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What is your personal meditation practice?

BodhivakaBodhivaka Veteran
edited September 2013 in Buddhism Basics
I'm just curious how some of the people here meditate.

Personally, I try to begin by spending 5 minutes becoming aware of my body and emotions, followed by 15 minutes of counting the breath (Samantha), followed by 15 minutes of focusing on the sensations of the breath (vipassana), followed by 25 minutes of metta bhavana (5 minutes each for me, a loved one, a friend, a neutral person, and a difficult person respectively). Overall, an hour session.


It doesn't always work out this way, but that's what I strive for. What does your meditation practice look like?

Comments

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I do it differently each day. I do 5 or 10 minute blocks of sitting meditation that my sanhga/guru calls 'formless' meditation. There isn't a lot more technique than noticing the thoughts and letting go into the space of awareness.

    If I do 30 minutes of those total then I am to my goal. I might also do walking meditation which is dropping thoughts and being in the senses.

    Sometimes I do chanting of our liturgy during the sitting meditation if my mind is very sluggish.

    Sometimes I do more than my goal of 30 but since november I have done at least 30 every day. They say it's more important to be consistent over long periods rather than a few flash in the pan long sittings and then ebbing out to nothing.
  • misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
    I try to do about twenty minutes of Vipassana meditation. Then I think a little about Samantha meditation. I don't do it, I just wonder about it. Like, how is it pronounced? Just like the woman's name? Speaking of...I wonder how Samantha is doing? And on and on like that. Sometimes, if things seem to be going well, I delve into some Zennish stuff and try really hard to think about nothing. I mean not think about something. Or not anything, rather.
    Bodhivaka
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited September 2013
    Zen. It is a simple meditation now where countless visitors come and go.
    Usually i am a terrible host offering neither candles or incense.
    In fact, most days, I am at best, the doorman.
    dressed in dusty scriptures of old
    bereft of rite & ritual
    staying out of
    there
    way.









    Invincible_summerzenff
  • BodhivakaBodhivaka Veteran
    misterCope said:

    I try to do about twenty minutes of Vipassana meditation. Then I think a little about Samantha meditation. I don't do it, I just wonder about it. Like, how is it pronounced? Just like the woman's name? Speaking of...I wonder how Samantha is doing? And on and on like that. Sometimes, if things seem to be going well, I delve into some Zennish stuff and try really hard to think about nothing. I mean not think about something. Or not anything, rather.

    Stupid auto-correct -.-

    Samatha* haha.
  • misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
    Oh! I wasn't making fun of you! I've seen it spelled "Samantha" before and actually do think about it quite a bit.
    Bodhivaka
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    I do it differently each day
    Me too at the moment. Started today with yoga, then standing meditation, then sat for a while.
  • Invincible_summerInvincible_summer Heavy Metal Dhamma We(s)t coast, Canada Veteran
    I've returned to zazen (shikantaza) practice.
    riverflowhowzenff
  • riverflowriverflow Veteran
    I start off focusing on the breath but after several minutes I usually switch to shikantaza.
    howzenffInvincible_summer
  • TheEccentricTheEccentric Hampshire, UK Veteran
    I start with breathing meditation and then I do the 21 lamrim meditations in a cycle apart from tranquil abiding which I practice daily. I also do Mahamudra and mantra recitation.
    JeffreyInvincible_summer
  • Woah93Woah93 Veteran
    For me the breath never really worked as nicely as do sounds. I have 2 clocks in my room that when you pay attention to them have a seemingly rhythmic ticking noise and they communicate nicely in a rhythm. I just focus on a few in breaths, out breaths then I notice how my mind is and where it is and then I start to listen and analyze each "tick" of the clock and how the frequencies change slightly. I also listen to the wind and cars and people from outside. It's amazing what sound does when the label is removed. Even your own language when you hear people talking starts to sound alien and strange.
    Dandelionriverflow
  • zenffzenff Veteran
    My personal meditation is -whenever I think about it -to see how I add ad a mistake to my mistakes.
    I try to see that with a smile, not angry.

    All the time I add words, concepts and preferences to what is naturally pure. And then – when I think about it - I try not to.
    (Which is just another way of “adding frost to snow”).

    Invincible_summer
  • JainarayanJainarayan Veteran
    I clear my mind whenever and wherever I can, or rather, I let it clear itself. I let thoughts come and go. Sometimes a particular thought will come to my mind, and I'll run with it. I think my practice is more contemplation than meditation. I can't pick a time or place and say "OK, now I'll meditate", it has to just happen.
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    I die daily.
    cvalue
  • ysmaelysmael Explorer
    i meditate anywhere and everywhere
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