Is there an ideal "time" to do it?

[ReturningMoon]

Hi everyone. To be honest I much prefer meditation at night before sleep. I know some people do it in the morning or during the day but I like to close my day with it rather than start.
So do you have a certain time of day you prefer doing it or do you just do it whenever?

[iamthat]

The time before dawn (the ambrosial hour) is often recommended. I naturally wake up at about 4.00am and I get up to meditate for an hour or more. It is so peaceful.

Of course, this is easer if you live on your own and you have no commitments.

In Yoga this period before dawn is called Brahma muhurta:

Brahma muhurta creates the most auspicious and conducive atmosphere for practicing yoga and meditation. During this peaceful time, the energy of the universe is in perfect balance and there are minimal distractions, making it easier to concentrate on the practice.

Peace

[Starman]

I find mediating as soon as I awaken most ideal, before the hamster wheel in your mind starts tuning and my head is filled with thoughts. For me, it does not matter if I take a short nap or a long sleep, meditating as soon as I wake up, when I am well rested, has worked for me for a long time.

I do not meditate before going to bed because I am often too sleepy at bed time. The other thing is to try and meditate in your home in the same spot regularly. The energy from our meditation will build up in that spot and over time it will become easier to slip into meditation when we sit in that spot.

Also we are doing subconscious conditioning by using the same place to meditate in on a regular basis, our consciousness will soon come to know when we go to that place we are going to meditate. What makes a church, synagogue, or temple, so serene is that people regularly go there to pray and meditate and that serenity builds in those places.

Further, meditate while standing in the check-out line at the grocery store or bank, etc. Try to keep the meditation experience with you even when you are not at home sitting doing meditation. Meditate on lunch breaks when at work. I used to go into the bathroom, lock myself in a stall and meditate when I was at work. In my opinion we may take every opportunity to quiet our mind unless we need it to do some task. But generally each person develops their own unique meditation regiment.

[Starman]

There are purest who say that the only way to meditate is this way or that way, many believe that meditation should only be done while sitting but Buddhist monks do walking meditation, and Tai Chi is literally “meditation in motion.”

The point, in my opinion, is not meditation rather the point is union. The word “yoga” means “union,” union with the divine that is within us, our deeper being. Yoga has many different paths or schools to achieve that union.

YOGA PATHS:

Hatha Yoga (Physical Postures)

Gannani Yoga (Spiritual Studies)

Karma Yoga (Selfless Service)

Bakti Yoga (Love and Devotion)

Raja Yoga (Mental Discipline)

Kundilini Yoga (Chakra Development)

Astang Yoga (Eight Fold Path)

All of these paths can lead to union with our deeper being, and there are many more then I have listed here. Some people only practice one path, like meditation, while others may combine several paths. In an ashram or monastery several paths are combined to achieve transcendence.

[Redchic12]

Starman. You state:

Further, meditate while standing in the check-out line at the grocery store or bank, etc.

So good to hear you say this as it is something that I constantly do as well and here’s me thinking I’m the only one!

[Gem]

Probably not an ideal time in general; but the time that best fits your schedule. You might find twice a day is better than once if you want to add a morning sesh, and while waiting in line or riding a bus or whatever is also an opportunity to add a bit extra along the way.

That's all I have on time of day. The rest of the post is just commenting on what other people said.

I think it's be better to stick to what you are doing rather than piece meal a lot of different yogas and stuff. I only know one or maybe two things, and I know them well. If I had a list of things you could be pretty sure that I don't know much about most of them if any. I know nothing at all about anything on Starman's list. Starman knows a lot regarding meditation, but does he know all those yogas and tai-chi? It seems to me like I can make a list of things I've dabbled in, heard of and seen, but I'd have little to no idea what they are. Hencewhy I'm thinking, refining your thing and getting better at it rather than mish-mash a bunch of spiritual stuff is best.

My teacher told me in this way: If you want a water well you have to keep digging in the same spot. If you start digging here and before long start again over there, then carry on somewhere else, and then move again, you end up with lots of holes, but no water. That is from a formal meditation teacher at a proper meditation school, but we don't practice a number of things there. They teach mindfulness, and once you're somewhat established with that, add metta meditation. Other things come in to play like morality and generosity etc...so I guess there's a bigger picture.

People make the impression that sitting and walking meditation are different methods or techniques. But these are both mindfulness meditations. The formal teaching mentions four postures: standing, walking, sitting and lying down, but it essentially implies that the meditation stays the same and you do different things - you are sitting down, walking along, standing there, drinking tea, eating your meal, having a shower, sweeping the floor etc... same meditation while the rest of it changes.

[Starman]

Redchic12, I’m just glad I got the post okay. I am posting comments here using only one eye. As I have shared here many times I lost my eye sight decades ago and was totally blind for about 5-years, went through more than a dozen eye surgeries to regain my eyesight.

I first learned how to meditate when I was blind; met a sat-guru from India who taught me meditation back in the 1970‘s. It was great because being blind I had no place else to go but inside. I could sense the outside world but could not see it. Well now my physical body is entering its late seventies, my eyesight is growing weak and I really only have good vision in one eye.

I noticed I really botched a post in this meditation section, continually saying “disciple” when I meant “discipline.” Guess I had disciple on my mind. No worries; I just have to concentrate more when posting. I can see absolutely crystal clear in transcendent experiences but my worldly eyesight not so much. What a gift! Please, no sympathy, everything in life is useful.

Peace

[sky]

@Starman.
Thanks for mentioning Tai Chi very few people link it to Meditation, I would also like to add Qigong which is another form of Meditation supposedly brought from the East along with Tai Chi by Buddhist Monk Bodhidharma...

[sky]

Quote Gem,
"That is from a formal meditation teacher at a proper meditation school "

There are many 'Proper' Meditation Schools who may teach some different method but arrive at the same place as you do..... Nothing is set in stone.

[Starman]

A Hindu might not think of the various yoga paths as a piece meal, no more then a Buddhist would think of walking meditation, laying, standing, or sitting meditation, as a piece meal. they all flow onto each other and feed the same center of being.

The Eightfold Path (Astang Yoga) in and of itself involves eight approaches to nurturing the one presence. In my opinion there is no such thing as piece meal as everything in life flows into everything else.

There are some who can see the oneness in all things while others may have a fragmented view. In my opinion everything in life works towards that one deeper presence, it is just a matter of methodology, and methodologies overlap. There is no better or worst, there are just preferences and conditioning.