Yep, some of it does strike me as a money making operation, and there are bits that are definitely hokey and cult like. And good grief do they like a follow up email. I’ve just ignored that bit of the operation and concentrated on the practice.
Definitely a good way in(if pricey) for someone like me who had thought about meditation for years but never got round to it.
Yeah I was very lucky to have the place I go to here, what is taught is based around Tibetan Buddhism (Kagyu tradition in particular) but minus all the religion and esoteric jargon. Despite the cultish trimmings of TM, the actual practice is relatively low on religion. If you go to a standard Buddhist place to meditate you’ll tend to get deluged with the religious aspects.
The state you’re describing with chores or mushroom hunting or crafting etc is often called “flow state” in Western literature and is also the first absorption / first rūpa jhāna I described above. The Buddhist description goes like:
First dhyāna : the first dhyāna can be entered when one is secluded from sensuality and unskillful qualities, due to withdrawal and right effort. There is pīti (“rapture”) and non-sensual sukha (“pleasure”) as the result of seclusion, while vitarka-vicara (“discursive thought”) continues
A lot of people have experience with this aspect of meditation. It’s why there are so many bumper stickers about fishing and gardening, both practices which promote flow state.
This is basically a cross-post from mental health (but not wholly). … I’m really struggling right now, with loneliness and isolation.
Yesterday I meditated for quite a while, focusing on the fear I felt in my chest. I tried to breath into it, and found that this was actually somewhat effective. I think it is now most accurate to describe the feeling as a hole–because when it lessened, I had the distinct physical sensation that it had been partially filled in. Unfortunately, that relief didn’t last.
It seems strange to describe emotions as physical sensations, but this one most definitely is.
Last summer I had this experience, a glimpse, with the aid of lsd, of seeing that it wasn’t possible to be truly alone. That people are all the same energy, the same being. It was a moving, beautiful realization and it brought me to tears but then left me with this deep sense of peace that stuck around for months and helped fuel parts of my spiritual journey.
That, too, faded. It was such a clear seeing, and I mourn its absence. Thinking about trying to repeat the experience–except I worry my mental state isn’t great for that. I can imagine getting caught in an eight hour hell of solitude.
On the other hand, despite how crappy I feel right now I think that my practice and grounding is in a much stronger place so maybe it could be good.
There is a very rich tradition of detailed spiritual practice and philosophy in classical Hinduism. If you want to read look at the Upanishads and authors like Shankara and Patanjali in the classical period, guys like Ramana Maharshi and Yogananda in the modern period.
I got into yoga and meditation mainly thanks to online poker. I’ve been a poker pro for 15 years and those 2 have helped me find a balance with the stress and emotions of poker.
I wish I could say I’m as deep into meditation as some of you, but I’d consider myself into pop meditation for the moment, meaning I use a lot of guided meditations from Calm and InnerDimensionMedia.
I’m not sure about you guys, but the disruption and stress associated with corona has played a number on me and I find myself flying off the handle easily when I play poker, much easier than normal. I tilted pretty hard a couple times last week and caused me to jump up in stakes to tilt chase, which is never a good idea. The odd thing is that I’m having my best year since 2010, but I just don’t feel like myself.
As a result, starting on cinco de mayo, I went to a new schedule and routine where I wake up with yoga, then do a 10 minute guided meditation or breathing exercises before every session, as well as keeping session to 2-3 hours each, after which my concentration wanes rapidly.
So far I’ve done a solid job sticking to the schedule for the first 3 days, which I’m proud of myself for, being someone who’s quite lazy and has trouble motivating myself.
Anyway, I’m hoping to build up slowly. For now I’m doing 30 min. yoga daily and 20-30 min. meditation. I would like to keep this up for a month then maybe bump those #s up slightly. The goal is to eventually get to the point where I’m doing an hour or 2 of vipassana meditation daily where I can really start to address some of the emotional baggage I’m carrying.
Anyway, thanks for starting this thread. I look forward to delving into some of the links/ideas shared.
Yeah, the hardest part may be forcing yourself to do it long enough to form a habit. Don’t worry about building up otime on any schedule, even if it’s only 10 minutes for a month or two, forming the habit is the thing at this point.
FWIW I’m not a fan of guided meditation. Hard to turn all your attention inward when you’re listening for cues. They are solid for relaxation, but that’d not the same thing.
Simplest and most powerful basic technique I know of is this:
That’s it, that’s the whole technique. ‘watch’ your breath go in and out, watch the space between the breaths, when thoughts happen, notice that it happened and turn your attention back to the breath. When you do this long enough that all feeling of your body is forgotten, you’re at the beginning.
Yes, there was meditation advice I read somewhere that advised against getting too prescriptive.
I find myself just pausing sometimes to watch my thoughts, become more present … even if it’s just during a pause in what I’m doing, that seems beneficial and meditation.
It’s something. One issue we’re always bumping up against here is the lack of vocabulary in Western languages for this stuff. Things like pratyahara, dhyana, dharana, samyama, pranayama, etc. that mean different specific practices flatten down to ‘meditation’.
Yah, I tend to agree. Luckily they’re the type of meditations where there’s a minute intro with 8 minutes to sit and observe the breath and then a minute outro. Although I do find myself wishing they’d stfu at times so I can just sit.
I consider it a way to work myself back up to real meditation for a month or two. I’ve done regular meditation in the past, and am familiar with the technique, but for now I’m just trying to break the old habits and develop new ones with whatever works. Eventually I’m hoping to just sit with myself and observe my breath for 30 minutes a day then 1 hour, 2 hours, etc.
A recommendation: Alan Watts: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life
Another, more hesitant, recommendation: Raimon Panikkar (for example). He’s a very interesting writer, on Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and inter-religious dialogue in general. But maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, and probably it’s difficult to know where to start with him, to even find out if it is.
TIL Roy Rogers was into meditation
Does anyone have any tips for how to not fall asleep during meditation? It’s not always a problem I run into but it does happen enough to be annoying.
I already sit in a chair that is not particularly comfortable to help stop me getting too comfortable but not sure what else to try (beyond getting so much sleep that I dont get tired at all during my waking hours).
Don’t do it when you’re sleepy?
Do it first thing in the morning. Sit up straight (whether in a chair or on the floor), pay attention to what you’re doing.
Technique may be related, - - ‘meditation’ covers a lot of ground, exactly what are you doing?
I’m doing mainly breath-focussed mindfulness meditation. Counting my breaths.
I really do prefer to do it in the evenings but I guess I need to try and make mornings work.
Thanks for the reply.
Last Saturday I did another acid mediation, taking 200 mcg lsd. I was trying to recreate realizations, visions, from a similar experience last August.
What wound up happening was not the same, but was positive.
Last summer, I was shown how it is not possible to be alone–how all beings are the same fundamental energy, which is love.
This time, I saw very clearly how the world of form is an illusion–and how a thought or belief creates our world. Whenever I am stressed or unhappy, it is because I am believing some stressful thought instead of being truly in the present moment.
I also had several insights into my life, and things which have held me back from growing up. … Like the August experience, however, I was again left with an understanding of how much work there is to do. How the things I was shown are a starting point, and not a solution.
While the August experience was joyous, this trip had a sense of heaviness. I was also able to see clearly how much fear is present in me, at all times.
Yeah - I recently listened to the audiobook of “Lost Connections” by Johann Hari, which is about modern thinking on the causes of depression and anxiety, and there’s a chapter devoted to the use of psychedelics in relieving that sort of distress. He mentioned that it was common that people would find that their spiritual insights would “wear off”, that is, just because you have a revelation doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy to integrate that into your life.
I suspect there’s no shortcut to the slow process of changing the way one’s brain works, just as there’s no shortcut to other brain-changing efforts like learning to play the piano or speak a language.
I just had my first real attempt at being in the middle of being in a bad/sudden anxiety spiral, and doing a 10 minute guided meditation. It definitely didn’t make the anxiety go away (it was caused by a particular event), and it was a struggle and I nearly stopped midway through, but after the 10 minutes I can certainly say it had taken the edge off.
I’ve been trying really hard this year to properly commit to meditation because I am as sure as I can be that it will be incredibly value to me, not just with anxiety but also with focus. I’ve maintained about 80% compliance this year according to my habit-tracking app.
Anyway, this leads me to a question: can anyone pinpoint a particular change/adaptation/practice that caused their meditation to evolve to a level that felt more impactful? For example, did a particular book, technique, or even attending a meditation retreat cause you to get more out of the experience of meditation? I’ve already been through this thread so I am aware of some different recommendations people made in general, but in this case I am specifically asking about watershed moments.
My favourite saying is meditation doesn’t eliminate emotions but it can reduce their half-life.
Fwiw 10 minutes is just dipping your toe into relaxation. When i first started taking it seriously, it would take 30 or 40 minutes to quiet my mind and turn my attention inward. Faster with practice, sure, but still not in 10 minutes but ymmv.
Best technique for me was ‘watching’ the breath. Just watch it go in, watch it go out, eventually stray thoughts stop interrupting and awareness of your body falls away.
If you can get away for a weekend and you’re in a hurry for change I’d say look into an enlightenment intensive, not sure any should be running with the covid though.