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WildColonial
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04 Mar 2020, 8:43 pm

I’ve found that meditation really helps me. I can practice mindfulness while doing something else, say, walking my dog or cooking. I can follow guided meditations reasonably well. However, I’m not good at just sitting still and clearing my mind. Does anyone have any tips?


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elbowgrease
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04 Mar 2020, 11:13 pm

Don't try to clear your mind.
You won't.
Focus on something specific. And be ok with it when your mind wanders.
Then focus on the specific thing again.
Try to feel your bones. Then the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones being what moves your body.
Try to feel acupressure point k1 (roughly).

Think about what a bird thinks about while it stands on a post.



revlar
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13 Mar 2020, 11:48 am

Try concentrating on your breath (lungs mostly). Count an inhale as 1 then the exhale as 2 then inhale as 3 and so on up to 10. Then restart from one. Keep doing this and let your mind wander when it wants to, but then eventually come back to your breath and counting.



sarahgood
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21 Apr 2020, 5:48 am

revlar wrote:
Try concentrating on your breath (lungs mostly). Count an inhale as 1 then the exhale as 2 then inhale as 3 and so on up to 10. Then restart from one. Keep doing this and let your mind wander when it wants to, but then eventually come back to your breath and counting.

The best advice!



Sahn
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21 Apr 2020, 7:16 am

I don't do it anymore but when I did I'd just let thoughts trail off rather than try to stop them. Maybe that wouldn't work for people who think in images, my thoughts are a monologue so it's possible let them fizzle out without bringing them to a conclusion.



revlar
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23 Apr 2020, 7:46 am

I think more in a monologue too but sometimes images as well. Those times I would let the images blend into kind of a kaleidoscope effect. The best analogy for meditation is like you're sitting on a bus stop bench and simply watching the cars go by. The cars are your thoughts and you simply let them pass instead of following it as it goes past you. I does take "practice," but it's not wrong to every now and then get stuck on a thought.



TomTheTraveler
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23 Apr 2020, 9:50 am

What has helped me is joining a meditation group. Collectively it is easier and they guide you through it. I don't have to spend much time with this group with chit chat. Right now we are using Zoom but it still helps.

At home I just focus on my breath and let my mind be.

I also use the following, just google

OM Chanting @417 Hz | Removes All Negative Blocks - YouTube

And that helps me stay on track.



blazingstar
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23 Apr 2020, 11:28 am

Remembering back when I was much younger, I was not "getting" meditation. Then I did a series of visits with a licensed hypnotist and she taught me to self-hypnotize which gets you into a similar state. After that, I could move into mindfulness. At this point, most of my meditation is walking meditation, or cooking or cleaning medication. Meditating while petting the cat. You can make almost anything into mindfulness once you've learned. I am not sure you have to be able to sit.

There are some very good tips posted here. Keep trying until you find something that works for you.


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techstepgenr8tion
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14 May 2020, 11:47 pm

elbowgrease wrote:
Don't try to clear your mind.
You won't.
Focus on something specific. And be ok with it when your mind wanders.
Then focus on the specific thing again.
Try to feel your bones. Then the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones. Then your breathe in the space between your bones being what moves your body.
Try to feel acupressure point k1 (roughly).

Think about what a bird thinks about while it stands on a post.

Franz Bardon actually had something that I thought was good for this at the beginning of IIH step 1 - ie. watching your thoughts flow over like an independent third party. That process may work differently for everyone but for me the act of looking directly at them caused them to halt.


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