How to meditate?

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Many people tell me I should meditate. But how do I do this?

I never am anywhere quiet.

I can't block out noises.

My mind is always racing and I'm easily distracted.

I get bored way too easily.

I don't have to be a zen monk, but I'd like to learn how to meditate accurately, because all I do know is sit cross-legged,close my eyes, and press my hands together... and thats it.

I know I must be doing it wrong.

Don't pay any attention to the way you sit, that's irrelevant. Pay attention to your thoughts, whatever they are. Try to observe them rather than be swept up by them. Concentrate on your breathing, count to 10 slowly, one breath with each number, no hurry, then start over. Your mind will follow your breath and slow down. Do it at the same time every day, and stop when it becomes boring. You might find you can do it longer and longer.

The way you sit is actually very very important, but don't sit cross legged if you are trying to learn! Just sit in a chair, back straight, good posture, hands laid together in your lap, eyes almost closed but letting some light.

I have been attending a Buddhist meditation group for the past 15 and I would very strongly recommend this. You need to learn how to get into a meditative state and someone talking you in and out is the most straight forward way of learning.

it's all about your breathing and about clearing your mind

Well done for giving it a go, I find it has helped me immensely over the years!

I'm thinking one of your best ways to break into this might be the way I've been doing it.

If you can't find a place to lay down in quiet and close your eyes to visualize things or if any attempt to do so usually just causes agitation at the effort try this instead:

Get a digital watch, start sort of getting yourself in the zone during a particular minute and then suggest to yourself that as soon as the clock ticks over to the next minute you'll do everything you can to stop all internal activity - ie. all music in your head, all thoughts, all concerns or worries - and during that time focus on simply being with your five senses. During that minute see, hear, feel, smell, taste, but don't analyze anything - rather let yourself be as still as possible.

You may want to select a ten-minute slice of time in particular to do this about three times. Before each minute try to empty your mind of anything aside from deliberate vocalized self-talk, I say that because one of the hardest things to stop is a tune that's in your head (it'll usually keep popping right back in) and second to that is any flood of visual images. Rather build a little bit of tension and focus on the clock or wristwatch for that minute once it ticks over and then keep your focus there until the minute transitions into the next.

Two really big pointers:
1) Most important - don't get irritated with yourself if you have a hard time doing it or even if you get halfway decent with it and backslide, repetition always makes better and the most imporant thing is that you stick to doing it once a day if you can manage.
2) Try to minimize effort in silencing your mind and find ways to make it easier and easier, work toward what you might think of as 'concentration without effort'.

Eventually the silence should start deepening, becoming even more enjoyable, and from that point if you find the available time to lay down and meditate with your eyes closed on a particular religious symbol or whatever works for ten or fifteen minutes a day you'll be all the more primed to relax. The watching-the-minutes thing is good I think for people who experience too much of a vacuum too quickly if they try to shut off all attention to sense AND shut down all thought at the same time.

I enjoyed watching this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc&noredirect=1[/youtube]

Training willpower by meditating or through other means (exercise) is especially important for us aspies, because social interaction requires so much willpower.

This has been helpful to me:
[[[I can't post a link because this is my first post, so search for kelly mcgonigal's blog post about meditation and post it as a reply if you find it relevant/interesting]]]
I focus on the air flowing through my nose, close my eyes, and listen to the mp3 file linked in the blog post.

I used to be very sceptical regarding meditation, but the approach above seems to work for me.

Chapters 5-8 in this page are the best guide I know of about meditation:

www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/waytoend.html

I quite enjoyed this 10 part guided audio course on http://www.freemeditation.com/ & have since downloaded a bunch of other guided meditation tracks that listen to every once in a while.

I quite enjoyed this 10 part guided audio course on http://www.freemeditation.com/ & have since downloaded a bunch of other guided meditation tracks that listen to every once in a while.

Many years ago (long before my Asperger's diagnosis) I discovered Shambala Meditation and it changed my life in many positive ways. I had tried Zen before and was never able to get into it because too much emphasis was placed on clearing the mind (impossible for me). Shambala Meditation is a practice based on Tibetan Buddhism and emphasizes instead being aware of what's in your head and learning to experience it and the world around you more honestly and directly. As an undiagnosed Aspergian, this approach really spoke to me and, now that I know about my Asperger's, it's been an invaluable tool in trying to sort out my perceptions of things.

Great website in general. I didn't click link, but the site is the real deal - everything there is helpful. There is a lot to buddhism. Meditation is big part. All the parts feed back into each other. And that is a Buddhism site. But as far as just meditation goes, read H. Gunatarana's "Mindfulness in Plain English". You can meditate standing up, walking, laying down, ... in any position you're comfortable in. Do it!!

Walking is my meditation of choice. I feel very comfortable counting my steps with the breath (two-four steps inhale, two-four steps exhale). When I'm really tense or stressed I can only expect one step per breath. As I relax after 15 minutes or more of walking, I can pace my breath to go longer from there.

The closest I can come to meditation is from stretching and focusing on the changes as my body relaxes (or sometimes tenses) into a pose. Stretching feels like a stim for me. Most of the time, I find yoga very relaxing, but just sitting meditation (and resting the mind) is very difficult.

If you have pets, they can either be annoying or very funny when you try to do yoga or meditate. If I'm in a really bad mood, I tell them to go away. Sometimes, even in a bad mood, I can't help but laugh anyhow when my cats are walking over or under me during yoga. It is just absurd and ridiculous to have pets stepping on you while a yoga video says, "release your mind," "think about your breath," etc. It's hard not to think about all those distractions when pets want attention so obviously.

Usually, I am kinder to the pets when they bug my meditation time than I am with people. People can be a lot more distracting, upsetting, and needy than animals (depending on the animals and the people). For instance, if I had waited all week for my husband to watch the babies so that I could do yoga, I would want him to really not bug me during that time. Also, if I get up in the middle of the night because I am too tense or feel tachycardia or hungry and do yoga, I don't want anyone to bug me and say "go back to bed" when I'm doing the best I can at that moment to relax myself.... Aspies should get time to relax! Especially if they take care of little kids all day! Now I'm just venting. I think yoga is in order right now.