Meditation

Meditation can be just clearing you thoughts and focusing on a singular thing to strengthen your endurance, or it can be moving your energy throughout your body, making a foundation. Foundation work is Important because it is the basis of all you will do and achieve, it is a constantly useful and essential thing. It deserves innate respect but it is often glossed over and given out haphazardly.

People will tell you that "Meditation is sitting, clearing your mind, breathing, and focusing on a goal" or something similar. That's a rubbish response that only goes about a toe's depth into the water and does a person no good if they're not visually oriented. It lacks.

They fail to explain that the Feeling that one channels is just as important as anything one visualizes. Therefore those who grasp magic by feeling best are left with nothing to go by.

It's the action that's taken, not "clearing the mind", that defines meditation. The changing of brainwave states, meditation is our method to actively participate in such change instead of being drug along by it (when we fall asleep or daydream, we're Involuntarily/naturally changing brainwave states).

Meditation is active being. Using your consciousness and moving it, regarding inwards. Grounding and centering are meditative activities that both involve moving ones perspective around the body. They're both factors of meditation and are essentially interchangeable in concept if not in purpose.

## Types of Meditation:

* **Relaxation Meditation** - If you're new to meditating and can't get visualization down try this simple technique: get in a comfortable position, sitting, lying down, wherever you can be comfortable. First think of each group of muscles in each limb, lower left foot, ankle, and so on. Think of each of the groups becoming more relaxed and suck in. After your arms and legs move on to your chest and then too your head. Repeat until you're relaxed. After you're relaxed begin counting from 100 down too 0 then from 30 to 0 or 10 inhale, 9 exhale 10 seconds in a row. Once you have reached 0 you will be left with your mind, no thoughts. This might take a few tries to get right, just keep trying.
* **Breathing Meditation** - Breathing is one of the first things we do when we are born. And one of the last things we do before we die. Breathing is the most basic way to receive energy, air follows in through the nostrils, but energy is the main source of breathing. If we practice this in meditation, we will eventually learn how to breathe in energy the proper way. First sit down in a comfortable position. Let all thoughts and emotions gather in as you breathe in. Then let them all go as you exhale, keep going this till you are relaxed. From there just focus solely on your breath, and nothing else. Observe it and feel the energy. Do not breathe by command, just observe.
* **Mindfulness Meditation** - The most well-known type of meditation, mindfulness meditation, is about being aware of the sounds and activities happening around you. It's almost a flow-like type of meditation, because you literally just let your mind be fluid and flow from one thought to the next, not really focusing on one particular thing. For instance, if you live in a noisy city, you don't have to block out the outside sirens and screaming children, you let your mind be aware of the sounds without becoming too focused.
* **Focused Meditation** - If the idea of clearing your mind of all thoughts stresses you out, focused meditation is great because you can focus on a sound, object, mantra, or thought. The key here is to just focus on one of these things and stay committed to that one thought or object. This is when relaxation music comes in handy. Even though you're essentially using your mind, you'll be amazed at how rejuvenated you feel afterwards.
* **Movement Meditation** - Movement meditation may seem intimidating, but if you're by yourself and you really get into it, it can be extremely uplifting and relaxing at the same time. Sitting with your eyes closed, simply focus on your breath and try out different gentle, repetitive flowing movements. Rather than focus on a sound, object, or thought, just turn your attention to your movement.
* **Black hole meditation** - First, relax the body and close your eyes. Visualize the thoughts of the day are being gathered in your head. Then visualize a black hole forming and sucking those thoughts where they can't escape, and visualize the black hole exploding, leaving your mind in darkness and with no disturbances. This is a fast way to meditate and this does work.

## A Meditation Example

A meditation example that greatly helps me, is sitting still and forming a psi ball. Once i am sitting down, in my mind I imagine this: a hand grabs a marble of energy from each of my chakras, and places it in my heart (my main chakras) then, I send the energy in a wave of liquid to my hands, where the energy leaks from my hands into a sphere, as if a glass ball if filling with golden water. I hold it there, imagining what a solid sphere would feel like on my hands, and what a glowing ball of energy would look like. Then I imagine my hands sucking the golden liquid back into my body, and it dispersing throughout my body once more. This may be confusing, and usually it is, but once you try it and feel what I am talking about, then you realize. My first time I tried forming a psi ball, my mind kept wandering, and loosing focus, but now? I feel as if I am holding a solid object. Not the cold surface of a metal sphere, but a tingly sensation as if my brain knows there is nothing there physically, but astrally there is.

## A Second Meditation Example From Ashiok

* This is a dissected explanation of Meditation as an action, as well it evolves into a discussion of how to Use meditation actively to interact with ones inner currents and energies.\*\*

Find a place that is comfortable. Dark and quiet is best. Lay down if you can be trusted not to fall asleep too soon, sit, as long as you're comfortable and able to relax. First relax the body, then relax the mind. Both are innately connected and if you're mind is bothered your body's actions to relax will help you quiet the day's pains. It works both ways, since both are so connected. This is how you may surpass the emotional turmoil in life, by submerging your consciousness into the process of meditation and allowing the flow to become your focus.

When you are settled, begin by relaxing intentionally. Starting from the crown of your head, attempt to tense muscle groups. Even ones you might not use normally, in any way you feel you can. Do not stress the body to strain, but clench noticeably for a few seconds and then release it. Move to the next muscle group, do the same thing. Allow this to be a slow moving "wave" from the head to the toes, repeat several times as needed until you are fully relaxed. Until you feel lighter and your inner turmoil has calmed.

Once the body is relaxed the mind can be refocused. By intentionally directing your attention to your breathing and maintaining a specific count of breathing (i.e.: breathe out for 4 heartbeats, hold for 4 heartbeats, breathe in for 4 heartbeats, hold for 4 heartbeats, ect ect) you are able to submerge your consciousness into the Pattern you're creating, allowing your inner focus to expand. This exercise distracts the surface thoughts. It doesn't need to totally erase your train of thought, it just needs you to realize everything that pops up doesn't need to be "chased" or "dwelled on". If you have a thought "I wonder X?" just let it fall flat as it is and it will disappear. It only grows when indulged, and indulgence is what's counter productive.

As you breathe and observe the breathe, allow yourself to feel your breathing. Feel each breath flow into your lips, past the teeth, into the throat, down the esophagus and into the lungs. Feel the lungs fill.

When you are content and familiar with the lungs and their sensations, you may then set them aside in your mind. There are other inner currents to begin to observe.

The blood and heartbeat is the second inner current to observe. Some will feel their heartbeat right away. Others will observe the inner flow from the lungs on the exhale, as the blood and lungs are deeply intertwined by the exchange of oxygen. Regardless of how you choose to find your pulse, when you ignore the breath the pulse of blood is the next inner current.

Allow yourself to feel the heartbeat. Feel the pulse of blood push through the body, allowing your consciousness to flow the flow of blood through each limb, through the major arteries. Let yourself slip along the stream, some of you may even begin to "see" the flow of blood, or the platelets flow past your inner eye.

When you become familiar with the blood and heartbeat, then you may also discard that sensation as well. There is now the most interesting of the inner currents. Your life force, call it what you will.

When you set aside the other sensations and allow your consciousness to move into the center of yourself, physically and metaphorically both, you will find yourself "sinking" into a place within your self. It's a place of calm, of depth. It is where you feel Most balanced and whole as your consciousness dwells there.

* Not only does this allow you to find a power center to touch first, it also allows you to understand Centering, as allowing yourself to dwell in balance is the goal of being Centered.

The flow of life through you is vital and closely follows the blood, but it also pools in other places. The chest and lower body are places where energy forms larger pools, including our center, but there are also 7 main intense power points (several more obscure ones, countless tiny ones ect) that we can interact with.

These power points are known as chakras. Interacting with your energies here and observing the flow should be the goal, understanding of how it feels is important. Once these familiarities and understandings have been achieved, farther steps can be taken.

Understanding how to touch your energy and how to get the most you can from your energy body is a key to understanding and applying magic.

(It would also be worth noting that experience with meditation can be built in increments if needed. It's best to do so before bed or when one has time alone, but if there isn't much time available or you struggle, you can start in very small increments (like 5 min) and slowly build as the weeks go by. As long as you allow yourself to progress and push your boundaries, you will grow.)

https://psi.fandom.com/wiki/Meditation is where some of this information came from, as well as from Ashiok.