I wish this thread will be the place where we chat about meditation experiences. There are 40 medthods of meditation but all lead to the same point is, once the mind reach the stillness, there are something back there.

This is the meditation that I think it's a very good method because the mind stay in the body, once we reach to something, the divine body stays inside.
Sitting in whatever position you like, but the position that can be the good base for meditation is sitting cross-legged position and put your hands on you labs and feel relax. Close your eyes and imagine a tiny cristal ball, if you are Christian and feel that a cross is the symbol that make your mind feel happy, just image one that bright and clear, but feel like it's light and tender, floating in your stomach amonst the darkness and so wide like universe. The center of gravity of the body is at the center of the stomach above the level of belly button about 1 inch. let imagine the center of the cristal ball or the cross is standing right there. If it's gone, just image another one. If you keep thinking about something else and can't image one just put your mind there. But once you can image it still like a draw picture for a moment. Inside experience will happen. Then, we talk about it later.

Whoever read this and practise and found something please be calm, not to excited and share the experience. How do you think to make the mind still, what trick did you use, and what did you see without the imagination anymore?

Thank you

I usually use mediatation to organize my thoughts and reflect on the events of my day. I also use it to relax and purge all my negative energy out (which usually is pretty low). When I do it, I usually just find a quite room and put in a cd with nature sounds (usually a running stream). I'll focus on the sound of the water to calm and remove all conscious thought from my head. It takes time to do this, when I first started it could take up over an hour to get my mind to shut-up. Now, I can do it in a matter of minutes. The key in doing meditation is just trying to find a fixed point to focus on and just either stare or listen and tune everything else out.

Wow! That is so nice and very good advice. Lately, I turn on the music like that, stream, bird sounds and piano or flute along my meditation, but my mind never shut-up like yours. I think I have to practise a lot more.

It's best to do it early in the morning or late at night. There are less distractions, and people are less likely to disturb you. It takes time so don't get frustated because that would defeat the purpose. If you decide to use sound as a focal point, avoid sounds that are irregular or constantly change (bird chirps, crickets, music, etc.). I found sounds involving water (gentle waves crashing on the beach, waterfall, or a running creek or stream) work best since it is constant and has a regular pattern and no way to throw your mind off track and distracting you creating new thoughts. Also if you go for the sound approach it works alot easier if you do it in a dark room.

Personally I have always preferred to meditate utside rather than inside, although in winter its a bit difficult due to the cold, but if you are rugged up its alright. I hate getting the shivers when you are trying to meditate. I have found its best to lay down or sit cross-legged and hands together. But theres lots of ways. I like to focus on breathing, and on stars or planets or the moon. I generally do it at night as Im not a morning person.

Anyway one day I went outside to meditate, would have been 2 years ago now. I was at my gfs (ex now) place at the time, not sure if that made a difference or not, but anyway I sat outside on the grass, it was warmish so it was comfortable outside. I was sitting up and decided to concertrate on Mars as I had a good view of it. After a while when I became totally relaxed, maybe 15 mins I started to feel strange, and i felt like i was light and buoyant. It got worse and after a little bit I tried to get myself out of that 'relaxed state' but I was still there. It actually felt like I was on a small amount of lsd. I had mild hallucinations. I went inside and sat on a couch and watched some tv to try and come back to normal. It took a good 20-30 mins before i felt normal again. This has only happened once to me, but since then I have always been warying of meditating to Mars. But I have had countless times were I have freaked out while mediating. There was a point where every time i did it something bad would happen. I have no idea why but it just did. So now I only do it if i feel in a certain way, i feel safe to do it. Anyways anyone had an experience like that when you have driffted off from the world? Im keen for some feedback....

Will post some more troublsome experiences later....

I can tell you from personal experience that what you experienced is quite normal. Once you are in a true meditative state your mind is at a higher level of conscienceness. It's basically like being in a conscience dream state. Don't freak out or panic, it's critical that you remain calm. If you don't like what you are experiencing just focus on returning to a pre-meditative state. You have control over your mind and must always remember that. Just like it took you time to get in to a meditative state, you also need adequate time to come out of it.

Oh man! You were lucky. You saw the light. It does exist without imagination. Once you see that light you put your mind into the center of your body which is in your stomach at gravity base you'll see a little ball with the extreem brightness and boyant floating right at the spot without imagination. It is the way of getting iner and iner when you keep being there with it. The more your mind stop it's in, and the more happiness you will feel. You get that easy because your past life practised it well. At a temple that teach meditation there are people more than 100,000 practise this and who isn't successfull yet, wish to experience like you got. But you teach me now that it doesn't have to imagine a cristal ball but can be staring of something. I will try that. Thank you very much.
http://www.dhammakaya.or.th/events/maghapuja2005.htm
in the picture shows you they really practise it. little light on the field you can see it's people sitting meditation.

So it's not hallucination once you didn't have drug or something make you drunk and you have full self consciousness. It's something supernatural. But shouldn't desire it because it will make your mind not still and block you to that stage again. Wow, I'm really glad with you.

learn yourself how to get there, remember your emotion and method so you get into it easier next and next time. You'll see your body inside and inside until dhammakaya. You don't have to searching for the picture online but when you see that tell me and i'll show you the link and you compair what you with your inner eyes and common eyes. I think I better stop saying thing like this. But just practise it without the wish and curiousity.

Thank you to teach me the trick again. gtg now

Yes, Yes, It's normal. not a hallucination. Meditation is the way that our mind go to the way that sprit from sleeping stage. It bring up the image inside like dream but the person still have full self consciousness. And it has the way to go further the stillness. There are some supernatural powers happen to the person who practise to that level as the mind is element of seeing, remembering, thinking, and knowing but I don't think I should say it here, just keep practise the stillness the person will find it oneself.

Right I was taught, especially in morning that things still in the dark, the mind fresh from sleeping and not thinking much yet when we just have self consciousness again after a sleep. And I like natural sounds a lot even not in meditation. So nice and peaceful. Thank you very much for your idea.

I've always urged people to atleast meditate once a day.

Good for you Ryushin. I do everyday now. at least 15 minutes before bed. Tonight, I have good courage, I will try new one. Stare a candle light. I got the idea from Keegan but it's too cold to go outside to stare a star.

Yeah the cold can be a bit of a bummer if you want to meditate outside. Its great when its warm at night though. Another bad experience I have had with meditation has been when it is guided, either through a tape or a someone specking it themselves. Everything for me goes normal in guided meditation except when they decide to take you down stairs or down a hill. All the occasions where this has happened, I have ended up suffering from it. Once I had a fall on panic attack from being told to decsend down a flight of stairs that went into the ground. I juist started freaking out, getting real hot, sweating, increased heart rate and breathing. Had to run out of the room to stop myself from passing out. Was not pleasant. Something in my mind just doesnt like going down stairs, even though I do it everyday! Its a very weird thing meditation........

Oh dear god, stay away from guided tapes. Meditation can be very beneficial, but is not something to be taken lightly.

Yeah I have never really been a fan of guided meditation. To me it doesnt allow me to feel free as you are control in what you are meant to be thinking about or doing. I know some that love it and will only meditate to a tape. In my opinion its better to be free when you meditate. Doing your own personally meditation i find is more rewarding.......

Has anyone got any interesting experiences from group meditation? I havent.....

I think guided mediatation can be beneficial for those who have never done it, but I think meditation done on your own is really better and you end up learning everything you need to know naturally.

I never benefit from guide meditation also. I just feel like how my mind gonna stop while I listening. But in the picture in the field, they let everything in silent, however I tried and I still feel there are people all around it can't reach the stillness. Guide meditation can be good for new practise, right. and I think for the people who want to be advance when they already know how to get there, the brightness. Last night I stared a candle light for 15 minutes, I felt like I wanted to try the old way. Oh, I can feel something weird happen to me. Once I imagine a cristal ball and put my mind on it, I got suck down, so I stoped it because it's scary. And I tried again that it's ok to be suck down to be at the center of the body, but I still stop it. I tried many many time until my fish make noise in aquarium, I stop doing meditation to feed my fish and when come back, I didn't get the same feeling again. I think stare the candle light help me for some reason. It's great. Thank you Keegan you give me the idea, even it's not a star or Mars that you did practise, it's too chilly out.

It's the right thing to get out of there when you feel suffering like that, Keegan. We can find the way that really make us feel relax and feel still. because stillness can be from many method, which each person has their own style.

Stillness is the success

Ok, so I haven't been taking meditation seriously for a while. I would like to know the best way to "center your self" Is this just a fancy way of saying meditation? This idea of stillness, is this the absence of any thought? When trying to still your conscious mind do you ingnore all stimuli ex. Touch, feel, hear, taste, smell?

I have meditated some and felt a little anxity while doing this almost scared to do it. Reasons, I feel sometimes after accepting the floating feeling a surge of power/energy/thought this is when my mind is very racy and the heart beats to my thoughts...almost like using the heart beat to convey information...I have spent a great deal analizing and being mindful my own thoughts and sometimes the things going thru my head while in meditation are of not my own, well, I dont feel any ownership to these thoughts. Have any of you experienced this?

Peace,
Austin

There are hole bunch of meditation method, Austin. 40! And there are 6 group of people that some kind of meditation works good to each one. I can't remember all of those. Meditation is simple, but not easy, the main thing is that we have to have only one thought on what we recieve or what we make it up, for example we watching a star, we receiving the picture of the star and we just watch it until we have nothought with something else at all, you can dip your finger into a cold water and you just feel the coldness from the finger only, you can imagine a thing and see it in your mind very still and no any other thought, those are all meditation. It doesn't have to sit like this or like that, just feel relax and set your mind on one thing. Once you think just one thing until you expert, your mind will automatically receive any other Touch, feel, hear, taste, or smell or pain from sitting too long at all. They call "CHAANNA".

The inside experiences that you felt is when your mind gone to a little deeper than normal, it happens from meditation but it's not really meditation. because it make your mind wander. It's good things, though, because It's just imply that you come the right way, so you see things by the side walk. Once you have the experience just don't be too excited but keep your mind back to the same spot, the one thing that you try to reach the stillness.

I will say your experiences that you feel floating or feel it's not yourself are kewl things. I heard of those two inside experiences but I remember that I used to feel floating once long time ago. There are many others inside experiences that you might feel later. Remember, your aim is stillness so put your little try to get back. Don't force it. And remember that when sometimes you feel like you have too much thoughts coming in to your mind, one after one even you try to get back to your meditation. Just let it go, don't feel angry with yourself, try not to continue the one that you are thinking. Usually those thought or dream just make your mind tired and you will fall into sleep. Then if you still not what to give up your meditation at that time, just let it go but try to have your mind back on the thing you meditating. Otherwise you just give up for that time, because meditation each time is different. Like once you play a game very good, but next time is bad. the thing is you just keep doing it. And feel satisfied anytime you do it. One day you will reach the point. And your aim should be just want to feeling happiness inside, that's all, shouldn't aim to that you want to have some supernatural power.

Thanks for the advise I'll try the method of stillness and let you know of the results when I feel I have made some gain on the practice of meditation.
thanks
peace,
Austin

You are very welcome.

I also suggest you, we just have the aim of stillness, but never feel like we want it. Just keep doing it "on and on" then we will reach it. once you know you feel still that's the moment that you're not still. That's what I learnt yesterday.