Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 163 posts

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#101

Post by wavy-dingo »

aristofun wrote: post #61
toxicFork wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see that you too are interested in philosophy ;) Everyone has their reason to be interested in meditation. The original Buddha was simply "not satisfied" and wanted to know why. So he discovered the causes and effects and removers of dissatisfaction in itself. Part of his discovery that dissatisfaction comes from within, from all of the thoughts that poke us, especially when we let them to affect us. Mindfulness me…

I’m not trying to be philosophical here. I’m trying to find those personal specific seeds that drove people to meditation. Judging by the comments here - there are not that much. Most just repeat common mass media Knowledge about meditation. Although some comments feel deeply personal, this is why I try to find more evidence, not just put a label on this meditation thing.

Meditation is an experience. If you have the experience and enjoy it, you will keep doing it.

Some people are drawn to the spiritual and it isn’t if I do this X amount then I get Y.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#102

Post by yrui »

Your intuition that it's not that complicated is correct. For example,

""Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' "

https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.than.html

Do you do that already with every breath? Great!

I think you are saying you are naturally aware of everything your body does and thinks as it is happening. You use your "third eye", the eye in your brain that looks at yourself as you do what you do, noting everything that is happening. Your mind doesn't attach to what it sees or thinks, but remains ready at all times to notice the next thought, the next breath, the next footstep in the present as it is happening.

Am I understanding what you're saying correctly?

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#103

Post by aristofun »

toxicFork wrote: post #82
aristofun wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not trying to be philosophical here. I’m trying to find those personal specific seeds that drove people to meditation. Judging by the comments here - there are not that much. Most just repeat common mass media Knowledge about meditation. Although some comments feel deeply personal, this is why I try to find more evidence, not just put a label on this meditation thing.

My seed was very personal too. I had been overly self critical most of my life, and that made me unhappy. Additionally, I had a friend tell me that I had "too much ego". I did some research on "how to reduce your ego", and Buddhism appeared on my radar. I explored deeper, and started practicing. It showed me not to get too attached to a lot of the thoughts that I was very attached to. I was also very attached to a pa…

Thank you for sharing that seed. Yes, I definitely feel some therapeutic role of it.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#104

Post by HappyMans »

aristofun wrote: post #61
toxicFork wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see that you too are interested in philosophy ;) Everyone has their reason to be interested in meditation. The original Buddha was simply "not satisfied" and wanted to know why. So he discovered the causes and effects and removers of dissatisfaction in itself. Part of his discovery that dissatisfaction comes from within, from all of the thoughts that poke us, especially when we let them to affect us. Mindfulness me…

I’m not trying to be philosophical here. I’m trying to find those personal specific seeds that drove people to meditation. Judging by the comments here - there are not that much. Most just repeat common mass media Knowledge about meditation. Although some comments feel deeply personal, this is why I try to find more evidence, not just put a label on this meditation thing.

Meditation is an overloaded term, and one of the overloads is (IMO) from people who are practicing a symptom of a more aware mind without knowing the goal.

Others above and below have pointed out a few great points about “meditation” that I find relevant:

- It serves to introduce a delay between stimulus and action

- It gives you the time to discover subconscious thoughts that you haven’t noticed prior that may be causing negative emotions like anxiety

I personally meditate by taking the time to think extensively about things people say to me and things I feel when I’m not in some urgent situation. Also, my extremely supportive and mindful wife and therapist are highly involved in this and I’d never have found success without them. I have a history of anger and anxiety issues. The mindfulness I describe has been my ticket out of the personal impulsive hell I built into my early 30s. Others discovered their ticket via meditation of the breathing, etc.

For me, meditation is sitting at my desk, sometimes idly and sometimes not, contemplating everything I feel, why I feel it, if it’s valid, what others feel, what my goals are (most important part), what my next steps toward those goals are (other most important part), etc.

Hope this is insightful. I think meditation is a very weakly defined term in the US.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#105

Post by darthrupert »

Here's a link that gives you 30 days for Sam Harris's meditation app. I don't if this link works only once, if so let's change emails and I can generate a fresh link. I believe I don't personally gain anything if you sign up via this.

https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/e9c4eb

You can do the introductory course in that time by allocating about 20 minutes every day.

I was like you, had been meditating and studying buddhism for years. Sam's app isn't life changing (like almost nothing is) but it was different enough from what I've tried previously that it gave me a new perspective to the whole thing. Perhaps it could do a similar thing for you.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#106

Post by auganov »

Hard to define = hard to criticize. Many are all too eager to "debunk" active brain training. Which is easy to do (even if ultimately wrong) when you know what it is and can pick a benchmark metric. IMO for most of the things meditation is supposed to do there MAY be better exercises. But right or wrong, there's more skepticism about them. Meditation is just harder to criticize so it has more staying power.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#107

Post by anonymousnotme »

I think that the terms mindfulnes and meditation must be defined first. Mindfulness is easier to define; it is being in the present moment and concentrating on the task at hand, not thinking about the past or future. Meditation on the other hand is defined differently by different people. I would probably look to the eight limbs or yoga to look at meditation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtanga_(eight_limbs_of_yoga)

The yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama are preparation for meditation, pratyahara is the transition point. One starts withdrawing from the external sensory input and brings the focus inward. Dharana and dhyana are the stepping stones to samadhi.

Meditation is not easy and it takes many years. Many people are not succesful at Dharana; i.e. able to maintain the focus. Consider the constant stimulus in today's environment with instant messaging, email, texts, etc kills out concentration. Also, one can't measure one's concentration during dharana otherwise one is not doing it. So, for us techies, it is difficult. The point is to keep improving one's ability or length of time to maintain the concentration during this phase.

From my point of view, weight lifting and similar activities can be done mindfully; however, they are not meditation. The reason is that they are externally focused.

So, I guess I have defined meditation as being mindful and concentrating inward. I would think that somebody that has reached samadhi and/or nirvana or what ever it may be called in their practice could probably give more precise definition of meditation.

One also needs to look at one's goals with meditation. Is it samadhi/nirvana/enlightment? Is it being able to clear the mind? (If it is to clear the mind, then one's goal could be to do dharaha; for example, to maintain the the concentration for 20 minutes.) It is probably difficult motivation wise to do meditation, if one does not have an end goal.

When you tried it, what was your goal?

I would also mention that it is something that one has to do daily to improve. If you do it once a week, very unlikely to see improvement. I would also look to do as many non-meditation activities mindfully, to see improvement in meditation. Perhaps the goal for some people is not the meditation, but to be able to be more mindful and present in their daily activities. It is very unlikely that one can enjoy an activity if one is not mindful during that activity.

So after writing this, I would think two goals would be good for people that are not necessarily looking at samadhi/nirvana as the end goal: 1. able to concentrate better. This should lead to better grades, better performance at work, better pay. 2. enjoy life more because one is more present during one's life.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#108

Post by hombre_fatal »

asimovie wrote: post #83

Since you’re asking for personal experience - I’m just happier and a better person with mindfulness. I’ve been doing it for 20 years and it’s changed my life for the better. It seems you might think it’s woo-woo / hand-wavey, which isn’t uncommon in the west. It’s also not for everyone. my partner has severe anxiety and has never been able to successfully get into meditation. She’s found some success with Metta (lovi…

Waking Up is what came to mind for me as well when I read the OP.

I also had the same questions as OP before I started. Even on HN, when meditation would come up, people would mention the spiritual/eastern roots (often to the tune of "ugh westerners suck they don't even get it") which was always a let down to me: if mindfulness is useful by itself, then surely it doesn't need to be encumbered with or require buy-in to all this other bullshit.

Thankfully, mindful meditation is indeed useful stand-alone.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#109

Post by jatins »

mudrockbestgirl wrote: post #87

Meditation is being fully aware of what's happening now. Washing dishes can be a meditation. Talking a walk. Focusing on the breath. Repeating a mantra. Lifting weights. It doesn't matter what the technique is, the important part is that you are aware of what happening now and being present in that moment, from moment to moment. For many people, focusing on the breath is an easy way to notice when the mind wanders, s…

> Meditation is being fully aware of what's happening now.

Is scrolling TikTok meditation then?

Post reply on HN