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Guided meditation for beginners

quietkit.com

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Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#21

Post by RangerScience »

ben174 wrote: post #15

I'm probably an ideal candidate for meditation because just the thought of it is nearly unbearable. "Wasting a whole ten minutes doing nothing?!" But it's hard for me to get past the feeling that it's a waste of time. As someone who is on public transit for two hours a day, and an owner of a nice pair of noise cancelling headphones - I wonder if I could make use of that time by doing this. Guess I'll give it a try.

Definitely! I notice substantial gains from meditation almost immediately. Public transit can be extra challenging, but can also be helpful - in the way that you're supposed to let thoughts arise and then float away, you also let sensations arise and float away. If transit is crowded, you'll have more of those to actively let go of :D

At a basic level, meditation is literally practicing letting shit go. This is useful, for instance, when people write bad code that really - you get the idea.

Note: Definitely do NOT try to "squash" thoughts. Let them show up and float on away. This is not a goal oriented activity; you don't have to maintain an empty mind for two minutes, let alone two hours of transit. You'll notice more of what to do as you do it more, if that makes sense.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#22

Post by gbuk2013 »

jahbrewski wrote: post #8

Curious to hear from folks who have consistently meditated for a prolonged period of time (6mos+). What effects have you noticed?

6 months is not a prolonged period of time. ;)

So benefits:

  * mental clarity when unnecessary thoughts go away an only the one you need remains
  * problem solving - look at a problem and solution just pops up
  * stronger mind, doesn't get tired as easily
  * jump in efficiency in everything
  * increased sensitivity to other people's emotions and intentions
  * spiritual growth (realisation that you are not your thoughts is one example, as mentioned below)
  * opening your "heart" and letting go of emotional issues
  * inner peace :)
Important to note that this is from serious meditation practice beyond simple mindfulness and learned in person from a master.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#23

Post by sharkweek »

I'm a full-blown a cynic, but after OCD and anxiety got the best of me, my therapist recommended I try meditation to both start and end my day, I've started to notice huge improvements.

Can't recommend it enough. It's frustrating at first, the mind will just not stop wandering to worries every 10 seconds, but almost always on cue, the guided meditation would remind me "is you're mind wandering? no big deal, bring your focus back to your breath."

Here's where I recommend starting - http://www.nytimes.com/well/guides/how-to-meditate

There are a few moments now where my mind will go entirely blank, and it's the most relaxing feeling in the world. I still get too excited when that happens to keep it sustained, but I can sense it starting to work.

It's really helpful to check in for a few minutes throughout the day as well. Take something in visually, observe a feeling, listen to what your body is telling you.

Sounds hippy-dippy, sure, and I'm not pretending to be a doctor or make medical recommendations, but for me, It Just Works (TM)

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#24

Post by curun1r »

chillwaves wrote: post #17
jupiter90000 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't do it as much now, though have consistently over long periods in the past. Some benefits I experienced (subjective): - Thoughts do not have a grip over how I act as often. - probably related, lower likelihood of compulsively doing things. - Feeling more collected and relaxed in traffic and 'stressful situations.' - More likely to be able to pay attention to who I am talking with, what I am doing, etc, right now…

> - Start of realization that who I am is not the internal dialog and procession of thoughts. This one is hard to explain. I think I am certain things due to my thoughts; that's just my thoughts though. This one for me is huge. You are not your thoughts. Took a really long time to understand.. it's almost like I am two people, the one who is thinking and the one who observes the thinking. Helps me distance my emotion…

Just to expound a bit, since I've had the same revelation during meditation...

Buddhists believe that the mind is another sense, just like sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. The only difference is that it's a sense that devoted to looking inward instead of outward. And during meditation you can really start to see it as such. In the same way that you can let your eyes glaze over and see without processing the images or tune out what you're hearing, you can think without paying attention to your thoughts. It's can be trippy to experience, especially when you have the related revelations that pain or other discomfort is, similarly, just a thought that you can likewise ignore.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#25

Post by eagletusk »

heyheyhey wrote: post #4

"The guided meditations from QuietKit offers three main benefits to anyone who uses them: Decreased stress and anxiety Increased focus Increased mindfulness (the ability to be aware of what's occurring at any given moment, but being able to choose how to act, as opposed to just reacting)" Are those three benefits purely anecdotal?

Is your question addressing QuietKit or meditation in general?If the later the results, some of which you have mentioned, are definetly not purely anecdotal see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_on_meditation

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#26

Post by don_draper »

jahbrewski wrote: post #8

Curious to hear from folks who have consistently meditated for a prolonged period of time (6mos+). What effects have you noticed?

I went from being the most anxious, scattered mind person in the room to the most calm and focused. I went all in - 4 hours a day for over a year. But it's made a huge difference. It's given me many insights into life - one of which is that you ultimately choose whether you want to be happy in life.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#27

Post by Cozumel »

sharkweek wrote: post #23

I'm a full-blown a cynic, but after OCD and anxiety got the best of me, my therapist recommended I try meditation to both start and end my day, I've started to notice huge improvements. Can't recommend it enough. It's frustrating at first, the mind will just not stop wandering to worries every 10 seconds, but almost always on cue, the guided meditation would remind me "is you're mind wandering? no big deal, bring you…

When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time, which sounds kind of bad but it's actually great, but the interesting thing is once you can control your own thoughts you'll start to realise that not all of them are yours.

People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it. You'll also be able to project them i.e influence people. Those powers known as 'siddhis' are just a fraction of what you can attain.

Much like everything western though guided meditation is a horribly bastardised version of the real thing, if you're interested look into Raja Yoga when you're ready.

Edited: http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1906-09rajayoga.pd...

This is the definitive course guide, the first lesson can take a year, 10 years, or a lifetime, don't go past the first lesson till you're ready. You'll know when you are.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#28

Post by mythrwy »

Cozumel wrote: post #27
sharkweek wrote: post #23

I'm a full-blown a cynic, but after OCD and anxiety got the best of me, my therapist recommended I try meditation to both start and end my day, I've started to notice huge improvements. Can't recommend it enough. It's frustrating at first, the mind will just not stop wandering to worries every 10 seconds, but almost always on cue, the guided meditation would remind me "is you're mind wandering? no big deal, bring you…

When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time, which sounds kind of bad but it's actually great, but the interesting thing is once you can control your own thoughts you'll start to realise that not all of them are yours. People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it. You'll also be able to project them i.e influence people. Those pow…

If this were true I'd expect to see yogis running the world.

Instead, running the world are people who I suspect aren't much into meditation.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#29

Post by dgfgfdagasdfgfa »

mythrwy wrote: post #28
Cozumel wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you've been doing it for a while your mind will be blank all the time, which sounds kind of bad but it's actually great, but the interesting thing is once you can control your own thoughts you'll start to realise that not all of them are yours. People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it. You'll also be able to project them i.e influence people. Those pow…

If this were true I'd expect to see yogis running the world. Instead, running the world are people who I suspect aren't much into meditation.

Perhaps the overlap between people who meditate and sociopaths is low.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#30

Post by yathern »

ben174 wrote: post #15

I'm probably an ideal candidate for meditation because just the thought of it is nearly unbearable. "Wasting a whole ten minutes doing nothing?!" But it's hard for me to get past the feeling that it's a waste of time. As someone who is on public transit for two hours a day, and an owner of a nice pair of noise cancelling headphones - I wonder if I could make use of that time by doing this. Guess I'll give it a try.

I've dabbled in meditation, and I should certainly keep up with it because I noticed benefits as well, I just lack the self discipline. But your situation of "I'm too busy to meditate" reminds me of the old Zen quote that goes something like: "You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you're too busy, then you should sit for an hour."
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