Greetings my good friend,
I have meditated for many years (over 10 years), so I offer my experience to you if it helps you. A few concepts to take into your heart first.
Be very gentle with yourself. Do not think you are doing it wrong or right. There is no judgement, just being. Don't get angry at yourself. If you follow your thoughts and get lost, just say to yourself "It's okay, lets gently go back into my awareness of being here now". There is no reason to be upset with yourself, that will only hinder your practice. Love yourself and your practice.
Try practicing throughout the day. Even in 10 second increments. Take the time at a stop light. Or while you go to the bathroom, while you walk somewhere. Little meditations add up through out the day and help you stay in the moment. Again, be gentle. Start slow. Give your mind a 'part time job' first, because a 'full time job' will be too much!
Set aside at least 10 mins a day (not all at once necessarily) to meditate. Even if this is 10 - 1 min sessions, or a hundred 10 second sessions, or one 10 min session. Whatever works for you. No need to count strictly...just a guideline. Try and get at least 10 mins. Increase from there after a while.
Thoughts are usually treated as enemies or your boss (Mingyur Rinpoche's description)- you either push thoughts away or accept them as true and do exactly what they tell you. In meditation, we love our thoughts as friends. We see them, notice them, say hello and let them go by, like clouds in the sky. It's okay to think. The point is not to negate your thoughts, it's okay to think thoughts. Just watch them rise in space, and disspear in space, just like all phenomena. All things are impermanent. Gentle, Gentle, Gentle now.
Keeping this in mind for your practice, I will describe a few methods.
I suggest starting samatha meditation first (calm-abiding), this is just following your breath. You could also use counting (only 1-2 first, then try 1-4, then 1-6, then 1-8 and 1-10) The point here is to develop what Buddhists call "one-pointed consciousness". This is also to help you in further meditation techniques. Once you can count to one and two, back to one, without interruption of thought, then move onto 1 to 4. Don't rush. Don't skip. This is for you. No one to brag to, no need to progress any faster than you need to. All things come as they will, and will help you grow.
Once you are able to do this, I suggest moving onto breath (if you did not already start with this). If you are able to breath and focus on the sensation of your breath, and do it with focus, that is meditation. If you are thinking something and just notice it come up and let it go, that is also meditation. Being aware of right now (of what your thinking and understanding it's impermanent nature), that is meditation. The only thing that is not meditation is not being aware of yourself getting lost in thought. Catching yourself- when you say "Oh, I got lost in a thought". That moment is meditation. Meditation is awareness, and developing it. Allowing it to rest, and expand into infinite space. We start at the body to help slowly increase this.
At this point of development, you can move onto anything- meaning all things can be a support for meditation. Feeling pain, anxiety, anger, confusion, etc? Meditate on this, notice it without judgement, without getting caught into it. Just sit, observe, become good friends, thank it for being a support of your meditation. Watch how it changes, grows and dissipates....
Experiences, beliefs, and feelings, anything! This can be where you explore and discover the most about yourself.
Advice for moving into larger "sensations" or "experiences"- break them down into 'digestible' chunks. If you went through a break up, this is a combination of many feelings, experiences, and sensations. Focus just first on how it feels in that moment. Do you feel angry, sad? Depressed? Just notice it, observe it, and let it go. It will pass, just as all things do in space. Focus then on the sensation...does your stomach feel tight? Do you feel sick? tightness in your shoulders? Relax them, observe them, let it go....So on and so forth.
I hope this helps. I'd be happy to give more techniques, but this give you a solid foundation towards developing, and cultivating awareness. As you do, you will develop compassion and loving kindness with it, as it is necessary to be truthful to yourself, and towards observing things without judgement.
Remember, all things can become tools towards bettering yourself. Remember all your supports for meditation are your friends! Thank them deeply for what they teach you, and use them.
With much love, respect, support and light my friend, I dearly hope this helps you in your seeking.
(07-27-2011, 10:55 AM)zack231 Wrote: [ -> ]Ok so I have meditated before had a few weird experiences that I am not going to explain right now but I am going to try and meditate every night now and I would really like your suggestions on meditation techniques and how to get into a deep-meditation. Ie do you breath deep, do you repeat something out loud or in your mind, do you visualise etc please if you have techniques that work please explain..
Thanks
We are One
Love and Light