The reason behind it

[Miss Hepburn]

As far as the topic...What ARE your reasons for meditating?

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ Miss H ...

reasons are needed
when ego is heeded
but if we choose
without excuse
to flow like the breeze
in embrace and release
here and now free
in each entrée
essence of presence
in dance of innocence
ceases grasping
shifting to connecting
as the noumenon
birthing phenomena

[Anala]

For me it is simple, breath... allow thoughts to come and go and not get hung up on a thought. This translates In everyday life by, watching more and talking less or reacting less.

[A human Being]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

As far as the topic...What ARE your reasons for meditating?

Not sure if you're addressing Gem specifically here, but since you asked - I've personally come to approach meditation in relation to that famous Rumi quote about how our task isn't to find love outside ourselves, but rather to seek and find the barriers within ourselves that we've built against it, and embrace them - that's essentially what my meditation practice is about, it's about bringing my attention into my present experience and noticing what's going on within me without attempting to manipulate or change my experience in any way.

Having practised meditation for a few years now, I've come to regard it as being primarily an act of self-compassion and self-acceptance, and by sitting with myself in this way, those barriers that Rumi talked about can slowly start to break down and the peace and love that is my essential spiritual nature can gradually emerge. That doesn't mean to say that it'll necessarily always be a particularly comfortable or pleasant experience, and it does require patience, discipline, and faith in the process; people in spiritual circles sometimes seek quick fixes and instant bliss, but I think that's a misguided and immature approach to spirituality and I don't think it ultimately leads to spiritual liberation, which is what I'm primarily interested in.

[Gem]

I'm only into breath/body/mind awareness and follow the principle described in Buddhism as: purification, truth and liberation, and helps me go through life's ups and downs more calmly.

[Miss Hepburn]

May I be so bold as to ask: If one is into the breath and that is the end all and be all,
(maybe some body awareness or even a mantra the mind repeats)...
what do you do when the breath leaves your body?

I'm not one that is into riddles.
I mean, you have no more body, no more breath...what remains is
what I'm into concentrating upon.
That which was before the breath - and before the body! And will be there when both are gone.
Make sense?

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

May I be so bold as to ask: If one is into the breath and that is the end all and be all,
(maybe some body awareness or even a mantra the mind repeats)...
what do you do when the breath leaves your body?

I'm not one that is into riddles.
I mean, you have no more body, no more breath...what remains is
what I'm into concentrating upon.
That which was before the breath - and before the body! And will be there when both are gone.
Make sense?

From a purist perspective the reason behind any meditation technique is realization/transcendence. One can even say that's advancing beyond technique to where it's a continuous and effortless state of being.

To paraphrase Bruce Lee: "A canoe is useful for crossing a river but once across do not carry it on your back.".

[Native spirit]

The way i focus on it is the breathing as Gem describes but my reason for doing it the begining was to connect to my Guide.

As i don't need to do that i do it to Enter my own inner Sanctuary where i find Peace and Balance in my life



Namaste

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

May I be so bold as to ask: If one is into the breath and that is the end all and be all,
(maybe some body awareness or even a mantra the mind repeats)...
what do you do when the breath leaves your body?

Breath awareness is a good place to start, but since it can be greatly refined, it's good for advanced practice as well. Because the meditation of feeling breath is a sensation meditation, it opens up to complete body awareness. The issue there is, mind is still tempted by pleasure and reacts adversely to discomfort (the meditation reveals tendencies of mind), so I'd stick to breath only for a good while until there's enough equanimity to feel both pleasure and pain with equal neutrality on the basis of them being equally impermanent.

[A human Being]

Originally Posted by Gem

Breath awareness is a good place to start, but since it can be greatly refined, it's good for advanced practice as well. Because the meditation of feeling breath is a sensation meditation, it opens up to complete body awareness.

This is a good and important point, I think - people sometimes approach meditation as a predominantly mental practice, but I personally prefer an approach that encompasses all aspects of our experience, including the various feelings and sensations felt in the body, as this helps to root our attention in our present experience. And the breath is of course intimately related to the body (it's the body that breathes, after all), so being conscious of the breath inevitably puts us in touch with the body too, as you say.