Please help me, what to do. I've been meditating but not working for me anything. I get only tingling sensation on my forehead & constant buzzing sound. Besides, I have not gotten any slight improvements in my behavior. Would be helpful if someone suggests me following things.
How to meditate finally? That one method that can bring peace and calmness to me.
When to do ? Prerequisites.
How much to do?
I get only tingling sensation on my forehead & constant buzzing sound.
Do not give too much importance to this for the moment, i.e., do not consider it as good and crave for it or do not consider it bad and be averse towards it. Just keep your equanimity knowing they arise and pass.
Besides, I have not gotten any slight improvements in my behavior.
Behaviour doesn't change overnight. In the past, given 10 situations you react in an unwholesome way. If this changes to 9 out of 10 or 8 out of 10 situations, this is an improvement. So if there is a slight improvement also, this is immaterial, so just keep doing what you are doing.
Also there could be no improvement because you are practicing wrong or the techniques you are practicing might not be suitable to you.
How to meditate finally? That one method that can bring peace and calmness to me.
When you meditate calmness and insight grows. So do both:
When to do ?
Whenever possible. But this might help:
Prerequisites.
The main thing is morality hence contemplate on morality and make a determination to be moral. In addition the following may would be helpful:
How much to do?
Generally do 2 session of about 1 hour or more formally. Use this as a booster to continue the practice during daily activities. Ultimately it is being mindful during daily activities that gives the real results.
In doing 2 sessions, if one session is not productive then the other might be more productive. At the start of the session, you might not be meditating much hence it should be long enough to settle down and put some solid practice.
This little plant of Dhamma requires service now. Protect it from the criticism of others by making a distinction between the theory, to which some might object, and the practice, which is acceptable to all. Don’t allow such criticism to stop your practice. Meditate one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. This regular, daily practice is essential. At first it may seem a heavy burden to devote two hours a day to meditation, but you will soon find that much time will be saved that was wasted in the past. Firstly, you will need less time for sleep. Secondly, you will be able to complete your work more quickly, because your capacity for work will increase. When a problem arises you will remain balanced, and will be able immediately to find the correct solution. As you become established in the technique, you will find that having meditated in the morning, you are full of energy throughout the day, without any agitation.
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When you go to bed at night, for five minutes be aware of sensations anywhere in the body before you fall asleep. Next morning, as soon as you wake up, again observe sensations within for five minutes. These few minutes of meditation immediately before falling asleep and after waking up will prove very helpful.
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Daily meditation of two hours and yearly retreats of ten days are only the minimum necessary to maintain the practice. If you have more free time, you should use it for meditation. You may do short courses of a week, or a few days, even one day. In such short courses, devote the first one third of your time to the practice of Anapana, and the rest to Vipassana.
Source: The Discourse Summaries by S.N.Goenka
People experience all kinds of varied phenomena when trying to practice awareness / meditation. Getting itches or feeling other sensations like tingling or feeling of lightness or a floating sensation are some of the common ones. It is because, as relaxation sets in, the nervous system begins to pass sensory signals more efficiently. They are sensory data that were kept blocked before. When the body gets relaxed or more aware, it gives rise to these unique sensations. So try to see it as just sensation. Try not to get too excited about it. If you are practicing awareness, make it a part of the practice. Just observe as to how it come up and watch it pass away. The main thing is not to get involved. Keep your distance, and just observe.
Even if you don't feel at ease, or you can't relax, try to just observe it, without letting it rule you. Let those feelings arise and look at them mindfully. If you just sit still and observe your agitations, they will eventually pass. They come and they go. They have no real grip on you at all.
Sometimes a little tingling or a little stirring around that you feel could be that stirring of a thought beginning to occur. You must keep an eye on the mind to notice when it begins to show signs that it’s about to wander off. The mind could start looking for someplace else to go, something else to think about. If you’re really alert, you can catch it before a distracting thought is fully formed. The more quickly you can see that process, the better. The tingling that you feel could be either physical or mental. It could be either. There will come a point, though, when the mind decides that the stirring is a potential for a thought. It looks into it and turns it into a thought world. The more quickly you can see that happening, the more you’re able to catch it at the very beginning of the act.
This might be a good time for reflection: Like "Why am I practicing? What did the Buddha teach and how am I able to apply it? Do I want to achieve something? But isn't the goal of meditation to let go and not to get?"
How do you know that meditation didn't work? Only because it wasn't pleasant or peaceful enough or even physically and mentally painful? If the goal of meditation is to overcome suffering, should I expect it to be easy and pleasant all the time, just as I want it?
Watch out to fall into generalizing things like "it's all like this, nothing ever worked, ..." and really look and you'll possibly remember occasions when meditation did had a positive effect.
Good reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu3ajzTFGSg
Very important factor for preparation for meditation is to practice Sila. (at least the five precepts) I think the buzzing sound is the tinnitus in your ear and I have the worse case of ringing ear, which does not bother me at all. Do not pay attention to it.
