I have meditated a few times. When i do i have some incence buring and one of those rock waterfalls going, should i not have them so they dont break concentration, or is it ok?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Zen09:
I have meditated a few times. When i do i have some incence buring and one of those rock waterfalls going, should i not have them so they dont break concentration, or is it ok?[/QUOTE]

Hi Zen09,

Maybe if you start with silence whilst meditating so you can get used to becoming focussed/relaxed. When you have managed this you can incorporate other things you may find a distraction to help practice on improving concentration. I go to meditate at the local Buddhist centre which, while ago was surrounded by the sound of hydrollic drills and other building work noise as the building next door was being renovated. I used this to try and improve my concentration by acknowledging the noise but not letting it affect my meditation. I found my concentration levels improved considerably.

Just persevere and you will see the rewards meditation brings!

How will i know if I am doing it right?

Don't worry about whether it is right/wrong, you need to find the best way to meditate *for yourself* rather than what other ppl tell u to do.

If u find the incense helps, use it.
If u find the water flowing helps, use it.
If they distract u then don't use them.

U can also get meditation CDs and tapes to help you, one of the ones I have [which I think is great!] is a zither meditation CD I bought through siddha yoga. It is a full CD with just the constant sound of the instrument quietly strumming and it seems to numb the senses so that you dont get distracted.

You may find that if you are able to go along to a few chanting & meditation sessions held by someone like siddha yoda that you will develop your own method which suits you best.
They have ashrams and meditation groups all over the world, so check it out if you are interested. www.syda.org