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

Guided meditation for beginners

quietkit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 133 posts

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#101

Post by metaphorm »

nonsince wrote: post #62
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…

I have lots of respect for spiritual people and adherents to both religious and non-religious supernatural practices, but I can't pretend that the association with supernatural beliefs didn't put me off getting into meditation and yoga for a long time, despite the very real empirical benefits. I understand that for you these beliefs (which, whether they are true or not, are not scientifically proven, which is importa…

so...why do you call it "supernatural" practice? if you admit that there are very real, empirically verifiable benefits and results, then doesn't that make it part of nature? where's the "super" coming from?

you say "these beliefs are not scientifically proven, which is important for me". What constitutes scientific proof? what do you suppose ought to be proved, that isn't proved? You already admit that there are very real benefits.

A followup question for you: if you meditate regularly now, what do you meditate on? Mindfulness based stress reduction? That's like dipping your toes into an ocean.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#102

Post by metaphorm »

dahauns wrote: post #94
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…

Meditation definitely has its merits, but... > 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. ...now you make it sound like NLP.

What is language except a means to project your thoughts into the minds of others?

NLP literature sometimes makes claims that aren't robustly supported, but it's not really that exotic of an idea.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#103

Post by metaphorm »

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 favors is it due? how would you promote it?

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#104

Post by metaphorm »

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.

if you're meditating _only_ when you have circumstances of forced confinement or limited options you won't really be able to get into the meditative state. that's just time filling. you'll probably end up day-dreaming rather than meditating. just read a book or something instead.

the purpose of meditation is to develop an awareness of the processes of your mind. doing so requires you to temporarily suspend your grasping consciousness. for a little while, you will have absolutely no goals and objectives. when you observe your mind under those conditions you will see your self in a new light.

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#105

Post by metaphorm »

vSanjo wrote: post #50

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?

In Zen training, one of the fundamental thought-patterns (if you want to call it that) is examination of the self. To be more explicit, it is sometimes posed as the question "who is it that is doing the thinking?" "who is the observer and who is the observed?"

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#107

Post by shostack »

alexryan wrote: post #44
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 sele…

Recommendations on where to get started with both in manageable chunks of time?

Re: Guided meditation for beginners

#110

Post by E6300 »

metaphorm wrote: post #101
nonsince wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have lots of respect for spiritual people and adherents to both religious and non-religious supernatural practices, but I can't pretend that the association with supernatural beliefs didn't put me off getting into meditation and yoga for a long time, despite the very real empirical benefits. I understand that for you these beliefs (which, whether they are true or not, are not scientifically proven, which is importa…

so...why do you call it "supernatural" practice? if you admit that there are very real, empirically verifiable benefits and results, then doesn't that make it part of nature? where's the "super" coming from? you say "these beliefs are not scientifically proven, which is important for me". What constitutes scientific proof? what do you suppose ought to be proved, that isn't proved? You already admit that there are ver…

I assume that by "supernatural" and "these beliefs", the above poster is referring to the stuff about

> People are like radios and broadcast their thoughts, and you'll be picking them up without knowing it.

Post reply on HN