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The 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). I…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might be forbidden within the context of certain religious paths/orders, but it's not forbidden for random people on the internet to experiment with whatever exercises they come across. I think the site where I got it doesn't exist any more. I think I have a copy in my own archives somewhere. The basic gist of the practices was a combination of various asanas, mantras, pranayama and visualisation.
It's not about it being religious, but about it being dangerous, or in some ways a hinderance/harmful to the self. Kind of like how self harm is forbidden. Vamamarga is psychological self harm, in a sense. Aghoris then take that same principle to the next level. The problem is people fetishize, or in other ways make arguments and ideas about Indian origin things within the context of religion. That has in my opinion…
Even if someone had told me that it was risky, I still would have had the attitude of, thanks, but I need to find this out for myself from experience rather than just take your word for it.
Meditation is a pretty broad term encompassing many different activities/intentions (though they all look pretty similar from the outside). In the studies I’ve read on the adverse effects of meditation, the style has a major influence. Due to historical accidents, vipassana is a common style in the West - I find this mind blowing, since it is probably the most likely to cause adverse effects. As a long time meditator…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who forbids it?
Interesting piece on it here. I wasn't aware of these terms. Basically, by definition it is about breaching Hindu societal taboos, unless I am vastly misunderstanding this brief summary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-hand_path_and_right-hand_...
It isn't obvious that asanas, breathing exercises, mantras and visualisation are somehow breaching any taboos of any society that I know of ;)
I have mixed feelings about the article - a lot of that has to do with the fact that over the ~10 retreats I've been on, with dozens of people that I interacted with after the retreat was over, I haven't really observed the negative affects they're talking about. However, I do agree that if you meditate for an hour a day or more (or sure, 40 minutes) having a good teacher is important. Dr. Britton put together someth…
The experience for me has been just like most others. Take weight lifting for example, you don't go into the gym and try dead lift 200 kilograms with poor technique or your liable to get hurt. What a wise lifter might do is work their way up to the point they're ready and might enjoy lifting 200kgs and then attempt it. Like most things, start small and work your way up. I'd imagine the same should apply to meditation…
Meditation is a pretty broad term encompassing many different activities/intentions (though they all look pretty similar from the outside). In the studies I’ve read on the adverse effects of meditation, the style has a major influence. Due to historical accidents, vipassana is a common style in the West - I find this mind blowing, since it is probably the most likely to cause adverse effects. As a long time meditator…
That’s all to say I think it’s important that people take it slow and get familiarized with the actual teachings to ground the experience. Jumping in to a 10 day, 10 hour per day training with little or no context is going to be seriously difficult. We have to understand that these practices come from places where the students wouldn’t be completely unfamiliar with the basics of the teachings. There would be at least a basic cultural understanding of the point of meditation (an actual spiritual practice) as opposed to a kid from the US that hears it makes you feel better and might make you more productive.
Meditation is definitely not relaxation. In the language of Yoga (which meditative traditions share), long meditation sessions move the focus (prana) to certains parts of the body where long sustained focus can create "imbalances" and lead to breaks and other side effects (psychosis or related). Further description risks going into woo-woo land without a shared language.
Meditation carries with it the most definite risk of people experiencing a break. I would put the at-risk population in the low-to-mid single digits. I have seen folks go into long meditation retreats and experience breaks where they have an experience much like Megan in the article - they have to be admitted and most of them are never the same ever after. Very solid grounded people develop migraines, insomnia, loss of appetite, or start hallucinating.
Meditation and Pranayama are both neither innocuous nor mere placebo effects. There is a very strong mechanism at work which we do not understand in a modern scientific context. However, the majority of practitioners do not do long intense retreats and will get away without any serious consequences.
A good tradition will devote serious time on how to combat the effects of long meditation retreats. They will talk about it almost as much as the technique itself. The biggest antidotes are - getting good sleep, not overdoing it, physical exercise, long walks and getting enough food. The inversion - onset of insomnia or anxiety or loss of appetite - is a very bad sign and you should stop meditating immediately.
Please do not do take either practice lightly or you could risk effing up something internally for which we have no cure. Feel free to DM me if you want to chat more.
The 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). I…
> It is just a tool, like a hammer or chainsaw, that serves a greater purpose. I think it's better analogy to think of it as a technique, like a somersault or a cartwheel. but I'm just nitpicking.
While the Goenka retreats profess to be secular and for everyone, I got serious cult vibes from the minute that I arrived. Technically, the in-person instructors are only assistant teachers. There is only one true teacher: Goenka himself. During his nightly instruction via VHS tape - the only human interaction you're allowed all day - Goenka teaches Buddhist metaphysics (I recall something about vibrations of the universe).
The retreat creates the perfect environment to break you down psychologically: sleep deprivation, food restriction, lack of human interaction, prohibitions on reading, writing, and exercising. Throughout the retreat, there is ingroup/outgroup pressure: only the strong can make it through; people who leave or aren't able to handle the meditation are weak. If you have a concern about your experience, the standard solution is more meditation. If you question this, you didn't give the retreat a chance, you weren't meditating hard enough. Then, at the end of the retreat you're hit with a love bomb on the way out the door. [1]
Interpreted charitably, I thought this retreat was similar to military training or fraternity hazing. Less so, it was more like solitary confinement or torture.
I'm glad I went - I gained some insights and it was an incredibly valuable experience. I'm also glad I left early. If you're thinking of going on one of these retreats, know what the assistant teacher told me on mine: "This is a Buddhist purification ritual."