I started practicing meditation (I am a beginner), and I struggle to understand what the exact goal of the session is. In case it helps: my current goal is mainly to remove some stress/anxiety (I am not doing it for spiritual purpose but mainly for the practical implications it can have on well-being). In the beginner books I am reading, it is explained two things: 1. You should focus on your body's sensation 2. Whenever a thought arrives, you should acknowledge it, but let it go away to focus again on your body. What I struggle with is that I don't differenciate what is the goal from the tools/tricks we can use to reach it. In particular: is focusing on your body's sensation the actual goal? Or is it a trick used to get to the goal? For instance, it could be that the goal is not to focus on the body's sensation, but rather to not let a thought occupy the mind. In this case, focusing on the body's sensation is a trick we use so that we avoid a thought to occupy the mind (because we focus on what we feel). Overall: what is the actual concrete goal of the session. If it exists, I would appreciate an answer based on scientific studies (if they exist) that explain how exactly the session should be done so that it provides the best benefits.

I've been reading/studying E F Shumacher's *A Guide for the Perplexed*, a philosophical book about the nature of knowledge and our capacity for understanding the world, especially in relation to "higher" and "lower" processes of humanity, (IE, prayer or meditation vs hunger or fear) and I'm hoping a Buddhist perspective can help me to understand one aspect of it better. In it, he refers to self-awareness as the level of human existence that is activated or discovered by mindfulness-meditation, by dismissing the thoughts that come from the level of consciousness. He says that self-awareness produces insights rather than thoughts. Shumacher was a Catholic at the time of writing this, but I understand that he studied and was influenced heavily by Buddhism, and I believe that is where his ideas about thought come from. I am not a Buddhist, though I have tried meditation. An idea that I have struggled with in all of this is the definition of thought. I have always considered the processes by which one would analyze or dismiss a thought to also be thinking. I would consider an insight to be a type of thought, not something higher than a thought. I am now struggling to understand whether I simply have too broad of a definition for thought, or am simply so philosophically-challenged that I have never experienced this process-above-thought discussed by Shumacher and Buddhism. Can you help me understand what the Buddhist definition of a "thought" is? Do you have a different word for the process by which one would dismiss a thought or analyze a thought while meditating? Everything beyond this point is my own speculation on the subject, for clarity or analysis. If you already understand my problem or misunderstanding, feel free to skip it. I have wondered if Freud's ego and super-ego may shed light on this. I would say that "thought" is the word used to describe the processes of both the ego and super-ego, but I wonder if Shumacher and Buddhism would consider "thought" to be what the ego does, and perhaps have a different word for the processes of the super-ego. I have also imagined, as Shumacher does in his book, the human being as a programmer and computer. (The programmer being the self and the computer being the human brain) The human computer carries out all the day-to-day activities we do without higher thought, while the human programmer directs the computer and programs it so that it behaves as desired. In this analogy, I would consider all communication between the "computer" and "programmer" to be thought, but I wonder if Shumacher and Buddhism considers thought to be information passed from the computer to the programmer, while directions passed from the programmer to the computer is something else. I have included the translation tag, as I suspect my answer may largely pivot on the translation of the word "thought" from Buddhist texts into English, and whether there is a more thorough translation of it that could explain this.

As e.g. if somebody harms you, you don't feel because you know that the people is only harming this body, that is just a pile of cells, and the people is incapable to harm your mind. If yes, do have some teachings to contemplate the separation of mind and body, preferably some mindfulness technique?

When I first started meditating, the body scan phase confused me. For a long time, I imagined the shape of a body in front of me in the distance, and scanned down through it. More recently I’ve realised that you get much more out of it by scanning through the feeling of my own body “in place” — but I still sometimes get muddled about which perspective I am “seeing” or “experiencing” parts of the body *from*. I’ve had the same challenge with the visualisation of the white pinprick at the solar plexus. Sometimes I wonder whether I should be looking “down” from my eyes, through my neck and into my chest… or if my “eyes” should themselves move to the chest … or… something else? At the moment I am practicing with the visualisation of the red pearl / red lotus at the throat chakra, as recommended in the book *Dream Yoga* by Andrew Holocek. The same puzzle keeps coming up! Where should this shape be relative to my mind’s eye? What angle relative to my spine in three dimensions should it be in, where should the “camera” of my mind be in relation to it, and what should the resulting image actually look like? How should the feelings of my body relate spatially to this shape? Here’s another example, a simple description of a visualisation from this blog entry that puzzles me: > Picture the energy of your root chakra as a ball of ruby light centered on the base of your spine. With each breath, see this ball becoming larger. In this example, should I be “seeing” my body in front of me, like watching a mirror, so that I can look at the base of my spine? Or should I be feeling the base of “my” spine where I know it to be? In which case, “where” is the “ruby light”? My eyes can’t see the base of my spine when they are looking roughly ahead with eyelids closed. I feel *very* confused, especially as I have managed to feel very “in” the breath and body at this point in my practice, but visualisation always humbles me. I’d welcome any guidance about this, including simple steps and theoretical underpinnings. Am I somehow too attached to the position and perspective of the eyes in my head and, if so, how would you loosen that and what replaces it? Is this a known challenge of body visualisation? Nobody seems to talk about “where” in experience a visualisation should emerge. It’s a bit disheartening.

This question is in context of practicing mindfulness in one's day-to-day activities (e.g. walking, talking, washing dishes etc.), where one is supposed to be "aware of" / "observe" / "be mindful of" these activities. But how does one be "mindful" during thinking, since the very act of "observing" thinking would interrupt the thought process? And, say, if the thought process is about solving a specific problem, the very act of "being aware of /observing" the thoughts would result in one being unable to effectively solve that problem - when compared to not observing/ not being mindful about those thoughts. Or, be unable to solve it all. The same question for when reading something very interesting, or studying, where one is fully engrossed? Wouldn't being mindful about these activities interrupt the reading/study? New to mindfulness here. Apologies if the question sounds foolish, or irrelevant due to my misunderstanding of mindfulness. Thanks in advance.

The sutta quote below talks about using different awakening factors when the mind is sluggish as opposed to when the mind is restless. What are the meditation or mindfulness techniques to be used for each case? Please elaborate and also quote from suttas, if possible. From SN 46.53 : > “... when the mind is sluggish, it’s the wrong time to develop the > awakening factors of tranquility, immersion, and equanimity. Why is > that? Because it’s hard to stimulate a sluggish mind with these > things. > > When the mind is sluggish, it’s the right time to develop the > awakening factors of investigation of principles, energy, and rapture. > Why is that? Because it’s easy to stimulate a sluggish mind with these > things. ..... > > “... when the mind is restless, it’s the wrong time to develop the > awakening factors of investigation of principles, energy, and rapture. > Why is that? Because it’s hard to settle a restless mind with these > things. > > When the mind is restless, it’s the right time to develop the > awakening factors of tranquility, immersion, and equanimity. Why is > that? Because it’s easy to settle a restless mind with these things.

In short, if i practice Vipassana meditation does it means i practice Satipatthana?

I'm not certain if this is the right place to ask this question so let me know if I need to try a different forum. Does anyone know of a guided body scan that only covers the upper body? My partner is paraplegic and is trying meditation for the first time. It could be really good for her. But the first words were "feel your feet on the floor". She tried to stick with it, but it was just too much. I know meditation sometimes means you sit with discomfort, but that is way too much pain and way too early in her trying meditation. So, if anybody knows of such a body scan from the waist up - please let me know. Also Many thanks, Kim

I am 45 years old. I’ve come to realize that I have been more or less unhappy in my life. So I met a clinical psychologist and I do show some childhood codependency issues and we could no CBT and *anapanasati* for 10in a day to get rid of my anxiety. Contrary to all our expectations a day or so after meditation, noticing the breath at nostrils, I become into a very strange mood, low energy, edgy, sad and rarely aggressive. After few days I started having panic attacks and I was asked to stop and do simple relaxation. But my concern is why is this practise giving me such negative side effects? While others enjoy calm and peace. My psychologist was of the view that it might be the traumatic childhood I underwent with my father. Which was 40 years ago. Also, I had very painful dreams of my childhood during this time. Also, loss of appetite, tension headaches and loss of taste. Does anyone had any idea why I’m getting this unwelcomed side effect? Will it stop at some point or should I give up? Kindly share your experiences.

I have done several Vipassana retreats in the past. Some questions came up to me several times without being able to answer them. - **What are the major differences between mindfulness of the body (e.g. Body scan/Vipassana meditation) and focusing on the breath (i.e Anapana Sati meditation)?** - **How can I focus my attention as it arises across my body? I am able to focus on my breath between my nose and my mouth, but when I am aware of my sensation on my legs for instance, should I stay aware of my breathing simultaneously?**

Often as part of mindfulness meditation (at least the Westernized form with which I am familiar) we can practice awareness of breath, parts of the breath, arising thoughts etc. However, if the aim of mindfulness is to be in pure consciousness, how can we at the same time be directing attention to something? Wouldn't this constitute a 'doing' which arises from thought rather than from consciousness? EDIT: I have accepted an answer that seems to be the most useful for me right now, but I can see that this a complex subject and I will certainly not ignore the content of the other answers.

I've been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's 'The Miracle of Mindfulness'. It's a wonderful, short book that I wish I had found years ago. There's one very basic thing I still struggle with. This is a quote from the book: > 'When you are walking along a path leading into a village, you can > practice mindfulness. [...] You practice by keeping this one thought > alive: "I'm walking along the path leading into the village"' Since I began mindfulness meditations a few years ago I've always aimed to practice an awareness where thoughts are merely things that happen whilst I am being aware, and that I should let them pass as they come, not engaging but not strenuously pushing away. However, is Thich Nhat Hanh suggesting in the quote that we can 'hold' a thought in our minds that mirrors the subject of our awareness, or this instead just a way of articulating the experience of awareness? He also mentions similar practices regarding mindful breathing throughout the book. This is such a basic thing that I'm concerned why I haven't 'got' it after all these years, it often feels like I understood mindfulness more when I was relatively new to it! All the best, James

Yes I have meditated and I have searched the Internet this question before landing here, what I describe below is a mixture of what I have read of what one should do during meditation and what actually happens when I actually meditate. Most of the articles I have found say that try to keep focus but here I want to ask is what do I focus upon ? My problems, my desires or just how do we keep focus without a subject to feed upon ? And while meditating I have found my thoughts wander away and keep reminding myself by repeating mentally "no I am meditating, no I am meditating". Is that the right method ? but the biggest question is when we say focus(in any other field apart from meditation) we understand it in general context as to improve our performance or invest ourselves more in that field but what does it mean in meditation, is it repeating a thought continuously in our head or something else ? While some other articles say watch the thoughts as they occur , I mean okay I could watch the thoughts that occur during a meditation session but then doesn't that seem a little contradictory ? You are producing the thoughts and then you are seeing that occur so then actually we could guide our thoughts then, why does it then say stay and observe ? I know above I have asked my questions in a hodgepodge manner so let me sum it up succinctly: - **What are we supposed to think during meditation or we do not need to think at all ?** - **Generally do we set timers for meditation sessions or do we get an intuitive feel that I can't focus or meditate any more for today ?**

In this answer by ven. Yuttadhammo, it is said that depending on the level of concentration and mindfulness of a person, attending to certain states can result in either wakefulness or tiredness. Hence, I wonder: Is it the case that strong mindfulness tends to counter unwholesome states merely by observation, and that without mindfulness these states persevere and may worsen? E.g. a person meditating on a bus mindfully will decrease hindrances, whereas a person mindwandering might increase them? If so, then I ask: Does this entail that strong meditative states 'burn' unwholesome states because of a mindfulness absent from daily life?

So I was doing breath meditation each day for 30 mins or so for around 2 years. Then over the past year I have found that it is causing me to feel strange and anxious when doing everyday tasks. When I meditate I don't feel the symptoms but during the day when I have to start thinking the symptoms come. When its at its worst loud sounds can make me feel very odd (e.g. someone shouting or laughing suddenly and loudly). However, if I have to speak and have a conversation then the symptoms tend to go. It's very frustrating because meditation has been such a great interest for me and has helped me so much in lots of other areas that I am reluctant to give it up completely. I am a pragmatist though and if the right move is to give it up completely then I will do that. Has anyone else had any experience of this or got any advice. Obviously its a tricky thing to advise on as you don't know the entirety of the situation but any help would be really appreciated. Cheers

In Vipassana meditation ,it is emphasized that one should not force the mind to concentrate on certain object or force anything to happen in particular.Its kind of letting things unfold and just watching them as they unfold .But for an untrained mind isn't watching by itself a kind of doing and if it shouldn't be a doing and is the natural state of restful alertness ,how can it be initiated without the mind feeling forced to do it.If one is driven by conditioning in a non doing state. Ardency as I understand is an important aspect of the practice ,but doing it on the razor's edge of not falling into forcing the mind,is tricky.What is the best way to initiate it so it becomes right mindfulness?.

I've been practising meditation with the breath as an object. While meditating, I am mindful of whatever arises. I feel that such awareness gives insight into the mind. However, I am wondering whether one should investigate the mind this way, or try and increase focus by narrowing onto the breath. **Would narrowing onto the breath provide more benefit?** Hence, I wonder **how close to the breath one should be in meditation? Should *all* thinking be ideally diminished?**

Watching bodily sensations is simple ,there is **always** a sensation to recognize in the present moment .Same with breathing ,hearing and seeing.Always a reception exists realtime. > For example:- > > In breathing: there is a slow breath ,heavy breath ,refreshing breath. > > In the body:There is comfort ,tightness ,discomfort. But the mind as a sixth sense isn't as easy .It doesn't seem like it always keeps receiving a continuous stream of thoughts to recognize in the present. Is there a meditation practice that can help recognize thoughts continuously ?.Or do thoughts pop out erratically and according to ones interaction with the aggregates?. **Edit** What I mean by thoughts as in ideas coming to the mind.

I noticed a reply Andrei made on a post on the results of meditating, that you become aware in your sleep while dreaming, so that your mind knows it's a dream: - [Mindfulness during sleep](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/2855/254) - [Do Arhats sleep?](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/a/92/254) This is a major confirmation sign of correct practice in Ancient Daoism (which i've been reading for years now, not knowing which is correct practice) -- and i would like Andrei's advice (and whoever else would like to share their insight) on practice technique and how you have managed to get to this advanced level.

All the songs which I have been listening since childhood are constantly popping up in my mind even the songs which I listened in the childhood. Shall I now stop listening any song altogether providing I want to uncondition my mind completely? Are there benefits to stop listening them? Also what shall I do when these old songs pope up again in the mind? Note: If it's helpful to answer let me inform you that I have been practicing mindfulness along with anapansatti.