Benefits of Deep Meditation and Several Types to Try

So of course we all know about Meditation for relaxation, but did you know you can also use it to discover what is bothering you most? You can use it to find your true worth, and to solve important problems. The point of it is to enter a trance state and to exercise your intent in that state. Intense focus is required to solve problems. Ordinary mindfulness is not enough. You have to take it to the next level to reach the subconscious mind. This is the reason for the multiple stages of traditional forms of meditation. The stages each prepare you for the next one. According to Zen, the first major Milestone is Kenshou, where you reach yourself and learn who you truly are. This is also the first step in other traditions. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First let's talk about your space. The place where you meditate is very important. It should be a place of focus, which is quiet and comfortable. Also, to set the mood include incense or smudge equipment, and wear loose clothing. Some people, myself included, wear special clothing for it. I have a robe which I am slowly adding the tools and armor of the practitioner to. It is a trick to keep your mind clear to attach armor such as metal bells and cones, boar's teeth, and bear claws. This is in my own tradition, you must find your own armor. But brass bells and cones are common. The clinking sound is said to drive out negativity. I associate the boar and bear with their strong attribute. It's all psychology in the end. Maybe you associate strength and clarity to muscle cars, so you wear a bunch of nuts and bolts from a vintage mustang. What matters is what you consider to fit the bill. Whatever you think, is more powerful for you than what others think. The tools are small charms that you take with you in trance to use in your subconscious. Usually there is a weapon of some kind and a mirror. Mirrors only show the truth and weapons are used to dispel negative energy. My robe has fringe covering my eyes on the hood. This serves two purposes. One, it helps to restrict your vision so you are not distracted, and two when in trance, your eyes sometimes roll back and scare other people. Different traditions use different eye covers. Some use masks, or deep hoods, or in the case of some Buddhist monks, a basket.

What to do when you get there though? So say you have meditated deeply and gotten to a trance state. Next you have a great tree in front of you, there are 3 entrances. The middle one is to your subconcious and lies in the tree trunk. Don't enter the others until you reach Kenshou. Open the door and enter. Then you will see much scenery from your life, follow it back to the beginning and you will find your true self. Ask what your name is, and keep this name secret. Once you know your true name or your soul name, you can always see your true self and nobody else will have influence on you unless you let them. This is Kenshou. If you were to enter the other doors afterwards, you can see the past with all of your ancestors at the roots of the tree and the high door in the boughs will show you all possibilities for the future. It is a journey to the roots that informs us of the things gone on before and how to use information from the top of the tree. When you are ready to leave, go back the way you came. When you come out of trance, eat food from this world to solidify your connection to it.

Ways to reach a trance through Meditation:

1. Dance. Dance in a circular or spiral pattern until your whole being fades away, you will often fall at the end when you enter a trance state. So do it where you can direct your fall somewhere soft.

2. Kargyraa and Drums. This is the way I get to the tree. There are lots of kinds of meditation, they're not all quiet. Throat singing requires breath control and muscle control, and thus this intense focus induces trance. The drumming fills in the gaps when you have to take a breath to keep a sound going so you don't lose focus. I use a large frame drum made of goatskin and wood. The throat singing opens the heart chakra. Your whole body feels fuzzy and warm, and then boom, trance state. Takes about 30 minutes for me to get to the Tree that way. I'm working on building up my stamina. It takes a lot out of you. But then you discover the root of what is bothering you and deal with it, and you feel a lot better afterwards, like a great weight has been lifted from your back.

3. Singing. A long loud song can get you into trance. Often wailing type and drone type sounds are most effective.

Many people think that meditation is inherently connected to certain religious beliefs or you have to join some philosophical system.

Meditation works regardless what you believe,  it's a natural function of the human mind to be able to be entranced through various repetitive activities.
I personally have found simple breathing and walking meditation techniques to be useful to me.

Cris Bessette wrote:Many people think that meditation is inherently connected to certain religious beliefs or you have to join some philosophical system.

Meditation works regardless what you believe,  it's a natural function of the human mind to be able to be entranced through various repetitive activities.
I personally have found simple breathing and walking meditation techniques to be useful to me.

I don't think you have to join any particular system. I have learned from many sources myself. Like I said above, whatever you think works will work better for you than what someone else thinks will work.

There's a really cool thread called Yoga on the farm getting great posts, and in one of them meditation is mentioned. I found this thread on meditation as I just started incorporating meditation into my daily life this year, and seek advice from others who meditate, and thought it would be best to post it here instead of distracting from the yoga thread. Meditation has profoundly changed and improved my livelihood and well being, but I struggle to meditate in a sitting position as one or both legs go numb. Sometimes I notice it when I begin to relax and try to adjust, other times I don't, and when I come back from some meditative state, my legs are completely useless, have no feeling, I can't move them, and have to use my arms to get my legs straightened out and wait out the somewhat uncomfortable tingly process of sensation returning to my legs before I can stand up. Does anyone else have this challenge?

Some of my favorite ways to enter a meditative state are:

dancing
singing
weeding
running
playing guitar

If I sing and dance while I'm weeding, it's super meditative.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:
Some of my favorite ways to enter a meditative state are:

dancing
singing
weeding
running
playing guitar

If I sing and dance while I'm weeding, it's super meditative.

When you first wrote this, I didn't get it. Now, I do. I am just beginning to be able to do tasks while also being in a state of thoughtlessness, being aware of being aware.

I chant/sing, usually in Sanskrit, while I weed or run the tractor or mower. It is good for my head, gives me a brain break from the world, while I get work done.

I'm not good at all at thoughtless these days, so I choose the thoughts I listen to when I can. Listening to my singing is good thoughts, since I  can't shut them off, I can drown them out.

I have a problem figuring out meditation so some of the suggestions seem odd.

I see meditation as something quiet and restful, sort of restorative.

Playing the guitar and maybe singing might work for me though some of the other suggestions seem too active. Especially the dancing and drums.

Maybe I just don't "get it".

Anne Miller wrote:I have a problem figuring out meditation so some of the suggestions seem odd.

I see meditation as something quiet and restful, sort of restorative.

Playing the guitar and maybe singing might work for me though some of the other suggestions seem too active. Especially the dancing and drums.

Maybe I just don't "get it".

Well, there are several kinds of meditation, and then some folks may use the term to describe a relaxed state. Some identify meditation with a trance like state, which music and drumming can do, even to the one playing the instrument, where active thinking can cease altogether. What many circles deem authentic meditation is quieting the mind to a place of presence or awareness. Thoughts may and often do still arise. Imagine meditating in a state of presence or awareness as being the entire sky, and the thoughts are mere clouds that simply pass. It's letting those thoughts come and go in the "background" without giving attention to them or grabbing hold of them and making a thought a focal point and it becoming active thinking. Some use meditation as a tool to unwind after a day, or to recenter during the day, and others have meditation as a foundation of their spiritual path. There are also guided meditations, which can be called akin to storytelling. Some use meditation to enter a state of Samadhi, which can last for days, but that is more specific to a path of yoga. Others, such as myself, are taking the meditative state of quiet awareness, or being aware of being aware, and going further than having it as a meditative exercise and with ever present practice, slowly establishing that as a state of existence and allowing the identity of the egoic mind to fade.

I love this!!!  It took me awhile to 'settle' down a bit to meditate and I love to explore different ways to :)  Keep us updated please!  Thanks!  Lilia

Thank you James for the detailed explanation.  That was really helpful.

One of my favorites is, when you're outside and there's all the random sounds of your environment, paying attention to the silences instead of the sounds. All those silences between the bird and bug calls and the rustles. There's a similar one for more visual folk where you're somewhere with dappled lighting and pay attention to the shadows instead of the bright spots.