To me, there is no better guide to meditation from start to advanced than Culadasa’s book “The Mind Illuminated”. I suggest it to nearly everyone I can—it breaks down the meditation process into concrete stages, skills to practice, and issues that may arise along the way.
The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
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Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#22For those who are interested and new to meditation, I started meditating several years ago with Headspace and YouTube videos of Jonathan Kabat Zinn and others. It's a great place to start. I later went on a silent meditation retreat and learned a lot more about meditation and got confident with techniques I could practice on my own. This may not be available to everyone due to the time commitment (and being completel…
In practical terms, how do you feel meditation has changed you? Curious to learn more
Not OP, I personally find it makes me calmer and increases my ability to focus.
A good way to visualize is to think of thoughts as a bunch of waves. A thought wave can trigger another wave and usually, it ends up multiplying and the mind ends up with multiple thoughts. When you meditate and observe your thoughts, the waves start to die out. The state of a 'clear mind' where no thoughts appear in your mind is usually fleeting. The longer your meditate, the better you become at the ability to maintain a 'clear mind'. The longer you can maintain a clear mind, the better you are at focussing .
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#23One of the best ways to learn advanced level meditation is to travel to a vipassana meditation camp. They usually hold sessions lasting over 10 days where you are not allowed to have any outside contact with the world. It is also conducted by trained Buddhist monks. You'll easily find multiple reviews for this course on the internet ( just google 'vipassana meditation' ) and it's one of the best crash courses that yo…
Vipassana is advertised as a scientific method but I discovered it has more to do with a sect. I left after five days. I'm sure there's a lot to be gained from meditation, but I don't trust this organisation.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#24One of the best ways to learn advanced level meditation is to travel to a vipassana meditation camp. They usually hold sessions lasting over 10 days where you are not allowed to have any outside contact with the world. It is also conducted by trained Buddhist monks. You'll easily find multiple reviews for this course on the internet ( just google 'vipassana meditation' ) and it's one of the best crash courses that yo…
Um, a 10 day retreat where you are cut off from the outside world is definitely not a good way to begin meditation. I mean you're basically advising a beginner hiker to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. It's grossly irresponsible advice.
I've had multiple friends who were first-timers who have taken this course and all of them have given me positive reviews. Unlike the mount analogy, you can leave the meditation camp at any point of time. It's completely free, so you pay nothing and they only accept donations ( completely optional) from people who finish the full 10 day course.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#25One of the best ways to learn advanced level meditation is to travel to a vipassana meditation camp. They usually hold sessions lasting over 10 days where you are not allowed to have any outside contact with the world. It is also conducted by trained Buddhist monks. You'll easily find multiple reviews for this course on the internet ( just google 'vipassana meditation' ) and it's one of the best crash courses that yo…
No. This is dangerous advice. An intensive, torturous retreat away from friends and familiar places is one of the worst ways to start meditating. https://www.google.com/search?q=vipassana+psychosis
And it's not torturous at all, I and multiple friends have attended it. My 60 year old parents have attended it. They charge no fees, in fact you can only donate(optional and they won't even ask) if you have completed the entire course. You are free to leave at any point of time, no questions asked.
Vipassana meditation is a powerful technique though. They clearly mention on their website asking people to stay away in case they have any latent mental illnesses. Though the number of positive experiences does outnumber the negative ones ( https://www.google.com/search?q=vipassana+positive ). I've seen people cry after a meditation session because it helped them release energy inside them which they didn't know was stored.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#26I was staying at a yoga retreat in Cambodia back in 2015. Meditation was done twice a day for 30+ minutes. I was familiar with meditation for a number of year's already, but a lot of the attendees were "first timers". Not every day, but on some days we would share our experiences with the group after the meditation was over. One of the women who had never meditated before, had the biggest smile on her face and goes,…
I don't get what you mean in this sentence : >> Try to hold focus on an imaginary object during meditation. Could you explain what kind of "action" it is (or non action, I don't known anything about meditation except for clichés) ?
It is continual refocus. At least it is for me.
I don't focus on an imaginary object; rather, I use my breath. But Just focusing on how my breath feels going through my nose is hard. I get distracted by all sorts of things; the next door neighbors fighting again, the assignments I didn't work on yesterday, the friend I just started talking to again.
So, I refocus on my breathing again.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#27One of the best ways to learn advanced level meditation is to travel to a vipassana meditation camp. They usually hold sessions lasting over 10 days where you are not allowed to have any outside contact with the world. It is also conducted by trained Buddhist monks. You'll easily find multiple reviews for this course on the internet ( just google 'vipassana meditation' ) and it's one of the best crash courses that yo…
No. This is dangerous advice. An intensive, torturous retreat away from friends and familiar places is one of the worst ways to start meditating. https://www.google.com/search?q=vipassana+psychosis
Can confirm from personal experience. Even a lot of vipassana meditation by itself can send you into psychotic states when you're not ready for all the insight yet. I came very close to psychosis once, experienced ego death, broke down mentally and had to spend 2 months in a depression ward. Cannot recommend.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#28Sam Harris recently released a meditation app for iPhone and Android. As the reviews attest, it is outstanding, the best thing I've seen for getting started on your own. https://wakingup.com/
I have to disagree. I tried it for a couple of weeks but have unsubscribed. The problem is that Harris talks way too much during guided meditations. A good guided meditation normally has a judicious mix of instructions and silence, but Harris keeps rambling on, making it difficult to concentrate on the instructions. He has an old guided meditation available on YouTube; that one is much better. Insight Timer is a much…
I found that on the other hand that frequent commentary allowed me to focus better and get back on track when I got distracted by a thought.
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#29One of the best ways to learn advanced level meditation is to travel to a vipassana meditation camp. They usually hold sessions lasting over 10 days where you are not allowed to have any outside contact with the world. It is also conducted by trained Buddhist monks. You'll easily find multiple reviews for this course on the internet ( just google 'vipassana meditation' ) and it's one of the best crash courses that yo…
Vipassana is advertised as a scientific method but I discovered it has more to do with a sect. I left after five days. I'm sure there's a lot to be gained from meditation, but I don't trust this organisation.
> has more to do with a sect
Could you elaborate?
Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]
#30For those who are interested and new to meditation, I started meditating several years ago with Headspace and YouTube videos of Jonathan Kabat Zinn and others. It's a great place to start. I later went on a silent meditation retreat and learned a lot more about meditation and got confident with techniques I could practice on my own. This may not be available to everyone due to the time commitment (and being completel…
In practical terms, how do you feel meditation has changed you? Curious to learn more
Not OP but I had a panic attack one day (first ever) and that spiraled into 6 months of general and often debilitating anxiety.
Talk therapy and meditation (suggested by my therapist) helped reset me to my pre-attack normal.
I do it occasionally now and like others have said it helps break the rut of rumination.