16 replies to this topic

[Redhead]

Due to some recent threads, I thought it would be a good idea to share what I have been lucky enough to learn about meditation. It isn't easy, and it isn't difficult. It's not easy because it requires a commitment from you. It takes practice, and there aren't any short-cuts, per se. It's not difficult because once you learn the basics, and make that commitment, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it in your life.

First you need to find a time every day that you can set aside. You won't need more than about a half hour. Select a location. It should be a quiet room, with good ventilation. You should NOT lay down. You need to be in a comfortable chair, and one that is stationary - no rocking chairs. It should have arms, but if not, that will be okay too. The room does not need to be dark, but low light levels are good. I don't advise candles, because you may fall asleep and that would be a fire hazard. If you must burn something, try sandalwood insense in a safe burner. The scent might distract you, however, and it isn't really necessary to meditate. Now you need to remove anything that will distract you. Unplug your wall phone, turn off your cell phone. Turn off that television and radio and computer. Quiet is what you need. Don't worry about day to day little noises, the ones that come from outside. Those are natural, and not intrusive. Wear loose fitting, comfortable clothes. Remember, you are not going to a social event; Spirit does not care what you look like. Now you are ready to begin.

Sit in the chair with both feet planted firmly on the floor. Rest your arms on the chair arms, or in your lap, and close your eyes. Sit tall, with your spine straight. Take a few deep, cleansing breaths, exhaling slowly. Then center yourself. Say your first name, softly yet clearly. Say this two or three times, breathing deeply inbetween. Relax into your chair, and addressing your Deity, say a prayer of protection. This can be whatever you are comfortable. I typically say the Hail Mary and Glory Be, then ask God to watch over me and keep me in His loving care. Breathing in a more relaxed manner, begin to picture a bright, vivid light pouring down on you from above. It comes down into your head, and as it fills your mind, it eases your thoughts and relaxing your mind. This is the light of protection. Picture it washing over your body and flowing into and through it. As is does this, relax each body part - head, neck, shoulders, torso, limbs. The light flows down and through your body until it reaches the feet. As you relax your feet, the light flows through them and into the floor, then the ground beneath you, anchoring you to the earth firmly. Your breathing should be slow and steady. You will be able to shut out all noise. Now you begin.

Picture yourself standing in a green field, wild flowers are in the lawn. The sky is blue and there are fluffy white clouds lazily floating past. You look down and see a path in the lawn. You step onto the path, and follow it to a staircase. There is a handrail on the staircase, and you put your hand on that as you step onto the stairs. Slowly count the stairs as you ascend. ONE. TWO. THREE. You are climbing up the stairs towards the clouds. FOUR. FIVE. SIX. You begin to feel a lightness of mind and being. SEVEN. EIGHT. NINE. TEN. You are on a landing at the edge of the clouds. Look around you. What do you see? When you are finished looking around, move forward towards the next set of steps. Begin to ascend, counting again. When you reach the second landing, again - look around you and make mental note of what you see as you are further in the clouds. Move towards the third landing, and count the next ten steps. When you reach the forth and final landing, you see that you are on the upper most part of the clouds. It looks as if you are standing on pillows of fluffy cotton batting. The sun is bright and shining and you feel well and whole. You stand there a while and watch as clouds float gently by, one at a time. Some are ascending, others decending. Now you see one large cloud in particular. It appears to be moving towards you gently. You see a figure on that cloud, and as the cloud moves closer to you, you are better able to see the features of the person sitting on the cloud. What does that person look like? Can you see actual disctinct features or is the face shining with a brilliant light? Pay close attention to this being. The being offers you their hand, and you take it to steady yourself as you step onto the cloud with them. The cloud begins to float off. You may ask the being who they are or what their name is. They may tell you a name, or another answer. What is important is to remember what they tell you. Look around you and pay attention to what you are seeing. The being may show you something or may have instructions for you. You may just float with the being for a time. After a short bit, the cloud returns to the fourth landing and the being will help you depart. Thank the being for all they have shared with you - even if you don't think you saw or heard anything. Turn and decend the stairs, hand on railing. Count as you go. ONE. TWO. THREE. You step down, down towards the ground. FOUR. FIVE. SIX. You feel full of the message you received. SEVEN. EIGHT. You are calm, and feel well. NINE. TEN. You are on the third landing. Turn and go decend the next steps, counting as you go. You are relaxed, and feel light and comfortable. You reach the second landing, and turn and decend still counting. You are happy and full of well being. ONE. TWO. THREE. You can see the field of green with flowers. FOUR. FIVE. SIX. You can smell the flowers, and feel the breeze. SEVEN. EIGHT. NINE. TEN. You are on the pathway. Take a deep, deep breath. One. Start back the pathway. You are coming towards your chair in your room. TWO. You are coming back to the real world. THREE. You are in front of your chair, and more aware of reality. FOUR. You sit in your chair. FIVE. The bright light that has been in and around you this whole time is coming out of the ground and is receding up, up out of your body. SIX. It reaches your torso and you breath is relaxed. SEVEN. It reaches your shoulders and neck. EIGHT. It is in your mind, and as it recedes, you feel calm, and more relaxed than you can ever remember. NINE. It pulls up and out of your mind and goes back upwards into the heavens. TEN. You open your eyes and say a brief prayer of thanks.

Now you should take pen in hand to record what you saw, felt, and heard during your session. The being you met is your Spirit Guide. Your main Guide. The name they have given you is one that is something that you can understand and relate to - one that you can call them when you need them. Writing down everything is a good excersise because it trains you to observe, and will help you to remember important messages for yourself. It's also helpful as you progress, to look back and see what you have learned. Sometimes the messages are about the future, and you can see how correct they were, or how your interpretations might not be what the message really was about.

By repeating this same excersise, over time you will be able to enter the state of relaxation and receptiveness with more and more ease and less time. Eventually, you may see other guides on your cloud. You may ask your guide/guides anything. Just remember that you may not always like the answer, and sometimes you will not receive an answer. This is because the time is not appropriate for you to know the answer. Do not take shortcuts. You cannot rush this sort of thing. Remember - if it is worth doing, it is worth doing the right way.

I hope that this will help those of our community who wish to develop any intuitiveness, abilities, or simply their self-awareness. I'd love to hear of your progress, and experiences.

[lulaboo]

Thanks for the tips Redhead. One thing I would like to add is once you begin your meditation. Visualize yourself dropping any problems that may be weighing on your mind into a pond or well before you make your ascentions. It helps me to travel with a clearer more carefree mind.

[earth_spirit]

Redhead, your directions to be in a quiet room and relax the mind and body reminded me of a few quotes I once heard. I always pass these on when people--especially skeptics--ask about the power of meditation:

“All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”

~~Blaise Pascal
French Mathematician, Philosopher and Physicist, 1623-1662

Be still, and know that I am God.
~~Psalms 46:10

These might seem like trite cliches, but they gain so much power when you allow your mind to slowly rest and let your Guide take over . . .

[Redhead]

lulaboo, on May 4 2006, 09:47 AM, said:

Thanks for the tips Redhead. One thing I would like to add is once you begin your meditation. Visualize yourself dropping any problems that may be weighing on your mind into a pond or well before you make your ascentions. It helps me to travel with a clearer more carefree mind.

Great tip, Boo. It's always a good idea to visualize the stressors in our lives disappearing in some fashion. You can picture yourself putting them in boxes, file cabinet drawers, or suitcases - close them and walk away. Actually, creative visualization works so well in so many ways. If anyone is interested, I can post how I used this method to lose a bunch of weight, find a better job, and turn a mean person into a nicer one!

Earth Spirit, I don't think those quotes are trite at all. I truly believe that the way our society is makes meditation more necessary. We move faster and faster and get no place. People have to be someplace else all the time and are always in a hurry. I live half a block from a main street in our city. The speed limit on that street - that is residential - is 25. If you drive 25 you will get run over - everyone goes at least 45! I think that meditating allows us to slow down, at least for that 20-30 minutes!

[Yosei]

lulaboo, on May 4 2006, 08:47 AM, said:

Thanks for the tips Redhead. One thing I would like to add is once you begin your meditation. Visualize yourself dropping any problems that may be weighing on your mind into a pond or well before you make your ascentions. It helps me to travel with a clearer more carefree mind.

Interesting----I tend to visualize *myself* dropping into the pond or well, not drowning, but leaving the outer world's noise and distractions behind and becoming cleansed as the water covers my ears and silences the outside noise. I'd feel weird dropping unwanted stuff into a water source, but I've heard of visualizing them floating away in soap bubbles, which is another good one. (Taking a bath first helps me a lot with meditation/spiritual things, too. ) Maybe that's because I have a lot of water signs in my birth chart?

[niteangel2]

Thanks for the tips on meditation! I will try these. I found one in MaryRose Occhino's book (not sure of spelling) and just recently started meditating. However... with a husband and two teenage sons, a lot of times I can't FIND a quiet room until we go to bed. Unfortunately, since I'm laying in bed, I sometimes relax myself asleep before I make it to the top of the staircase! I have had wonderful results when I have succeeded.

[lulaboo]

Sounds like sage advice to me Earth Spirit

Redhead, I wouldn't mind hearing the tips on visualizing some weight loss. I've not had much time to keep a regular exercise schedule but I think that visualizing could help make them more effective.

Yosei, do what feels most comfortable to you I say. And to be honest I sometimes have a difficulty dropping off my problems when I meditate so I'm going to try your way the next time it happens and see how well it works out for me. Sounds incredibly relaxing

[Redhead]

One thing to remember, everyone, is that there is no right way, per se. My tips are simply to get you started, and the way I was taught. Once you have mastered the techniques of centering and quieting your mind, then what you visualize is really up to you. This is just a good way for someone to get going. As long as you make time to practice, it will become easy - almost second nature.

I'll work on a new topic for creative visualization - I have used it for weight loss and fitness, and can attest to how well it works.

[Redhead]

I have added this reply for Whiskeysuicide, in response to the thread about spirit guides. I completely forgot that I was going to post about creative visualisation - will have to get off my butt and do that! LOL

Edited by Redhead, 09 August 2006 - 07:31 AM.

[whiskeysuicide]

thank you!
i will try this.

[rat girl]

redhead, what a wonderful way to start of on meditating. i have jsut started going to a spiritual church and im very intrested in meditating but i had no idea were to begin. i will be trying out the method that you have sugested!!

[Redhead]

Bump! (for Mark and Blackraven...)

[Mark London]

Thanks for the 'bump' red !!!

[blackraven]

Thanks alot red. Have a great day.
BlackRaven

[Regi]

I love meditation, this is a great thread and Redhead I jotted down some of your suggestions to try. I used to visualize. I have been doing meditation since I was fifteen if you are consistent with it like you suggested to make sure you put time aside, if you do this meditations becomes easier and easier to do. Now I go out to the middle of my field we live on property and the field is surrounded by woods on all four sides. I put a blanket down and sit indian style and just melt right inot the field. I focus on breathing and the energy around me and work on matching my vibrational energy to that of which surrounds me out there, I have really had some incredible experiences doing this...

Meditation is just so good, so good... I am really glad you shared all of that with us... Thanks