Ask Dr Nerenberg | Health and Fitness

Meditation help! (experience, in depth please)?

Hey, I’m looking for an experienced meditator to give me the rough outline of meditation, I’ve read guides online and stuff but I can’t really “get the hang of” clearing my mind completely, I always have thoughts running through it. How do you feel when you meditate? What advantages does it have? (over sports/fitness, mental health) etc. THanks.

I wrote the following in amnswer to another similar question.
It may be helpful … or not.
It’s an opinion only.

Meditation

Don’t let people confuse you about the object of meditation.
It’s simply the lengthening of the gaps between thoughts and slowing down the thoughts by NOT buying into their dramas.
It may take some time before you can just ‘observe’ the thought and let it ‘float’ way into the ether.

The mind is like a two year old – it wants ALL your attention ALL the time.

Don’t fight it – go with the flow.
Learn to ‘manage’ the mind … softly softly catchee monkee.
It may take some time for you to ‘control’ it.

“is it good or bad?”
Pure pleasure.

“And how long have you been meditating?”
Since the mid 80s.

“has it affect you in anyway?”
I don’t know anymore; it’s all so second nature.

“Any dreams or out of body experiences?”
Sure.
The best (although very rare for me) are the OBEs whilst you wide awake.
To explain, I was giving a talk at a conference in the early 90s and I seemed to step out of myself and become ‘the watcher’ for almost a minute.
It was very amusing – on one level I was talking without missing a beat – on another level I was watching the man (me) give a talk.
I know one of ‘us’ was smiling.
You could say that I was multi-tasking, aye?

Dreaming?
I love them … these days.
(After I came back from Vietnam I used to have a few nightmares …
I’d like to think they’re a thing of the past)

There is no set amount of time you ‘should’ do it.
(Take should, ought and must outa your vocabulary)
I’ve meditated from a few seconds to hours.
Any moment spent stilling the mind is beneficial.

There is no RIGHT or WRONG way to meditate.
Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant, a liar or has some other agenda.

You can meditate eyes open or closed.
You can do it in silence or noise.
You can ‘focus’ on anything or nothing at all.
You can use noises (clock ticking, kids laughing or fighting, cars and sirens, etc) to intensify your meditation … with every sound I hear I will become even more relaxed.

You can do it sitting, standing, lying, walking, driving, washing, cooking, etc.
How often have you been so intensely doing something or driving somewhere and suddenly become ‘conscious’ and wonder where the time went?

Enjoy.
It is said that those who meditate don’t need to and those who don’t, need to.
~

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