New as a newbie can ever get!

[Cboat1975]

Hello to everyone out there in the PM community! My name is Chris and I'm a 35yr old Happily married man here in the Texas area. I, like everyone else in the world have stress. I would say for the past year I have been looking for ways to decrees this stress. I have been doing research over the internet and even the library and almost every time I'm pointed to meditation.

I will admit, when it came to meditation I was a little uneasy about it. At first, like many people, I thought that only individuals in certain religions could meditate and the last thing I wanted to be was disrespectful to those religions. Of course as I did more research I found that individuals from all walks of life meditate and it's a great way to take stress away from out of our life. It's unfortunate but I left it at that, never acted on anything I found.

Then about a week ago I realized I needed to do something, to relax and take more control of life other then letting the stress do it. I then found a awesome guided meditation on you tube. It was perfect for me because I'm a big guy and it's hard for me to sit on the floor with my legs folded so I read that you could do this meditation in a chair. Perfect! So then I followed the mediation to every word. And I must say I felt really relaxed! The only problem was, I kept on falling asleep. Now, I'm not expert but I think the key to meditation is trying to relax with out falling asleep, I could be wrong on that one So I tried and tried until yesterday and every time I found my self waking up.

Today I thought it would be wise to see if I could find a community on this subject and that is how I found this place. Project Meditation. I'm in hopes that someone can guide me or point me to a place to show me a great meditation technique. Also I hope to get a better understanding on what meditation really is. As I have read it's for relaxation and then I read if you do meditation in certain ways it can have healing powers. However, no one ever says how to achieve this.

In closing if any of you kind people would like to give me any advice, I sure would like to hear it

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this,
Chris in Texas

[Karmoh]

Hi Chris,

Welcome, you’re in the right place. Lots of knowledgeable people on this forum without all the fluff.

If you click on the home tab and download the free discover meditation course (it really is free with no strings)
This will give you a step by step guide in to beginning meditation.

Enjoy

[GilesC]

Hi Chris and welcome to the PM community,

It's not uncommon for people to fall asleep when they're first starting out with meditation. We often come to meditation because we are stressed out and looking for relaxation, and meditation is so very effective at relaxation that the body naturally takes the opportunity to go all the way into sleep to help regenerate. With practice, the body's need for sleep will lessen and the meditation practice will become more stable.

There are different meditation techniques out there and you've already found Guided meditations, which can be good for helping to relax. The free Discover Meditation course you can download from here is a different type of meditation, essentially the same as what you'd learn if you went and paid a fortune to learn Transcendental Mediation, but without all the ceremony (and religious undertones, though they deny that part) that they incorporate into their 'initiation' into meditation. Michael's CD just teaches the meditation technique itself, which is all that is really needed. This type of mditation is called mantra meditation and is usually done in silence (i.e. without music playing or someone guiding you, though we can't account for background noises ) It essentially involves repeating a mantra (word/sound) over and over and initially putting the focus on that mantra, but then letting it repeat in it's own way. This helps to take you away from thoughts that are arising in your mind, but inevitably at first, you will find thoughts keep arising and you will no doubt get caught up in them (that's normal). When you recognise the thoughts arising, just use that as a trigger to come back to the mantra. Have a listen to Michaels CD's and see how you get on first, then you can ask specific questions and we can help.

As for meditation position, there's no real need to sit cross legged or in the lotus position unless you find that comfortable yourself. Lying down is often discourages as that acts as an indicator to the body that you are going to sleep and often that will happen. Just find yourself somewhere comfortable to sit where you back is supported upright and the head is not supported (if you start to fall asleep the head will start to fall and this will bring you back). The straightness of the back should be such that the spine supports the body without it falling over and the head position is resting on top of the shoulders/spine without any need to forcefully hold it there; i.e. you could literally sit on the edge of a chair and let the body relax in an upright position without any support. To start with though, it's ok to support the back and you can try other positions later on or as you wish till you find what's right for you.

Whatever happens, even if you fall asleep or keep finding your mind wandering, just remember that this is normal and it will become easier with practice. When I first started out with meditation I can remember managing to keep my focus on the mantra for perhaps 30 seconds to 1 minute before my mind brought up thoughts and it could then be several minutes before I recognised I was in a daydream and brought myself back to the mantra. It still happens now to some extent, but not so much, thanks to consistent practice.

Also, consider what time of day you are meditating? If it's last thing at night, you are naturally tired, but if it's first thing in the morning, providing you've had a good sleep, you may wake up with the mind telling you you are still sleepy, but if you meditate first thing, you'll come out of the meditation feeling more alert and awake and ready to get on with the day. Of course different people have to fit in meditation to suit their own lives, so that's just a little guidance on things to consider.

Keep us posted how you get on.

Hugs

Giles