Thread: What is the difference between concentration and meditation practices?

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

One becomes better at concentrating the more they practice, and it is the best way to develop will power and lucidity. However, meditation is not something that can really be practiced actually. It is the state you are left in afterwards. Concentration is like tunnel vision and meditation is like all vision including the peripheral vision. Does that make sense? If there is any effort at all then it is not meditation. Effort is part of concentration, meditation is just basking in your own brilliance. However, it seems paradoxical, because meditation is anything but a lazy mind.

Ok, so basically we need to practice both. Meditation is the mindfulness part ( being aware of everything going around you ) which can be done basically anywhere or anytime, walking, swimming etc.

One becomes better at concentrating the more they practice, and it is the best way to develop will power and lucidity.

Yes your right about this. At one point I was doing concentration practices, every night, I can't believe how beneficial this is. Like you said it's great for will power and lucidity. It's like the longer you hold your attention in one place, and the deeper into it you are, the more your subconscious creeps out and merges with your conscious mind. One night while practicing concentration, after what seemed like 5 or 10 minutes of no-thought, having a complete one-pointed mind, I started seeing imagery...vivid imagery..more like mental pictures, i wasn't asleep, no distractions, no break in consciousness...it takes work, dedication, i haven't achieved it since

Another time I started becoming lucid in a dream, I mean like really lucid, but it seemed different than waking life. Like I'm in a dream, and I'm on autopilot, no control over what I"m doing, until consciousness and awareness just comes in..like I"m waking up in the dream slowly for the first time... more and more awareness and control of what I"m doing. It's strange.

Your right though, concentration is the key to dream lucidity. Your post cleared up a lot of things for me.