as a beginner? In your path, what was the first thing you focused on in meditating? I've done a little bit of breathing concentration, but am not even sure of what or how else to meditate. Do you all agree that the morning time is best to start?
Let me know as a beginner,where a good place to start is!

Thanks!!

KarmaDondrupTashi

Whenever you're least likely to become drowsy is a good time. Breath meditation is a great meditation.

Nice intro book (I like it anyway):

federica

You find a comfortable position, in a quiet room, for five minutes or so, and breathe, normally.
Each time you get a thought in your mind, see it, and let it go, do not develop it further.
Train your mind to behave itself.
A few minutes a day, several times a day if you can, is far, far better than trying to 'sit' for an hour or so.

amylynn518

is that book about meditation or the eightfold path?

Dazzle

Hi amylnn,

I started with samatha meditation, but I went to offline classes.

I gave you a link to a good online series of Buddhist meditation videos in the other thread. Hope they are of some help you.

Kind wishes,

Dazzle

federica

amylynn518 wrote: »

is that book about meditation or the eightfold path?

It's the Eightfold Path.
And other stuff......:)

It's part of the "Awakening" Trilogy by Lama Surya Das.

I like it too....

genkaku

This site has a pretty straightforward description of how to do zazen -- Zen Buddhism's version of seated meditation practice... and there are pictures to go with it.

[DeletedUser]

federica wrote: »

You find a comfortable position, in a quiet room, for five minutes or so, and breathe, normally.
Each time you get a thought in your mind, see it, and let it go, do not develop it further.
Train your mind to behave itself.
A few minutes a day, several times a day if you can, is far, far better than trying to 'sit' for an hour or so.

This is great advice!

Amylyn, you need to go abit more fair share of reading on the four noble truth and 8 fold path of your mind and body while simultaneously engaging the breathing meditation. Some prefer to sleep in the morning while other may like to rest at night, and some love to shop in the afternoon, i would surmise that the best place is still your sweet lovely heart :rocker:

B5C

So basically, think nothing. That is the question i was going to ask. I was planning to start my practice in meditation.

fivebells

No, the instruction "think nothing" will get you tied up in all sorts of knots. You might find this short article helpful.

buddhajunkie

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

^^^
one of the best, imo, (Vipassana/Insight meditation). Concise, well motivated and explained.

And free!


Here are my tips:

- find a good posture

- find a good location. If there tends to be noise, you might want to use earplugs.

- set a timer for your session. An iPod/iPhone timer works great. You download some cool ones with singing bowl tones and intervals.

-10 mintutes is a good start, but you should eventually extend to 15, 20, etc., up to 40.

- Once you decide how long you want to meditate for that session, stick to it! You don't want to be thinking about whether to continue meditating while you are meditating! And you don't want to give distractions the upper hand so easily. However, meditation shouldn't feel like a chore, so if you're not feeling the passion for it, designate short sessions until you feel some inspiration.


- If you're looking for structure, which can definitely help, you can set stages of your meditation, like as follows:

0. Pre-meditation activity, such as loving kindness and reflecting on gratitude and appreciation for meditation (2 or 3 minutes).
1. Count the breath (say, 10 mins). (I do: In breath "one" out breath "two"... up to "five"., then start back at "one," but then count up to "six". Repeat up to ten, then start back at "five".)
2. Observe the length of the inbreath and the length of the outbreath (5 mins),
3. Observe the whole breath (5 mins),
4. Continue being with the breath, but when a distraction comes, stay with the distraction until it fades (10-20 mins), then return to the breath.

Basically, the idea is to cultivate concentration at the start of the session, then move over to a more mindfulness-based meditation. This was my routine when I first started and it worked very well. I used a timer with intervals, though this isn't necessary.

Btw, step 0 is very helpful... don't under estimate it.

nanadhaja

amylynn518 wrote: »

Hi all
I am thoroughly enjoying this website and have been finding out a lot of great information!! I have done my fair share of reading the basics about Buddhism, but haven't done much on meditation. I've checked out a few things about concentrating on breath, but here is my question:
where do I start as a beginner? In your path, what was the first thing you focused on in meditating? I've done a little bit of breathing concentration, but am not even sure of what or how else to meditate. Do you all agree that the morning time is best to start?
Let me know as a beginner,where a good place to start is!

Thanks!!

Hi there.Before I became a monk,my morning meditation time was invaluable to me.I found it helped prepare me for what ever the day wanted to throw my way.
The breath is as good a way to begin your practice as anything else.
As others have pointed out,you can start off with 5 or 10 minute sessions.Anything more and meditation may start to seem like a chore and you may give it up(not recommended).
I personally practice and teach the Mahasi style of vipassana meditation,but that is not to say that another method may not suit you more.Only you will know this from personal experience.When you can,find a good teacher and give which ever style of meditation you choose to try first a fair go.When you are starting off I recommend only practising one form of meditation at a time,so that you may see for your self the benefits it can bring you.If after a time you want to try something new then fine.
Eventually you will find a practice you are comfortable with.
Wishing you all the best,
With metta,Phra Greg

newtech

Hi.

I remember i just propose to myself to sit in meditation position calming me down as long as my body could resist, without even read some instructions..just to get used. Later u can find a method

YesheDorje

[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=red]Hi all [/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#ff0000]I am thoroughly enjoying this website and have been finding out a lot of great information!! I have done my fair share of reading the basics about Buddhism, but haven't done much on meditation. I've checked out a few things about concentrating on breath, but here is my question:[/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#ff0000]where do I start as a beginner? In your path, what was the first thing you focused on in meditating? I've done a little bit of breathing concentration, but am not even sure of what or how else to meditate. Do you all agree that the morning time is best to start?[/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#ff0000]Let me know as a beginner,where a good place to start is! [/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#ff0000][/COLOR][/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Trebuchet MS][COLOR=#ff0000]Thanks!! [/COLOR][/FONT][/B]

One teacher once told me that to learn meditation you need the guidance of a good teacher who knows how, and can show and teach how to meditate. Learning meditation from books is like trying to learn how to dance from books.

Books and this forum can be a valuable resource, but all of us beginners and advanced need our teachers to advance.

That said, "How to Meditate" by Kathleen McDonald, is a great book to read for anyone interested in meditation.

TehGuezt

This video is very helpful for when I started Meditation.