Lina

bethtopiaa-deactivated20141230 asked: Any tips on meditation? I don't know why but I'm struggling to get into the zone and actually meditate 😣 (I'm new to this if you couldn't tell) Thanks :)

lazyyogi:

I felt the same way when I first began meditation. Some it comes from misconceiving meditation to be something it is not, while some of it also comes from the mind’s unconscious and semi-conscious imprints.

Here are a few helpful bits of information to go by when it comes to encouraging and executing a meditation practice. 

1. There is no zone. Meditation is not a state of mind. It is not a trance, not an experience, not a zoning in nor a zoning out. Meditation is different than every other way you have previously engaged your mind because it is not an engagement of the mind. It is an alert engagement of your attention in complete passivity. 

Typically when we engage our attention fully, it is in some active pursuit of the mind such as a game, learning, or working. When we passively engage our attention such as watching TV, it is typically either only semi-alert or also coupled with semi-conscious thinking. 

In meditation, you are totally alert but also totally relaxed while refraining from any intentional activity. The only exception to this varies with meditation technique, such as tonglen, which engages active use of visualization. 

2. Meditation is happening. When you sit, be still, close the eyes, and focus your attention gently between the eyebrows (or wherever your particular technique uses), the meditation has an effect. You may not be conscious of this effect at the time. Part of that has to do with the fact that you are not yet aware enough to notice it while another part is the fact that it starts working on deep levels relative to your typical conscious mind. 

3. Meditation is hard. When I first began to sit for meditation, I was filled with an intense heat. It would flush my cheeks and warm my body to the extent that I had to take my shirt off during sessions. The moment the session concluded, I would cool off and feel the need to put my shirt back on. I would also struggle with feelings of frustration and anger. 

That is how meditation is hard; it can be unpleasant.

4. Meditation is easy. You don’t need to do anything. In fact, there is nothing you can do. So long as you sit down, remain attentive or constantly return to attentiveness when your attention wanders, then you are meditating. If you don’t get up and run screaming out of the room, I’d call it a successful meditation. If you do get up and run screaming out of the room, it isn’t a failed meditation. 

There is no such thing as failure on the spiritual path. There is only delaying. 

Dust yourself off and sit back down. 

5. Expectation is of no help. In daily life, using expectation and imagination is one way we can plan our day and prepare ourselves for potential obstacles. In meditation, any form of expectation is itself an obstacle. Do not expect to feel peaceful from meditation because any peace you have the capacity to expect is simply a peace limited to what you can imagine. 

My guru often says that using an imagination or idea of God is helpful for people in the beginning but eventually that imagination or idea must be abandoned. Why? Because you are limiting God to what the mind can imagine. God is not separate from existence, all existence. Similar to how imagining yourself to be this person or that person doesn’t make you any more yourself, imagining God doesn’t make God any more Godly. Be still and Godliness is found to be already there. 

6. Patience is peace. Your mind is like a glass of water filled with swirling particles of dirt. The more you try to think, do, control, guide, or whatever, the more those waters of the mind churn and so continue the swirling of the dirt. By being still, focused, and patient, the water slows down and the particles settle on their own. Then clarity shines on its own. 

7. Consistency is momentum and momentum is power. Daily meditation is more important than duration of meditation. It is better to do fifteen minutes a day consistently than it is to do two hours a day once a week. The more consistent you are with your daily meditation, the more easily the duration of meditation will grow on its own. 

Furthermore, when you sit for a meditation, the effect persists beyond the sitting itself. My guru once told me that if you sit for an hour or a half hour of meditation a day, you will be able to face life in a much more clear and peaceful way for the following 23 hours. 

8. Mantra meditation is a good way to begin. I eased my way into silent sitting meditation by first taking up daily mantra meditation. In mantra meditation, your attention is focused on the repetition of a phrase. It is best that such a phrase is not in your native tongue. Hindu mantras are typically sanskrit and you can select one that appeals to you by googling. It is good if the mantra has vibes that appeal to you but what matters most is that your attention is focused on the mantra during the meditation. If your mind wanders, simply bring it back to the mantra. In that way, it is like training wheels getting you ready for silent meditation. 

To be dedicated to the practice means to never give up on it, no matter how much time goes by in which you have fallen out of practice. Being disciplined in your practice means being uncompromising with your engagement of the technique. And, as mentioned above, being patient with your practice means being willing to give it the time it needs to take effect, regardless of whether or not that effect is consciously perceivable. 

Scientific studies have shown that meditation alters the expression of your genes on a cellular level, starting from the very first day of practice. Unless you are that keenly tuned in to your body, it would make sense that the more noticeable effects take more time! Another study showed that the neuroplastic effect of meditation, meaning the free formation of new neural pathways in the brain, can begin as early as after several weeks of daily meditation sittings for 30 minutes. 

So have some faith and confidence in your practice and let it do the work. All you have to do is sit and mind your attention. Nothing has to happen, no particular experience needs to occur. You can sit for an hour of meditation and feel batshit crazy the entire time. Many thoughts, feelings, and weird images can flash through the thinking mind and body. But so long as you remain steady in your attention or steady in your efforts to bring your attention back to the place of focus, then all else will happen rightly on its own. 

You can do it. Most certainly, you can do it. 

Namaste my friend :) Much love

Problems of today

- why are my friends so shady?
- wait, she’s not really even my friend.
- why am I fat?
- why do I have so much homework that I just can’t seem to do?
- I’m pretty sure I have anxiety.
- I need more friends than my boring ass boyfriend.
- all I do is sit at his small ass house with his annoying family.
- my room is too uncomfortable.
- my hair is literally a mess and I can’t fix it
- my face is even worse.

I understand these are all minor, but I’m my head it’s all I can think about right now.

in the kitchen tryna get a lil snack

• my mom: since you're in the kitchen i need you to clean the dishes
• me:
• me:
• me:
• me: i came out to have a good time and i'm honestly feeling so attacked right now

Learning from Mistakes

oktotalk:

I was a young girl once and I wish there was a site like this as I lost my dad to suicide at 13 yrs old. I didn’t have anyone to talk to and I think it is really important that young people talk about how they are feeling. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. What seems like the end of the world today, will not in the future…..you just need help to walk through it. I am willing to talk to any young person that is going through anything as I have been through so much in my life there is little I don’t understand about what you are going through.

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