Dear Rafflesia,
How are you?
I believe all forms of meditation are helpful, and that if you practise daily you will always gain. However if you have reached an impasse and feel that you are not gaining then I would like to offer this perspective – maybe it will help.
Try considering meditation in two ways – the purpose of meditation and the techniques of meditation. Let me consider the useful technique of meditation tapes. At one stage I used one such tape as I was having trouble sleeping – stress from work. I would then go through the routine of the tape and usually fell asleep before the end of the tape. But it never dealt with the underlying problem, why was I stressed?
Taking that idea a bit further then ultimately you ask why am I meditating? In terms of macrobiotics I don’t know enough about their techniques of meditation but I understand it to mean trying to unite with the infinite. I am not trying to move you away from the purpose and techniques of meditation in macrobiotics, but I too follow Vipassana as Vavrek suggests because it worked. To use a phrase that one Buddhist teacher, Ajaan Buddhadhasa uses, the purpose is to know what is what – typical Buddhist vagueness.
http://www.cybermacro.com/ubb/icons/icon7.gif
Smile As is THIS. But the great advantage to working with Buddhism and meditation is the Tradition. Buddhism has such a wealth of experience of centuries of meditators. Buddhist meditation does not require a conversion from another religion, you can treat it initially as a philosophy backing up the experience of meditation, then you let your studies take you where you want.
To summarise I apologise for what appears to be proselytising but I do feel strongly that meditation without an appropriate internal direction sometimes doesn’t go there. Sometimes the mind is asking you to find a direction once it has gained from the usefulness of the techniques. There are others but Vavrek’s links can help you begin. Vipassana can help you open your heart and the answers will lie there.
Hope you are keeping well,
All the Best
Bill Z