The Meditator's Ten Commandments

1. Once you have made the decision to start meditating, the first thing you must do is select a room where this practice may be performed in as quiet an environment as possible. The room selected for meditation must become a sacred place, in which images of a teacher or divinity may and should be placed, as well as candles and flowers.

2. When meditating, wear clean, light clothes that are not too tight fitting around your body. It would be preferable to leave your shoes outside the room. Taking off one's shoes and leaving them outside emphasizes the idea that the room intended for meditative practice is hallowed ground.

3. Sit comfortabley, preferably on a round cushion, so that your buttocks are raised and your knees can be supported by the floor. Your hands must be together on your lap, with palms turned upward.

4. Keep your back straight, thus taking on a dignified posture and facilitating your breathing rhythm.

5. Place the tip of your tongue against your palate or as close as possible to your teeth.

6. Half-close your eyes, with your sight fixed on an object.

7. Breathe deep and slow. Then breathe normally.

8. Start to pronounce mentally a fitting word for the goal or reason for your meditation, such as peace, love, health or compassion.

9. Try to keep away bothersome thoughts and daily concerns and fix your attention on a single point: achieve mental concentration. The easiest way to achieve it is to count your breaths successively, both in and out. When you inhale say "one." When you exhale, say "two," and so on, until counting to ten. Next, inhale again and say "one" until counting again to ten, repeating this process as long as you need.

10. Let loose. Let yourself be carried away to the depths of your being. Initiate this fascinating trip into yourself with happiness. At the end of the practice, rise slowly and walk silently around the room for five minutes.

Excerpt is from Meditaiton by Jose' Lorenzo-Feuntes

I personally felt that a simple "empty" room would be just as fine . The images may become a distraction somehow . There are people who instead of emptying their minds and meditate , maybe become too attached to the images and thus , unable to meditate . But anyway , this is a personal preference . I meditate in my own room (study,sleeping,magick,cultivation).

I meditate on the floor , on the bed or on the chair . Sometimes , you can meditate standing up but I do that very rarely . I do my meditation mostly on the bed . In case you wonder how I manage to meditate on the bed since the bed is bouncy and soft , I use my pillow as a cushion. And now my pillow have been charged by my meditations...lol ... and I would become particular about who uses my pillow .

I don't wear any new clothes or do any rituals before meditation . I just do meditation when and where I like . Most of the time , I am wearing my t-shirt and shorts (usual home attire) which also doubles as my sleeping clothes . And I just meditate in such attire . Mostly after meditation (at night), I feel relax and I just remove my pillow which I am sleeping on , pat it and turn it over and sleep on it .

A point that was brought up in the original post was that you count verbal one or two during your breathing . I personally felt that counting out whether whisper or out loud is gonna make you feel not so comfortable because you still have to remember that your tongue is touching your upper palate and it would be definitely difficult to vocalize especially you tongue is in such a position . I felt that it is better to count mentally and make a note . Anyway , about counting , don't be too carried away by counting . The objective is to relax your mind , observe your breathings(not forcing), and the counting is to hget you awake and aware .

There's a reason why the tongue have to be tucked in a funny posture and to touch the upper palate . In Traditional CHinese Medicine , there are two very important channel , the Ren and the Du Channel running along the path . The Du channel starts from the perineum (Hui Yin acupoint) , all the way pass your anus , up the spine , up the crown of your head (Bai Hui acupoint), down the front of your face to an acupoint in the upper palate . The Ren channel starts from inside the lower abdomen (there's an energy center in te lower abdomen called a Dan Tien) and descends down to the perineum(Hui Yin) , ascends the front of the body body in it's midline , to the throat , lips and ends in the tongue (tip of tongue) . When you use the tongue to touch the upper palate , you are connecting the Ren and Du channel . Ren is the Yin and Du is the Yang channel . By connecting , you allow a continuous flow of energy and the connection of the Yin and Yang .

There are many objects to be used as the center of focus but the most common one is the breathe since it's always with you (portable) and always redy all the time .

When I meditate, I usually have  some light music or ambient noise to help my visualizations. I mostly meditate to clean and charge my charkras, so the light music really helps. For those beginning in meditations, I find that having no music and just your mind really helps for enlightening  and figuring out  just where your  energy systems are. Once you got it down, adding something soft can help deepen your meditative state. Nature sounds are good for this, especially if you like to imagine yourself "taking off"  in places of nature i.e.  near a stream, on a mountain top, in a forest, entering a cave, and so on. In my personal space i place crystals in places where the light catches them and I  can  see the rainbows on the walls. I usually wear pajamas or something extremely comfortable and light. the last thing I want interrupting my meditation are itchy or tight clothes. I do not verbally count anything while meditating, I "observe" until I get the rhythm down, and then it is like second nature.  I practice meditative breath even when I am not meditating, like when I am watching TV or washing the dishes, when I knit or crochet  and things like that. everyone has their own way of meditative breathing, and i think whatever way achieves your meditative state is best. I usually meditate laying down, while the baby is napping. hearing her gentle breath helps me most of all.