question about meditation

[Katasmurf]

Sorry when I'm posting in the wrong topic, but i thought this is the right section.

[Mod note: Originally posted in the OBE forum. Post has been moved to the Meditation forum.]

Well i've been meditating lately,since a few days. Now i am on karate so every lessons we do meditate for only 1-5 minutes but, now I've been trying it at home too.
Once i start meditating I'm trying to think about nothing (yea duh..) but most of the time it takes quiet a time to archieve that. Once i think of nothing it takes only a few seconds and then there comes again a new thought (its just one but still a thought). When i keep doing this for about 15-30 minutes, I get aware of my whole body and at the same time i dont feel it. It's like my whole body is very heavy, (that is also the part it is hard for me to keep meditating cause it is feeling I'm beginning to fall asleep. Some people who have this experience to or is it just a part of meditation?
Oh and last time i stopped meditating I was shaking but i dont know why, really weird.

[Korpo]

Hello, Katasmurf.

Trying to "think nothing" might not be the best way to try to meditate. The usual way to proceed is to focus your mind on something, which is usually referred to as "the object of your meditation." Typical meditation objects are minding your breath, the movement of your abdominal muscles, your whole body and similar things, but could also be trying to imagine a picture in your mind and keep it there.

What happens then is that after a while of keeping your attention on the meditation object your mind will begin to wander. This means you will have thoughts and will be distracted. As soon as you become aware of this, your task is to bring your mind gently back to the object of meditation.

Your mind will wander many times. Staying on an object of meditation for longer periods of time is a skill acquired by repeating the process I described above. The act of noticing you are distracted is as vital and valid a part of meditation as is the act of bringing the mind back to the object of meditation.

For a beginner, somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes is a good amount of time to aim for on how long to meditate. Longer than 20 minutes is usually not feasible in the beginning.

If you feel tired, meditating after taking a nap would be a good solution.

If your problem is that you just get too relaxed from doing it, and feel like you're about to fall asleep, then you can meditate sitting upright or even standing, and there's no chance of falling asleep without immediately being woken up by your body sagging forward if indeed you would fall asleep.

Meditation is a relaxing process. Part of it is getting used to a new, more relaxed state while still staying awake. Feeling so relaxed that you feel like falling asleep is a typical reflex in the beginning because your mind and body are unused to this combination of relaxation and being awake. This should abate over time when you meditate regularly.

Cheers,
Oliver