There is much more than meditation, there are many excercises you can do to feel better, to "connect with your soul". It is a matter of practice, same as for sport. If you go only one time at gym, you will not get so much results. It would be ideal to meditate twice a day, 20 minutes. If you can move your energy from one chackra to another it is even better. You can also think of chackras as your gland system, it doe…
How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
91–100 of 208 posts
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#92I've had serious anxiety issues and meditation has been the only thing to help significantly. I've spent ~1.5 hours/day meditating for the past six months or so, and I've studied meditation literature pretty seriously for about the past year. At least in my case—and I think this isn't so unusual—there is a steep learning curve: for most people there's just not enough reason to stick with it. That said, at this point…
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#93I often hear people say, "hm, I'll go meditate on that..." Or a guy I know who says he meditates on his ideas for his art. But actually, that is the complete opposite of what meditation is supposed to be. When properly meditating, the goal is to not concentrate or think about anything. I just point this out because the basics of what meditation actually is are widely misunderstood by most Westerners -- and even some…
> When properly meditating, the goal is to not concentrate or think about anything. I don't understand how have you got this notion about mediation. What you have mentioned can be useful for relieving oneself of thoughts which are a burden. On the other hand, mediation is to concentrate on a purpose, directing everything towards the purpose, even the thoughts sprouting from your subconsciousness, all which eventually…
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#94I often hear people say, "hm, I'll go meditate on that..." Or a guy I know who says he meditates on his ideas for his art. But actually, that is the complete opposite of what meditation is supposed to be. When properly meditating, the goal is to not concentrate or think about anything. I just point this out because the basics of what meditation actually is are widely misunderstood by most Westerners -- and even some…
Actually, this isn't the case. Your (mis)understanding (that meditation is spacing out and "not thinking") seems to be the common western one. In my experience, this is usually due to misunderstood ideas about practices like dzogchen or philosophical concepts like dependent origination. Concentration is actually at the _heart_ of meditation and is a key element of the Buddhist noble eight-fold path. Mindfulness is me…
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#95Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#96I've had serious anxiety issues and meditation has been the only thing to help significantly. I've spent ~1.5 hours/day meditating for the past six months or so, and I've studied meditation literature pretty seriously for about the past year. At least in my case—and I think this isn't so unusual—there is a steep learning curve: for most people there's just not enough reason to stick with it. That said, at this point…
Do you happen to have a good link to a jump-start article about meditation. I am in a sinilar situation as you, life is gray, anxiety problems, ... How should I start doing this today (and the next 4 weeks) without doing too much initial research?
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#97I've had serious anxiety issues and meditation has been the only thing to help significantly. I've spent ~1.5 hours/day meditating for the past six months or so, and I've studied meditation literature pretty seriously for about the past year. At least in my case—and I think this isn't so unusual—there is a steep learning curve: for most people there's just not enough reason to stick with it. That said, at this point…
Do you happen to have a good link to a jump-start article about meditation. I am in a sinilar situation as you, life is gray, anxiety problems, ... How should I start doing this today (and the next 4 weeks) without doing too much initial research?
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#98 During a drive or commute
While you play a video game or sport
When you're cleaning your house
If you experience a side-thought like the clichéd, "did I leave the stove on?" answer it ("no, I surely didn't") or eliminate it ("I don't remember, but I'll find out when I get home") and move on to the next thought. Eventually you'll run out of these side-thoughts.Some people find it helpful to run through Maslow's Hierarchy as a guide for this mental checklist: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs)
It might take a few tries, or maybe many, to run through this subconscious checklist of side-thoughts, but the goal is to run out of them. Then you're left to yourself, no side-thoughts to distract you.
This, in itself, can be worrisome because many people aren't comfortable with what it feels like to "just be," so hack your discomfort by creating another checklist: how does this make me feel physically? Is this state of mind stressful to me? What would it feel like if it wasn't? How would it look if I were the kind of person who handled this particular stress easily?
Point is, don't rush it.
Give it several tries. You probably need more repetitions to consciously break down your own checklist of thoughts.
Much of meditation's benefit (to myself) is in learning to handle decisions and worries as they happen, and removing them from my checklist of things to meditate over when I actually do take the time to meditate later in the day. Most things people worry over don't matter.
Hopefully my lens helps someone.
Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#99Re: How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body
#100For those of you who consider meditation a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, I get it, for I felt (and sometimes still feel) the same way. But let me try to phrase meditation in the terms I understand it as. We often find ourselves in stressful or difficult situations, we are constantly bombarded by external worries, and we think it is difficult to deal with our problems. However, no matter how big external issues are, the way t…
I don't consider it mumbo-jumbo. But I feel it doesn't fit well with my Western mindset: it costs a lot of time, and is that really the best way to spend that time? I'd rather go out and walk, and think about problems I want to solve. Or use the time to get something done.
Meditation is not limited to strictly sitting indian style in a dark quiet room. Find your own style. If taking a walk calms you down then do that. If you like laying on your back and staring at the stars, then do that. Don't rely too much on how others tell you you should do it