Great Meditation Technique
Thu, 06/14/2012 - 19:33
So I was talking with a very good friend of mine a little bit ago and he's been a practicing Buddhist for over 30 years now, so with regards to this kind of stuff, let's just say he knows his shit.
Anyway- this form of meditation is basically designed to really BUILD that INTERNAL sense of confidence. One of the issues I have with confidence, even when it's derived from sources such as one's own hard work is that all of this is still, in some ways, external. So, obviously, this form of meditation isn't meant in any way to make you do less of whatever you are doing now but it is supposed to be a GREAT supplement to your everyday activity of working hard, succeeding at what you're doing and being the kind of person that deserves the attention and admiration and love that comes your way, as a result of being who you are.
How To:
1. Write up something that's about a paragraph or a page, or however long you want it to be really, that really stirs up a certain feeling that you want to focus on. Some examples could include, Joy, admiration, love, compassion, respect etc... But make sure that whatever person/event/thing you write about REALLY stirs up this emotion inside of you. For example, if I wanted to practice with joy, I might write up a little piece on my sister and her marriage and wedding.
2. After writing that piece and reading it a few times, sit down and just do your normal, mindfullness meditation for 20-30 minutes, just so that you can get really settled in. Don't do anything different than you normally would do.
3. After that period of meditation, start out with just a 5 minute period of visualization where you are sitting, eyes closed now (I meditate with my eyes open) and let yourself really FEEL that emotion. Think about what you wrote and just let yourself feel joy or compassion or admiration or whatever it is, for that other person. Then, once you have that feeling and it's sustained, slowly, start to think about yourself and make an effort to MANTAIN that feeling of whichever emotion you decided to focus on. This is actually very difficult to do for most people. So don't be pissed if you can't do it at all at first. But the idea is that you slowly, over time, will be able to hold that emotion and then think about yourself and continue to sustain that emotion for YOURSELF. Once you can hold it for yourself, start to have longer visualization periods and hold that emotion on yourself for longer periods of time.
4. After this period of visualization, end with one more period of meditation. This doesn't have to be long. It can be 10-20 minutes but just go back to your normal style of meditation and end with that.
This form of meditation will allow you, over a lONG period of time, (With meditation its best to not have any goal in mind, as progress is made in YEARS... so it is slow but very steady if you are consistent) to develop those feelings of love, admiration, compassion etc. for yourself, that so many of us are incapable of feeling, despite being able to feel them for OTHER people.
Anyway- that's it. It's actually pretty simple and kind of like luminosity except for your emotions. In that, it is a great way to just train yourself to develop the skill of being able to feel compassion and love and admiration for yourself. Some people naturally have this, others don't. But everyone can benefit from doing this style of meditation becuase if you already have this, it will strengthen it and if you don't have it, over time you will develop it if you are consistent about this practice.
Anyway- this form of meditation is basically designed to really BUILD that INTERNAL sense of confidence. One of the issues I have with confidence, even when it's derived from sources such as one's own hard work is that all of this is still, in some ways, external. So, obviously, this form of meditation isn't meant in any way to make you do less of whatever you are doing now but it is supposed to be a GREAT supplement to your everyday activity of working hard, succeeding at what you're doing and being the kind of person that deserves the attention and admiration and love that comes your way, as a result of being who you are.
How To:
1. Write up something that's about a paragraph or a page, or however long you want it to be really, that really stirs up a certain feeling that you want to focus on. Some examples could include, Joy, admiration, love, compassion, respect etc... But make sure that whatever person/event/thing you write about REALLY stirs up this emotion inside of you. For example, if I wanted to practice with joy, I might write up a little piece on my sister and her marriage and wedding.
2. After writing that piece and reading it a few times, sit down and just do your normal, mindfullness meditation for 20-30 minutes, just so that you can get really settled in. Don't do anything different than you normally would do.
3. After that period of meditation, start out with just a 5 minute period of visualization where you are sitting, eyes closed now (I meditate with my eyes open) and let yourself really FEEL that emotion. Think about what you wrote and just let yourself feel joy or compassion or admiration or whatever it is, for that other person. Then, once you have that feeling and it's sustained, slowly, start to think about yourself and make an effort to MANTAIN that feeling of whichever emotion you decided to focus on. This is actually very difficult to do for most people. So don't be pissed if you can't do it at all at first. But the idea is that you slowly, over time, will be able to hold that emotion and then think about yourself and continue to sustain that emotion for YOURSELF. Once you can hold it for yourself, start to have longer visualization periods and hold that emotion on yourself for longer periods of time.
4. After this period of visualization, end with one more period of meditation. This doesn't have to be long. It can be 10-20 minutes but just go back to your normal style of meditation and end with that.
This form of meditation will allow you, over a lONG period of time, (With meditation its best to not have any goal in mind, as progress is made in YEARS... so it is slow but very steady if you are consistent) to develop those feelings of love, admiration, compassion etc. for yourself, that so many of us are incapable of feeling, despite being able to feel them for OTHER people.
Anyway- that's it. It's actually pretty simple and kind of like luminosity except for your emotions. In that, it is a great way to just train yourself to develop the skill of being able to feel compassion and love and admiration for yourself. Some people naturally have this, others don't. But everyone can benefit from doing this style of meditation becuase if you already have this, it will strengthen it and if you don't have it, over time you will develop it if you are consistent about this practice.
Thu, 06/14/2012 - 21:01
#1
Re: Great Meditation Technique
@buddhagames:
This seems very interesting. But it also sounds like a lot of time needed for it. Did you think of this as a daily event or how often?
This seems very interesting. But it also sounds like a lot of time needed for it. Did you think of this as a daily event or how often?
Thu, 06/14/2012 - 21:05
#2
Re: Great Meditation Technique
@Casablancas:
less than an hour a day to literally CREATE core confidence within yourself... Idk what you want... This is how it's done.
less than an hour a day to literally CREATE core confidence within yourself... Idk what you want... This is how it's done.