How often do you meditate?

[peteyzen]

Hi Rsng5
Firstly my friend might I suggest that you cut down your meditation. As a person who is new to meditation an hour at a time is a long haul. If you are getting frustrated and upset (which shows itself as irritation) then, with all due respect, you have not been taught to meditate properly.

Thats not your fault but an error by who ever has been teaching you my friend.

Also there are no short cuts in meditation, its the one place we cannot have the modern worlds `I want it now` attitude. The more you want something to happen the more frustrated you get the less you are actually meditating.
But if you are sitting down and focusing for an hour or more at a time, then you have determination, this is an enormously important factor. All you need to do is to do a real meditation and stop wanting. Its a hard thing for us these days, we can have what ever we want in the material world, but spiritual growth requires surrender and humility. Meditation teaches this. There are no quick fixes tho Rsng5.

Lets start with posture, find a chair (unless you are happier in half or full lotus position) with no arms. set up any music you want and incense again if you want it (its not necessary but sets the mood). what ever room you are in, go out of it and then go in again and as you enter bow and thank the room for letting you practice in it.

Go to the chair and bow to it again thanking it . then sit toward the front of the chair, don`t lean on the back..
Make sure your spine is straight, chin dropped slightly to bring the cervical vertebrae in line with the spine. Knees apart but heels touching (no shoes). then put your left hand in your right hand and let the thumbs touch, so they(the thumbs) are flat , not pointing upwards or downwards. Put your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind the front teeth and keep iot there for the duration of the meditation.
The hands sit above the lap a few inches above your belly button.
Close you eyes and you are ready to begin.

breathing in and out through the nose only, focus your mind at the nostrils and feel the flow of the air at the nostrils as it comes in and out of the nose. Don`t let the mind move from the nostrils. As you breathe, breathe in slowly, then hold for a couple of seconds and then breathe out slowly and hold again for a couple of seconds before breathing in. Thats one cycle, now just carry on focusing and breathing in and out doing more cycles.

Now comes the important stuff. If your mind moves away from the nostrils and breathing , for instance you get an itch, or think of going shopping or anything at all. Do not get mad, understand that you are learning a new skill, and see these thoughts as distractions , and as such a way of teaching you, so , in your mind thank the distraction, whatever it is, for helping you and then return your mind to the nostrils.
This could happen several times in a minute. The distraction could be a noise or anything but always treat it the same, thank it for teaching you and return to the meditation. Start for just ten - fifteen minutes but be resolute and relax try to smile but focus hard. When youve finished bow to the chair and bow and thank the room as you leave.
Try this and let me know how you get on. PM me if you wish
Hope thois helps my friend.

Some good tips here:

http://www.swamij.com/kundalini-awakening-3.htm