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Anarleaf

Well, meditation seems very interesting. I think it might fill in the empty void in my life.

Any recommendations for a newbie? I would prefer non-religious but anything that gives methods/techniques would be appreciated.

 

Buzzby

Concentration and Meditation by Christmas Humphreys

10 Ways to Meditate by Paul Reps

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Leo420

100% non-spiritual and a damn good read: 'Marijuana & Meditation' by Simon Jackson.
from Headstuff Books | Cannabis & Meditation | About Well worth checking out.


Leo

ADIDAS

Have you read it? That really sparked my interest.

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All Day I Dream About Smoking

Leo420

Yes, I got it a little while ago. I'd done a bit of meditation (pretty unsuccessfully) before, but this ironed out the kinks, so to speak and now I feel like I actually know what I'm meant to be doing and where I'm heading. I've read a few of the usual meditation titles, but a) none cut to the chase and told me what I needed to know without waffling on about other things I wasn't interested in, b) not one had the depth of information or methods that 'Cannabis & Meditation' does, and I'm still not quite sure why. Also too, none of them talked about using weed and meditation together...

It's split into two parts, the first is about getting the best out of weed, reducing tolerance and avoiding dope paranoia and that kind of thing, something I'd had problems with before reading it,but I solved in less than a week. A lot of other stuff in it is so useful and yet in all my years of being a toker I've never seen the same info anywhere else. This is simple, down to earth, logical stuff that you have to wonder why the F£$% it isn't in a sticky on every weed forum.

The second part is about meditation and here's where my lack of experience will show because I don't really have a proper meditation background like others here, but I'll give it a shot. There's a section on becoming more 'mindful' of the moment, how to relax (both might sound lame, but that was where the fun started for me, and 'things' that I find very hard to explain began to happen), how to use 'metta' to increase meditational focus and reach different kinds of experience, how to sit in what he calls 'non-doing' (another verrrrry interesting experience when ripped) a bunch of techniques, a thing at teh end about 'sunyata' and the way reality exists/or not that really blew my mind, etc, etc.

It's really hard to give a good idea of what it goes into without having to explain the entire book, but for me the nice thing is that it's an easy read, no bullshitting about woo-woo stuff, and I found I could do some of the things in it straight away.Does it work? Definitely. I handle taking weed in a better way now, I feel more connected to reality and get more out of being high. As for the meditation I got my first couple of blisses a few weeks ago which was pretty cool and...shit, I keep trying to put this into words and I can't...but I now feel like when I meditate straight or stoned it's like there's a connection growing to something that I don't have the words to explain. I'm not religious, or a new ager, all that icky love and light stuff makes me want to hurl, but I now feel like I'm going somewhere and really want to see where it all leads.

I know they've sold shitloads of this book, so you should be able to borrow a copy from somewhere, it's definitely worth the read.

L

 

Darque Pervert

I have never read a book on meditation. I just meditate.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate.

You simply need to relax and clear your mind of thoughts to allow you to focus on specific problems , issues or goals.
You don't need to burn incense or play sitar music (Ravi Shankar rocks!) or set the lighting. Hell, you don't even need to stay still. Minimizing distractions around you is helpful, though.
Some of my best meditation is done on long drives by myself or long mountain bike rides.

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Life is always a spiral. It's the choices of the individual as to whether that spiral is aimed up or down.

ADIDAS

Thanks very much for that explanation. Im definitely going to give this book a shot. Im not going into this banking on my tolerance being down, but that seems like a neat little bonus, did it actually help? Also, they seem to be sold out at my local Border's and Amazon... weird.

Leo420

Yeah, it did bring my tolerance down, by being more mindful, having a better setting, a lot of other stuff.

I've got disagree with you Perv', there is right and wrong in meditation, there's an awful lot of ways that you can get things messed up, I can see that now. Meditation isn't thinking about your problems, the first level 'shamatha' is about learning to control your attention and becoming calm. Thinking about stuff while you're doing that isn't going to work.How you do it might be a kind of meditation, and I'm sure it helps you, but that's not traditional meditation or the sort of thing I'm now learning.

Let me know if you nail a copy Adidas, I'd be interested to see what you get out of it.
L

Herbal Meditation

Read any and all books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Personally I enjoy listening to his audio book "how to see yourself are you really are" on my mp3.

Backpacker420

I personally found Zen Meditation in Plain English to be quite helpful. It was an enjoyable read, too.