Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

cell.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 63 posts

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#21

Post by ncphillips »

benihana wrote: post #12
dominotw wrote: post #3

Why do people do all these strange things? To make more money with "better brain" ?

To be happy. I don't do meditation (and in fact get kind of irritated that practitioners of it seem to imply the only way to get in more control of your brain is through meditation), but I practice CBT. The idea is to be in greater control of your conscious and subconscious processes by being more aware of what's going on in your brain. For example, I noticed that when people make suggestions on products I work on th…

From what I've briefly read in this paper, it looks like they use the word "meditation" broadly enough that CBT would be included in it's definition.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#22

Post by kentt »

7An2ieoW wrote: post #17
benihana wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be happy. I don't do meditation (and in fact get kind of irritated that practitioners of it seem to imply the only way to get in more control of your brain is through meditation), but I practice CBT. The idea is to be in greater control of your conscious and subconscious processes by being more aware of what's going on in your brain. For example, I noticed that when people make suggestions on products I work on th…

So, how do you get started in CBT and establish the practice? Any resources?

I'd start with something like this: http://www.amazon.com/CBT-Toolbox-Workbook-Clients-Clinician...

I started with Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, by Burns, and it's really good but an overwhelming amount of information.

That being said, I do have an appreciation from mindfulness meditation as well as CBT. They complement each other very well. I'd recommend the audiobook Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. It's a really easy way to get started and you'll definitely feel like your life has improved by the time the 8 weeks is up.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#24

Post by amelius »

hacker_9 wrote: post #9

I started meditating about 2 years ago because I liked the idea of having better 'control of my mind' - at the time I thought it was a gimmick but to my surprise it actually works. To begin with I found that after 20-30mins of closing my eyes and trying to think of nothing, I always came out of the session feeling a lot calmer. Fast forward to today and I can now isolate thoughts and throw them away if they are garba…

Very interesting. What timespan did you need to start seeing good results? Are you still improving after 2 years?

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#25

Post by explorer666 »

cryoshon wrote: post #14
nabla9 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine what it would be if you had lived little bit intoxicated for whole of your life. Then you would start sobering up. You would notice more awareness, more focus, clarity and possibly well being. Rest of the world would seem less confusing. Questioning the assumption that your normal wakeful mental state is the ultimate 'being alive and conscious' what your brain can do might be the first step. If you persist, e…

Yes! I have been trying for ages to convince people that the "normal" "sober" wakeful and attentive mental state is not the ultimate ledger of human perception. Most people immediately discard this thought, their minds responding to a strawman argument which equates sobriety with intoxication. Meditation helps me deal with ADD and depression and increases my executive functioning immensely. I think it should be taugh…

Why do so many people on HN say they have ADD?

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#26

Post by thornofmight »

hacker_9 wrote: post #9

I started meditating about 2 years ago because I liked the idea of having better 'control of my mind' - at the time I thought it was a gimmick but to my surprise it actually works. To begin with I found that after 20-30mins of closing my eyes and trying to think of nothing, I always came out of the session feeling a lot calmer. Fast forward to today and I can now isolate thoughts and throw them away if they are garba…

How often were you meditating and how long on average was each session?

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#27

Post by jwdunne »

explorer666 wrote: post #25
cryoshon wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! I have been trying for ages to convince people that the "normal" "sober" wakeful and attentive mental state is not the ultimate ledger of human perception. Most people immediately discard this thought, their minds responding to a strawman argument which equates sobriety with intoxication. Meditation helps me deal with ADD and depression and increases my executive functioning immensely. I think it should be taugh…

Why do so many people on HN say they have ADD?

Perhaps because they do. People with ADD pursue their interests obsessively. If one of those interests is programming, you'll find you way here. I did before I even uncovered ADD.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#28

Post by hacker_9 »

thornofmight wrote: post #26
hacker_9 wrote: post #9

I started meditating about 2 years ago because I liked the idea of having better 'control of my mind' - at the time I thought it was a gimmick but to my surprise it actually works. To begin with I found that after 20-30mins of closing my eyes and trying to think of nothing, I always came out of the session feeling a lot calmer. Fast forward to today and I can now isolate thoughts and throw them away if they are garba…

How often were you meditating and how long on average was each session?

Twice a day, morning and evening for 30 mins. I go on for an hour sometimes too. Once you get the hang of it though it is much easier to get into deeper meditation quicker. Thesedays I do 30 mins before sleep every other day. I know if I need to do more when I start feeling anxious more often in the day. Check out reddit.com/r/meditation for a place to start.

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#29

Post by chrismealy »

hacker_9 wrote: post #9

I started meditating about 2 years ago because I liked the idea of having better 'control of my mind' - at the time I thought it was a gimmick but to my surprise it actually works. To begin with I found that after 20-30mins of closing my eyes and trying to think of nothing, I always came out of the session feeling a lot calmer. Fast forward to today and I can now isolate thoughts and throw them away if they are garba…

You can really nix unhappy thoughts? How can I do this too?

Re: Cognitive mechanisms in meditation practice

#30

Post by lostinbass »

noahlt wrote: post #23

Anyone have recommendations for learning meditation in San Francisco?

Spirit Rock up north has classes pretty regularly. I am actually a part-time meditation teacher in the East Bay if you want one-on-one lessons sometime. I'd also highly recommend the book Mindfulness in Plain English - this helped me down the road years ago and is available for free :)
Post reply on HN