If so, how often? 20 minutes in the morning every day.
Why do you meditate? To predispose myself to receive the gift of inner transformation.
What kind of meditation do you do? Centering prayer, a practice derived from the Benedictine (Catholic) contemplative tradition, oriented specifically to the needs of lay people. Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, Catholic tradition of mysticism, etc. Key book: "Open mind, open heart" by Keating. Some people like "New seeds of contemplation" by Merton, but I find Keating more accessible.
How long have you practiced? More than 10 years.
How long is each meditation session? 20 minutes.
Do you meditate alone or with others? Alone every morning, with a group twice per month.
What effects or benefits have you experienced?
- Better (but still not great) at keeping my mouth shut and listening to others
- Used to engage in a range of behaviors such as procrastination to keep a whole catalog of anxiety-producing thoughts tamped down and below the conscious mental radar screen. By now, the anxiety-producing thoughts have by and large come to the surface and evaporated, rendering those avoidance behaviors unnecessary.
- Bouts of depression, while just as intense and severe when the come, now last a day or two as opposed to many weeks.
- Artistic and aesthetic sensibilities are more acute.
- Willingness to accept the humdrum rhythms of life with more equanimity.
- Left defense industry and now write software for a medical device company.
- Grew out of a romantic fantasy about what "enlightenment" might mean, and am now content with the the "meat and potatoes" of living life in the present moment. This was something that I found to be of value in reading "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind".