Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

Definitely shouldn’t be an all or nothing. I’d much rather people get some benefit, and know there might be more by going deeper, than get turned off to it.

Pay attention to the feelings and sensations in your body as you watch. What emotions arise? What thoughts arise? How do you feel before you start, and how do you feel afterwards?

What do you observe when you notice the instinct to scroll away from one video to the next? Can you feel the impulse before you take action? What does it feel like?

What changes do you observe from watching each video? Does each video have a similar effect on you, or do you notice differences?

What is happening to your mind, heart and body in each moment, as you pay attention with nonjudgmental curiosity and compassion?

All worlds, real and imaginary, all meditations of any technique, all are distraction.

Who is it that is having this experience?

From this POV mediation is the practice of discerning illusion from being. E.g.:

"I have a body but I am not my body."

"I have emotions but I am not my emotions."

"I have mind but I am not my mind."

"I have will but I am not my will."

As you discern and give up attachment to subtler and subtler aspects of what had seemed to be "you" something great happens.

The key is to ask, "Who is it that is having this experience?"

I will try to touch on one aspect of my experience with formal meditation practice, which is as a way of reconditioning the mind. It has helped me become more aware of how I am in relation to what I experience, more open to experience generally, less reactive to emotional stimuli, less judgmental of my inner narrator and therefore more gentle with the way I talk to myself.

The formal process is as you describe, bringing your attention to a focal point (often the sensation of the breath wherever it is felt most strongly in the body), noticing when you are distracted, and simply bringing it back. The quality of mind you bring to this practice is important. For example, not judging yourself for becoming distracted, and not judging yourself for the content of your thoughts.

With regular practice, this kind of gentle nonjudging way of experiencing will spill into daily life, outside of formal practice. And that is where meditation becomes a way of being (or perhaps as you put it, our whole life is a series of meditations). But formal practice serves as the foundation, conditioning our minds which are typically very judgmental and reactive to be less judgmental and therefore to be more open and see more clearly.

Why? There's nothing inherently Buddhist about meditation; there's no reason to bring religion into this. Buddhism is a tradition that has been practicing meditation for a long time, but their practice is shrouded in their mysticism, so it's difficult to know what's real and what isn't.

This is coming from someone who once thought like you, by the way. Although I am an atheist, I read a lot about Buddhism and meditation, even medidated with a monk. The religious aspects are a complete waste of time, so you're better off learning from a secular source.