I need advice.. it's important.

Hypnoticalec,

Glad that you are taking the first step. As you continue along your path, you'll begin to feel your energy stabilizing much more and eventually, it won't be necessary to focus on breath during meditation anymore. Sometimes for me, during a good sit, I sink into a timeless state, where 5 minutes can feel like hours. That, I feel, is a place that can eventually provide you with lasting peace, insight and stability.

What would you like to hear from all of us? Meditation is something that takes time to cure your ills, so it won't work instantly... however, you are also onto something when you say "just meditate" won't solve your problems. It does have to be paired with other things in day to day life. I guess I'm being long winded, but if you don't mind, could you share more of what you are going through (I realize "high energy" but perhaps more specific)? You've been perusing these forums, asking questions for a while, so it would be great to know so that we can have a good discussion.

Best,
-TaoSandwich

[Gem]

I find the breath a good point of meditation, too. I just notice the breath as it happens to be and maintain my attention there. If the mind wanders off, I soon notice it wandering away, so my attention gets back on the breath. At first the mind would wander off for a long time before I even noticed, but the duration of distraction gets shorter with practice.

In all the time I meditated, I never went past breath meditation, moreso, I have become more acute to the sensation of breathing and also extended the length of time I maintain attention. Usually one would consider a minute or two a reasonable attention span when starting the practice, which gets longer with practice, and the sensitivity of perception is also honed.

Originally Posted by Gem

I find the breath a good point of meditation, too. I just notice the breath as it happens to be and maintain my attention there. If the mind wanders off, I soon notice it wandering away, so my attention gets back on the breath. At first the mind would wander off for a long time before I even noticed, but the duration of distraction gets shorter with practice.

In all the time I meditated, I never went past breath meditation, moreso, I have become more acute to the sensation of breathing and also extended the length of time I maintain attention. Usually one would consider a minute or two a reasonable attention span when starting the practice, which gets longer with practice, and the sensitivity of perception is also honed.

Gem,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Moving past meditating on the breath is perhaps not a necessary point. What I found personally, though, was that once I was able to keep my mind stable, letting go of focus on breath allowed me to "plunge into" my mind, as it were, whereas breath kept me more anchored to a state where the mind was aware of itself. I'm sure that the same can be done by simply deepening one's focus on breath. I was just sharing my personal experience as well. Thanks for catching my one-sidedness!

Best Wishes,
-TaoSandwich

[Gem]

Originally Posted by TaoSandwich

Gem,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Moving past meditating on the breath is perhaps not a necessary point. What I found personally, though, was that once I was able to keep my mind stable, letting go of focus on breath allowed me to "plunge into" my mind, as it were, whereas breath kept me more anchored to a state where the mind was aware of itself. I'm sure that the same can be done by simply deepening one's focus on breath. I was just sharing my personal experience as well. Thanks for catching my one-sidedness!

Best Wishes,
-TaoSandwich

That's OK, it's not one sided. Just means the OP mentions breath meditation I just respond in context... I'm sure that continued breath meditation will lead to noticing more, but as the OP experiences benefits, I guess just continue as is.

Try this out
Lapacho tea. Calming stew from bark of the Pau d'arco tree. Its like a glass of wine but without loosing sharpness