little intro

hiya!
i've recently been introduced to these forums, so i thought i'd pop in and give a little introduction. i've been studying buddhism for about 4 months now and i am always eager to learn about other peoples religions and spiritual influences. i'm here to learn, i'm all ears!

Ello, lovely! Glad to have you here.

Awesome! Its great to see new faces here. Welcome to the forums, were obviously super open-minded, and would love for any future input you have! Id love to learn more about some buddhist meditation techniques, if you have knowledge of any, and how to perform them, post them!

Well hello there! I've been studying Buddhism for years now, and am most involved with Jodo Shin/Pure Land Buddhism (basically a Buddhism of the masses in China and Japan), which I think is not so far from paganism when you get into some things like chanting, the worship of Kwan Yin (goddess), etc. Tibetan Buddhism is even closer to paganism! Plus there are so many good Buddhist teachings for everyone, even if you don't call yourself Buddhist. So Skyfeather, you're in very good company! Come join us sometime!

For Tanulis, the best meditation advice I have is to just use the Vipassana technique . Just sit either in a chair or on a cushion with your hands on your knees and your back straight. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breath, counting each breath from 1 to 10, and then backwards from 10 to 1. Sometimes when my mind wanders a lot I count the in breath as 1 and the out breath as 2, and so on. When your mind wanders, you can either just bring it back to the breath, or label the thought first (like "anger, anxiety etc.) and then bring it back to the breath.

Another simple technique is metta (lovingkindness) meditation. You think to yourself (feel free to use your own words here),
"May I be well. May I be at peace. May I be safe"...then move on to other people, like close family members, your pet, an acquaintance, the whole world , an enemy....etc. until everyone is blessed by your well wishes!