Meditation

Due to some of the un-needed stress in my current world, I have been Meditating more to balance and ground myself.
I was wondering what are some things that you do/use to help deepen your meditative practices?

Your question is something that every person would have their own correct answer to. Something that may work for one individual, may not work for others, when the subject is something like meditation.

However, there are a few things that can aid anyone through meditation, to make the experience more deep and powerful. The use of minerals, by far, is the best way. There are very few people who cannot take advantage of the healing and overall powers of minerals, and those people are ones who do not wish to. Another thing that can certainly help is music, although nothing with a beat, since that is the possible worse thing to use during meditation. Another small detail that many do not realize, and I mention this because you said you are stressed, is that meditation does not help as much as it would if done during a time when you are, for example, highly nervous or restless, since during that time, the mind is too active and busy to get into a state for you to experience a deep and relaxing meditation. I would recommend a long time of relaxation, in case of high nerves, before one gets into meditation.

Aghrab

Thank you Aghrab, I have been Grounding and Centering. It does always help.
What minerals would be the best for certain types of meditation? I have been using a calming incense to assist in my meditations. But I didnt know if there would be types that would better suit my needs.

The best incense that I can recommend is called “Nag Champa” which is imported from India, and hand-rolled... it is the best one I have had. Using a low-quality, cheap incense during meditative work is almost as unpleasant as using music with beat. The chemicals in the cheap incense is harmful, so I recommend something more natural. The use of incense also makes the energies in the atmosphere in which you meditate more dense, and also makes it easier to project energy, so practicing energy work in a room with incense smoke is a very pleasant experience.

About the minerals, it truly has to do with what mineral best connects with your own energies. This is a process of discovery, which takes the individual to try out all minerals that he or she comes across to find which “tastes” better to them.

Aghrab

Thank you again Aghrab, what would be the best way to aquire my minerals and incense to make sure I get the best quality I need? Also what music would you recommend? I do enjoy a great deal of music and also discovering new music.
I am seeking knowledge from those that know more than I. I have allowed stress in my world and wish to find ways of removing and preventing it. I do appreciate all of your assistance.

The incense, as I said, should not be the usual low-quality ones you see in most shops. Nag Champa, and any other line of incense produced by the same brand as Nag are great.

When it comes to minerals, again, it really has to do with the individual. All minerals have their own taste of energy, so the best way to find the better one for yourself is to hold it and see which one you feel more drawn to.

Aghrab

Great,
thanks again Aghrab, I will see what I come up with.

When I meditate, I almost always use incense, and Nag Champa is one of my favorites too. I also like to use sweetgrass. I feel like it has purifying effects, and I love the scent.

One of my favorite techniques that I learned from a friend and teacher of mine is called The Void. I imagine nothing but blackness when I close my eyes, like a blank theatre screen. This quiets my mind a great deal. I have also been learning about Buddhist mantras and how to use a mandala. If I do not meditate regularly, I just don't feel right somehow.

I too have practiced The Void, it has helped me a great deal though I am am learning new ways and forms of meditation.

I have been working with music and meditation for a while now and have some conclusions.
I would disagree with avoiding a beat when using music but it is a matter of what works for you as already been stated.
Correct polyrhythmic drumming will work as well as it does for entering altered states as they do in Vodoun Petro rituals.

Meditation is essentially about willingly being able to
alter one's brain frequency to a desired state. While it
traditionally takes several years to learn the techniques of proper meditation,
you can attain the same effect with brainwave entrainment. No
special training or great discipline is required. Good meditation
frequencies are in the alpha range, from 8Hz to 13Hz.


These are binaural frequencies that stimulate parts of the brain and induce deep trance.

I am in the process of defining these concepts and will be creating appropriate Musiq which I wish to share with all of you.

Ankhhape, I look forward to your music.

I do as well, I believe that your music will really help with deep meditation.
How long before we can expect a preview Ankhhape?

Once I am finished with this 'little side project' ahem, I will begin creating some of this Musiq as well as other short pieces I will share with everyone.

wonderful, sounds great.
Dont rush yourself, we are patient lol.

That sounds great, Ankhhape. I am definitely looking forward to learning more about your music, as well as anyone else's meditation techniques.

When I meditate I like to sit on the floor, or if I meditate on the outside, I like to sit on a stone, to feeling more connected to the Earth.I usually light 3 candles and I burn incense on a special object, which makes the perfume of incense more intense.
I prefer the night to meditate, is much soft and has a certain magic that is more compatible with me.
Before meditating, I always do Pranayma, which is one slow and deeply breathing, made in the abdominal area.

For those who don't know what means exactly Pranayma, I leave here I two phrases from Wikipedia, which explains very well:

"The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prana, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "āyāma", to suspend or restrain. It is often translated as control of the life force (prana)".

I hope added something to this topic.

* leave here two phrases

Sorry for the mistake.

Nowadays I get into trance quite quickly, so my "meditation process" may seem very simple. And well, in fact it is. The first thing I do is to count in every exhalation. That is, when you inhale, do nothing, but when you exhale count one, then on the next exhalation count two and so on until you arrive at the number ten (ten because is what I need to get relaxed, this depends on the individual of course)

After that I just focus on my breathing. And the goal here is NOT to not think, but to remain empy and focused on your breathing. Everytime you try to not think, you will find yourself thinking. On every exhalation your mind gets quite relaxed and "empty". This also happens on every inhalation, however the effect is clearer and more "evident" on your exhalations, at least for me.

Therefore the goal is to "remember" this sensation that happens quite naturally everytime we exhale. It is not to avoid thoughts, but to "cover" your mind with this "emptiness". This change of focus may seem a bit silly or just a matter of linguistics, but, in the "realm" of the mind, it is a significant change.

Finally I use a "mental technique" everytime my mind gets very "talkative" or when I am in need of extra focus and concentration. A mental technique is, for example, to visualize a pair of hands pushing back your thoughts, like if they were pushing a wall. You can use any other visualization that you want, like a black hole swallowing your ideas or fire burning them. Whatever works for you.

When I meditate, I do not know exactly what I do. I am in a constant half-state of meditation most of the time as it is. When I decide to actually sink into a full meditation, I just close my eyes, and leave. I think nothing, letting my subconscious decide what to show me. Often things will remain dark and calm, but other times, especially when focusing energetically on any of my shens, I will get vivid flashes of color, and then hyper-visual journeys to places and scenes I have generally not seen before, completely unrelated to my life. I can, with a slight push from my conscious mind, drive the subject matter which the things I see are related to. Most of the time I try to focus on past memories if I can. I rarely go into a full-blown meditation though. I probably should, for the sake of my health. I just find that meditation can often leave me in a far more confused state than I began in, because of so much information being presented at once, with no fully conscious mind to process and remember it all.

I am going to meditate more often as many days as I can, for I have many things I have to do usually... At nights I will resist from going straight to sleep but rather Meditate to reach a high consciousness... I am going to dedicate myself to Astral Projection... I have done a few things in my early works with magick and energy... It just takes time and dedication

All I need for meditation is my Asetian Bible, some candles, some oils to burn, perhaps a soft nature sound playing... then I am meditating deeply.

I just had a most fascinating meditation, and I wished to share it.

After reading a couple chapters I had apparently missed much of, I held the Asetian Bible and went into meditation, focusing on cleansing my system. I saw fluctuations at first, and it seemed promising, so I pressed forward and witnessed an open temple-like cave structure. I flew into it, turned a lit corner, and passed through many hallways, going deeper and deeper into this place, almost losing it, but catching the journey again as I went straight down, spiraling into this place. I finally righted and saw an old cave tunnel with walls that were very bumpy and dank, not like the decorated walls I saw when I first entered. At the end of the tunnel were two people dressed in blue cloaks with light blue face coverings, so only their eyes showed. They were moving rocks into a pyramidal design in the corner of the room. I came close, and one looked at me, saying "well, are you going to help?" So I began moving stones into place as well. They felt slightly damp and dirty, but I didn't mind. I placed the last stone into the corner of the design and they thanked me. I wondered where I was and asked if I was in my subconscious as a way of determining the state of my subtle body. The two people (who glowed slightly, as if blurred) seemed to half-chuckle, half-acknowledge my suspicion, and ran out playfully, disappearing. My vision changed to myself, wearing a kind of strange denim apparel, and I could see golden areas glowing on my body, while other areas were dark, and as I saw them, the image of blockages came to mind, as stones covered the end of the passage. So, I moved the gold light from the center as I saw, and through the darkened areas of my body, illuminating them. As I did this, I felt energy movement within my physical self, especially as I moved it through my arms and legs. Once my entire body was soaked in gold, I let it run into the ground of the cave, and drew myself up, meditating for a moment more before opening my eyes and feeling much rejuvenated.

Does anyone know of a ideal technique to fully clear the mind, I tend to have focusing problems

Like specific postures, or as some suggested incense or mineral, or maybe a certain binaural frequency?

Also a way to calm, or even banish the ego, I hide it well, but I've been known to get a big head from time to time about things and it tends to bite me in the ass.