meditation during the day helps me sleep at night. sahaj samadhi, learned through http://www.artofliving.org/us-en. 20 min sessions. i go in and out of habit.
Poll: Do you meditate?
21–30 of 233 posts
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#22I sit Zazen 20 minutes per day. All you need is a wall, a cushion and a timer. 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…
Being 'bored' is the best part - setting a time to do 'nothing' during the day. There's always something to do, something to see, someone to talk to, but there's rarely 'nothing' to do.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#23I chose once a month, because I understand people don't generally accept what I call meditation. People, especially those who do not run, ask me what I think about when I go on (long) runs, since I'm a mid-distance runner. My answer is that most of the time it is a form of meditation. I concentrate on my breathing, clear my mind, and sometimes I close my eyes for a few seconds to get "in the zone". It helps release a…
What you described is meditation in its purest sense, as it can take many forms. The true definition of meditation is mindfulness. If you do anything with mindfulness you are meditating.
For me I practice sitting meditation, walking meditation, and yoga. Creating art, painting and photography, are also both highly meditative experiences that I enjoy immensely.
I've made great effort to meditate while coding, but I have found it to be nearly impossibly as my mind needs to change its pace in order to solve problems. Keeping with mindful breathing while coding is possible and very beneficial.
One of the greatest benefits of meditation, as you mentioned, is for problem solving. Solutions come when you 'allow' them to. Walking meditation is very effective for this. I keep a timer and take a 5 minute walk for every 25 minutes of work.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#24I just couldn't concentrate.
Lots of things would come to mind. Revenge, sex, regret, frustrations, hope, plans and a lot just used to happen in mind at that time. More than usual. More than it would usually come to my mind.
It's not that they are always on mind, it's not a problem. But at least for meditation you are supposed to be free of such thoughts and even if there's a thought it ought to be only just that thought(not two or more), so that maybe you can meditate just concentrating on that thought and sort of meditate if at all.
Actually I had started that to fight a loss I had suffered.
I gave up. Went to usual life again. Realised it is a loss and no use fighting it. Just accept it. Drink, travel, play, run(I love running and walking) and have fun in whatever way I could. I did that.
It's good now. At least I am not worried now that I need to meditate.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#25I go skiing in the winter, biking in the summer. I've always found this to be a meditative-like experience - if i'm cruising down a mogul run as fast as i can the only thought in my head is where my skis are going. it's impossible to think about anything that doesn't need to be dealt with in the next few milliseconds. That's much clearer than i can ever get my head by sitting down and trying to meditate.
Meditation is often confused with meditatIVE activities. Sitting and trying to meditate doesn't mean you'll meditate, but meditation almost always requires you to sit still. When you're in meditation, you'll know - your mind will be in a different state (akin to sleep).
Keep practicing :) it takes a while, but once you get it, I promise it's worth it.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#26Any 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.
Well I think meditation is sort of like a minimalistic tool for training yourself. So I reckon it's part of the point to figure out how to get yourself "into a habit", etc.
Anyway, I don't think anything substantial can come out of meditation alone. If you use meditation as a "training ground" for learning discipline, etc. then you may argue those understandings are later useful in practical matters. But then, again, why not train yourself while at those practical matters? Granted, the simplicity of the meditative practice might make it easier to deal with things like what somebody else in this thread calls "negative thought patterns", etc. But I think the whole practice of meditation emerged from an interest of making the "world" to gradually "disappear". Somebody in this thread speaks of the "dissolution of the ego", fasting, etc. Meditative practice appears to have been birthed out of a yearning for...... destruction of details, diversity and complexity. But until when? That doesn't sound right to me. On the other hand, some other people equate meditation with going to a park, or riding the bicycle. That's disconnecting from one "world" and connecting to another; I can see the point of that, it's refreshing, relaxing. And I think it's better, because at least it performs a replacement with something mildly interesting and engaging, rather than... an empty wall (?!). Sitting in front of an empty wall just seems morbid to me.
As for the "feel good" factor, when you're meditating (in front of a wall) you are not contributing much to anything, so it sounds like meditation is a surrogate for "getting high"; or at least some form of really cheap entertainment. Surely there are preferable alternatives – like listening to good music, or reading a good book.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#27I sit Zazen 20 minutes per day. All you need is a wall, a cushion and a timer. 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…
Being 'bored' is the best part - setting a time to do 'nothing' during the day. There's always something to do, something to see, someone to talk to, but there's rarely 'nothing' to do.
There is 'nothing' to do when I go to sleep. Isn't that enough, and the best time for it?
Edit: Sorry, I do not wish to troll. You may wish to read the other post I made in this thread, where I question more elaborately the practice of meditation. My inquiry is genuine, I wish to have a critical discussion on the margin of the meditative practice.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#28I try to meditate about twice a week, but I haven't been keeping it up lately, so I put once a month. I started because there was a thread here where people described the benefits. I was (and still am) very skeptical of the self-reported effects, since there's a strong possibility of placebo, but at the same time, I figured if all these people like it, it's worth a try. Maybe it's just a placebo, but it sounds like a pleasant one, and the downside is essentially non-existent.
To get started, I read Mindfullness in Plain English [1], which is a pretty practical, no-nonsense guide with minimal New Age woo. It addresses a lot of the problems and questions a beginner will have getting started.
I can't really claim any long-lived effects or benefits of it. As I said, I'm very skeptical by nature, so I tend to be wary of attributing anything to it. One thing that's very clear and noticeable though is that I feel very mentally different during and afterward. My mind is quiet in a way that it otherwise never is, and I feel like I perceive the world differently somehow (maybe more clearly or more at face value.) It reminds a lot of a hyper-focused flow state, except it's non-directional. It's like I'm focused on everything and nothing all at once.
After I started, I did some reading on wikipedia and found that meditation has been found in scientific studies to have certain benefits and neurological effects. It's apparently even a treatment doctors recommend for handling stress and anxiety. That has helped me stick with it, because the meditation community is full of New Age bullshit. It's nice to know that there's more to it than that.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#29I used to meditate to relax, to clear my mind, to be more healthy. Nowadays I do it just for the joy to be free of the ego.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#30Do you meditate: yes
What kind: zen
How long is each sessions: at least 15 minutes, twice a day
Alone or with others: usually alone
Why / Benefits: About a year and a half back I noticed I was very agitated on a daily basis. I found it hard to focus on work, get rid of the distractions and deal with all the daily stimuli around me, it also made me more difficult to work with. Meditating allows me to deal with the daily stimuli and find some calm, order and structure. I can more easily take on challenges, I sleep better yet need less of it and I'm a more pleasant person for it.