Greetings..

Regarding Meditation, it has been my experience, after trying several types of meditations, that the most beneficial is the meditation of shutting down "mental Chatter".. that little voice in your mind that you dialogue with all the time.. that "voice" is the voice of your mentors, your past experiences, it is your prejudices.. quieting that voice allows you to have a direct unprejudiced experience (live in the moment).. the thoughtful consideration of an experience occurrs while another experience is is happening without our full attention (lost in thought).. to the degree we think about experiences we separate ourselves from the current experience.. Now, that is not to suggest that we don't think.. only that there should be an awareness of appropriate thinking, when it is beneficial and when it is not..

Visualizations, affirmations, and rigidly structured "meditations" may have some uses for beginning the discipline of meditation, but should quickly be recognized as a distraction from the goal.. One of the great benefits, for me, in the "meditation of "still-mind" is that it permits the experience to by-pass the mental evaluation, categorizing and filing system and the experience seems to imprint itself directly into my spirit/soul, it becomes a part of "who i am", not an entry into the mental filing cabinet.. future use of that experience is immediately available as it is needed, it counsels me through "me", i do not spend time sorting through the memory banks and comparing appropriate responses, i just seem to "know".. This "knowing" is extremely useful in Martial Arts, it permits real-time interaction rather than the delayed reaction waiting on mental responses..

Taiji is a remarkable tool for training the art of "mental stillness" in motion.. after learning the form of Taijiquan, we begin to slowly shut down the thinking of the movements in favor of a deeper "knowing" the movements.. this demonstrates the ability to move through life in a meditative state, whenever appropriate..

Just another perspective, Be well..