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Not everyone should meditate

joshcsimmons.com

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Re: Not everyone should meditate

#151

Post by jazzyjackson »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #24
skilled wrote: post #20

This is a great perspective. I know what the author means with it, too. I spent 5 years in daily meditation practice (twice a day for 20 minutes) and it completely altered my state of mind. I was a naturally introverted person when I started, though I believe that meditation really stepped it up a notch for me. The strange thing about meditation and the idea of living in the present is that it completely transcends y…

> The strange thing about meditation and the idea of living in the present is that it completely transcends your life experience. It is not in human nature to fight with the inner workings of your own psychology, and for me - meditation really amplified all that I had been trough or was going through at the time. I really don't understand why the world just accepts that meditation as a whole is not just another versi…

> I really don't understand why the world just accepts that meditation as a whole is not just another version of snake oil.

I don't know what world you're in, the 'meditation is eastern/new-age woo' seems to me very much the default outside of a certain Ram-Dass/Alan-Watts/Hari-Krishna crowd.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#152

Post by dorfsmay »

TapWaterBandit wrote: post #40

Has anyone here ever tried Waking Up app by Sam Harris? I am working through the intro course now and very much enjoying it and finding it helpful, but I don't have a good base reference to know if he knows his stuff. I am not interested in the spiritual side of meditation so much as the learning to be in my own head a bit more stably and acknowledge and understand my emotions/thought more productively. Any advice wo…

Yes he knows one type of meditation really well. I went through his course, for me it was ok but I found the value of the Waking up app being exposed to other teachers from other traditions. It really opened up my eyes.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#153

Post by jazzyjackson »

SMAAART wrote: post #123

Agree. I mediated an average of 10-15 hours/week for about 10 years, and... it didn't do much for me. What instead did a lot for me was Zen Practice: - going to the temple - going to retreat - Zen reading - Dharma talks - Interview with the Zen Masters - Working at the Temple And then, meeting the inflated ego of some - but not all - the Zen characters in low-level leadership. I still practice Zen, but I do it as a F…

Good insight. Seems to me people who doubt the usefulness of mindfulness are looking too close. It's obvious, the hard part is staying in that DUH moment, we are built to over-think :)

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#154

Post by argentinian »

cardanome wrote: post #62
hutzlibu wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and being super focused on myself is very stressful." Can you explain, what exactly is stressful to you, by focusing on yourself? Or is it just that you feel you want to move but you also want to be still?

It's just not not having anything to distract you of your mental pain. Like having a flesh wound and instead of using pain killers, you put you finger on the wound and actually focus on the pain. That would be quite stressful, right? Have you ever had something bad happen and you try to distract yourself by working or watching something? Meditation feels like the reverse of that.

It can feel like that when you resist the painful memory or emotion. But if you stay with it, accepting it, neither rejecting nor holding it, you may notice that it dissolves. It's like the effect of exposure in behavioral therapy, phobias are treated with sustained exposure to the feared stimulus.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#155

Post by veidr »

argentinian wrote: post #144
DennisP wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thoughts do come up out of nowhere, unpredictably. But with practice, I can choose whether to inhabit them, or simply note them with quiet amusement and let them pass by. I can also pick something to concentrate on, and stay mostly focused on that, while those extra little thoughts just flutter in the background. This all seems to me like an enhancement of free will. (Meditating almost daily.)

What's that choice's source? How do you 'do' it?

It's just something that happens once you learn to see the thoughts themselves arising, rather than feeling like you are thinking them.

This occurs automatically, once you start meditating, typically within just a couple weeks even for those people (like me) who "don't get it" at first.

Source: started meditating a few months ago.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#156

Post by greggman3 »

cromd wrote: post #107

For me, meditation started a fundamental shift in how I think about free will, and oddly nobody I've mentioned it to in real life has felt this. I used to feel very in-control of my own mind, but after intentionally sitting and monitoring for thoughts, labeling those thoughts, etc, I became sensitive to how thoughts can really come out of nowhere. You can't predict what you will think next. That strikes a little deep…

Where would they come from in some alternate reality? What would the difference in your perception be if you weren't just watching a movie of your own life but where actually in charge of your thoughts? It's hard for me to imagine it being any different.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#157

Post by argentinian »

beebeepka wrote: post #15

I would like to at least try to meditate but I am not calm person. Not at all. Even coffee and green tea kick my nervous system into overdrive, so 8 don't consume them. What could possibly make meditation accessible to a person like me?

Following heleninboodler 's advice in the other answer.

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#158

Post by argentinian »

veidr wrote: post #155
argentinian wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's that choice's source? How do you 'do' it?

It's just something that happens once you learn to see the thoughts themselves arising, rather than feeling like you are thinking them. This occurs automatically, once you start meditating, typically within just a couple weeks even for those people (like me) who "don't get it" at first. Source: started meditating a few months ago.

If choices and thoughts just happen, then what kind of agency does the self have?

Re: Not everyone should meditate

#159

Post by rramadass »

KerrAvon wrote: post #42
iLoveOncall wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The strange thing about meditation and the idea of living in the present is that it completely transcends your life experience. It is not in human nature to fight with the inner workings of your own psychology, and for me - meditation really amplified all that I had been trough or was going through at the time. I really don't understand why the world just accepts that meditation as a whole is not just another versi…

There's a lot of scientific evidence for the benefits of mediation. You can ignore all of the noise about higher states of consciousness and suchlike and still receive documented benefits: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation-in-depth

Yep, this is my approach too.
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