Okay, here is a random thread, with a couple of basics tips which can be used by both beginners and those who are more seasoned in the art, so read, enjoy, and if you learn something new take it, make it your own and return the favour by teaching me ;)
Meditation
now this is a topic which is always referred to, what is the best manner to meditate, i can't meditate cause i can't clear my mind, i get bored while meditating etc. Well here are some facts on it, we all do it to some degree through the course of our day without realising it, meditation is any moment where we completely switch of all concious thoughts, even if only for a split second by accident, the trick is learning to expand these moments and create them, now the easiest way to learn this trick is by forcing yourself to meditate, even if it gets boring, force your mind to obey, this is the first step, next step is then incorporating it into every moment of your life to some degree, this is called the art of mindfullness, when studied and expanded upon it gives on the ability to always be in control of your thoughts, actions and emotions instead of visa versa.
Here is a tip for you if you cannot shut off your mind with conventional meditation, try a exertive type of meditation instead of an invertive eg. Move instead of instead of sitting still, tai chi is a good example of this, as is most forms of martial arts, the big trick is to cut off the focus of everything around you, only hold the focus on one single thought, now in exertive meditation one does this by focussing on the movement, breathing, and energy flow, in time these thoughts will merge into one, thus we learn control over the mind instead of mind controlling us.
Another form of meditation which has great effect and teaches us focus is meditation with focus on a mandala, now you get various styles and forms of them, if you search it on the net you will not only find but also see how to create your own, they serve to hold focus in the same manner as a single thought would during normal meditation, they are very handy for entering into various trance states, some also act as doorways to different levels of astral and light, infinite uses, yet something which people tend not to use because it takes effort to get the hang of it at times, here's a newsflash, if you want the easy way out of life maybe magick isn't for you, maybe you should rather then jump back into a lost reality of the rat race, if that sounds like a crappy idea take the time and put in the effort and then reap the rewards.
Another tool to be used for meditation is mantras, chants of sort, some serve to cause a certain vibration within ones being, thus lifting the conciousness to higher levels of being, a mantra can also bea sentence which makes perfect sense to you, in repitition one bypasses the concious part of the mind, thus one can implant the concept in the mantra directly into the subconcious to reap the benefits eg. I am energy, energy is all, therefore i will never fall. a simple sentence like this may seem silly, but if designed for your own personal concepts it can work wonders in the long run.
if anyone needs any further info on this drop me a message, please just don't ask what has already been said.
Now some people my still have problems shutting their mind off while trying to meditate in the above mentioned methods, don't despair, there are still many ways around it, but, before i explain this understand that if you do not understand this part it wasn't meant for you, thus don't message me with questions on what is pushing out or pulling in or how you do that, that is a lesson everyone should at least attempt to learn on their own as a step in their path of life.
okay, so if you still cannot blank your mind when trying to meditate do the following tech, it works with tension and will help you in a couple of ways, one of the best ways is by showing you quite brillaint flashes of images stored in your souls memory bank, releasing some soul energy, and stilling the mind allowing one better access to all different levels of being.
Find a comfortable spot, outside will work best, but i know the weather does not always permit for this, so any place where you can cut of from quite for about 10 minutes, sit or lay comfortably, feel out the energy of the universe around you, then feel your own souls energy radiating out from your centre inner core, then start pushing out your own energy against that of the universe, push steady and then when you cannot push more don't let go, start drawing in from the energy around you while still pushing out, this creates a layer of tension, now this tension is the gold we want ;) Once you have one layer of tension create another in the same manner, try to litterally creates layers of tension around you till it is reaching outside the body, the more energy you have the more tension you can build, when you reach a point where the tension has reached it's peak and you cannot push or pull hold the tension in place, feel it burning through your mind, feel it's heat, and then when you cannot hold on anymore just let go, let go of all thoughts, concepts, beliefs, anything and everything that is in your mind let go of for that moment, and just let it float away into the universe while the universe floats into you, i warn you beforehand, if you create a lot of tension the release is going to be pretty intense, just know it is a good thing, and in effect all you are doing if you get scared of the intensity is fearing your own souls locked potential.
Im actually a person who is horrible at meditating. I have however figured out good ways which I was to relax and concentrate. I like numbers and counting backwards from 10 or 100 helps me focus because I am concentrating on the act of counting. Drawing and coloring also help me to clear my mind and focus. Working out helps too, I admit I dont practice Tai Chi or martial arts but running my pit bulls around the block a few times helps everyone get balanced. As for mandalas, I have recently been taught about them =0) and they work great. Simple repetative chanting has always done me good too. I like peter piper but its whatever youd like it to be. Another way I mediatate is to swim or bathe and submerge my head under the water, this for me is really easy and very relaxing.
Brillaint advice Hyena, any activity which draws focus is in effect a form of meditation, creating is a form of meditation, more than that it is a way of channeling universal conciousness and energies without even realising it. Counting has been used for centuries by monks in Tibet, the beads they carry around their arms are used for more or less the same purpose as counting, yet they have one or two tricks which make it slightly different, they count in such a manner as to disconnet themselves from different aspects of the physical body, thus when they reach the end of their meditation they are in a state of pure universal conciousness having let go of every normal left side generated thought.
Activities like Tai chi and other styles of fighting or martial arts serve to hold the focus, also the actual movements used are power movements often used to generate or move a specific force of energy either within or around you, it is something everyone should feel free to play around with even if they have never done any study on the topic, the body is an amazing thing, if you clear your mind and open yourself up enough and just allow yourself to move you will be surprised at how the body just kinda finds it's own motions of energy, these motions can then quite easily be addapted into a fighting style, how does anyone think any of the original martial arts started, by observing and experiencing the flow of various energies within animals and the universe in general.
Oooo I forgot to mention the noise helps too. I tend do mediatate during surgeries. The ticking of the pulse oximater, the apnea machinie and blood pressure machine seem to harmonize. This ticking and beeping are very soothing, there is also meditation music of beaches or whales whatever you like Im pretty sure they got it.
Makes sense to me, meditation is used to help center focus, in my opinion a person would need or could use the additional focus gained from meditation or mindfullness in something like operating procedures, leaves less room for error, human mind is flawed, human soul is limitless.
The rule of thumb there is that if you are conscious to the fact that you're doing it, you're not doing it perfectly. This is how many view ritual craft. Until the movements and words of the ritual flow forth with no effort or conscious thought, it can not be said you have mastered it.
Maybe surgery is Hyena's ritual magick.
But I'll admit I might be a little nervous if the person operating on me was humming with their eyes closed the whole time.
PS ritual magick is another good form of moving meditation for you sleepy-minded folks.
I never really did or understood ritual magic, but I can physically do the actions and be a million miles away. If you could hear the beeping you would completely understand what I mean. Trust me when I say have a way with a scalpal blade hehehehehe Ill show you if youd like Perdo, it will be virtualy painless. =0o
