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Great topic.

First and foremost I think the most important thing is to develop mindfulness. Pretty much everything else depends upon it.

The best method I've yet come across to cultivate mindfulness is indeed vipassanna meditation and its variants. I'll get to the technique in a moment. Mindfulness is not just what you do in meditation though. Meditation is simply the training ground, mindfulness becomes a way of life.

Why is mindfulness important? It's important because you need to be able to observe things as they really are. The most important 'things' to observe as they really are, are your thoughts. People who haven't spent a fair amount of time meditating simply don't know what it means to catch thoughts as they arise and to not get caught up in them. To be completely honest it's rather humbling to realize just how little control you have over your thoughts...or how little control you truly exercise over your thoughts.

So meditation is used to train techniques of being mindful, but the real work is done off the cushion in daily living. Catch your mind in a bad mood today? That's greet! Next step is catching your mind in a bad mood and saying that's nice I'll be in a good mood instead.

Vipassanna meditation also teaches you equanimity. Learning to accept things as they are is literally the fastest route to happiness that a person can take. It's not the same as being without emotion. You will have emotions. What it means is not being controled by them.

Without mindfulness one simply can't access the deeper meditation states because it becomes way to simple to get lost in a thought...thoughts can be extremely subtle. Mindfulness goes hand in hand with concentration development. Personally I find Kriya pranayama better for concentration, but vipassana will certainly begin the process of developing iron will concentration. I started with kriya, but in hindsight I think I may have progressed faster if I learned vipassaa first.

If you can't notice every thought that arises for 30-60 minutes you have little chance of accessing the deeper states IMHO.

So mindfulness meditation for beginners.

1) Forget everything you heard about meditation being a relaxation exercise. This style of meditation has one purpose and one purpose only. Increase your awareness of everything. This doesn't come without work.

2) Focus your attention in the area around your top lip and observe your breathing. Initially you might think to yourself "Now I breath in....Now I breath out". Then later just , "In....Out". then you just observe. When your mind wanders...and yes it will wander..Note it and bring it back to the awareness of your breath. Make your notes simple one word notes. thinking. hearing. dreaming. grasping. averting...etc, etc. You will find your own. The goal is to make a fast simple note and then bring your mind back to the task you instructed it to focus on...your breath.

Practicing just up to step 2 will get a person very far down the path, but there is more.

3) Begin to notice every sensation in your entire body. Use quick small mental labels as before. If you feel an itch, mentally say itch but now put your entire attention on the sensation of the itch and analyse it. Is the itch one continuous sensation or is it small discrete sensations that arise and then pass away. Is the itch you? What is this itch? is the itch still there now? Did you have any control over when the itch arose or when it went away?

Likewise if your attention is drawn to the sound of say a siren passing by outside. Mentally note 'hearing' and then observe the sound as it really is. Full immerse yourself in the sound of the siren it's rising and falling.

Do this with every sensation that arises. You should easily be able to get to the point were you notice 10-20 sensations PER second.
This takes REAL work. It's not easy and you will almost certainly not get any were close to this number the first time you sit.

That's vipassana in a nut shell. I practice 30-60 minutes a day, actually I mix vipassana with Kriya pranayama.

Over time your mind will learn to quite down naturally. First your attention will be less drawn to outside things. Then spaces between thoughts will grow longer and longer. Pretty soon you will find that you sat for your allotted time, but feel like staying longer. It's at this point that meditation actually becomes relaxing...but in the beginning..forget it. Meditation is real work, but the reward is very much worth it in both material living and in spiritual living.

I honestly believe that meditation is the strongest skill to learn. I wish we actually spent the first two years of childrens education working with them on how to train their minds...it would make the rest of their education much easier and more efficient.

Peace

<blockquote data-quote="joedirt" data-source="post: 3507164" data-attributes="member: 6370">Great topic.First and foremost I think the most important thing is to develop mindfulness.&nbsp; Pretty much everything else depends upon it.The best method I&#039;ve yet come across to cultivate mindfulness is indeed vipassanna meditation and its variants.&nbsp; I&#039;ll get to the technique in a moment.&nbsp; Mindfulness is not just what you do in meditation though. Meditation is simply&nbsp; the training ground, mindfulness becomes a way of life.&nbsp; Why is mindfulness important?&nbsp; It&#039;s important because you need to be able to observe things as they really are.&nbsp; The most important &#039;things&#039; to observe as they really are, are your thoughts.&nbsp; People who haven&#039;t spent a fair amount of time meditating simply don&#039;t know what it means to catch thoughts as they arise and to not get caught up in them.&nbsp;&nbsp; To be completely honest it&#039;s rather humbling to realize just how little control you have over your thoughts...or how little control you truly exercise over your thoughts.So meditation is used to train techniques of being mindful, but the real work is done off the cushion in daily living.&nbsp; Catch your mind in a bad mood today?&nbsp; That&#039;s greet!&nbsp; Next step is catching&nbsp; your mind in a bad mood and saying that&#039;s nice I&#039;ll be in a good mood instead. Vipassanna meditation also teaches you equanimity.&nbsp; Learning to accept things as they are is literally the fastest route to happiness that a person can take.&nbsp; It&#039;s not the same as being without emotion.&nbsp; You will have emotions.&nbsp; What it means is not being controled by them.Without mindfulness one simply can&#039;t access the deeper meditation states because it becomes way to simple to get lost in a thought...thoughts can be extremely subtle.&nbsp; Mindfulness goes hand in hand with concentration development.&nbsp; Personally I find Kriya pranayama better for concentration, but vipassana will certainly begin the process of developing iron will concentration.&nbsp; I started with kriya, but in hindsight I think I may have progressed faster if I learned vipassaa first.&nbsp; If you can&#039;t notice every thought that arises for 30-60 minutes you have little chance of accessing the deeper states IMHO.So mindfulness meditation for beginners.1) Forget everything you heard about meditation being a relaxation exercise.&nbsp; This style of meditation has one purpose and one purpose only.&nbsp; Increase your awareness of everything.&nbsp; This doesn&#039;t come without work.2) Focus your attention in the area around your top lip and observe your breathing.&nbsp; Initially you might think to yourself&nbsp; &quot;Now I breath in....Now I breath out&quot;.&nbsp; Then later just , &quot;In....Out&quot;.&nbsp; then you just observe.&nbsp; When your mind wanders...and yes it will wander..Note it and bring it back to the awareness of your breath.&nbsp; Make your notes simple one word notes.&nbsp; thinking.&nbsp; hearing.&nbsp; dreaming.&nbsp; grasping.&nbsp; averting...etc, etc.&nbsp; You will find your own.&nbsp; The goal is to make a fast simple note and then bring your mind back to the task you instructed it to focus on...your breath.Practicing just up to step 2 will get a person very far down the path, but there is more.3)&nbsp; Begin to notice every sensation in your entire body.&nbsp; Use quick small mental labels as before.&nbsp; If you feel an itch, mentally say itch but now put your entire attention on the sensation of the itch and analyse it.&nbsp; Is the itch one continuous sensation or is it small discrete sensations that arise and then pass away.&nbsp; Is the itch you?&nbsp; What is this itch?&nbsp; is the itch still there now?&nbsp; Did you have any control over when the itch arose or when it went away?Likewise if your attention is drawn to the sound of say a siren passing by outside.&nbsp; Mentally note &#039;hearing&#039; and then observe the sound as it really is.&nbsp; Full immerse yourself in the sound of the siren it&#039;s rising and falling.Do this with every sensation that arises.&nbsp; You should easily be able to get to the point were you notice 10-20 sensations PER second.This takes REAL work.&nbsp; It&#039;s not easy and you will almost certainly not get any were close to this number the first time you sit.&nbsp; That&#039;s vipassana in a nut shell.&nbsp; I practice 30-60 minutes a day, actually I mix vipassana with Kriya pranayama.Over time your mind will learn to quite down naturally.&nbsp; First your attention will be less drawn to outside things.&nbsp; Then spaces between thoughts will grow longer and longer.&nbsp; Pretty soon you will find that you sat for your allotted time, but feel like staying longer.&nbsp; It&#039;s at this point that meditation actually becomes relaxing...but in the beginning..forget it.&nbsp; Meditation is real work, but the reward is very much worth it in both material living and in spiritual living.I honestly believe that meditation is the strongest skill to learn. I wish we actually spent the first two years of childrens education working with them on how to train their minds...it would make the rest of their education much easier and more efficient.Peace</blockquote>

[QUOTE="joedirt, post: 3507164, member: 6370"] Great topic. First and foremost I think the most important thing is to develop mindfulness. Pretty much everything else depends upon it. The best method I've yet come across to cultivate mindfulness is indeed vipassanna meditation and its variants. I'll get to the technique in a moment. Mindfulness is not just what you do in meditation though. Meditation is simply the training ground, mindfulness becomes a way of life. Why is mindfulness important? It's important because you need to be able to observe things as they really are. The most important 'things' to observe as they really are, are your thoughts. People who haven't spent a fair amount of time meditating simply don't know what it means to catch thoughts as they arise and to not get caught up in them. To be completely honest it's rather humbling to realize just how little control you have over your thoughts...or how little control you truly exercise over your thoughts. So meditation is used to train techniques of being mindful, but the real work is done off the cushion in daily living. Catch your mind in a bad mood today? That's greet! Next step is catching your mind in a bad mood and saying that's nice I'll be in a good mood instead. Vipassanna meditation also teaches you equanimity. Learning to accept things as they are is literally the fastest route to happiness that a person can take. It's not the same as being without emotion. You will have emotions. What it means is not being controled by them. Without mindfulness one simply can't access the deeper meditation states because it becomes way to simple to get lost in a thought...thoughts can be extremely subtle. Mindfulness goes hand in hand with concentration development. Personally I find Kriya pranayama better for concentration, but vipassana will certainly begin the process of developing iron will concentration. I started with kriya, but in hindsight I think I may have progressed faster if I learned vipassaa first. If you can't notice every thought that arises for 30-60 minutes you have little chance of accessing the deeper states IMHO. So mindfulness meditation for beginners. 1) Forget everything you heard about meditation being a relaxation exercise. This style of meditation has one purpose and one purpose only. Increase your awareness of [b]everything[/b]. This doesn't come without work. 2) Focus your attention in the area around your top lip and observe your breathing. Initially you might think to yourself "Now I breath in....Now I breath out". Then later just , "In....Out". then you just observe. When your mind wanders...and yes it will wander..Note it and bring it back to the awareness of your breath. Make your notes simple one word notes. thinking. hearing. dreaming. grasping. averting...etc, etc. You will find your own. The goal is to make a fast simple note and then bring your mind back to the task you instructed it to focus on...your breath. Practicing just up to step 2 will get a person very far down the path, but there is more. 3) Begin to notice every sensation in your entire body. Use quick small mental labels as before. If you feel an itch, mentally say itch but now put your entire attention on the sensation of the itch and analyse it. Is the itch one continuous sensation or is it small discrete sensations that arise and then pass away. Is the itch you? What is this itch? is the itch still there now? Did you have any control over when the itch arose or when it went away? Likewise if your attention is drawn to the sound of say a siren passing by outside. Mentally note 'hearing' and then observe the sound as it really is. Full immerse yourself in the sound of the siren it's rising and falling. Do this with every sensation that arises. You should easily be able to get to the point were you notice 10-20 sensations PER second. This takes REAL work. It's not easy and you will almost certainly not get any were close to this number the first time you sit. That's vipassana in a nut shell. I practice 30-60 minutes a day, actually I mix vipassana with Kriya pranayama. Over time your mind will learn to quite down naturally. First your attention will be less drawn to outside things. Then spaces between thoughts will grow longer and longer. Pretty soon you will find that you sat for your allotted time, but feel like staying longer. It's at this point that meditation actually becomes relaxing...but in the beginning..forget it. Meditation is real work, but the reward is very much worth it in both material living and in spiritual living. I honestly believe that meditation is the strongest skill to learn. I wish we actually spent the first two years of childrens education working with them on how to train their minds...it would make the rest of their education much easier and more efficient. Peace [/QUOTE]