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Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#11
post #10

I sit in the dark on a chair maintaining straight back and eyes closed for 20 minutes every morning and try to think about nothing. This is how I imagine meditating. I don't really understand all that other stuff like mindfulness or whatever they call it. My way does have a noticeable positive impact (on me at least) and that's good enough for me.

Pretty similar stuff - in "mindfulness" I think it's about focusing on the perception of your senses, how the chair feels behind your back, what sounds you're hearing and while you're doing that, you're not thinking.

I also do similar things, though not very often anymore. It's basically intentionally zoning out but I like to think of it as "mindlessness" now to contrast it. Techniques like focusing on body sensation can be part of mindfulness (I don't really do them except sometimes to help get into the mindless state -- I get comfy for my zoning out because I don't even want to be aware of my body if I can help it) but mindfulness is more about actually thinking. One of the times I tried a guided mindfulness session (from their website -- it's very corporate...) they said something like "think of a time you were talking with a friend, spouse, or therapist about an important situation in your life, and when the conversation was over you felt lighter, loved, and cared for." I couldn't think of such a time. Nor even imagine such a sequence of events happening ot me. Similar attempts done by company speakers randomly at all-hands meetings had similar guiding phrases that evoked no emotional memory in me at least. I don't work that way. If it was more general like "recall the feeling of being cared for", sure, I can muster something, but I don't think that's very helpful. Others' mileage may vary.

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#12

I use an app called 'Calm'. It focuses on mindful breathing through 10-15 minute guided sessions. I have been using it daily for just over 3 weeks and have already noticed some differences in my ability to discern thought patterns that are not useful, and am often able to bring my mind back to the present. Not all the time - meditation isn't a fix-all for stress. But it has helped me thus far.

+1 for Calm

I am a very pragmatic meditator. I meditate around once a week whenever I feel stress building up. As someone with little technique, and little desire to wade through mostly esoteric resources, Calm manages to guide me through a very relaxing meditation.

Okay, I am not that crazy of a fanboy as that reads. I realize that its not THAT revolutionary, and it might be a bit expensive if you use it that little, but hey, it works for me.

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#13
post #10

I sit in the dark on a chair maintaining straight back and eyes closed for 20 minutes every morning and try to think about nothing. This is how I imagine meditating. I don't really understand all that other stuff like mindfulness or whatever they call it. My way does have a noticeable positive impact (on me at least) and that's good enough for me.

Pretty similar stuff - in "mindfulness" I think it's about focusing on the perception of your senses, how the chair feels behind your back, what sounds you're hearing and while you're doing that, you're not thinking.

I only focus on an imaginable empty space in front of me and totally blank my mind. It's not easy, because thoughts do come back, but with practice it gets better. Those times I manage to "get in the zone" it feels like time slows down considerably, so I always set a timer for 20 minutes (limited time in the morning, etc). What is even more interesting and fascinating is that by now I've meditated hundreds of times, but every single time the general feeling is different. I guess this could be attributed to endless complexity of a human mind.

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#14

I don't meditate traditionally, but I think that motorcycle riding has a meditative effect; it draws my mind squarely into the present moment, giving me something intense enough to focus on that the noise around the edges of my brain just has to shut up for a while. It's a whole-body experience, too, especially when the road has some twists in it. I feel like I function better as a human being, generally, when I am u…

What you described above with motorcycle riding, skiing, bouldering, etc are known as "peak experiences" and associated with "flow". There's been a lot of study going into the benefits of these things which is pretty neat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#17
Yes. I meditate for 10-15 minutes daily after waking up in the morning. I use mindful meditation -- where I just observe my breath and if my thoughts starts wandering I just say "that's nice, but not right now" and let it go and focus back into my breathing. (Wrote a simple guide in my blog here, sorry for the plug: http://www.enlight8.com/guide-to-mindful-meditation/). Sometimes I also just use a phrase like "I am" repeated over and over again so my mind won't wander, but it's really a practice to observing/focusing consciousness.

For learning meditation, using apps are great. Headspace is a great app that I highly recommend. Calm is also good (already mentioned).

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#18
I use this app called Insight Timer on iOS. I use Bose noise cancelling headphones when I meditate as it helps cut any surrounding noise. I started with the free tunes that Insight Timer provided and meditated for 5 minutes in the morning. I have slowly increased it to about 15 minutes and purchased some of the other tunes via in app purchase on the app. Daily meditation definitely helps stay calm the rest of the day. I also use the same app after I get back home from work and use a different tune and it helps unwind.

Re: Ask HN: Do you meditate and which system do you follow?

#20
This is what I practice: https://obcon.org/dharma/buddhism/the-eightfold-path/#8.

> The form of meditation practiced in our Order is that of the Soto Zen tradition. It is called “serene reflection meditation”, which is a translation of the Japanese terms “zazen” and “shikan-taza”.

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