Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
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Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#2This happened to a coworker of mine during a silent meditation retreat in the woods. He's okay now, I think, but when he broke and turned up at work agitated and babbling about karma, it was quite scary.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#3I didn't read the article completely but from my experience the overselling that's typical in the West is a problem here. Meditation (and now psychedelics) are sold as this wonderful cure to all problems. In yoga and meditation classes a lot of people seemed to feel obliged to feel great and spiritual even though they didn't really feel that way. Same probably in 10 day meditation classes. They get thrown into something with little instruction (Goenka's teachers don't really help from my experience) and if you aren't stable I can easily see how problems can arise. I have heard the same about Zen teachers that have breakdowns after 30 years of meditating because they forced something that wasn't there.
After my recent mildly disappointing or sobering experiences with psychedelics I am a little worried about that too. They often are sold as the fix to serious problems and unstable people may get into a bad position when their problems aren't solved but they still pretend that they are doing great.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#4I would say that meditation is fine, cults are bad.
It isn't easy to sit and be still, everyone who tried will tell you, you will find any kind of excuse to not do it. However if you endure it and spend some time meditating, it will indeed bring perspective and clarity in your mind.
These kinds of retreats are stupid... For number of reasons. Also 'apps for meditation' are extra stupid, except maybe Oak because it is just a timer, so it actually serves a purpose. If you really want to meditate, just sit and relax. OK maybe I was too hard on every kind of retreat, but overall they tend to be profitable endevours.
Because your mind will be maleable, cults love to exploit this state to program you and indoctrinate you.
Also... what happened to this girl is known fenomenon. It usually helps if somebody can tell you in advance it would happen. As I read article, they loaded her with drugs afterwards, not sure which is worse.
Again, cults = bad, you have everything you need to be happy.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#5> Megan mentioned that she had stopped taking her medication. She had been on the lowest therapeutic dose of Zoloft for mild anxiety since her early twenties.
Zoloft can really mess you up if you stop cold-turkey. How odd that they didn't bring up comorbid risk-factors until half-way through the article.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#6The west (and the east too) has commercialized meditation and yogic practices and reduced them to some pseudo medical amalgam that will solve all your health and mental issues.
Per Hindu practices, Meditation is the first, foremost step towards self realization. For attaining liberation and knowing god. It is a tool to calm the mind and prepare it for deeper states of realization (samadhi, nirvikalpa samadhi, etc). It is just a tool, like a hammer or chainsaw, that serves a greater purpose.
Yogic practices, at-least the physical ones, are for strengthening the body to face the rigors of long term meditation and deeper conditions.
Hindu scriptures clearly say that such practices are to be done under the guidance of a qualified guru (A true guru is one who has attained realization him/her self.)
Nowadays, business ventures are being built around this fad with mostly falsehoods mixed with grains of truth.
There is an excellent book [0] that records the conversations of one of the greatest modern era yogis [1], whose whole life was spent in meditation. The book is a great read and records his conversations with many western visitors. Do read it to get a better understanding of the context of meditation and related topics.
[0] https://selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maha...
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#7I didn't read the article completely but from my experience the overselling that's typical in the West is a problem here. Meditation (and now psychedelics) are sold as this wonderful cure to all problems. In yoga and meditation classes a lot of people seemed to feel obliged to feel great and spiritual even though they didn't really feel that way. Same probably in 10 day meditation classes. They get thrown into someth…
Why didn't you read the article completely? It's not very long, and it's probably worth reading all the way through.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#8About 17 years ago I tried out some vamachara tantra exercises I found on the web. Heady stuff. It gave me a three week episode of full-blown mania. I only needed four hours sleep a night. I had this wild urge to run and jump everywhere I went.
After three weeks, it culminated in an auditory hallucination that was indistinguishable from telepathy. Then the mania suddenly drained and never came back however often I repeated the exercises.
Years later, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but it's usually fairly mild, with hypomania and mixed states which get worse when under stress. Nothing was ever again as intense as the meditation-induced mania of 2004.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#9I would say that meditation is fine, cults are bad. It isn't easy to sit and be still, everyone who tried will tell you, you will find any kind of excuse to not do it. However if you endure it and spend some time meditating, it will indeed bring perspective and clarity in your mind. These kinds of retreats are stupid... For number of reasons. Also 'apps for meditation' are extra stupid, except maybe Oak because it is…
> Also 'apps for meditation' are extra stupid
The irony of these apps coming out a few years ago. And the popularity of them. I guess it becomes more of a routine and escape from reality, rather than mindfulness and meditation.
Re: Lost in Thought: Psychological Risks of Meditation
#10I didn't read the article completely but from my experience the overselling that's typical in the West is a problem here. Meditation (and now psychedelics) are sold as this wonderful cure to all problems. In yoga and meditation classes a lot of people seemed to feel obliged to feel great and spiritual even though they didn't really feel that way. Same probably in 10 day meditation classes. They get thrown into someth…
Why didn't you read the article completely? It's not very long, and it's probably worth reading all the way through.
It’s >~6000 words (12-13 pages). I would argue that’s far longer than most articles, but to your point, it is worth reading in its entirety.