What is Meditation to you?

[Astara Seague]

I had to share Horst Rechelbachers words {founder of Aveda}

"Meditation to me is transcending your daily flow of thoughts to focus one thought as long as possible. It involves contemplating that thought knowing the meaning of that thought and then putting energy behind that thought.
Meditation is concentration with surrender and with controlled relaxed breathing."

and I must agree with him for the most part..what are your thoughts?

[CzechWoods]

to me meditation goes along the lines of albert einstein. he said we are using but 10% of our brain.

to me, meditation is access to the other 90%, only that of course you dont get all of those 90%.

the more you live meditation, the more acces you have, the wider gets your brain use in every days life

meditation to me has nothing to do with thoughts, as in using the 10% mind

the mind use i find rather distracting and unsatisfactory.

therefore i dont see mindfullness as key to the meditation process, at least not n the true meaning of MIND.

it is rather your spirit exploring those hidden lands and - if possible - bringing back the fruits from there

[Against The Tide]

To me meditation is a mental and spiritual process - but it also helps marry the body to the mind and spirit. It helps strengthen me emotionally and allows me to (as Czechwoods mentioned) access parts of my mind that were previously closed off.

[Shanti]

Meditations to me is not using the mind. The mind is a distraction and very limited.
Thought comes from the mind, aka the brain. A biological glob in the head that dies.

I use no mind.
Meditation is consciousness, not thought.

[Beemer_Man_Wong]

Meditation is the process by which we cultivate mindfulness. It includes two parts, stopping, and looking deeply. Stoping is the means by which we stop our habit energies, strong emotions, thought trains, mental formations. We stop by focusing and calming the body. We focus on many things, on the body, feelings, mental formations and conciousness in themselves, in order to stop. The stopping brings about calming, resting and healing in turn. Mindfulness stops us where we are and allows us to enter the second part of meditation, which is looking deeply. Buddhists call this Vispassana. Looking deeply leads to insight about our suffering. Both stopping and looking deeply are important aspects of meditation. Mindfulness should always be the goal.

[~Belladonna~]

Meditation to me is linking the spiritual to the physical, mundane, and also a way of leaving the physical for awhile and connecting to the astral. I truly believe that whatever is in action on the astral will manifest in the physical so I like to see what's going on there and how I can change things (if need be) and also just to sit back and observe. Meditation is also connecting my higher self to my mind and body and trying to get those in sync with each other. It's also a time of relaxation but then again it can also be a time for work (as in working magick) it just depends what you want to do with the meditation. It's also the door to different realms and one of the tools I use to initiate an OBE. I also see it as a tool for growth, for both the spiritual me and the mundane me.

There's lots more too that I see meditation for but I'd be here all year if I went on lol.

Meditation is a huge part of me and my practice and I find it hard to comprehend how any Witch (or other practitioner of magick) can get by without it lol.

[CzechWoods]

Meditation to me is

[skip]
a huge part of me and my practice

and I find it hard to comprehend how any Witch (or other practitioner of magick) can get by without it lol.

they cant, dont worry. they cant

:uhhuhuh:

[~Belladonna~]

they cant, dont worry. they cant

:uhhuhuh:

:bouncysmi

[Death the Kid]

Meditation is a tool which I employ to sharpen my concentration, so that I may turn its penetrating insight onto topics of importance. It is a means to truly delve into the mind, how it works and why - as well as to deal with all its gross and subtle stains that prevent me from clearly-seeing what is actually going on around me.

[DoktorSick]

Meditation to me is taking time out to think about everything and yet thing about nothing at all.It's getting the mind and body to work as one unit and to focus and put your mind at with all the problems and activities buzzing around at the moment.
I pratice kung fu and that's how to meditated and to block all the things that may hinder my personal enlightenment.:thumbsup:

[hikarilove]

I had to share Horst Rechelbachers words {founder of Aveda}

"Meditation to me is transcending your daily flow of thoughts to focus one thought as long as possible. It involves contemplating that thought knowing the meaning of that thought and then putting energy behind that thought.
Meditation is concentration with surrender and with controlled relaxed breathing."

and I must agree with him for the most part..what are your thoughts?

I like this definition quite a bit. As for the controlled breathing, I'm not sure I am likeminded, however. Usually, once I focus my thoughts, the breathing follows. It's more automatic than controlled.

I think of meditation as letting go, decompressing. When I meditate, I simply become part of the flow rather than part interceptor, part interpreter, part decision maker, part everything. Submitting to the ebb and flow of the universe, I'm able to focus on one point (no matter how inane) and let it live out its purpose. In the end, I have more understanding and capability. I become whole again. :)

[telegale]

meditation for me is that one space in every day that i relax my mind and body as much as possible. I focus and tune into my soul .my focus is central and distractions go completely away. It feels like going into Alpha waves without sleep . It helps me with all of the rest of my day, helps me to focus on all of the important parts of the here and now .:)

[*~Amora~*]

The absence of thought. The void of mind and sensation.

[Beemer_Man_Wong]

Meditation is stopping and looking deeply. It is stopping and becoming mindful of the here and now, and it is looking deeply at ones feelings and mental formations for insight. Thoughts may occur but they are only noted and released. Mindfulness during meditation builds concentration and allows the mind to become one pointed in focus.

[BearDancing]

for me breathwork is imparative.....and very interesting...meditation to me is shutting the bean can off/retraining it to shut up ...and changing levels of concicousness. in different levels of conciousness everything is accessable and there are no limits...:uhhuhuh::uhhuhuh::uhhuhuh::uhhuhuh::uhhuhuh:

[Ailyn]

I have friend who is Orthodox Catholic, and has very little experience with Western Pagans until recently. In a conversation we were having last year, she asked me if I prayed. Of course I pray, I told her. And she looked kinda confused at that point. So another friend of mine came up with this explaination:

Prayer: talking to God
Meditation: listening to God

I loved this explaination and have expanded that definition to fit my own. Meditation is when you shut down yourself, and just listen to the powers higher than you. The subconscious needs of your body, the energy from the world around you, whatever the God/desses are saying to you, etc. But all in all, meditation is listening, with ears, heart, and soul.

[Meabh23]

I had to share Horst Rechelbachers words {founder of Aveda}

"Meditation to me is transcending your daily flow of thoughts to focus one thought as long as possible. It involves contemplating that thought knowing the meaning of that thought and then putting energy behind that thought.
Meditation is concentration with surrender and with controlled relaxed breathing."

and I must agree with him for the most part..what are your thoughts?

This is a great question.

To me it is basically sitting. There can be contemplation, but this is held off until there is no problem with just sitting. I think all the other thing associated with meditation are just elaborations, many of them can become traps if we get attached to them.

So I sit. Letting thoughts come and go. Grand ideas, fearsome states, worries, desires, plans. I let them rise and fall of their own accord. And in the gaps between all these, THERE is the glimpse of untrammeled freedom. That is meditation.

[Lady Aeris]

meditation is oxygen