Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation • Hacker News Board

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#201

Post by lithethrowaway » Sat, Nov 05, 2016, 8:41 PM UTC

littlethrowaway wrote: post #89

mettamage wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

__Meditation: the summary for technical people__ Yea I'm making this up. I'm enthusiastic about it, my username even reflects that I meditate ;) .. Introductory Level Witty, scientific book: Search Inside Yourself - Chade-meng Tan (he used to be a software engineer, now he's trying to set up the conditions for world peace) Take any MBCT, MBSR or 5-week or 8-week mindfulness course .. Beginner Level Retreat practice:…

Be quite careful giving advice about meditation. Under your "beginner" heading you suggest Dhamma - the 10 day 9 day silent course (I'm assuming vipassana is an example of this). I did a vipassana course after a similar suggestion. In me it triggered a full blown manic-psychotic (bipolar) episode. There had been no history of this in my family (or myself) before that point. If you're interested, I made a bunch of pod…

I had a similar experience within the past few years stemming from hypnosis and meditation in college, and listening to your podcasts have been eerily similar to my experience with mania in particular.

Have you found many other people who experienced similar symptoms stemming from self-reflection triggers?

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#202

Post by littlethrowaway » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 7:45 AM UTC

lithethrowaway wrote: post #201

littlethrowaway wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be quite careful giving advice about meditation. Under your "beginner" heading you suggest Dhamma - the 10 day 9 day silent course (I'm assuming vipassana is an example of this). I did a vipassana course after a similar suggestion. In me it triggered a full blown manic-psychotic (bipolar) episode. There had been no history of this in my family (or myself) before that point. If you're interested, I made a bunch of pod…

I had a similar experience within the past few years stemming from hypnosis and meditation in college, and listening to your podcasts have been eerily similar to my experience with mania in particular. Have you found many other people who experienced similar symptoms stemming from self-reflection triggers?

Yip, I get on average 1 - 2 mails a year from that site from people who have gone through a similar thing after a vipassana course...

And that blog is buried on Google, so I'm sure there are more people who are having issues.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#203

Post by littlethrowaway » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 7:48 AM UTC

mettamage wrote: post #92

littlethrowaway wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be quite careful giving advice about meditation. Under your "beginner" heading you suggest Dhamma - the 10 day 9 day silent course (I'm assuming vipassana is an example of this). I did a vipassana course after a similar suggestion. In me it triggered a full blown manic-psychotic (bipolar) episode. There had been no history of this in my family (or myself) before that point. If you're interested, I made a bunch of pod…

Thanks for the nuance. Meditation is like exercise, actually it is mental exercise. (Mental) injuries can happen, just like any other form of (mental) exercise. It is indeed an issue that there's less awareness about it compared to physical injuries with physical exercise. Also, when you do the beginner level, you do need to have done the introductory level. This means that you at least have meditated for half an hou…

Yip, I totally agree that it's like exercise, and I totally totally agree that you should start slowly.

However! where I did it (in New Zealand) vipassana specifically started you at the 10 day course (or did 8 years ago), there was no option to do a shorter one. Or if there was, they certainly didn't stop you jumping straight into a 10 day.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#204

Post by Chris2048 » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #111

Chris2048 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also get hurt though..

Don't spar then.

Many places wouldn't accept that. Do you just sit out that section?

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#205

Post by ddorian43 » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 4:20 PM UTC

Chris2048 wrote: post #204

ddorian43 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't spar then.

Many places wouldn't accept that. Do you just sit out that section?

They may say "come on, we'll go easy, it's not a big deal" but they won't force you or something.

But if they do, or if they give an ultimatum,then those places/trainers suck. If you have valid reason to not spar and they still say "come on" leave the gym because it's not healthy.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#206

Post by Chris2048 » Sun, Nov 06, 2016, 7:36 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #205

Chris2048 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many places wouldn't accept that. Do you just sit out that section?

They may say "come on, we'll go easy, it's not a big deal" but they won't force you or something. But if they do, or if they give an ultimatum,then those places/trainers suck. If you have valid reason to not spar and they still say "come on" leave the gym because it's not healthy.

My place did suck then. And I did get hurt..

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#207

Post by TheLegace » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 2:17 AM UTC

origami777 wrote: post #13

I've been going through challenging times and have been confronted with somethings I've never had to deal with before. There are a couple of things that trigger anxiety in me on a daily basis now. I wake up in the middle of the night with little anxiety episodes. I'm unfocused at work because of what feels like underlying emotional issues. The only thing that's helped (I am trying to fix without medication) are the t…

Wow thank you so much.

I began reading Transforming Stress and in two days it has already changed everything my life. I have been going through post-traumatic stress and my abilities to concentrate and function have been crippled. Horrible panic attacks, painful migraines, irrational fear and despair are beginning to wane.

I received the emWave2 today, best $250 I have ever spent. I am bringing up my coherence and the horrible chest pains have been going down in just 3 20min sessions of using the device. I might finally be able to program after all.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#208

Post by ddorian43 » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 7:46 AM UTC

Chris2048 wrote: post #204

ddorian43 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't spar then.

Many places wouldn't accept that. Do you just sit out that section?

Usually the gyms I've been to, they spar only a full day/week so I just don't show up that day. Other times I just sit out and watch. Though that only happens when I don't want to, I've sparred many times.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#209

Post by tripzilch » Mon, Nov 07, 2016, 9:08 AM UTC

not_an_account wrote: post #25

Mindfulness meditation is one of the pillars on which my life rests. If you have never done it before, realize that it's hard, especially if you fall anywhere on the ADHD spectrum, and it's just brutal for the first few weeks for anyone. As your brain becomes more still and your focus improves you'll notice your productivity improve. As the mental chatter drops you'll also notice the problems in your life, that you'v…

> I rarely talk about meditation in professional circles because, for one, people think it's weird or have a preconceived notion of what it is, but more so it's so damn effective that it's seriously my secret weapon in life and part of my competitive edge.

Well, that's mighty compassionate of you.

> (As an aside, it has nothing at all to do with "strange religions", vegans, or yoga pants.)

What? While the strange religions are your loss (boring religions are for boring people, why settle for less?)

.. honestly there's no way you can justify dumping on vegans, or I'd like to see you try.

I'm not a vegan but damn if I don't respect the hell out of them for doing the right thing despite the deliciousness of cheese.

That said, yoga pants are a indeed blight on humanity. But then, about 23% of all strange religions consider them sinful.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#210

Post by mettamage » Tue, Nov 08, 2016, 3:01 PM UTC

littlethrowaway wrote: post #203

mettamage wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the nuance. Meditation is like exercise, actually it is mental exercise. (Mental) injuries can happen, just like any other form of (mental) exercise. It is indeed an issue that there's less awareness about it compared to physical injuries with physical exercise. Also, when you do the beginner level, you do need to have done the introductory level. This means that you at least have meditated for half an hou…

Yip, I totally agree that it's like exercise, and I totally totally agree that you should start slowly. However! where I did it (in New Zealand) vipassana specifically started you at the 10 day course (or did 8 years ago), there was no option to do a shorter one. Or if there was, they certainly didn't stop you jumping straight into a 10 day.

Good point. If I have to make an analogy it seems like putting a person not physically suited for the military into a strict military 10-day brutal survival bootcamp. They need to be more careful with this indeed.