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Guided meditation for beginners

quietkit.com

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Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#41

Post by psyc »

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've been meditating daily for about a year. Not what many people would think of as serious practice. Just 10 minutes at a time, a few times daily. I notice much less anxiety. Less depression, better mood. Easier to fall asleep. After only a few months, it became very easy to completely quiet my mind anytime, in a matter of seconds. My mind is quieter throughout the day. In particular, I hardly get into negative trains of thought at all. It hasn't changed my life or made me especially more effective, but it has made life far more bearable.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#42

Post by desireco42 »

I hate guided meditation... to me this is complete opposite of what meditation should be.

You can do this initial few times, but after that, you don't need any voice but your own in your head. That is if you are really doing meditation, if you want to pretend... then headspace yourself.

Again, this is my view as someone who actually meditated for like 20+ yrs.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#43

Post by kranner »

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…

I'd be happy enough with increased focus and less anxiety: that's all I'm aiming for as a daily meditator.

Siddhis and the rest of it I believe as much as I believe in God (not at all).

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#44

Post by alexryan »

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?

The 2 types of meditation that I practice I are mindfulness and concentration. Mindfulness practice has enabled me to become aware of the arising of unskillful compulsions, the habitual patterns of thought which give rise to them and to halt their progress. Concentration practice, on the other hand, builds the muscle of attention so that it becomes easier to stay focused and fully absorbed on whatever target you select. I have found that the combination of the 2 has enabled me rewire less skillful habitual patterns of thought and to replace them with more skillful patterns.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#45

Post by kranner »

hsitz wrote: post #32

The recording seems okay, but I find it really odd that the scripted voice says "feel your chest rise on an in breath, and feel it fall back down on an out breath." Chest-breathing is something to be avoided, especially in mediation, as it creates tension. The proper method of breathing is diaphragm-based breathing, otherwise called belly-breathing. This is not a trivial issue for meditation, really strange that they…

Even with diaphragmatic breathing, your chest moves eventually as your lungs fill with air. I don't think these specific instructions promote controlling your breath by intentionally inhaling into your chest; they seem pretty passive.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#46

Post by djKianoosh »

beachstartup wrote: post #37
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…

you're not doing meditation any favors by promoting it in this light.

what's the problem? the concepts in that first lesson on the link/pdf Cozumel shared seem pretty relevant to someone learning the basics of meditation.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#47

Post by kordless »

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…

Not hippy dippy at all. Consuming brain CPU, especially types of recursive CPU, is harmful to your mental health. It's also a big waste of time re-worrying about things, but still remains an option for many.

Remember, it's not essential to do no-thinking. Many types of advanced meditation are actually used for focused thinking, such as walking meditation. Just remember that "clinging" is our nature, to the core. Non-clinging is key. Let the thought come, then go as needed. Give it no CPU when it comes and then watch where it goes.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#48

Post by djKianoosh »

djKianoosh wrote: post #46
beachstartup wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you're not doing meditation any favors by promoting it in this light.

what's the problem? the concepts in that first lesson on the link/pdf Cozumel shared seem pretty relevant to someone learning the basics of meditation.

ok maybe not the siddhis related stuff ;-)

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#49

Post by kordless »

I'm a little late on commenting, but I'm gifted with Aphantasia. I've found it naturally contributes to meditation as I experience no visuals in my mind's eye. No visuals means no-thinking if you can wrangle the internal dialog under control.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#50

Post by vSanjo »

A question, and one that probably shuns any kind of methodical thinking and science, but there's always talk about 'rewriting' or 'rewiring' the brain. Plasticity and all that stuff.

Are there thoughts I -should- be thinking, patterns I -should- be training or ideas I -should- be following to maximise the positive changes meditation has the potential to bring?

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