Meditation...

[Mithrandir]

Anybody here seriously into meditation? I am an extremely high anxiety person who has been dealing with OCD for many years, so i finally decided to give meditation a serious place in my life to combat and tame the anxiety monster.

For the last decade or so i meditated on and off, not real serious about it. But about a month ago i decided to get serious about meditating. I take at least 20 minutes three times a day and meditate.

For those who do meditate i have a few questions:

What do you focus on when meditating? I have been focusing on just clearing my mind and allowing no internal dialogue in my mind. In the past I have focused on my breathing or saying positive affirmations but i really like clearing my mind and focusing on basically nothing.

Do you ever get anxious while meditating? When i meditate sometimes my heart rate increases and gets very heavy, like my mind is getting anxious because i am slowing it down. My mind goes a million miles an hour and i am wondering if during meditation my mind is "fighting" to not slow down, hence the rapid heavy heartbeat.

Any thoughts??

[onejayhawk]

I am not into meditation, but I can hum the tune and dance a few steps.

If anxiety is the central issue, you might consider martial arts. A lot of the basics are the same: centering, internal balance, etc. A training kata can relieve a lot of stress. Tai Chi would be my recomendation.

AS for meditation, I never much cared for the pure form. One hand clapping and such has not been helpful. I prefer contemplation. Instead of clearing your mind, you fill it with something. The steps are the same to start. Find your quiet place. Center. Do breathing excersizes.

At that point, instead of letting your mind drift, you focus on someting. Take it apart inyour mind. Examine it from all directions, put back together in a different order. It is good to have paper and pen handy, to write down any insights. Dont be afraid to follow where your mind wants to go, but also be ready to return to the object of your contemplation.

For subject matter, use anything that interests you, but choose something of substance. Poetry is traditional, since it is dense with meaning. Art, music, mathematics, chess, a seven iron shot, etc. I like to solve SOMA cubes in my head.

Good luck.

J

[Mithrandir]

Thanks J.

My mind is way too filled already, that's why i meditate to clear my mind..slow it down.

[onejayhawk]

Thanks J.

My mind is way too filled already, that's why i meditate to clear my mind..slow it down.

You cannot replace a habit with nothing. You have to replace it with another habit.

Thoughts are habits as much as smoking or 2 sugars in coffee. That is why I like having something to focus my thinking on. In my case it involves a physical object I manipulate in abstract. The point is that thoughts push out other thoughts. Once you can think about one specific thing, all the other things are set aside for slower rumination.

Did you know the base meaning of worry is to gnaw, like a dog on a bone?

J