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The Impact of Meditating Every Day

pascalprecht.github.io

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Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#21

Post by c1sc0 »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #11
cube2222 wrote: post #6

I had always had some kind of anxiety or ocd for as long as I can remember. I'd searched for various ways to deal with it but only discovering meditation really worked for me. After meditating for 6 months every day (starting with 5 minutes daily, ending with 20-30) I've completely got rid of it. A nice side effect was that I got to be a happier person overall (though that wasn't ever a problem for me), and learned t…

Would you recommend an app like Calm or Headspace to get started with meditation?

To get started. Absolutely. Headspace has been instrumental in dealing with a very hard time in my life. For a secular, scientific look at mindfulness meditation read the book “Why Buddhism is true.”

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#23

Post by onefuncman »

spodek wrote: post #7

> I try to meditate every morning for about 15 minutes and been doing that for quite some time now. I find that doing any Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity will improve your life tremendously, meditation being just one type of SIDCHA. While the benefits differ slightly, the magnitude of benefit from other SIDCHAs -- like exercising, drawing a picture, writing a blog post, writing three business ideas, c…

I love the approach of digging into the underlying pattern rather than fixating on the details of the routine.

I used to struggle with Agile and daily standups at $JOB until I started keeping a private journal daily. Now I have several years of daily notes across several jobs that I can refer back to and use for reflection, avoiding common pitfalls, revisiting particularly difficult challenges with a different perspective. The most valuable entries I have beyond technical details or company idiosyncrasies are about arguments I've gotten into or interpersonal dynamics I've noticed.

The biggest benefit I've noticed is that I feel much more resilient to both stress and change, and I don't sink near as much time and effort into distractions or rabbit holes. Random ideas get written down and set aside for monthly review and I can get back to work.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#24

Post by Tharkun »

nabla9 wrote: post #18

I have been meditating 20 years now (zazen). I do 2-4 hours a day. Several 7 day retreats per year. My starting motivation was philosophical and academic interest. I was curious how it affects the mind. Then I did it because it seemed so hard to do, mind seemed like a buggy device I had no control over. I also had self improvement goals at some point. And feeling balanced is a good feeling. But there is no way I can…

Do you usually sit in seiza posture, or do you prefer agura for such lengthy sessions? I can put up with an hour in seiza, but four hours must require a fortitude of mind that I can't even begin to fathom.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#25

Post by Tharkun »

gnikif wrote: post #2

In my experience, apps (like Headspace) mostly distract you from witnessing. Any type of guided mediation has an entertaining aspect to it - you have to follow the guidelines instead of pure witnessing.

I can't speak for meditation apps in general, but Headspace managed to introduce millions to meditation. They have a bunch of guided meditations for beginners, but as you progress the amount of guidance is gradually reduced.

Headspace certainly helped me pick up meditation again after a decade long hiatus, in part because of their excellent & gentle progression.

Granted, it's a bit silly to keep paying for a daily 30 minutes of silence.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#26

Post by Ididntdothis »

spodek wrote: post #7

> I try to meditate every morning for about 15 minutes and been doing that for quite some time now. I find that doing any Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity will improve your life tremendously, meditation being just one type of SIDCHA. While the benefits differ slightly, the magnitude of benefit from other SIDCHAs -- like exercising, drawing a picture, writing a blog post, writing three business ideas, c…

“I find that doing any Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity will improve your life tremendously, meditation being just one type of SIDCHA.”

That’s how I feel about diets too. Most people have such terrible nutrition that almost any diet will make things better because it gives people some structure around eating habits.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#27

Post by sweeneyrod »

raidicy wrote: post #12
cube2222 wrote: post #6

I had always had some kind of anxiety or ocd for as long as I can remember. I'd searched for various ways to deal with it but only discovering meditation really worked for me. After meditating for 6 months every day (starting with 5 minutes daily, ending with 20-30) I've completely got rid of it. A nice side effect was that I got to be a happier person overall (though that wasn't ever a problem for me), and learned t…

I've been interested in learning more about meditating and Raja yoga meditation specifically. I hesitate to read the book in parent as it seems that Buddhist meditation is focused on love, compassion, empathy or some kind of goal. I don't think the positive emphasis of Buddhism is bad. Rather I've been more interested in "abstraction of the mind" and the general non-religious approach of raja yoga. (I am sorry if the…

TMI is pretty secular - the author treats Buddhism more as a source of sophisticated ideas about meditation than a religion with goals that readers should adopt. I think there's a chapter in the appendix about loving-kindness practice but most of it is a non-religious guide to how to meditate. It is focused on the goal of enlightenment, but you can still benefit from it even you're not aiming for that.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#28

Post by jason_slack »

I have the habit now of meditation for 1 hour each morning and then for 20-30 minutes before laying my head to pillow. It's really helpful to me to get myself in a space to start a productive day and end it with a good relaxing sleep. I usually get 4.5 to 5.5 hours each night. Up at 4:30am without an alarm and to bed by 11-midnight usually.

I attended a 10 day silent meditation retreat last year and it really had an impact of my technique and focus along with realizing my life is what I indeed make of it.

If anyone wants to start meditating, start slow. maybe just 10 minutes of trying to do basic breathing exercises.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#29

Post by agent008t »

jason_slack wrote: post #28

I have the habit now of meditation for 1 hour each morning and then for 20-30 minutes before laying my head to pillow. It's really helpful to me to get myself in a space to start a productive day and end it with a good relaxing sleep. I usually get 4.5 to 5.5 hours each night. Up at 4:30am without an alarm and to bed by 11-midnight usually. I attended a 10 day silent meditation retreat last year and it really had an…

4.5 to 5.5 hours sounds ridiculously low. I thought humans need at least 8 hours of sleep to function well? Have you tried sleeping for longer and if you did, what difference did it make to your wellbeing?

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#30

Post by aNoob7000 »

c1sc0 wrote: post #21
aNoob7000 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you recommend an app like Calm or Headspace to get started with meditation?

To get started. Absolutely. Headspace has been instrumental in dealing with a very hard time in my life. For a secular, scientific look at mindfulness meditation read the book “Why Buddhism is true.”

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to give it a try.
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