Ask Lorin Roche, PH.D.

I am searching for a method of meditation. There seem to be many kinds. How do I choose?

There are thousands of methods of meditation because there are thousands of different kinds of people. What you want to find are methods that do not override your individual nature, but reveal it and allow you to thrive in your daily life. The most direct and powerful clues can be found in what you love. Meditation should feel like basking in the presence of what you love.

If you love dance, there are movement meditations; if you love music, there are listening meditations; if you love theater, there are techniques for working with your inner characters; and if you love painting, there are methods of visualizing intense colors and geometric shapes. If you love simplicity, Zen meditation is refreshingly elegant. The list goes on and on - if you love fighting, there are many wonderful martial arts meditations, if you love ritual, there is an incredible assortment of religious and magical practices, and if you love sex, there are profound sexual meditations. If you love hunting, there are tracking meditations.

Let meditation be an adventure in exploring what you love. Approach everything with a wide-open sense of inquiry. Just start experimenting - go to classes, or set up meditation adventures for yourself. Books are wonderful tools for learning - go into bookstores and let books jump off the shelf at you. Meditation books are to be found in many sections: Self-Help, New Age, Alternative Health, Addiction and Recovery, Exercise, Yoga, Christianity, Eastern Religion, Magic, Stress Reduction, and Psychology. The most important thing is simply to begin.

When I meditate, I have so many thoughts, and I jump from one thing to the next. I often give up in frustration because I can't make my mind go blank.

Contrary to popular belief, the goal of meditation is not to make your mind blank. Inner silence happens of its own accord and is always a surprise. If you try to impose silence you become locked in a struggle with your own inner impulses.

If you have a life, you will have thoughts. You will think about everything that's unfinished, replay conversations, be aware of your loved ones, feel your yearnings and fears. With busy people, usually about half of their meditation time is involved with witnessing these thoughts.

Having lots of thoughts is a sign that you are letting down your guard, relaxing, and starting to unwind. During meditation, come back to the focus again and again, and offer no resistance to thoughts or feelings that spring up from within. Being in meditation while your mind bubbles with thoughts is a deep integration of its own - you are practicing staying relatively relaxed while witnessing your impulses to move. Then you will find that after meditation, your mind is clearer and better able to focus.

(From HealthWorld Online)