Mind full Meditation

Question

I Have been training third eye meditation for past three months,now the tingling sensation on my forehead never goes off and i couldn't go proceed and thought of trying mind full meditation,where we see everything in bare sense of view and i found about Buddha's teaching, i found it very interesting,and found some basics to start mind full meditation where they have said to keep my mind on raising and falling of abdomen during breathing.Which they told would help us realizing nothing is permanent and we should mind fully note everything that happens when we breath.this was basic. NOW THE PROBLEM IS MY FOREHEAD SENSATION IS ALWAYS THEIR MAKING MY MEDITATION TASK TOUGH.

Answer 1

Depending on what method of meditation you are practicing there are different options.

If you are practicing Samatha (tranquility) meditation, simply return back attention to whatever primary meditation object you have chosen, e.g. the belly or entrance to the nostrils.

If you are practicing Vipassana (insight) meditation, observe the tingling feeling and note it as "feeling, feeling" or "tingling, tingling", while keeping attention on the phenomena. Note it 2-3 times and then return attention to the feeling of the rising and falling of the abdomen (primary object).

In Samatha meditation one is gently shifting attention away from all other phenomena except the breath.

In Vipassana meditation one is changing object according to whatever arises at the sense doors.

For more info on how to meditate I would suggest Ven. Yuttadhammo's booklet and video series on how to meditate (Vipassana meditation).

Answer 2

In the Ānāpānasati Sutta (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html) the Buddha taught sixteen themes of meditation Here I shall give you the first three of the 16 parts:

We would start by going to a quiet place, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Keep in mind however, that although we may go to a quiet place, which is away from the rattle of busy life, the mind cannot be relaxed easily. We can find seclusion physically by going into a room and keeping it locked. But, would the mind be secluded? We must adjust our minds for seclusion and quiet contemplation.

(1) Breathing in long, he understands: “I breathe in long”; or breathing out long, he understands: “I am breathing out long”;

(2) Breathing in short, he understands: “I breathe in short”; or breathing out short, he understands: “I breathe out short”;

(3) He trains thus: “I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body [of breath]”; “I shall breathe out”; he trains thus: “I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body [of breath].”

Answer 3

When I do anapanasati, I (almost) always start with noticing the sensations in my face, (fore-)head and my neck/shoulders/back and relax them. There is so much tension and emotional stress to find there, especially in the muscles around the eyes, the lips or teeth pressing together and the forehead.

From my point of view there is much benefit from staying with those as long as they are a distraction to you (I sometimes meditate on them for 20min or longer and then continue with the breath):

First there is this whole 'baggage', which is a mix of tension, pain, dislike, more tension because of dislike, thinking, dislike of the dislike and so on. But if you focus on the body sensations exclusively (without reacting!), you'll see that they are always changing, moving around, getting better or worse, not really a problem and at the same time cut off your reaction to it.

It makes no sense to force your attention to the breath, you can actually get much more concentrated by focusing on the distraction than always trying to force your attention on the breathing. After those sensations are not a problem anymore or they're gone, get to the breath.