Meditation help????

[MoonFlowerMary]

Everything to gaining physic abilities,seeing aura and strengthening your inutation always involves meditation
what I wonder is, when do you gain these abilities?how long will it take?how do you open your charkas?
is there another way besides meditation?
I heard of "prying" open your third eye, but I heard that was too dangerous
The key of meditation is to clear your mind of things, but is that all you do? Wait 5-10 minutes with an empty mind?
I know these are alot of questions but,
please be patient with me

God Bless,
Arisa

[Autumnal Rose]

Interesting questions. I rather like your shorthand definition: "Wait 5-10 mins with an empty mind." However, achieving that is very very difficult. (Think the old saying about pink elephants where someone says don't think of pink elephants and suddenly a great rose coloured Dumbo comes bouncing into your mind). Sitting and trying to think of nothing is the same thing. If you manage to achieve a few seconds at a time you are doing well.

Meditation can be seen as a transition stage between two states of consciousness. It is switching off the mundane world and focusing in on the spiritual. I have found that one off the easiest ways to do this is to focus on a particular subject or an idea. That way if other thoughts come into your mind, you can switch to your focus thought rather than trying to blank your mind. I often meditate on the colour green. I only allow green images -trees, grass etc to enter my mind. This allows me to focus my thoughts away from my day job and the peaceful images help me get into the state of mind I desire.

Meditation is also a way of discovering more depth in something. You can meditate on a tarot card and consider the complex layers of meaning or you could meditate on a poem or a prayer and relate the meanings to your own life. So meditation isn't just about blanking your mind, itss about taking control of your thoughts and using those thoughts to direct you to greater clarity or a desired mind state.

As for how you do it, well its practise, practise, practise. I wouldn't claim to be an expert and I think even people who have been meditating for years would admit that it isn't always easy. But the peace of mind achieved by stepping, albeit briefly, from the day to day world into your own little bubble of serenity is well worth the effot.

[Oak Keeper]

i am very new to the meditation gift as i call it, the thing that helped me most is the http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... ft&x=0&y=0 this series helped me out very well. The best way that helped me was just to walk into a forest sit on a rock or under a tree and let your mind go i fell asleep a few times but but my dreams were amazing. the first book the inner temple of witchcraft describes a technique to get yourself into a trance. and travel to the great world tree, where you enter your own school, if you will, my own school contains a few of the following, where you make it what you want an alchemy lab for potions help a portal room where you travel any where your mind can conjure and so on. hope this helps. if i did not do a good job describing any of this just write me i will try to help further if i can

[laruna]

1 do not even attempt to blank my mind when i am trying to meditate. Any meditation, seriously trying to achieve something, or just trying to relax all starts the same way. I calm myself down and try to see my body as an empty shell, from the inside. I carefully hunt down any negativity and bring it to my center where i grind it down and put it in a small, wooden box. At this point i progress to the next 'stage' you could call it, where i take the box and bury it in the roots of this huge tree that is my mental and spiritual core. The tree breaks open the box and absorbs and neutralizes any negativity, using it to make beautiful jewels, flowers, and- oddly enough since i don't particularly like the fruit- pears. I then cross a large clearing to get to my inner place- a cottage that is made by living trees and branches growing together to make a building. Now, depending on if i want to do something serious, or if i'm just trying to relax i will either go out the back door to my garden (to relax) or up to the library, where i can focus on whatever in particular it is that i am trying to do. Sometimes i even go to the library right before a major test, and focus on whatever subject i need. It makes it MUCH easier to access the information that i need, or to achieve a state of mind that will help me with whatever i am spiritually perusing. Actually, i have been practicing and perfecting this particular form of meditation for a lot longer than i have known that there was a real reason for doing so, other than simple stress relief.

Wow.. that was longer than i thought it would be. Sorry if it was too too long.

[roseonfire]

The purpose of meditation (at least in most cases) is not to clear your mind, despite common misconception. Rather, it's used as a tool for focus.

Wanna relieve some stress? Try getting into a fixed, rhythmic breathing pattern and then visualize and FEEL your body relaxing. Do it one mussel at a time.

Wanna get a deeper perspective on something? Try closing your eyes, siting in a quiet or nature sound environment. Focus just on that topic. Consider each aspect of it. What are the different viewpoints that could be taken?

Wanna work with your chakras? Focus on your chakras. Visualize them. See them charging and opening. Imagine a white light flowing into them.

You see, you don't just clear your mind of everything. You create a focus on something so you can better get connected to it.

I'd suggest looking up some various meditation exercises and seeing what they have listed as what you do for that exercise. What commonalities do they share? This should help to gain a base understanding of just what meditation is. That should help you to grasp that better.

For your question on how long effects can take, the answer varies. It depends on you, how much you put into it, what exercises you're using, ect. For simpler things like relaxation, you may start getting real results the first try. For developing your psychic abilities, much longer.