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    Thursday, September 17, 2020

    Meditation: Meditation that helped with my PTSD and crippling anxiety

    Meditation: Meditation that helped with my PTSD and crippling anxiety


    Meditation that helped with my PTSD and crippling anxiety

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 06:15 PM PDT

    Close your eyes and imagine the Sun. See your self going to the sun and disappear. Open your eyes and ask to bring up memories from birth to 10 years old, 10 to 20, and so on. See the image as a picture and throw it away in the sun. Do that for every image/picture in your mind all while keeping your eyes open since it helps to stay in the present. Repeat each age range 50 times, then move on to the next.

    Side note: don't force yourself to the about an event just let it come to you. If nothing comes up throw your self at the sun.

    submitted by /u/GoCrow
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    “Heaven is the place within me mental illness can’t touch”- a deep realization I had in meditation

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:26 PM PDT

    Have suffered my whole life. Came to a place of peace. It just IS. I can't even say in past tense, though this experience is past tense. It purely IS. There was infinite potential there. Wholly loving. 20 years of GAD/MDD and a few seconds in eternity.

    submitted by /u/rocafe1111a
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    When should I meditate? Before starting my day ? Or before I go to bed? I have anxiety :////

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:08 PM PDT

    Meditation VS breathework

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:44 PM PDT

    I meditate and do wim hof breathework for about 20 minutes a day, separately. I feel refreshed after both, but the feel far better during and after the breathework, which is discouraging me from doing the meditation. Is there any point to meditating when I can just do breathwork? Would I be better off just doing 40 minutes of breathwork without meditating?

    submitted by /u/Matthew-Todd
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    society...

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:50 PM PDT

    In today's society, in which technology is ubiquitous and is perpetually stimulating our brains with all sorts of media, meditation is a truly valuable technique that allows us to pause this stream of stimulation and clear our minds. Unfortunately, though most individuals would surely find benefit from meditation, meditation remains unappreciated and unutilized by most people.

    submitted by /u/xxxLilJune
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    iPhone

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:29 PM PDT

    I've been struggling to stay present throughout my day and I find a lot of this struggle comes from my iPhone. Is there any way I can set up my phone to promote mindfulness? (Thanks for any responses in advance)

    submitted by /u/Cwestcott_
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    Benefit to Awareness: Noticing the moment of Choice

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:14 AM PDT

    Key Points for me:

    • I believe there is a benefit in exercising awareness within the day, in between our busy moments
    • When I don't do so, I often end up following my natural ticks for distraction, triggered by random emotions and thoughts which can be turbulent
    • When I do exercise awareness, I find myself more cognizant and aware of when I am about to follow that tick
    • Furthermore, I find myself being more inline with whatever choice, be it letting the tick happen, or going back center to do what I think should be done
    • There is no need to feel guilty about having natural ticks to turbulent emotions
    • I think it is important and beneficial to celebrate these moments to engage positive reinforcement

    This is more for myself to verbalize, but I also wanted to share in case it was useful or relevant to some one else.

    Recently, a fellow redditor asked "How do I practice more?" plus "What do I need to do to get deeper benefits beyond breathing awareness" to which my suggestion was to "Not worry about setting aside time as much as bringing meditation into your daily life. Any time you have in between moments of action, try meditating a little bit." since I felt and believe that exercising said tool of awareness and incorporating during the day is actually one of the biggest boons.

    I did not mention what that process or benefit would look like. I was hesitant to verbalize it since it'll be different for each person, but I wanted to share here because I wanted to clarify the process to myself.

    Letting myself stop in between actions to exercise awareness provides me the regular and ever grateful benefits of feeling calmer and slowing down the progression of thoughts. Without it, my habitual ticks take over, triggered by random thoughts or emotions, I often end up taking steps towards things that distract me from the moment. I'll open a news site, or go to my favorite chess website, or check my phone for social updates.

    When I do exercise that awareness it helps me become conscious of my choices before the passing thought or emotion can move my body. When the thought or emotion comes instead of acting upon or being triggered by said object, I am given a moment to consider it, and even if my body begins to move towards the habitual tick, I find myself catching that action and realize "Oh, I have a choice here. I can continue to play a game of chess, or I can just take a moment to return back to the center." And no matter which choice I make at that point, I feel like I have a much deeper connection to what I am doing.

    A big point I wanted to share was: sometimes when I find myself catching myself within the natural tick, I think it's really easy to evaluate that movement with a feeling of guilt. "Oh, look at me trying to play chess. I shouldn't be doing this. What a lazy bum I am." But I think that's probably not effective. It just spurns more turbulent and aggravating emotions. I'm not a lazy bum. I just happen to be inundated with a habit that needs to be changed over time, if I want it to happen. I don't think chess is a bad break, but I just need to realize when it is and is not appropriate. And for me to make that decision, exercising that moment to moment awareness is incredibly helpful, if not very necessary.

    In my humble and idiot opinion we are much like elephants that already have momentum from all the past things we have forged via neuro-plasticity. For the tiny monkey driving it at the front to suddenly gain a sense of calm and try to stop the elephant from doing it's natural habits is a bit comical to ask for. If we become aware of that habitual tick, it's okay to take that guilt, and let it pass. Let it pass and then buy into the choice you make, either letting that elephant continue, or somehow assuaging it to do what we think is necessary at that time.

    Finally, as I was writing the TLDR up above I realized another important point. When these moments happen, the guilt and other turbulent emotions may trigger, and that's hard to deal with. The very fact that we exercised awareness, caught our monkey brain doing something, and then dealt with it in a calm manner and assuaged ourselves... All of that is worth celebrating. If somebody did that for me during the day, wow wouldn't I be ever so grateful. If I want to help my body adjust to being welcome to such an exercise, I need to find gratitude in these moments. Because this shit is hard sometimes, and small wins are nice.

    submitted by /u/bauski
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    Am I doing it wrong?

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 08:12 PM PDT

    Hello, I kind of beat Pure OCD like 2 year ago, but since I was always in my head, it became a habit of always being in my head, which is not a good thing. I'm in such a confusion state right now because, 1 year ago I was meditating but I wasn't taking it seriously enough; I would do it on and off and it would be 5-8 mins sessions. Now, for the past week, I've been doing it every day 10 mins morning, 10 mins night and I often just feel like keeping on going after that time so I do it for even longer. For some reason tho, I feel like meditating make me think more, which could be a good thing because i'm probably just more conscious of my thoughts, but also, it could be that i'm doing it wrong.

    Which is bringing me to something i'm wondering : when your mind wanders and lots of thoughts goes through your mind, is it you that's thinking of it or is it your unconscious mind. Because if you're talking in your own head, I feel like it's hard to observe yourself talking to yourself, so I'm thinking that those are the thoughts that you can't really observe because you're the one actively putting them out, if that makes sense. I feel like you can't really observe yourself talking to yourself. Maybe i'm wrong and just need practice. But this is really important to me because if that's the case and when we talk about observing the thoughts in our head, we talking about observing the unconscious thoughts that our brain is programmed to think about, then I would know that my problem is that I actively talk too much in my head and those thoughts are not just programmed thoughts that pop out in my head that I can just observe, I would actually have to work on reducing the amount of self-talk I put in my head and maybe it would be a little more clear to observe the programmed thoughts.

    Some help would be really appreciated because for the past 4 days, observing thoughts while meditating has been really hard to observe the thought since there would be too much and I would be caught in them too easily, even when I would catch myself, I would be constantly stuck in another one. I know it's part of meditating and i'm not rushing results but I just wanna know if I'm doing it right if i'm putting that much time into everyday.

    I'm a really dedicated person, and I'll try over and over anything that could potentially work.

    Thanks for the help !

    submitted by /u/aterille450
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    After Black dot meditation I used feel some hotness in my eyes it feels me like energy is stored in my eyes but I want to know that is it may be cause of any eye problem or really energy is stored in my eyes.

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:38 PM PDT

    I am practicing black dot meditation(Trataka meditation) from past 15 days for 20 minutes. But a hot sensation starts in my eyes and remain for more 5 minutes after meditation it feels like some energy is stored in my eyes but it may be due to any eye problem. I don't have any medical history of eye problem. So can you suggest me anything brothers and sisters.

    submitted by /u/DareBaaz
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    Serene Ambient Music for Meditation and Inside Odyssey

    Posted: 17 Sep 2020 01:18 AM PDT

    On the spiritual path, all the dreck and misery is transformed, maybe not that same day, but still transformed into spiritual fuel or insight.

    https://youtu.be/hA5nCZsFTMM

    submitted by /u/TeraMangala
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    Meditation, thoughts suppression and dreams

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 08:50 PM PDT

    I started meditation about a week ago, usually 10-20 minutes in the morning before daily work starts. Before I practice meditation, I tend to have weird dreams. Usually I ignore them and try to forget right away. But recently I begin to realize my dream is getting longer and I feel more exhausted when I wake up, but in the same time, my dream gets less absurd, and somehow I could link the dream scenario to real life situation when I wake up. I am wondering if it's because when I mediate, I try to suppress all the thoughts, however, mediation do not eliminate them, it simply brushes them away, they hide deeper in my subconscious. Then when I sleep, conscious efforts go away, then thoughts surf out again, so my brain has to work longer and harder to process those thoughts.

    I read a couple beginner mediation book, and they all say when your thoughts come, you simply observe, and let them pass. However, observing and ignoring do not really eliminate those thoughts, they just show up again later, such as in my dream. I am not sure if it's because my meditation skill is weak, so I can only delay the thoughts, but when I practice longer (in a few years) and get stronger, I could eliminate the thoughts through mediation; or mediation just could not remove racing thoughts at all, it only help with the current states of the mind. I am curious if someone could share some experience or thoughts on that.

    submitted by /u/cuteLime
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    Meditation

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 04:50 PM PDT

    As I'm sure most people here understand, meditation is transformative. It is an amazing tool that is, essentially, a miracle fix for any problem you have. But for the ones that don't know, or are just getting into it, let me share my story.

    Ever since 6th grade I've been very depressed, anxious, angry, and I've been diagnosed with PTSD. I've made eye contact with people and felt my breathing ramp up. I've been in bed forever whithout a single thought of moving. I've been tortured by my negative thoughts, I've stared at walls for hours wondering what it's all worth. I've felt hopelessness. But I tried meditation...

    At first it was simple, then it got difficult, then I just became trapped in my head again. My freshman self was not very good at this, but that's only because I was trying to be. I picked it up in the middle of sophomore year again. It could only help, right? It started off the same as it ended, I merely noticed more thoughts and clung onto them more intensely. With more practice I was able to disassociate from them, but I was yet to be able to ignore them completely. A few months ago I watched a video on how to "really" meditate.

    Apparently the goal was to be mindless. Just let thoughts roll in and out as they please, like a slight breeze making its rounds. It took some practice, but after some time I was able to let my mind become a canvas. My anxiety dwindled, my depression was gone, and I considered myself ptsd free. I felt amazing. And when I say amazing I don't mean euphoric or intensely happy... I mean free. But when the world is lifted off of your shoulders freedom can't HELP but feel amazing. I learned to unlearn... and so can you.

    submitted by /u/evank13
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    Does anyone here practice any form of active imagination meditations? If so, what are some instructive sources on how to properly do it?

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:43 PM PDT

    The only source I am familiar with is the psychologist Carl G. Jung. I was wondering anyone had any other sources that explain this technique?

    submitted by /u/HumblebeesGhost
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    Can’t sit still

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 11:58 PM PDT

    can barely sit for 20 minutes (if that) at a time, even then my body starts to panic and move involuntarily. any tips?

    submitted by /u/Selene___
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    FOCUS

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 11:33 PM PDT

    An eye opener for a beginner like me

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:02 AM PDT

    "When you meditate, you actually are meditating even when you think you're not. You have no choice, in fact. In your mind, you may be miles away from your meditation cushion, but you're still sitting there. There is still communication between your body and your mind. It might seem like a schizophrenic level of communication to be aware of both the irritations of your body and your distant thoughts. However, you are having a real experience of life, a real experience of reality, whether you like it or not. There is some magic, if you'd like to put it that way, some force of like that takes place. It doesn't matter if you have an enormous pornographic show going on in your mind or whether you are having a delicious mental meal miles from your meditation hall. In actual fact, you are still sitting on your meditation cushion or in your chair. If you check in with yourself, you'll realize this."

    • Chogyam Trungpa, Mindfulness in Action (Please check him out guys, the brilliant Tibetan Buddhist master and guru)
    submitted by /u/Schuberty
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    Meditation Recommendations before and after morning run

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:08 PM PDT

    Hello,

    new to meditation and right now Insight Timer has been the perfect resource to figure out what exactly is working out. I enjoy meditations on the app by Andrew Johnson such as "Confidence" and "Wake Up Positive".

    I want to incorporate guided and breathing meditations into before and after my run (and even during?). I plan on running between 5-6 AM every day with a doggo or two (we have three, always tough to pick two!).

    I'm assuming before it's a sort of energizing meditation, and after being a relaxation one (without getting drowsy, I need to keep the energy going into my work day). And being mindful during? Maybe it's all over the top, but any suggestions are greatly appreciated! I never thought meditation could have such an incredible impact, I used to take a benzo to fall asleep and often compare evening meditations to sleep to replacing taking a controlled substance, it's incredible!

    submitted by /u/DanielBVBorussia
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    MEDITATION MUSIC

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:36 PM PDT

    Body elevated during meditation and a bright light came from my right side

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:09 PM PDT

    Hi there. I have been mediating on and off for years. Every time I experience new things or feeling I flinched.

    So, when I was lying on bed and medidtating, I felt my body was elevated up (not too far). Then my body rotated 360 degrees horizontally. When my body rotated back to the original position, there was a bright white light starting with a white dot and shining through my way. I screamed in my mind before it got to me. Then it all went away. I'm really scared. First of all, I am afraid of height, I really don't like the elevating feeling of my body. Second, I'm scared of seeing things. I tried to overcome the fear and ask myself what am I really afraid of? Guess it takes more time than I thought.

    Past meditation experience - Non stop episode or a vision when of younger me (its like looking thought the eyes of younger me) - seen strong purple color - felt my soul was shaking and want to come out

    Is there anyone here experience the similar things as me? Any explanation? Thanks

    submitted by /u/Knee-protector
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    An observation which i 'd like to hear your opinions on.

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 04:09 PM PDT

    First of all,English is not my mother tongue so please forgive me for any mistakes.

    Recently,i ve been observing my acts,just like we observe our thoughts during meditation.

    For example we all make mistakes.From tiny mistakes, to huge mistakes.
    I was observing these mistakes of mine.But not in a meditation pose,eyes closed,slowed down breathing or focusing on it.Just sitting on a chair looking at the wall while searching my own memories in my head.

    I figured out that i was lying to myself about these mistakes. Like "You did well telling this guy to f**k off".But deep inside i knew that i was wrong.I was trying to convince myself otherwise though.Which would never work.I was only trying to do that cuz it's easier to blame others instead of myself for my mistakes and misfortunes.

    I decided to be honest with myself. "Yes i was wrong."
    It felt good being able to agree with myself.
    But what felt even better, was when i fixed my mistake.I apologized to that person.
    At the beginning,it felt awful because of my pride.But in the end, it was very relieving.

    I wonder if observations and realizations like this could be considered as some kind of meditation.And this is my question to u guys as well.I 'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

    submitted by /u/Nemesis93Gr
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    It's important to keep in mind the fundamentals of meditation. Do you think I'm missing any?

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:03 PM PDT

    1. You're not your thoughts and emotions, you're the one looking at them. So you're not inferior or superior, smart, dumb, cool, weird, short, tall, flat, curvy, attractive, ugly, wise, funny etc. Or a depressed, angry, anxious, shy person etc.

    1.5. The ego or your "self" is an accumulation of different thoughts conditioned and believed to be you, from your past or society.

    1. You can't control or stop thoughts. Let thoughts wether "positive or negative" come and go as they please, just be aware of them. The more you try to stop thoughts, the more you think about it.

    2. Only thoughts create emotions and not anything externally. So wether your car breaks down, girlfriend breaks up with you, how you physically look, someone makes fun of you etc, it's only because of believing and attachment to thoughts.

    3. You can't control where your attention goes, what thoughts you're thinking. Just let yourself think about it.

    4. Judgments are thoughts, and thoughts are inherently untrue and imaginary, so thoughts about yourself, others, situations etc. is only true because you think it's true. Detach yourself from such thoughts and practice awareness, trying to maintain it only creates suffering.

    5.5. Don't judge thoughts. Let go of thoughts about your thoughts.

    1. The main focus of meditation is to simply sit there with no distractions and to practice awareness and detachment of thoughts and emotions.
    submitted by /u/blandfishh
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    Beginner with Chronic Pain

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 05:50 PM PDT

    Hi all,

    So I've been doing mindfulness for a while and was doing mindfulness meditations for the past month.

    I have chronic pain that makes typing and writing next to impossible for me, I rely on my voice for everything. So I recently read this book on trigger point therapy and at the end, the author's daughter discusses progressive muscle relaxation.

    It's basically a mindfulness body scan, you focus on how your muscles feel right now and releasing any tension as you go.

    As I've been practicing this the past few days, I will start to feel vibrations in whatever muscles I'm trying to relax. And if I concentrate enough I can carry over the vibrations as I go.

    So I can start with forearms, then do hands and then upper arm and my whole limb will be vibrating. It's very relaxing. I'm just curious if anyone else has experienced anything similiar and if anyone could point me to any readings related to this practice?

    submitted by /u/humbleharbinger
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    Meditation makes me angry and anxious and I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Any advice?

    Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:27 PM PDT

    I don't think I'm doing anything wrong and I don't try to mute my thoughts or push them away while meditating, I just observe them but I can't stop myself from reacting to them.

    I'm rarely ever anxious since I'm almost always distracted, I'm a very chill person and I rarely ever get nervous and I rarely ever get insomnia too but meditation leaves me alone with my mind, it starts to wonder and I start remembering some stuff from the past and I start imagining horrible scenarios and my heart beats start to increase gradually.

    I never shut my thoughts off and I never push them away, but meditation makes me aware of them to the limit that I just realized that I have an unresolved trauma, it made me aware that I mostly have no positive thoughts or memories, all I have are unresolved traumas from my childhood, sexual assault and my previous relationship in which my ex cheated on me and then disappeared after taking my money.

    I've had anger issues for as long as I can remember but every time I try to meditate when I feel negative or depressed it just gets worse since I'm not distracted.

    • TL;DR: I become aware of my thoughts and unresolved trauma when I'm meditating and it makes me so angry and anxious, how can I make this experience better?
    submitted by /u/Eternalsolipsisme
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