What's the deal with all the twitching and bodily sensations that are involved
with meditation?

Great question! Every meditator has moments when
their body, mind, or emotions distract them. This is
the way that the inner Chatterer keeps you from
gaining mastery over your mind and keeps you in a
slave-like state. One way to deal with this is to simply
Witness the changes silently, without comparing, judging,
or commenting. Just Witness. Eventually, your
mind/body/emotions will tire, and cease their gyrations. You are not
the shaking of your body, the fluctuations of your
emotions, or the uncontrolled thoughts of your mind. You
are your Witness, the awareness that is ever present.
The more you are at one with it, the closer you are
to Self-mastery. The Witness can recognize the
distractions and simply not react. When this happens, you are
free, and can act as you chose, and not simply react.

From an email: After two years of meditation…I
became intensely frustrated.I began to have clairvoyant
visions. I also began to feel like a <br>Cyclops with an
extra eye in between my eyes, only a little higher than
my natural eye level… I began to have many daily
disturbing experiences, that <br>added to my frustration… I
have gotten a couple of your newsletters and enjoyed
them immensely.I interpret some of what you say about
meditating as: A person should not be free thinking but
should keep their mind in a meditative state 24 hours a
day. In other words, I shouldn't review past
hardships...<br>Partial reply: You are greatly in need of letting go of
that which takes your peace away and replacing it with
what brings you peace. If meditating helps, do it... I
feel that you can never be free thinking without being
meditative. If you take the thinking out of free thinking,
you'll be free. I am referring to the habit of rehashing
the past and fantasizing about the future. Clarvoince
and third eye experiences are definitly interesting,
but as you know first hand, they don't necessarily
lead to the end of your suffering. Reality takes place
now, and a chattering mind that is always
judging,comparing, and commenting, will never let you experience the
present moment, and thus, Reality. Let the past go and
let the future present itself. Witness your life as
it takes place. Meditate. And, as Ram Dass says, Be
Here Now.

Question from an email: I thought I’d ask your
opinion or check to see if you have any input with regard
to any “odd” experiences as a result of meditating,
those experiences that one might not other wise
have...Clarvoiance, angel contacts,etc.<br>Partial answer:Your
experiences are not uncommon<br>and you are not alone in your
having varied feelings/thoughts about them.For the first
20 years of my meditation practice, I focused on 3rd
eye techniques as well as pranayama, and had
unspeakably glorious visions and insights. I don't think that
I actually got any happier or any<br>greater self
control, but I did understand that there is more than one
way to perceive reality, and this made me very open
and ready to receive whatever the universe brought my
way. It is usually advised to maintain a dispassionate
attitude towards life, and particularly towards<br>things
that transcend the ordinary IE: visions, angles,
spirits, etc. I feel this is a very healthy way to avoid
getting "carried away". Did you ever see the movie
"Little Buddha"? There is a great scene where Buddha
experiences amazing visions, but he remains firm in his
resolve to<br>remain focused on attaining enlightenment.
The visions turned out to have been generated by a
demon/devil, and once he recognized this, he did attain his
goal. I feel that you are at a dramatic point in your
spiritual development, and your mind is throwing whatever
it can at you, so that you will remain reactive to
it, and not it's master. Meditate. Persevere on the
goals you incarnated to attain - inner peace, wisdom,
Self knowledge,<br>Self control, and bliss. Be kind to
your Self. Witness your life as it takes place without
judgement, comparisons, or comments. Don't settle for an
angelic guide. You are most precious to That which guides
the angelic guides and your destiny is eternal,
infinite Realization.

Question: First off, I'd like to say you have a
wonderful site. I've been visiting it for some time now and
learning much. #41, Blessed Suffering has caught my eye
though. I was wondering if it would be posted soon? Any
information would be appreciated. Thank you <br>Answer:
Thanks for your kind comments. We will probably be
posting #41 soon. The concept behind it is that suffering
is good (very good!), for you. We grow spiritually
from facing great challanges. Suffering is not a
negative thing. It is an opportunity to transcend the
mistaken concept that we are our body, mind, or emotions.
If you suffer physically, it can be considered a
gift from above, because this will almost
surely<br>cause you to seek help from "A Higher Power". If you
suffer from fear, same thing. What is it that they
say.... There are no athiests in a foxhole. All suffering
automatically makes us look to transcend it. Ultimately, the
only transcendance that "works" is Realization of the
Truth. Thus, nothing forces us onto the path to
spiritual freedom quicker and more powerfully than
suffering. As far as the actual techniques:<br>1. Inhale
wisdom, peace, truth, love, compassion, and exhale
suffering.<br>2. Fill every cell in your body with the exact
opposite of what you suffer from. If you suffer
physically, send soothing sensations everywhere, if you
suffer from feelings of inadequacy, drench yourself in
confidence, if thoughts of gloom fill you, empty and fill
with joy, etc.<br>3. Give your suffering to your diety
(see technique #1).<br>And on and on, and on. The best
suggestion that I can make for you is to sit in meditation
and concentrate on suffering. Just try to find
for<br>yourself why the concept refers to "Blessed
suffering".<br>I hope this helps some.

Question: I think this way (meditation) is a very
good choice. Maybe people who suffer from depression
and anxiety and such diseases should try
meditation.It´s hard to start and even harder to know where to
start :)I think it´s just makes me tired if i try to
think on the word AUM for example so i tried to focus
on the "NOW"...not just the word but the entire
meaning of it.<br>Have you come a far way in
meditation?<br>Answer: NOW is a wonderful time to be aware and the only
time that reality takes place, so I commend you on
focusing on the NOW. Mindfullness<br>meditation is one of
the fastest growing in popularity techniques and is
appropriate for every meditator.<br>You asked if I have come
a far way in meditation. I have changed from being
miserable to serene, poor concentration skills to being
able to be one pointed, emotionally out of control
(road rage and all), to a consistant tranquility. Sad
to happy, suffering to joyous. And I can only point
to meditation as the thing that weeded my garden
well enough to allow the fruits and flowers to grow. I
am fully convinced that spiritual awakening comes
only by grace, but also feel that meditation points
the way nicely. And as they say, if it worked on a
fool like me, it'll help anyone!

Question (from email): Why are affirmations
recommended? What's your favorite?<br>Answer: Affirmations can
reverse a negative self image. For example, your "Inner
Chatterer" may have formed a habit of telling you that
you're not worthy of good things happening to you. So
when you have the opportunity to have something good
happen, it tells you that you don't deserve it and you
give up on making the effort necessary to have the
"good" thing happen. In this case, by doing affitmations
that state that you do deserve to have all good come
into your life, you can actually rewire your brain,
your neuro-responses, to respond with a positive
reaction and do what is appropriate to achieve the "good"
thing. I hope this is clear. My favorite affirmation is
an unusally long one, but contains a wonderful
concept. It goes something like this:<br>"Before your
Mother even knew you were within her, before any
religious leaders, teachers, family members, anyone, knew
you were there, the Highest Power so loved you that
He gave you life, shelter, nourishment, and
protection, so that you would survive and thrive. And with
every breath, this loving blessing and protection
continues, in spite of anything you or anyone else has ever
done or thought about you or your actions. With every
heartbeat, you are forgiven and given love and life and your
bond with the Highest Power continues and will
continue ever after."

Hi all<br>I wanna meditate to have an OOBE ,can
anybody help me with a good meditation technics.<br>or if
u`d like to share ur experince with me plz do write
to me at osman_79-kb@... .<br>with luv

Hi - Have you checked out messages #60 and 62?
They deal with OOB methodology. But please let me add
that with OOB, and virtually everything else that
deals with meditation, intention is very important. If
our intention is to evolve and become purer vehicles
of Truth, whatever we do will be beneficial for
ourselves and everyone else. If what we do is for selfish
reasons, we will ultimately suffer. For instance, if we
just want to have OOB experiences simply to have
another thrilling experience in our life, we will not
gain as much as we would if our purpose was to really
know that we are not just our physical body, and thus
gain a degree of liberation. I don't want to
discourage you from experimenting with OOB, because we do
this every night during sleep. I feel that we should
be aware at all times and that includes during
sleep. This is called Lucid dreaming. But, as is true
with many meditation techniques, it is beneficial to
have good guidance at the start. Please use this
message board for questions that may arise or if you just
want to share. We will always try to help. I also feel
that if the universe wants that guidance to be through
a physical teacher, you will end up sitting in one
of our classes, or in some other similar situation.
If not, what you need will come to you when you need
it. But, as I said before, a simple rule of thumb is
to be very sure your intention is righteous and not
just materialistic or egoistic, and you will not go
wrong. I hope you enjoy you experiences, whether OOB or
in the physical, and wish you peace and blessings.

Question (from class); I know that Mantra is the
saying of a word or phrase over and over, but why do
it?<br>Answer: As the Bible (In the beginning was the Word,
etc.), and science (In the beginning was the Big Bang),
tell us, we are sound. And like a radio, sometimes the
sounds we make are static. Mantra "tunes us in". to the
vibration of the harmonics of the universe. Once adjusted
correctly, we receive the perfect note we need for our
spiritual evolution and freedom from suffering. The quest
for Truth is sometimes referred to as "The Search for
the Lost Chord". It can be found/heard/experienced in
silence and by attuning yourself to it's clarified
vibration through Mantra. Mantra will lead to the
Silence/Void/state of No-mind from which every sound and everything
arises. More people practice Mantra than all the other
meditation techniques put together. At any given time,
hundreds of millions of people are doing Mantra. When we
do our Mantra, we join all of them in the divine
vibration that transcends the illusionary "separate from
the rest of the universe" view of reality that causes
our suffering. We then join and enjoy the infinite,
eternal wonders that are our birthright and know our
unity with All and Everything. And live happily ever
after.

We've been getting so many nice compliments about
the new issue of our newsletter, The Inner Traveler,
that I thought it would be an appropriate thing to
share as a sort of holiday season gift to our message
board readers.<br>It can be found on our site
at:<br><a href=http://www.meditationsociety.com/it54456/index.html
target=new>http://www.meditationsociety.com/it54456/index.html</a><br>It is a
fairly large file and may take a little
while to download, but I think it will be worth your
patience. I hope you enjoy and benefit from it.<br>Peace
and blessings,<br>Bob Rose

Greetings,<br><br>what is the view here.<br><br>1. meditate to get
enlightened<br>2. meditate to purify the energies?<br><br>Cool
site.<br><br>hellman<br><a href=http://www.oshana.org/
target=new>http://www.oshana.org/</a>

Hi - If I understand your question correctly, I
will answer by saying that I feel that Enlightenment
is realized by grace and we can't really say there
is a cause and effect relationship with meditation.
But, every Enlightened person seems to have been a
meditator, and it certainly seems to be the best "pointer"
to what should be removed or replaced in our
personality, mind, physical and emotional reactions, that
prevent us from Realization. And this would certainly
agree with the concept of meditating "to purify the
energies". I hope this is the type response you were looking
for.

Hi, <br><br> 1st, a word of praise for the
founder of this club, for his seemingly tireless
attention.<br>-------------------------------------------------<br><br> I think
I first became interested in something
related to meditation through reading a book, "The Inner
Game of Tennis" by Tim Gallwey.<br><br> One thing I
read in the book was about what to do between points
in a tennis match. The author suggested placing
awareness on one's breathing between points to help stay in
the present moment, to stop an over-active mind from
diminishing one's energies?<br><br> I thought this was all
well and neat, and applied it to my sports career,
much to my enjoyment.<br><br> My mind started
inquiring, "Can't I apply what I learned, to life off the
court?" I had seen what I considered the benefits while
playing a sport, and wanted to apply this to my life
outside of sports...<br><br> I wasn't sure of an easy way
to always keep myself in the present, and stop the
endless chatter in my mind. So eventually, I took
breathing. I would become aware of my breathing throughout
the day, whenever I remembered, to interrupt my
negative thought patterns.<br><br> That takes me to the
current day. Along the way I began a seated meditation
practice as well. I used the same thing, attention on the
breath as a point of focus during meditation.<br><br>
Later on, awareness of the heartbeat/pulse joined
awareness of the breath as a point of
focus.<br><br>------------------------------------------------<br><br>Question:<\
br><br> I am comfortable with my current meditation
technique/practice. Is there something different/additional you'd
recommend trying?<br><br>thanks,<br><br>Happy New
Year,<br><br>peace

I think I was thinking of msg 50 when I wrote msg
# 91. About the "suggestions for replacing your
negative monologs?" part..<br><br>It's great when we can
stop being our own worst enemy(if we are), and stop
beating ourselves up...<br><br>Happy New Year!

First of all, thanks for the encouraging words.
Now to the question. I too had breathing awareness as
the prime meditation technique that I used for almost
20 years. Similarly to you, I too began to use it
during seated meditation as well as during movement. I
also began to become aware of more and more things
that were in the "Now" (like heartbeat/pulse,etc.).
Eventually, I found that 3rd eye technique became part of
what presented itself as my Concentration merged into
Meditation and Meditation into Contemplation.<br>I think
that this is a natural process, and that what you need
for your spiritual evolution will naturally,
effortlessly present itself without your having to do anything
"new". The classic teachings point to continuing doing
what has brought you success (peace) in meditation.
The more you do it, the closer you come to not having
to "do" anything and to experiencing your meditation
coming to you. There is a cliche that says that when you
need a teacher, one will come to you. The best teacher
is your meditation, and when you need it, it will
evolve and your serenity, knowledge, and bliss will grow
as well. Evolutionarily, eventually, you will live
happily ever after.

you're welcome for the words.<br>Thank you.
Although that response perhaps does not seem too cryptic,
why do I feel I'll understand it better 5 yrs from
now than I do now? ha ha ha<br><br>:)<br><br>and in a
way - I feel I'm living happily ever after already,
we'll see if it continues!<br><br>thanks
again<br><br>oh yeah, as to 3rd eye technique - I have been
desiring to learn to see auras. So I think it's neat you
posted something about a 3rd eye technique, as I suspect
that is related to being able to "see"- see auras or
whatever.<br><br>thanks again , where do I learn more about 3rd eye
techniques?<br><br>thank you...<br><br>Gregory

you're welcome for the words.<br>Thank you.
Although that response perhaps does not seem too cryptic,
why do I feel I'll understand it better 5 yrs from
now than I do now? ha ha
ha<br><br>:)<br><br><br>thanks again<br><br>oh yeah, as to 3rd eye technique - I
have been desiring to learn to see auras. So I think
it's neat you posted something about a 3rd eye
technique, as I suspect that is related to being able to
"see"- see auras or whatever.<br><br>thanks again ,
where do I learn more about 3rd eye
techniques?<br><br>thank you...<br><br>Gregory<br><br>and in a way - I
feel I'm living happily ever after already, we'll see
if it continues!

A mantra is truly a key to dissolve the illusion
of Maya. It is a seed that is planted in the
devotee's heart by the Guru. If meditated upon, the seed
grows and the illusion disappears. It is a focal point
to dissolve the mind from all thoughts. All words
represent something in reality or in Maya. A mantra is the
essence of the transcendence of ego, mind, duality, etc.
It represents the absolute, without beginning or
end. In the end, there is no mantra...no
absolute...nothing that can be expressed by words. The mantra
transports one to that. And, that thou art! "One, without a
second."

Questions from an email:<br>Can meditation help
in gaining psychic skills?<br>Do incense and music
help meditation?<br>My body twitches and I have to
swallow alot when I do breathing techniques. What can
help this?<br>Answers:<br>There may or may not be a
connection between meditation and psychic ability.One of the
things that meditation practice lets you do is to
increase your concentration skills. So, if a meditator is
trying to focus on something, it is less likely that
they will be distracted. Also important is that a
meditator becomes able to empty their mind. This would
enable new thoughts and feelings(sometime called"psychic
impressions")to come in.<br><br>For some people, incense and
music can be very soothing and condusive to meditation.
For other people, they will be distracting. You will
have<br>to experiment to see what works best for
you.<br><br>As far as not being able to concentrate because your
body, mind, or emotions distract you, this happens to
every meditator. When this happens, you<br>have the
opportunity to learn what takes you peace away from you. Once
you discover this, you can learn to either ignore
these things, or do<br>something to prevent their
occuring. So, actually, it is a good thing that your
meditation was<br>interrupted because by recognizing what
caused it, you will soon be able to deal with what
distracts you during the usual events in your
life.<br><br>I hope this helps.

Dear Gregory,<br>Nice post! As far as learning
about 3rd eye technique, we will be posting one on our
site, Meditation Station,
<a href=http://www.meditationsociety.com
target=new>http://www.meditationsociety.com</a><br>very soon. It may also appear
as the featured article
in the next issue of our newsletter, The Inner
Traveler. If so, that should be coming out sometime in the
middle of Feb, and the posting on Meditation Station
would follow that. In any event, if anyone wants a
"sneak preview", please email me at
medit8@... and I'll email you an attached copy
back.<br>Peace and blessings, Bob

Do you feel that the mantra is a means to the end
i.e. enlightenment or preparation for meeting a
teacher and being receptive to his transmission which
catalyses
enlightenment?<br><br>Hellman<br><a href=http://www.oshana.org
target=new>http://www.oshana.org</a>

Dear Hellman, Enlightenment comes from Grace.
There is no sure-fire way to prepare for it. One person
could say mantras for decades and live in the presence
of an enlightened saint, and yet never attain the
realization of enlightenment because they were so full of
spiritual pride, while another could have led their life as
a "sinner" and suddenly see the folly of their ways
and attain the divine state that is our birthright.
Mantra is a wonderful practice and has great potential,
but intention is very important. If you just want to
be able to say "I say my mantra for more hours a day
than you do", the mantra will probably not be too
helpful towards your spiritual growth. Similarly, every
"real" teacher seems to have incredibly unevolved people
around them. The thinking is that they are the ones who
need the teacher the most. There have been many
saints, like Swami Sivananda, and Sri Nisargadatta who
only had very brief contact with their Guru's, and yet
attained the highest states of Enlightenment. Their
intention was selfless, pure, focused, and determined. To
be sure, many, many people have chanted mantras and
attained Enlightenment. Similarly, Swami Vivakananda had
Enlightenment transmitted by his teacher's touch (Ramakrishna).
But it still comes down to Grace. When the universe
needs us to receive a mantra, or have a teacher, or
attain Realization of Enlightenment, it will happen. And
we will live happily ever after.

Thank you for your excellent answer. It
encapsulates traditional thinking on this issue very
well.<br><br>My teacher Oshana sais that we should always unpack
concepts.<br><br>I agree that preparation is not a guarantee, but I
would say that it is a necessity. Though this
preparation may have happened in a past life - just to
confound things.<br><br>So then what is Grace? Is it not
another word for a miracle. <br><br>When Ramana Maharshi
met Papaji (HWL Poonja) he could see that he was
ready to Awaken. So it seems that there are 'signs' to
be seen.<br><br>best
wishes<br><br>hellman<br><br><a href=http://www.oshana.org/
target=new>http://www.oshana.org/</a>

Greetings to all!<br><br>I have spent some time
reading messages and I saw that club is going very good
thanks to his webmaster who keeps giving questions and
themes to talk about.<br>Keep up the good work!

Thanks for your kind comments. We are dedicated
to sharing meditation concepts and techniques from
all traditions, and your kind comments give us hope
that we are going in the right direction. I encourage
you, and everyone who visits this message board to
make use of it. Interactions with fellow seekers can
be very beneficial to a meditator. We all face
common challanges and knowing that others have gone
through them and some have found ways to deal with them
can help our progress. Thanks for joining our effort.

Question from e-mail:<br>How long will it take to
control my mind?<br>Answer:<br>This will be different for
everyone. One <br>person may gain a measure of control
after just <br>a few days, while another may take
decades.<br>There is one thing that is universal though -
<br>meditation will help the process tremendously. <br>Witness
your mind while meditating and you <br>will gain
insights into the ways that your mind <br>has enslaved and
distracted you and taken your <br>peace away. Your mind is a
great instrument, <br>but, like musical instruments,
must be practiced to learn to play correctly. Find a
technique, persevere,apply what you learn, and you will gain
control of your mind and it will serve you well. And you
will live happily ever after.

I have just started meditating again after a long
period of time. I find that when I meditate, especialy
when using techniques like counting the breath, and
mind clearing, that images from my past pop up in my
minds eye. I don't really think about these images,
they are more like scenes with no thought or emotion
tied to them. I don't lose count of my breath or get
distracted but I wonder how much effort should I give to
trying to erase them and does this mean that I am not
truly in the present moment. Should I stop my counting
and start over? Am I doing something wrong? I don't
feel like I can stop these scenes from coming up.

Could you please explain the difference, if any,
between mantras and affirmations. From my readings it
seems that mantras are more of a spritual saying or
prayer as opposed to affirmations which are used for
personal improvement.

Just let the images come to you and witness them.
You don't need to try and stop them. It's just your
mind trying to distract you from your meditation
practice. You aren't doing anything wrong. All kinds of
things can pop up during meditation. The fact that you
don't think about the images and don't let them
distract you is good. I think eventually they will stop,
but even if they don't it's OK. Keep meditating. You
are doing good.