Meditation, Is it important to Spirituality and Magick, or Just something to use to relax, I personally believe it helps with both.

So what Kind of Meditation do you do? And Do you think its worth the side effects?

From an Article on BrainWashing Called

THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND

by Dick Sutphen

The second thought stopping technique is MEDITATION. If you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few weeks, there is a great probability that you will not return to full beta consciousness.
You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate. I'm not saying this is bad--if you do it yourself. It may be very beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your mind to go flat.
I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and the results are conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind becomes until,eventually and especially if used to excess or in combination with decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual groups see this as nirvana--which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological result. And if heaven on earth is non-thinking and non involvement, I really question why we are here.

i try to meditate, but my mind just won't stay still enough...i find myself thinking...

Meditation, either clearing my mind or concentrating on one particular thing, I cannae do em captain.

I can't concentrate on one thing at a time, there's too much going on, I want to soak up every experience I can

Thats alright, I cant do the standard meditation either..
The one I do, I find is ten times harder, and yet I find it so much easier to do.

You know i have thaught about getting my self into meditation. Cause i want something that could relax my mind. But if i were to get my self into meditation. I don't want to sit there and look like an ediot as well as feeling like an ediot doing mumbo jumbo stuff. So i guess i'll let my mind race around to much untill it drives me crazy. I don't think that there is anything that could be possible to relax your mind.

I usually do Hatha yoga and Pranic breath work (Pranayama), which includes meditation, in fact yoga is meditation in motion! But meditation needn't be that involved, a quieting of the mind for a couple of minutes alone would have amazing benefits!

especially if you have children

my mom would say the exact same thing

i guess my brain will be as flat as a pancake someday then.

Mditation doesn't have to be sitting full lotus in a darkened room humming to yourself. A form of meditation is to concentrate on one thing. For some it's painting, building bird houses, stealing cars... you know. Yoga is also a form of meditation, but so is any form of dance if that's what the dancer is concentrating on. Running or biking can also be forms of meditation. My point is, nearly anything you do can be stress-relieving if you concentrate on that thing and that thing alone.

(I just said "meditation" 4 times in one paragraph... aren't there any usable synonyms?)

I agree. I for one have never been much on the meditation thing. The things that I have found that work for me in relaxation are reading, listening to music, working on cars or target shooting. After doing any one of these activities, I feel allot better and more rested afterwards.

i meditate for only about ten minutes or so when i get really upset over something. reading or listening to music help too though.