I've been under alot of stress recently and have decided to give meditation a shot. Does anyone here practice it? can anyone reccomend me any decent books or websites?

I used to on and off a little while back, seemed to help quite a lot. I never really looked into books on the subject, but doing a little research the general consensus is that you need a quiet room (which is kind of obvious), no possible distractions and somewhere where you are comfortable. From what I learnt, you're not supposed to think purposefully, clear your head and let thoughts enter naturally. Some people find that scents also help.
As I said it has been a while since I've done this (I seem to have entered a less stressful time of life) but I hope I have helped in some way or another.

What Hail99 said.
Try and find a totally quiet room where nobody will come and disturb you. If there are lots of electrical devices around turn them off at the plug, especially if they're on standby. Meditating outside is great if you can find somewhere quiet.

A quick google search:

http://www.how-to-meditate.org/

http://www.wikihow.com/Meditate

http://www.project-meditation.org/how_to_meditate.html

http://www.letsmeditate.net/

http://www.meditate.com/

There are different types of meditation you can do. If you just wanted to meditate to clear mind and relax then those links will do. As for books just search for "meditation" on amazon and check out the books with high ratings.

Hope I helped.

Silence is not a volume, but a state of mind:)

stress?

The answer to that is cigarettes sir

or making fibre dreads on the floorwhile your two dogs run around you

nah, seriously.

I actually had these meditation "sound" cds that had chants and celestial
(well, it does bring celestial atmospheres and images into my mind) sounds,
whale singing and that kind of stuff.

Man, that was amazing!

I used to close the curtains, put up few aromatic candles, put on my huuuge
earphones and make a pillow bed on the floor and jump in

One thing I also did was turning all clocks so that I couldn't see or hear them.
Hours just seem to slip away!

Usually I ended the "session" with a bit more uptempo song, so I would
wake up better
And some toast and tee.
And anime called Mushishi.
And taking the dog for a walk.

[Keeker]

I've been under alot of stress recently and have decided to give meditation a shot. Does anyone here practice it? can anyone reccomend me any decent books or websites?

I occasionally use a Dick Sutphen stress control cd which is pretty good. I like the seashore sounds on it and some of the electronic stuff is pleasant. He does also do cds specifically for meditation I think, but it has been a long time since I looked at his website.

Cheers everyone for the info. Much appreciated.

And some toast and tee.
And anime called Mushishi

Hey, I've done that part, too.. Mushishi has a strange calming quality to it.

As for meditation, I've been practising, way too lazily, on and off, for some years now. Mostly mindfulness of breathing and some metta bhavana, "loving-kindness". Truly clears the head and soothes a beehive mind.. I'd recommend some kind of meditation for everyone. I think the single most important thing is not trying too hard, to find your own way of doing it, letting things happen and vain thoughts drift away. It would also be good to try to keep up the positive meditative states of the mind thoughout the days, not only when actually sitting down. A great, insightful book about meditation, among other things: Zen by Alan Watts.

Autumn has suddenly arrived here... soon, the ever-changing colours

I find the hummer cd a great thing to meditate to.
after a long week of work is usually close the windows/curtains and lay on my bed with some mint tea. then i play the hummer and during the first track i already feel that my mind is coming to rest..the hypnotic buzzing on that song makes me close my eyes and fall to "sleep" well im not actually sleeping, its more like my mind is shut down from everything and the soundtrack is the relaxing sound of the cd. usually i just put it on repeat and stop listening when i "wake up" (usually the cd is repeated 2 to 4 times before im fully awake again)

try some mescaline (peyote or san pedro) then meditate

The one thing to think about with meditation is it will not be an easy deal at first, it takes some practice to understand how it works. I've tried it in the past and it did work. I don't do it now, which reminds me I should cause' it does feel good after words. I say find what ever works.

try some mescaline (peyote or san pedro) then meditate

Ahahaha, find me somewhere to get some mescaline and sure