ITT we discuss meditating

Do you meditate Anon? Are you focused internally or externally? Spiritual wellbeing is as important as physical and it should not be overlooked. Meditation has been shown to increase ones mental wellbeing. Share your meditation techniques and other material that you found helpful.

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  1. 1 year ago
    Fifthdview.com

    Glad to see other people making spiritual wellness threads. There are plenty of meditation techniques I use.
    I like to lay down on grass in the spring/summer time and just soak in the sun rays. It's such a free feeling to just sit there and let your body recharge itself.

    I feel like a lot of people have this idea that in order to meditate you have to contort your body and have to be completely still/silent and your mind shouldn't wander. Who cares? Relax your body in any position that's comfortable and let your mind wander. Entertain whatever mental images come up. It's better to do that than nothing at all

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Focusing on sunrays warming your skin is one of the most relaxing things I can imagine. I also like to meditate outside and focus solely on hearing everything around me. I usually keep my eyes open though.

      >feel like a lot of people have this idea that in order to meditate you have to contort your body and have to be completely still/silent and your mind shouldn't wander
      I would argue that you should try to snap back to focusing if you find your mind wandering, but I agree that you can do it in various more appealing ways than the traditional lotus sit.

      • 1 year ago
        Fifthdview.com

        It's the thought of not letting your mind wander that holds a lot of people back from meditating. For some people it gets stressful because their mind always wanders. I always preach to let your mind wander, then as you get more comfortable with meditation then you can try to focus on your awareness.

        Kind of like telling beginners to start with the bar, even though most beginners can usually start with some sort of added weight

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          I get what you mean. It is even the Zen practice to let your body do what it wants and not resist it. "A frog is a frog without even realizing it, so why wouldn't you be you". But every time you take the mental note that "ah, now I am wondering again", you should realize this and then continue to focus 100% on what you were doing, be it meditation, painting, cooking or whatever.

          • 1 year ago
            Anonymous

            >"A frog is a frog without even realizing it, so why wouldn't you be you"
            where is that from?

            • 1 year ago
              Anonymous

              Not a direct quotation, but it is rough example from the book Beginners mind, that I recommended here

              I found this book very helpful for anyone new interested in this topic. It focuses a lot on Zen Buddhist philosophy, but I think it is important to know prior to meditating, so you wont have wrong expectations about it.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >I feel like a lot of people have this idea that in order to meditate you have to contort your body and have to be completely still/silent and your mind shouldn't wander.
      personally that's why I like headspace, at least the aussie ceo guy's shit
      shame it's paywalled, but it's the one app I'm paying for since 5 bucks a month are enough to annoy my inner israelite into making use of it, and that shit's useful
      hopefully someone ends up exporting the good parts of it and releasing them so people don't have to pay to benefit from aussie guy's guided meditations

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I found this book very helpful for anyone new interested in this topic. It focuses a lot on Zen Buddhist philosophy, but I think it is important to know prior to meditating, so you wont have wrong expectations about it.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I've found that meditation with visualization in relation to my body is most effective for me. Like scanning through my body or visualizing light flowing out of my body from a source in my gut. It seems to work so much better than other types of methods
    Also has anyone else gotten weird, temporary, full control of your body effects from meditation? I don't know how to control most of it yet but now I can bring my body temperature up and down at will, I can "switch on" my hearing and it's so sharp I can hear a car start from 2 or 3 city blocks out and know where it's coming from, I can make my kidneys work harder than normal (weirdest one), shit like that. It's like I become so in tune with my body and mind that I'm slowly gaining access to control of my bodily systems
    >inb4 meds
    Not crazy, just discovering things I guess

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      I can also boost up my hearing and to see overall more clearly. But only while meditating. Usually have to focus for few minutes first.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Same except for the body temp example. That one I've gotten down. I'm trying to get good enough at it that I can locally affect the temperature of different areas of my body

        That's an interesting visualization anon, I'll give that a crack today. I visualize drinking cool, clear water, or more like it getting poured directly into my head. I imagine it washing over my brain, then through my chest, arms legs etc, and it flushing out dark and dirty through my palms and soles. I repeat this process until the water runs clear. It's like purifying, refreshing my body and discouraging the habits that make it that way (booze, salt etc).

        >Feel my kidneys working hard
        u wot?

        That sounds like a great visualization. I'm going to try it out tonight
        >u wot?
        I know man, it's a weird one. Hurts like a son of a b***h too but I've cleared out some nasty shit from my UT already that I didn't know was there using the technique. One time I accidently targeted my heart and it stopped for 5 seconds too. Dropped my ass like a sack of potatoes. I'm really careful about organ techniques now but I'm so interested that I want to keep exploring

        Bought meditations by marcus yesterday. Also brought a notebook and pen specially to take notes from it. I suffer with anger issues and turmoil so i want to become a better, more capabe man. Been awhile since I came to the board glad to see this thread.

        Sort of same but not as suped. I can focus better on things and hear car engines running from distances or hear animals tread lightly. I can tell the animals apart too.
        [...]
        This and saying the our father
        [...]
        Keeping track and dismissing bad thoughts is very important. If you sit and fester on negativity it'll rot your spirit which is something I would do for years. I feel more liberated already since I've started working on fixing my soul. It feels better than any pump I've ever had and my biggest regret is not learning how to let go sooner.

        I'm still new to this ill be monitoring the thread would appreciate some guidance from you guys. I love you all.

        The senses hightening when you do it right is pretty freaky the first time. One time I heard someone's keys jingling in their pockets in another room and could hear that they had 4 keys on their ring. Another time I smelled someone baking chocolate chip cookies from down the road. Went to the neighbor baking them, brought some coco, and lied saying I was on a walk and smelled the cookies as I was passing by. I'm trying to figure out how to keep it on for as long as I want but I'm worried that doing so would be unhealthy for the brain. Constant overstimulation reduced brain size after all and the most extreme example of overstimulation (schizophrenia) hollows out parts of your brain in the long term

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          I am schizo

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      That's an interesting visualization anon, I'll give that a crack today. I visualize drinking cool, clear water, or more like it getting poured directly into my head. I imagine it washing over my brain, then through my chest, arms legs etc, and it flushing out dark and dirty through my palms and soles. I repeat this process until the water runs clear. It's like purifying, refreshing my body and discouraging the habits that make it that way (booze, salt etc).

      >Feel my kidneys working hard
      u wot?

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Bought meditations by marcus yesterday. Also brought a notebook and pen specially to take notes from it. I suffer with anger issues and turmoil so i want to become a better, more capabe man. Been awhile since I came to the board glad to see this thread.

      Sort of same but not as suped. I can focus better on things and hear car engines running from distances or hear animals tread lightly. I can tell the animals apart too.

      https://i.imgur.com/DaKYhzJ.jpg

      Praying to Christ constantly.
      Asking The Holy Ghost for comfort.
      Letting God love you.

      Simple as.
      feelsgoodman

      This and saying the our father

      All the time. I do a few different methods. The most beneficial so far has been mindfulness meditation, 10-20 mins per day (with some skip days unfortunately). When you keep that up for a few months you’ll have better control over racing thoughts/negative inner thoughts. I also do transcendental meditation, which has already produced some really interesting results: feelings of pure bliss, better than any drug, body vibrations, feeling as though a stream of energy is creeping up my lower spine up to my skull. Meditation is like anything else: if you want to see the benefits, do it regularly. Most do it a couple times and nothing happens. Stick with it and you’ll get better at it. Now that I’m pretty good at it, I can do a very quick session before an interview or meeting and totally center myself and clear my thoughts. If you are doing it for spiritual purposes, I recommend you also steep yourself in whatever tradition you belong to (hesychastic orthodoxy, tantrism, daoism, zen, etc.). The various spiritual traditions go into extreme depth on the subject of meditation. You can learn from the masters of it and it will make everything fall into place more neatly. Plus, if you start to have some really mind altering sessions, you’ll want to know the spiritual framework that explains it.

      Keeping track and dismissing bad thoughts is very important. If you sit and fester on negativity it'll rot your spirit which is something I would do for years. I feel more liberated already since I've started working on fixing my soul. It feels better than any pump I've ever had and my biggest regret is not learning how to let go sooner.

      I'm still new to this ill be monitoring the thread would appreciate some guidance from you guys. I love you all.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        >I'm still new to this
        Here's a good paper on how three different types of meditation (mindfulness aka unrestricted mind-wandering, bodyscans aka attention-training, and gratitude aka praying/goal visualization) affect brain matter over a good period of time

        https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1700489

        • 1 year ago
          Anonymous

          Thanks for this paper. The modules part made me realize how mixed-up my practice has been presence/affect/perspective-wise. I'll reflect on that. Would you recommend digging in the citations?

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    >Inhales
    OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    here's a tip, I literally consider any activity where you consciously focus on your breath as meditation.
    >doing pull-ups while staring at the space ahead/cieling
    >zoning out while hiking up a steep city block on the way to work etc..

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Ideally the goal of meditation is to always be in a meditative state, although newbies should actively practice to understand what that is.

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Praying to Christ constantly.
    Asking The Holy Ghost for comfort.
    Letting God love you.

    Simple as.
    feelsgoodman

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Don't know if related to meditation but I can now constantly be in a state where my brain doesn't think about anything.
    Body feels lightweight

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    All the time. I do a few different methods. The most beneficial so far has been mindfulness meditation, 10-20 mins per day (with some skip days unfortunately). When you keep that up for a few months you’ll have better control over racing thoughts/negative inner thoughts. I also do transcendental meditation, which has already produced some really interesting results: feelings of pure bliss, better than any drug, body vibrations, feeling as though a stream of energy is creeping up my lower spine up to my skull. Meditation is like anything else: if you want to see the benefits, do it regularly. Most do it a couple times and nothing happens. Stick with it and you’ll get better at it. Now that I’m pretty good at it, I can do a very quick session before an interview or meeting and totally center myself and clear my thoughts. If you are doing it for spiritual purposes, I recommend you also steep yourself in whatever tradition you belong to (hesychastic orthodoxy, tantrism, daoism, zen, etc.). The various spiritual traditions go into extreme depth on the subject of meditation. You can learn from the masters of it and it will make everything fall into place more neatly. Plus, if you start to have some really mind altering sessions, you’ll want to know the spiritual framework that explains it.

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I've tried so many times to make it a habit, but have failed every single time. Just lack of willpower, but I haven't missed a scheduled gym day in months. Go figure.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      focus on the habit even if it's 5 deep breaths for a total of 60 seconds
      might or might not work

  10. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    well just think about it. if you are not meditating all the time, you are being a basedboy all the time, or some kind of constantly violent or disturbed individual. in the end, meditating is the right state of mind to be at.

  11. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I've been meditating for 10 minutes every morning for years, and it has been incredibly helpful in preventing stress through the day. Once a week I meditate in the evenings, and I've gotten up to over an hour.

    My recommendation if someone is just getting into it is to start with really short times and gradually work your way up. Start with a minute a day, do that for a week, then do two minutes, and so on and so on. This causes it to become a long term habit.

    As far as books:
    Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
    An Introduction to Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki

  12. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Do anyone else put in ear-plugs when they meditate? I've always done it like that, it does make your internal body noises more apparent however. I'm thinking of dropping a few hundred on a nice Bose or whatever noise-cancelling headset too.

  13. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I very much recommend Ajahn Sona's YouTube channel. He's got a lot of videos explaining both the basics of meditation and Buddhist psychology in more detail. As far as I understand, he's American, but he's also a Theravada monk. And I really like his tone - very down-to-earth, more like a guy teaching you how to fix your computer than a spiritual guru.

  14. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    i just try to take deep breaths while i walk on the treadmill to warm up so i don't get extreme gym anxiety or schizo level intrusive thoughts. it seems to help.

  15. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    After trying unsuccessfully for a decade I paid for the Waking Up app about a year ago. It is the only thing that has stuck. I do 20 mins per day, often more on holidays or weekends. My quality of life has noticeably improved.

  16. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    all right i'll get you guys up to speed, because there's a lot of bullshit around meditation floating around. by no means i'm an expert, nevertheless i hold some strong opinions, and i'll go by the numbers

    1. guided meditations are just relaxation techniques, don't bother
    2. meditation with mantras, visualization, they may work, but i never did that, and can't confirm
    3. meditation is real, it's like a microscope, a tool, debug mode for your brain, and it's been studied experimentally for thousands of years, with people recreating the same results. but buddhists stretching their philosophy of mind, on the whole theory of reality, that's a leap of faith
    4. "you can meditate in an elevator", "even 5 minutes a day", that's crap. 15-30 minutes is the minimum for a beginner to even become silent and calm.
    5. you can meditate in movement, yoga, tai-chi, it's working with body awareness, but it's advanced stuff
    6. the basic technique is following your breath, the next one is body scanning, "just sitting". if you can't focus you fall back to following your breath
    7. at the beginning expect to get a few minutes of pure focus in a 1-1,5h session (if you're lucky)
    8. it's like riding a bike, until you "get it", you're doing just breathing exercises. recognizing the meditative state is the most important thing, because you know what to aim for
    9. stillness is pramount. you're putting yourself in a hypnagogic state by cutting sound, smell, vision, touch
    10. when the pain becomes the biggest concern it's a great sign - you're past the chatter, intrusive thoughts, memories, you're almost there

    i recommend vipassana, and "the art of living" for the book.

  17. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I listen to erotic hypnosis and cum my brains out that’s basically the same thing right

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