Has anyone actively engaged themselves in any type of meditation?

I'm reading about mind control/focus and was wondering if anyone has done any concentration-focus exercises? (this includes karate stuff too)

Knowing that aspies have a different way of thinking about things, I was thinking that perhaps the way we go about it may be different.

This post was last modified: 07-08-2012 04:31 PM by sg1008.

Did you know that prayer is meditation?

I went through a 'buddhist phase' between 2003-2005. I used to attend buddhist meditation sessions around that time, and got a lot out of it. Really helped me out of a low phase after my then girlfriend dumped me.

This post was last modified: 07-08-2012 05:46 PM by Thomas81.

In a sense... although prayer is more along the lines of contemplation than meditation.

What I am referring to is the exercise of thought and sense control; being able to focus the mind for long periods of time without succumbing to physical distractions or extraneous thoughts/ideas.

This post was last modified: 07-08-2012 05:49 PM by sg1008.

contemplation and meditation = the same

no they are different...

contemplation--anyone can contemplate on just about anything.

Meditation is a science/exercise, like kung fu for the mind...

I meditate every morning shortly after I wake up.

I have a special room built just for that purpose.

After my meditation I just flush my negative thoughts away.

Yes, clear my mind breathe in the light breath out dark smoke until I can clearly and solely focus on what I need to. I medicate more than meditate these days unless I really need to but c'est la vie innit. Give it a shot what's to lose ? Time I guess.

It's not uncommon to start a Karate class with some light meditation. It's a good way to set aside any other concerns from the day so you can focus on training.

Does anyone care to share an experience?

Nothing really to share about mine. It's mostly just a pre-training ritual.

No they aren't

A proper meditative state requires NOT thinking - you let yourself tune out to everything internal and only "listen" to sensory input, that little voice in your head (internal monologue) shuts down and you get heightened awareness.

To answer the question - i've been meditating since I was 14, and my advice is to beware of new-age hippy stuff and focus on the simplest technique you can - just sit somewhere peaceful with your legs folded and do nothing and think of nothing, if thoughts pop up don't think "I should not think that", instead just let it go.

One other technique if you're looking for help with attention issues is to rip-off a training technique that was first used by the IOT (Illuminates Of Thanteros - ZOMG! ILLUMINATI!), basically you close your eyes and visualise a shape like a triangle - ONLY a triangle.

Try and make the lines sharp, give it colour and keep the lines sharp while you mentally "zoom in" on each corner.

clever illuminati trick! the triangle thing may be helpful for distracting myself from anxiety i feel in public spaces, ill try it.

Yes I am well of aware of the new age hippie stuff...and thats not where I learn about meditation. currently I am trying two things:
First, if I manage to wake up around 4am when its quiet, dark, and ive supposedly slept enough to feel refreshed, I sit and practice focusing my mind and holding it still...so to speak.

Second, if I wake up later (like I did today) and its already light, birds and cars are out making noise, etc, since its harder to practice the 4am stuff, i sit and visualize energy (a flame or something) illuminating from different parts my body till I am covered and filled with a bubble of light, and then I slowly extend that light to all part of my home, then the world then the universe...

anyways, was wondering if you felt that there are particular advantages/disadvantages with regards to meditation and being on the spectrum... purely curiosity, not speculating that there are or aren't just wondering...and obviously if there are advantages they wouldn't be operating across the board.

Being on the spectrum, hyperfocus can be an aid to meditation BUT at the same time there's various comorbids that can cause issues with meditative practice.

For example, if you do it wrongly, meditation can make depression massively worse - done right of course the stress relief helps with depression.

The light visualisation trick you mention sounds a lot like buddhist loving kindness meditation - look it up, but be aware that it does have the side effect of making you a bit too nice to people (whether or not they return the favour).

About the triangle and where I first discovered that trick:
http://www.iot.org.uk/applications.html

All sorts of occult (and even mainstream religious) practices require control over one's mind at a high level, but chaos magic in particular tends to involve lots of work with what they call gnosis, and the gnostic state is one that's useful outside of magical practice as a generalised meditation.