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Other questions that would be interesting to have answers to: Why do you meditate? What kind of meditation do you do? How long have you practiced? How long is each meditation session? Do you meditate alone or with others? What effects or benefits have you experienced?
If you are interested in learning about active meditation or are more the type to set aside time for it in your day, I would highly recommend Tai Chi.
As for myself, I'm trying to sit one minute per year of age. The internet told me this would be enough.
This helps: https://insighttimer.com/
I meditate alone, though the app above gives you a virtual community if you want one.
I find mediation helps me put things into perspective. It's nothing more than staring at a wall and being bored, but there's a sort of magic in being bored.
Every time I return to the present moment I'm seeing what's really there. Most of the rest of the time I'm off daydreaming and I think studies show that the less present you are, the more miserable you are.
A lot of stress is caused by my own thoughts. When I stop dwelling on things, even for a little time, my body looks after itself.
### Time: I'm one of those people who says they don't have time. No time to do X, to time to hang out with Y, no time to think about Z. However, I know that this a problem of priority rather than the amount of hours in the day. Calm blocks out short amounts of time (~7 minutes) which is short enough to fit most places in my schedule. Defining hard boundaries on the amount of time I spend meditating helps me relax during meditation.
### Place: Calm has helped me meditate wherever I want to. With headphones in and a seat, I'm able to meditate wherever I have my phone. I usually do it on the L to work (Chicago). It fits conveniently time wise and I'm usually able to find a seat, close my eyes and let go, knowing that the session will end before I reach my destination
### Guidance: Starting meditation seems hard because you don't know if you are doing it right. Calm helped teach me a posture and frame of mind that works for me so I can spend less time worrying about technique and more time focusing on myself.
Just my thoughts, hope it helps
I've read about meditation and found the practices to be similar. Dr. Goleman mentioned that the aim of practicing mindfulness was to improve one's self-awareness and self-motivation capabilities.
I found that meditation or mindfulness has helped me gain great control of my thoughts and emotions. I have been able to calm myself down, heighten my focus, understand and disrupt negative thought patterns, and much more.
what really set me off into making it a daily habit was the following washington post article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43006-2005Jan...
""What we found is that the longtime practitioners showed brain activation on a scale we have never seen before," said Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the university's new $10 million W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior. "Their mental practice is having an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance." It demonstrates, he said, that the brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine."
Since they're Tara mantras, I find myself a bit in a Tibetan tradition, which is awkward because I'm a naturalist. Nonetheless, I find that my meditations are indeed directed towards the dissolution of ego, abolishing neurotic ways, and gaining access to reservoirs of awareness, compassion, and joy that otherwise seem to be buried inside of me.
This means that the best summary is "it's productive, but I can no longer use that as an excuse to do it. Rather, I do it precisely for no other reason. We don't need to justify love; we just love, for its own sake."
Any one has any tips to form meditation as a habit? I know meditation is good for oneself, and I have personally meditated on and off for 20+ sessions. But the habit never sticks. Somehow after a few days of meditation I feel massively better and then I forgot to do so. It's like stop taking pills after I recover from sickness. Anyone has any tips? Thanks.
P.S. I'm the founder.