AnthonyR

Many years ago I used to practice Transcendental Meditation - TM (which uses a mantra), twice a day for 20 mins each (Eyes Closed). Eventually I got lazy and got caught up in other life issues and stopped meditating completely. Once a while I would start it up again and then lose focus and give up. Well guess what? I’ve started meditation again. This time around I want to stick to it. Recently however I came across the Do NothIng - DN meditation technique and decided to give it a try. The first time I tried it was while sitting on a subway train, with all that noise, people coming and going, the ringing and chiming of the subway doors opening and closing. All the while I sat staring (eyes open) at the floor of the subway car my eyes kinda out of focus and dazed, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I now meditate twice a day or more; So in the morning after I wake up, I use the TM technique that I’m familiar with, and then later in the afternoon or in the evening I try the DN technique. Both 20/25 mins each. I’d just like to know if there are any upside or downsides to using two different meditation techniques? Or should I just be focused on one technique? Personally I don’t feel it’s something I need to be concerned about, and using both techniques in the day is fine. Thoughts?

Thanks for Sharing. I believe its a good practice to learn to focus and concentrate, i do get distracted by thoughts many times.

I very much doubt that can be experienced. Because if it is experienced, its purity becomes tarnished. But while it cannot be experienced, its after-effects can be felt. This is why you meditate. You try to reach that level of pure no-thought, no perception, no nothing. When you're in this state, you will never know it, you will only feel its effects after you come back to sensory experience. I do not know if it is alive and aware. "Alive" and "Aware" is a human experience. But it may be the closest description or words we can use to try to understand if pure and absolute silence is aware of itself. It may be Alive and Aware, but not how You and I understand the meaning of those words. Its awareness of purity, of silence, of absolute infinity may transcend our understanding of what it means to really be Alive and Aware, without breath, without perception, without experience, or maybe all of it.

Here is one way of looking at it: The reality of everything is "Nothing" unless observed, unless perceived (with the senses) then labeled and defined. Nothing becomes something when it "Observed". The act of observation, or the act of perception, creates something out of Nothing. The only way you know an Apple, is because you perceive it, you inquire about it, you inspect it, then call it an Apple. Take away your five senses one by one and the knowledge of the apple slowly disappears until eventually it becomes non-existent to you. Much like everything else in the universe. The only reason you "See" the apple is because photons of Light are reflecting of the skin of the apple, which is absorbing some of the colors of white light and reflecting the rest. What you see with your eye is reflected light. Without the eye, light and dark becomes meaningless aka non-existent. So try and see the world, not with the senses, but in the absence of all senses, all perception and all knowledge. Once you do that, everything becomes absolutely and purely Nothing. In the absence of perception there is no 0 either. In fact there is no Nothing either. Just Pure and Absolute Silence.

Agree

Thanks for responding, although I do not understand what you mean by saying to add 2 minutes of concentration practice. I’m not familiar with that.

Ask yourself: is it really the fear of being around people? Or the fact that you have no idea what to talk about when you are around people. Go deeper than that and find the root cause of the overall social issue you’re dealing with. Perhaps read the news, so you have something to talk about. Find a subject that interest you and read and learn everything you can on that subject. Reading and learning is one way to expand your brain, but so is networking with people. But don’t let the “Networking” word scare you. It’s just a matter of finding some commonality on a subject or topic that interest both of you and then simply talking about it. On the other hand even being a listener is sufficient, you don’t always have to say something. But you can seem interested in what the person is saying by showing interest and listening. By listening you are also learning, and if you agree with what the person is saying you can thank them for their insight, their company and their ideas, and perhaps store that knowledge at the back of your mind as something you can perhaps talk about with someone else.

Could just be a sudden onset of eye floaters. Look it up.