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The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

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Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#161

Post by thisisit »

SirensOfTitan wrote: post #21

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.

I bought this book recently because I was at a stumbling block - my mind going completely numb due to focus and nearly falling asleep. So, I can see why people recommend it as a meditation text.

But, when I loaned my copy to a friend, he disliked it. He read it like a book and found the text to be too dense. So, while it is a good text I think anyone buying it needs some background into meditation and go stage by stage instead of reading it cover to cover.

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#162

Post by joelhooks »

shaklee3 wrote: post #155
Zelphyr wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will improve your craft and you don’t need to allocate time away from the latter to do so. You can do both at the same time. Put more simply; when you’re doing the dishes, do the dishes. Focus on the sensation of the water on your hands and the movement of your muscles as you scrub and dry them. When your mind wanders away from that as it tends to do, acknowledge that your mind has wandered and gently bring it bac…

I'm not sure I understand that analogy. When I'm doing the dishes I've never had my mind wander to where it adversely affects me doing the dishes. Is it just a way to focus better?

It’s just focusing on the moment, not something to really master the art and craft of cleaning dishes. Dishes is just an example activity that many might find venal, but is an opportunity to practice mindfulness

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#163

Post by justinpombrio »

thisisit wrote: post #161
SirensOfTitan wrote: post #21

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.

I bought this book recently because I was at a stumbling block - my mind going completely numb due to focus and nearly falling asleep. So, I can see why people recommend it as a meditation text. But, when I loaned my copy to a friend, he disliked it. He read it like a book and found the text to be too dense. So, while it is a good text I think anyone buying it needs some background into meditation and go stage by sta…

> instead of reading it cover to cover

Yes! I also highly recommend the book, but it is a technical manual for the mind. If you try to read it cover-to-cover, most of what you read is going to be meditation techniques that are months or years away from being useful to you, and models of the mind that are far removed from your current experiences.

Like, feel free to read the whole thing if you want to, but be aware that it's akin to reading the C++ spec as a beginning programmer. The mind isn't simple.

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#164

Post by hn_meditate »

sooheon wrote: post #150
hn_meditate wrote: post #44

Amateur meditator here, who had the trippiest experience from meditating in the World's Quietest Room (anechoic chamber at the Microsoft lab) for two hours. tl;dr: multiple sensory streams completely merged. I "lost" the t-region of my face. All breathing relocated into my auditory track (can't be a coincidence I was in a -22db environment, right?) I'm still curious to try to get a veteran meditator or neuroscientist…

Were the lights off as well?

Yes, total darkness and artificial silence.

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#165

Post by steve1977 »

weliketocode wrote: post #51

I just don't get it. It's difficult enough to spend 1000's of hours on honing my craft. How can I possibly justify that sort of investment in meditation? If you tell me it helps those with sleep issues, mental blocks, psychological issues, or addiction, your point is well taken and understood. But for those of us blessed to be in relatively sound mind, how will we benefit from meditation?

> How can I possibly justify that sort of investment in meditation?

It's just another craft really.

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#166

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

lettergram wrote: post #39

Interesting, a few friends and I attempted to launch a startup a few years back looking to improve meditation and focus using neurofeedback: http://synaptitude.me/ Even went so far as to launch a Kickstarter [1]. We had quite a bit of interest, but we didn't feel we had enough sign ups or people interested to take a risk (all of us having been offered jobs and having student debt). The trouble, is most of these studi…

You do know about Muse headband, right? They did exactly this and it works great. The company seems great, solvent, they have just released a new version of the hardware (including an HRV sensor), and it actually works.

Not sure why your kickstarter failed, but Muse headband is exactly what you are describing, it's a finished polished product and it actually works (speaking from experience).

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#167

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

lettergram wrote: post #114
bakul wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://web.mit.edu/6.111/www/f2017/handouts/FFTtutorial12110... shows an FFT implementation using a Cyclone EP2C20 FPGA. It can do 50ksps, 1K points, 12bit precision, 100 µsec/1K complex FFT @ 50Khz clock. May be a Zynq can be used to build a standalone device? I wonder if the EEG signals can tell if your attention wanders. That may help improve meditation. Have you looked at/played with the Muse or Muse2 EEG headban…

That's exactly what we were doing (without an FPGA), you need at least 8 sensors to properly localize attention though (based on our experiments). Things like the Muse I highly doubt work effectively

Perhaps you should try it instead of "doubting" without any basis. Based on my experience Muse is a great product and it delivers exactly what it says. It's hard to see any other EEG product competing with it any time soon (assuming similar cost usage style. Of course something like what "40 years of zen" are doing will be much more powerful).

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#168

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

shaklee3 wrote: post #157
lettergram wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what we were doing (without an FPGA), you need at least 8 sensors to properly localize attention though (based on our experiments). Things like the Muse I highly doubt work effectively

Coming from the RF world, those numbers honestly seem trivial for processing. Is it just a money issue or is nobody willing to build something like you did?

Muse Headband did, and they have a finished working retail product which reliably improves meditation practice. I've tried it personally. (No affiliation.)

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#169

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

vbuwivbiu wrote: post #82

What do these 'meditators' do for a living ? How can they afford to spend their days sitting down doing essentially nothing ? Could they do this high-level mediation in a busy office with people on phone meetings all around them ?

If you would have any actual experience with meditation, you would quickly notice that it actually improves focus and mental ability, regulates mood, etc. In fact, it makes a person more effective, not less. If someone meditates properly, they will achieve more and more easily, if they meditate 1 hour and then work for 7 hours - than if they would just work for 8 hours.

This assumes of course that they have any use of their brain during their work - ie, if they are creatives or mental workers, etc. If they stand at a factory pressing the same 3 buttons all day - then probably no, meditation will not help much.

Re: The Remarkable Brain Waves of High Level Meditators [video]

#170

Post by nurettin »

I have tried meditation, and successfully acquired the skill at a pretty young age as part of our aikido lessons.

However, nothing calms and refocuses my mind more than remembering a very respected collegue's voice telling me to focus when I was frustrated and making mistakes. That affirmation that he believed I could do it by focusing and that intent in his voice always helps a great deal.

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