Meditation: 4 years of daily meditation (60-90 minutes every day) |
- 4 years of daily meditation (60-90 minutes every day)
- My friend said he doesn’t have time to meditate but is on tiktok 4-5 hours a day.
- I wasted 25 years daydreaming,, losing my ability to focus, trusting my emotions, and overthinking everything...
- Cried during meditation for the first time
- Headspace vs FitMind? The better meditation app?
- Is hearing voices normal?
- guided or solo meditation?
- Will meditation help me become more focused?
- Should I stop
- What does meditation look like? Apparently, a circle.
- How do you handle mosquito bites during meditation
- You feed what you fight.
- How do you meditate?
- What's the difference between allowing thoughts and engaging with them?
- Guided meditation - Guided meditation 10 minute
- Any apps, books, practical guides that made meditation ‘click’ for you?
- Walking meditation
- Listening to audiobooks (especially children’s books) is great for falling asleep if you’re having intrusive/unwanted thoughts.
- I've started meditating lying down.
- Meditating feels like a chore
- Meditation as a healthy habit
- I notice a VERY clear rise and fall pattern in my life based on whether I have been meditating regularly or not.
- 30 Minutes Relaxing Music,Calm Music,Piano Instrumental, Meditation,Yoga...
- For my birthday I meditated in a Sensory Deprivation Tank AMA
| 4 years of daily meditation (60-90 minutes every day) Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:02 AM PDT Just wanted to make a post on the changes that I have seen within myself after achieving many hours of meditation combined with two vipassana meditation retreats that I have completed. I hope that this will inspire you! So to start, I will just give the reason for why I am meditating. The truth is, I have had a ton of difficulty in life in regards to social anxiety and other mental disorders. To say the least, it was extremely severe especially during my teenage years. I could not even go to the grocery store or get gas for my car. My parents had to do it for me. It completely stunted my growth as a human being. I tried multiple medications, they only really made the problem worse. It was around the age of 21-22 where I took LSD for the first time. I really got to see the potential for my mind, what it was like to see anxiety and fear completely extinguished. The logical response was to try and take at last a little bit of what I experienced into my daily life. This lead me to meditation. I had a ton of motivation to meditate (and still do) for multiple reasons. For one, I know first hand what it's like to be near the bottom of the barrel in terms of psychology. I wanted to do everything in my power to head in the opposite direction, towards happiness. Secondly, I knew what was possible thanks to my psychedelic experiences. So I began meditating every day, slowly ramping it up to 60-90 minutes every single day performing vipassana meditation. This involves scanning the body and focusing on the breath. No music, no stimulation, just pure silence. So how am I doing now? My anxiety and other mental disorders have been almost completely wiped out. Almost every meditation I am guaranteed a least a few minutes of pure contentment where all of my problems vanish. Sometimes it can get extremely blissful. I am telling you, having the ability to shut off the monkey mind every single day...I just don't think I could live without that. I really see just how unstable the normal mind is. Constantly bouncing around from thought to thought, feeling to feeling. Your mind just has a way of pulling you along and you are helpless. If you feel anxiety for instance and you don't know how to meditate, then you are a slave to that anxiety. The anxious thoughts coming rushing in like an avalanche and we immediately attach to them. This in turn only amplifies the feelings of anxiety. Knowing how to meditate however, allows you to have at least a chance of stepping back from this instinctual process. It's the difference between being in the middle of a scene in a movie, versus sitting back and watching it objectively on a TV screen. This is why meditation can cure anxiety disorders. It trains the brain to interrupt the habitual internal process that can make our anxiety a living hell. When I feel anxiety now, I can simply just observe the feeling and not attach to the negative thoughts. The anxiety will fade pretty quickly when you do this, you are not attaching to the thoughts. The negative feelings have nothing to feed off of anymore so it can't stay in your mind for very long. To sum up the changes in myself: I am the happiest I have ever been and it's only getting better. Because of this practice, I can really start to enjoy the little things. I am no longer in a rush to get to somewhere. I heard from someone that "the journey is the destination." I am really beginning to see that in my own mind. I have also felt that my cognitive capacity to experience compassion and unconditional love has only been amplified. These feelings are not just for others, but for myself as well. So often we forget to show ourselves love and compassion and meditation has shown me the importance of that. I am no longer so hard on myself if I make a mistake. Being able to forgive yourself is such a massive relief. I have also stopped comparing myself to others and I don't require anyone to make me happy. I can get there all by myself. Everyone should be meditating every single day. The internal rewards are seemingly boundless. To be truthful, there is nothing more productive then sitting down and meditating. You are rewiring your brain and changing how the mind works. The mind is truly everything, just as the Buddha said. Much love. [link] [comments] |
| My friend said he doesn’t have time to meditate but is on tiktok 4-5 hours a day. Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:39 PM PDT |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:21 PM PDT Can anyone relate? how was it for you? I have been meditating consistently for about 2 months now, and I am starting to identify how often my mind goes wild (spoiler: way too many times). I can't imagine a life without me doing all those things. Since I've done them compulsively for so long, it feels like they are too rooted in me. I wish someone had told me all my coping mechanisms, were good on the short term but bad on the long term. I felt like that was just the way I was and there was nothing I could do about it. I know meditation is not magic, and it will not stop me from ever doing those things, but I hope it will significantly reduce them..? If anyone with a similar journey can share their experience I'd greatly appreciate it. [link] [comments] |
| Cried during meditation for the first time Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:40 AM PDT I've only been meditating for a couple weeks, but even outside of meditation I try to keep the same mindset regarding my thoughts: they are not me. I meditated today when I woke up and got super concentrated on my breathing for the first time. My whole body started to vibrate from the extra oxygen and I felt an extreme release of pressure. I started fully sobbing and still am. I'm an 18 year old male and although I am comfortable with crying, I rarely do it alone. Often it takes someone hugging me to get me to release emotions. This was a really beautiful experience, almost as if it was me comforting myself for the first time. Finally okay with being alone. I have extreme separation anxiety. Needless to say I think that meditation is starting to change my life. [link] [comments] |
| Headspace vs FitMind? The better meditation app? Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:37 PM PDT |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 07:23 PM PDT A friend of mine recently got me into meditation and because I'm a black belt as well I felt it was best to try and explore and experiment with my mind through meditation. I was told to try and listen to that ringing noise in the back of your head and focus on that, which I did. At first the ringing was getting slightly louder over a couple minutes at a time. Eventually I shut off my music to completely focus on the loud ringing noise, all the while I have incense almost choking me. I go deeper into the consuming ringing and it felt so loud and like it had a mass, then I started hearing almost whispers. I was really anxious at this point and I felt like I crossed a line I wasn't ready for.. I was just wondering if anyone has ever had a similar experience. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:41 PM PDT do you find meditation to be more effective when you use an app or when you just do it on your own? [link] [comments] |
| Will meditation help me become more focused? Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:49 PM PDT Hello! As the title suggests, I'm coming to you today in hopes of finding out if meditation will help me become more focused or not. I've lightly researched meditation before, but not enough to be even remotely knowledgable or enough to consistently do it. I have a lot of trouble focusing and sleeping because it always feels like I'm in constant thought to the point that I hardly feel present during conversations or even tedious tasks. I'm hoping to go into a law career, so I want help finding a technique that helps me focus and be in control of my brain as much as possible. Any advice or recommendations? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:24 PM PDT I've just started meditation I've been doing 10 minutes a day.. I don't know how to describe the feelings. I felt like there's something pressing down on top of my head at the end of meditation like the last minutes or less and I feel the blood running inside my brain.. can any one explain what just happened to me ?? Should I stop or should I do more [link] [comments] |
| What does meditation look like? Apparently, a circle. Posted: 22 Sep 2020 12:14 PM PDT I was noticing a pattern with meditation apps so I went looking for more: [link] [comments] |
| How do you handle mosquito bites during meditation Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:12 PM PDT I was meditating today and could feel a mosquito biting me. It was very distracting but I tried to just go back to my breathing and soon i realised that I had passed through the phase the mosquito had probably had its fill.. a few minutes later the same mosquito or maybe a different one, started biting me on my neck. This time I had to break my stillness and squat the mosquito away. The result is that my flow was broken and I had to start again. I was barely meditating for about 20 mins. I wonder how people handle such stuff. Especially those meditating for hours at end.. I meditate on the relative safety of my room. But if I would be meditating under a tree for example, I could encounter ants, bugs, snakes and whatnot. How does one deal with this? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:03 PM PDT Society seems to train us to fight everything all the time, to the extent that it often becomes the only tool in our tool belt. When all you have is a hammer everything is a nail to be hit. Fighting of course serves its purpose. We must fight injustice. Fight for rights. Fight for a better world. But as a general mindset it has many dangers. There are some enemies that can not be fought and this is a lesson we are not taught enough. Indeed we often see messages that seem to advocate for just this. The battle against depression, anxiety, fighting for what you want, etc. While these are merely analogies of course, we very much wish to strive to move toward things we wish for and away from toxic states of mind, the analogy also serves to obscure an important truth. That truth is that we also feed what we fight. Some battles can not be won and it is only in succumbing that we find peace. This does not mean to further identify with negative states of mind, but it does mean that these battles require a paradigm shift. We tend to unconsciously feed our suffering. We mistake our internal state of mind with the thing causing the suffering and inappropriately allocate our resources. Instead of placing our energies into changing our lives, or the state of the world around us, we focus instead on fighting some internal battle. Something happens that causes us to feel "bad" and we get to work fighting the "bad". And in so doing we fan the flames of our own suffering. Now we feel worse. Most of us are not even aware of the dynamic however. Barely aware that we feel worse even, and even when we are, blind to the fact that we have supplied the oxygen to the flames. The solution is so paradoxical as to seem insane at first blush. No wonder we don't naturally fall upon the answer. The solution is surrender to ones suffering. You go limp in the mouth of the tiger you are terrified of. Everything we have been taught in life tells us to do the opposite. We battle an enemy, we don't give in. And yet the enemy is your own mind. This is not a battle you can win in the traditional sense. Only by seeing it as a mirage can you let go and "win". [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:47 PM PDT I've been meditating for a couple of weeks now and everytime I read something on meditation, people say a different thing. I practice meditation via an app called Prana Breath that plays pleasant sounds of higher and lower notes to indicate for how long I have to inhale and how long I have to exhale respectively. I used to inhale through my nose and then exhale through my mouth cause I read about somewhere on the internet until yesterday I asked redditors about it and most if not all of them said that both inhalation and exhalation must be done through the nose. They explained that it's one less thing to focus on during meditation. Now I've only been using this app for a couple of days now (since Sept 4th I think) and I have been meditating for a few weeks before that as well but I've noticed that everytime I use the app for meditation, or course I feel a sense of calm after I'm finished but I never seem to reach a point of dead calm where for a brief few seconds my mind is empty, this amazing state where the moment I become aware of it, it's gone. But I have experienced this while meditating without the app. So right now, I'm not sure but I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that in the first few days of using the app, I changed my style of my meditation entirely by inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth which as the redditors said requires a bit more conscious awareness as opposed to both inhaling and exhaling through the nose and because everytime I meditate through the app, I am not really paying attention to my natural breath instead I'm waiting for those higher and lower notes to hit so that I know exactly when to inhale and exhale and for how long. So I'm guessing the unecessary extra input is what is preventing me from reaching that almost addictive state of dead calm. Then again I can't be too sure, I would really like to hear your views on this - whether I'm right or wrong and why. Since I started mediation on my own without a Guru, I would love for someone with experience to just explain the basics of breath and mantra mediation (I'll try both and see which suits me better). I would also like to know if using this app is hindering my meditation, if it's the case, I'm going to be a little disheartened cause the app counts the numbers of hours you've put in and gives you a sense of progress, nonetheless I will quit it if it's not as helpful as meditation without an app. Thanks in advance! You guys are the best! [link] [comments] |
| What's the difference between allowing thoughts and engaging with them? Posted: 22 Sep 2020 05:33 PM PDT I understand what it means to not resist thoughts, to know they're inevitable. But what's the difference between allowing them, and not engaging with/getting lost in them when they're there? [link] [comments] |
| Guided meditation - Guided meditation 10 minute Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:13 PM PDT |
| Any apps, books, practical guides that made meditation ‘click’ for you? Posted: 23 Sep 2020 01:43 AM PDT Hello, long story short, I've just been hospitalised for tachycardia over the last few days. I'm not sure what the outcome is going to be but it looks like there is potentially something wrong, despite being relatively young and healthy and fit. I struggle with ruminating and worrying about things (especially work related) and I'm now taking a hard look at my lifestyle factors (in addition to ongoing medical tests) to see how I can go a bit easier on my heart. I know that meditation has been found to have amazing effects on this, and I've enjoyed reading stuff about meditation in the past, but for some reason it's never translated to me actually doing meditation or enjoying it very much when I do. I don't know if I maybe need a very practical book to guide me, or whether any of the popular apps would help - if you relate to what I'm saying here, was there anything that suddenly helped it click for you or that really got you into the habit of doing it? I've read some John Kabat Zinn but the problem was I found the book really interesting, more so than my desire to actually go and meditate. Hope this post is not off topic / frequent repost, I would be very grateful for any suggestions and tips anyone has [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:37 PM PDT Actually we spend enormous time for walking... from morning to night... we walk really much.... so, what if we can meditate while walking? I think it would be very effective.. right? I wrote an article about walking meditation! check it out! Jason- Meditação Lisboa [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:25 PM PDT I still consider this a form of meditation so I thought I'd post here. Recently I (32m) saw something very traumatic. I coped fine during the day but I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep properly for several nights without some kind of aid. On this occasion I didn't feel that listening to a guided meditation would give me sufficient comfort, so in the end I settled on an audiobook of a classic children's story. And I was asleep in no time! Adult audiobooks work just as well, but if you're really stressed then children's books do the trick. If need be, you can always use headphones (obviously). Here are my recommendations when it comes to choosing audiobooks to fall asleep to:
Hope this helps some of you! [link] [comments] |
| I've started meditating lying down. Posted: 23 Sep 2020 12:45 AM PDT I've been practicing sitting, standing and walking meditation for the past few years. I have a lot of tension in my shoulders, and I've recently realized just how much this affects my mental state. The tension and discomfort leads to shallow breathing and irritability. I usually meditate for one hour per day, and while my practice has been extremely effective and I find it the most important practice I engage in, meditating in these postures has significantly contributed to my shoulder issues. While meditating in a sitting, standing, or walking position I always have pain in my shoulders and/or back. It's very distracting. I shift around often while sitting. I recently met a friend who is new to meditation, and she meditates lying down. She has similar issues with her back and shoulders. She told me it was a real game changer for her. I have been averse to meditating lying down, but she inspired me to try it. I started to ask myself why I'm averse to this position. It is due mostly to the recommendations of teachers. One of my teachers says not to lay down during meditation because it sends your mind a signal that it is time to sleep. Though the groups he teaches are often full of beginners, and he says that lying meditation is an "advanced practice". I've heard this recommendation from other teachers as well. I also notice I have attachment to practicing in a sitting position because it is what is traditionally done. My decision to stick to certain postures has come from valid advice but also from my ego. For me, is the benefit of meditating in a sitting position versus a lying position significant enough that it is worth the pain and tension in my shoulders? I'm setting out to answer this question for myself. As the Buddha says, don't believe anything just because a teacher says it. Your own experience is your best teacher. At this stage, it is more challenging for me to meditate lying down. It's easier to drift into a sleepy state, and so more challenging to focus. However, I'm going to keep it up. I believe with determination, lying meditation has the potential to be as effective as meditating while upright. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:57 PM PDT Hi everyone, now I'm not for sure how common this is for you guys but i ended up stop meditating because it felt like a chore. For around 2 months I meditated everyday consistently for around 10 minutes. After about a month of meditating I stopped getting that great feeling during meditation ( I think i only got it once in the second month) and it led to me everyday dreading to have to meditate and either want to do it first thing in the morning to get it out of the way or just pushing it off until the afternoon. Its been a couple months since I've stopped but recently I've been wanted to start again since I really like the yogic philosophy and know it's a reasonable part of it. Anyone who has something that may help or has experienced something like this before id love to hear your experience. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:53 PM PDT I've practiced 15 minutes of meditation in the morning (usually up by sunrise), at lunch if I'm working from home, and at night. Aside from an hour of yoga a day, this was been part of my routine before and during quarantine. I've shared this tip recently with some of my friends and they've reported positive changes within their bodies and minds. Just wanted to share for anyone who needs it. :) Also, if you've been curious about meditation but are afraid to try it, be patient. Meditation isn't always sitting down and breathing. You can create a meditative state through many activities: Making music, Baking, Walking, Planting, Journaling, etc... The key is to clear your mind more and more each time. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:23 AM PDT When I meditate daily, even just a 5 minute sit, literally everything feels a little better—more manageable, more positive even. It seems that better opportunities arise for me in the course of daily life when I have been meditating. Regularly, I fall into a very easy trap: life coasts along and I get comfortable, I am less diligent in my practices and I don't make time every day for meditation. I think less about what I desire and more about what I want (and don't have). Almost immediately, life feels duller. It seems that hurdles appear with more frequency. It feels that I am less tolerant of them. I grow more frustrated with the course of my daily existence. I begin to meditate daily again, and bumps smooth themselves out. Closed doors open, my attitude is patient and accepting, life flows. So much power in the mind... [link] [comments] |
| 30 Minutes Relaxing Music,Calm Music,Piano Instrumental, Meditation,Yoga... Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:44 PM PDT My New 30 minutes video suitable for #relaxation #meditation #peacefulmusic .Go check it out and please subscribe [link] [comments] |
| For my birthday I meditated in a Sensory Deprivation Tank AMA Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:36 PM PDT like the title says, today i booked a sensory deprivation tank for 1 hour, and meditated. I tend to follow a protocol based on what I picked up from headspace. That being Breahing, "turning off" the muscles in my body, becoming aware of my body and breathing all together, visualization, and if I have time, an intimate conversation with my inner monologue. Today, I would say most of the meditation was that conversation. So if you're interested and want to know what it's like feel free to AMA. [link] [comments] |
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