Misconceptions about meditation

[TBRS1]

I find that I frequently suggest that meditation might be helpful in a whole variety of situations. However, many people have peculiar ideas about what meditation involves.

I'm going to try and clear some of these misconceptions up.

1.What is meditation?
Take a slow, deep breath. Let it out slowly. Repeat. While doing that, focus on the feeling of breathing in and out. Congratulations! You've just meditated!

2. Do I have to sit with my legs painfully twisted under my butt?
No. Sit down, stand up, lie down, get into a warm bubble bath, hang upside down from a tree branch, stand in line in the store, etc. These are all fine. If you want to, sit in an awkward way and meditate, but you don't have to.

Note: if you meditate while laying down, you'll most likely fall asleep. This is not always a bad thing. This is how I fall asleep quickly when under stress.

3. Will I have visions, meet God, commune with spirits?
No. If this happens, you are probably falling asleep and experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations. Take a nap and try again later.

4. Do I need a teacher?
No. I learned by reading instructions in The Secret of the Golden Flower (1699), and the instructions are pretty much the same as I've been taught in other places by other people.

People have been writing "how to meditate" books for centuries - because it can be taught through written instructions.

A teacher CAN be useful, but is not at all necessary.

5. Do I need a mantra? (A "mantra" is a short phrase mentally repeated to keep the mind from wandering).
No. About 40 years ago there was a thing being promoted as "transcendental meditation." The promoters claimed you need a mantra, and sold them to followers.

Most folks just count breaths (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, repeat). If a person wants a mantra, they can use one. Pick your own - A nice line from one's religious teaching ("in the beginning was the word and the word was god") or something taken from a song ("shine on harvest moon" works just fine, as does "lambs eat oats and does eat oats and a kid will eat ivy too").

6. Can I levitate?
No. It's possible that you may feel like you are levitating. If this happens you are breathing too slowly and getting light headed. Breath a little faster and the feeling will stop.

7. Is meditation some kind of pagan religious ritual?
No. It is a technique for relaxing the mind. It CAN be, and often is, a part of a spiritual practice.

However, it isn't inherently religious. Military snipers are taught to meditate so they can shoot straighter. Used secularly, it is secular. Used religiously it can be a useful spiritual practuce.

 

[TBRS1]

8. Do I need incense, candles, and a recording of sitar music?
No. The music would be distracting, and the candles and incense are window dressing and an income stream for New age/occult shops.

9. Can meditation be used to replace sleep?
No. I read - on the internet - that 15 minutes of meditation is equal to an hour of sleep. This is baloney. If you are tired you can't meditate without falling asleep.

 

[velociraptor]

8. Do I need incense, candles, and a recording of sitar music?
No. The music would be distracting, and the candles and incense are window dressing and an income stream for New age/occult shops.

9. Can meditation be used to replace sleep?
No. I read - on the internet - that 15 minutes of meditation is equal to an hour of sleep. This is baloney. If you are tired you can't meditate without falling asleep.

I do appreciate having a cup of tea while I meditate.

 

[TBRS1]

Do you drink it before, during, or after?

It actually does help a lot of people if they do a sort of simple calming ritual to start evening out thoughts - lighting an incense stick or candle, drinking a cup on nice tea - this are all good. (I would avoid things that disrupt the mind, like drugs, alcohol, etc.)

But not strictly necessary. I don't want people to think they need to get kitted out before they try it.

 

[velociraptor]

But not strictly necessary.

I am unable to turn off my senses and can be overwhelmed by sight and sound when trying to meditate. Giving myself the warmth, aroma, and anticipation of tea hot tea while performing Chanoyu centers me so I can return to a state of mindfulness and gratitude.

 

[TBRS1]

I am unable to turn off my senses and can be overwhelmed by sight and sound when trying to meditate. Giving myself the warmth, aroma, and anticipation of tea hot tea while performing Chanoyu centers me so I can return to a state of mindfulness and gratitude.

That sounds like it is very useful. Stopping the distracts from being distracting is key to the whole thing.

Do you have other things that help?

 

[717]

Interesting topic, here my contribution:

There is western meditation and eastern meditation.

The western meditation tends to be more active and creative, for example sitting down trying to figure out a problem.

The eastern meditation tries to empty the mind and in some cases archive union.

The meditation you talk about here is by far eastern. So here is some commentary on it:

"Take a slow, deep breath. Let it out slowly. Repeat..."

Prana Yoga is probably the most popular form of Yoga there is, I am not going to get into details but this is the entry level exercise.

"Do I have to sit with my legs painfully twisted under my butt"

Asana Yoga is also very popular, the goal of this is to align energy centers in the body and to improve and control the energy circulation. As with breathing there are entry level exercises.

"if you meditate while laying down, you'll most likely fall asleep. This is not always a bad thing"

In my opinion, this is always a bad thing... you are training to sleep during meditation and that is building up a bad habit.

"you are probably falling asleep and experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations"

The tradition teaches that the practitioner will eventually access other levels of consciousness and even other dimensions.

"I learned by reading instructions in The Secret of the Golden Flower (1699)"

I am not familiar with this book, but you are correct you dont need a teacher, however a teacher can be a lot of help.

"Can I levitate?"

Yes, but it will take lives to master this way.

"Military snipers are taught to meditate so they can shoot straighter"

I cant imagine meditation as part of the curriculum in the military, but who knows?

"The music would be distracting"

This depends on what kind of meditation you are doing.

"the candles and incense are window dressing and an income stream for New age/occult shops."

Yet they are traditionally used in meditation. For example a basic exercise to train the third eye is to stare at a candle flame, then you will close the eyes and focus on the third eye area and will see the candle there, with the eyes close, then you contemplate...

"If you are tired you can't meditate without falling asleep."

Yet people meditate for hours, there are stories of people meditating for years... this here shows that falling sleeping while meditating is a bad idea, you have train yourself to do this.

 

[velociraptor]

Do you have other things that help?

I sort of have a ritual. I take tea outside no matter the temperature and I have different rituals depending on how cold or windy it is. I do always put down a one person picnic blanket and carefully and neatly postition everything before I start. I'm careful not to rush, and to try and appreciate my setting, what is right and peaceful in it.

My best friend passed from a cancer a year and a half ago. I carry his photo with me in my tea kit and it is always placed in front of me when I take tea. My view is that the friendship is going strong, he's just travelling out of cell phone range at the moment. I make a point of having tea with him because has never stopped bringing me inspiration as a person or a photographer. In some ways he taught me new ways to live as he was dying, and I try to keep that front and center as I move forward with him removed from my immediate presence.

Maybe it's silly, but it helps. I'm trying to refocus myself on having a wabi sabi outlook.

 

[TBRS1]

Thank you for sharing that, @velociraptor . What you are doing is wonderful.

Best wishes to you.

 

[vergil96]

8. Do I need incense, candles, and a recording of sitar music?

I like incense, candles and mantras, but that's another story And crystals. I find it easier and more pleasant to focus, when there is something to anchor my senses on.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I've been meditating for some 30+ years now. I have had visions and they are not hypnogogic hallucinations. I have meditated for up to an hour at a time. I go into a different state of consciousness. I can meditate with my eyes open in a crowded mall. Of course, I much prefer being alone in the wilderness but this is not always possible.

 

[AuAL]

"lambs eat oats and does eat oats and a kid will eat ivy too").

“Maizy Doats and Dozy Doats and Liddle Aimsy Divey, a Kiddle’d Ivy Too, wouldn’t you?

All the rest of what you said

 

[AuAL]

What I find helpful:

Sit comfortably. Whatever works for you.
Close your eyes.
Breath. Focus on your breathing. Iiiinnnn. Hold. Ooouuuttt. Empty your mind of anything else. Repeat.

Something distracted you? A noise? A thought? A sensation? It doesn’t matter. You were meditating! Just look at the distraction and say, “Oh, that’s what it was.” Let it go. Try again. You will get better, it will last longer.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.
A kid will eat ivy too, wouldn’t you.

 

[AuAL]

Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.
A kid will eat ivy too, wouldn’t you.

(Sorry for the spelling mistake with Mairzy.)

 

[TBRS1]

“Maizy Doats and Dozy Doats and Liddle Aimsy Divey, a Kiddle’d Ivy Too, wouldn’t you?

All the rest of what you said

OK, I got that wrong. I actually use "Come on ma baby come on ma honey come on ma ragtime doll."

And my inner voice sounds like Michigan J. Frog.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

(Sorry for the spelling mistake with Mairzy.)

View attachment 146098

Did you notice the subtitle?

 

[Ponka]

I meditate for spiritual reasons, but despite practicing for over a year, I'm still not very good at it. I get distracted suuuuper easily and have a difficult time focusing. I have found that some things help though, like incense and some sort of scented spray or oil to help distract my senses. I find that sound baths also set the mood for my body as well.

 

[TBRS1]

I am a Buddhist, so I will describe a thing from my particular Buddhist background (please understand that I do not speak for all Buddhists - this is my Buddhism, it matches that of other Buddhists whom I know personally, but other Buddhists may well have a different take).

Buddhists with a regular meditation practice will often have a space specifically set aside for meditation. This may be a small room, but is more commonly an "out of the way" corner.

There will often be a table or shelf set up with three specific items: a place for incense, a fresh flower, a statue of a meditating Buddha.

The flower represents the transient nature of all things - the perfect flower today shrivels up and goes on the compost pile tomorrow.

The incense is part of a calming ritual that also creates a sense of separation from normal day to day concerns - it makes the actions and place "mentally special."

The Buddha statue does something uniquely interesting: the artists who create these statues take extreme care to depict the meditating Buddha in a pose of serene calm. When a person looks at the statue with clear attention, the observer's body wants to match that look (mirror neurons, maybe?).

By choosing to consciously mirror that look in one's own body, one also takes on a feeling of calm (body and mind are connected and what affects one affects the other). This is testable - a person who wants to see if this works can look at a picture of Buddha serenely meditating, try adopting that bodily pose of serene calm and see how it feels.

For contrast, the experimenter can look at a picture of an angry, enraged person, adopt that body position and facial expression, and see how that feels.

 

[Judge]

That sounds like it is very useful. Stopping the distracts from being distracting is key to the whole thing.

Do you have other things that help?

Reminds me of a friend from work who always tried to meditate while riding BART from San Francisco to Orinda. She was quite adept at somehow cancelling out all the external noise of riding in a high-speed subway car.