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Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

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Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#111

Post by adrice727 »

abandonliberty wrote: post #102
adrice727 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not OP, but I attended the same 10-day course last year and will likely attend another one at some point in the near future. I started experimenting with meditation after listening to Howard Stern talk about transcendental mediation around seven years ago. At the time, I was struggling a lot with anxiety and bouts of depression. When I discovered Mindfulness and Acceptance Therapy, I started to move away from man…

What was your experience with the course?

It was one of the most difficult things I've done, mentally, physically, and emotionally. It was also very rewarding. It completely changed my understanding of meditation and instilled a belief that meditation really can be life-changing if practiced in earnest.

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#112

Post by wpietri »

kamakazizuru wrote: post #95
applecore wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for sharing your experience. If you're new to mindfulness meditation, you shouldn't even consider a hardcore, 10-day Vipassana retreat—you should begin by meditating for 20–30 minutes a day at home.

Don't see why this should be the case. I got into MM through a similar Vipassana Course and there couldn't have been a better start for me. Only meditating in this style for 10 days did a few things for me that 20-30 minutes a day would not have helped with : 1 - It helped me understand the power of this sort of meditation 2 - It REALLY motivated me to keep at it ever after I left 3 - I got to learn how to meditate p…

It's basically the same reason people shouldn't sign up for marathons as their first race: most people aren't prepared. That it worked for you is great, but you shouldn't mistake your experience for the general case. I have a lot of friends who do retreats like this, and they universally recommend that most people work their way up.

Regarding point #3, for those who would like guidance, I recommend finding a local meditation group. There are lots, and there are many different styles.

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#113

Post by wpietri »

estefan wrote: post #77
bobsgame wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to one of these and got freaked out because it's an unmistakable cult. The teachers on the podiums up at the front is a creepy psychological hack, the recorded chanting they play while you meditate is hypnotic programming, the 2 hour video lectures of the great leader convincing you of his religion being your only stimulation, the bowing and mindless chanting from the regulars being passed off as "optional for…

YMMV I guess. I did a similar course and the religiousy aspects did put me off a bit (bowing and prostrations), but the leader did explain there was no worship involved and that the practices were to remind you of what you wanted to aspire to. He offered the techniques and said they worked for some people but not others, and to take what worked best for you. Maybe your videotaped guy was too pushy? We did have to rea…

Yeah. One of the smartest things I heard is from Huston Smith. Somebody asked him the relationship between religion and spirituality. He said, "Religion gives spirituality historical traction."

I'm pretty antireligious, so I get why bobsgame was creeped out by the historical-traction aspects of their practices. (People tried to force me to be Christian in my teens, so I've got a bucket of fuck-you ready whenever I feel the slightest religious pressure.) And if one doesn't feel safe, one should get up and go. But many people teach meditation in ways that are either low on religion or consciously eschew it.

I'd add that it is worth playing with some of the practices regardless. Chanting, for example. The mock religion "Church of the Subgenius" have redone the hare krishna chant to use the Three Stooges:

    Larry Curly Larry Curly
    Curly Curly Larry Larry
    Larry Moe Larry Moe
    Moe Moe Larry Larry
Meditative chanting like that (which, for clarity, I do at home, not in somebody else's temple) is a really interesting experience. It made me more open to occasionally joining in with other people's religious practices; knowing the experience I was less worried about getting sucked in.

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#114

Post by adrice727 »

kamakazizuru wrote: post #104
adrice727 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not OP, but I attended the same 10-day course last year and will likely attend another one at some point in the near future. I started experimenting with meditation after listening to Howard Stern talk about transcendental mediation around seven years ago. At the time, I was struggling a lot with anxiety and bouts of depression. When I discovered Mindfulness and Acceptance Therapy, I started to move away from man…

Has Vipassana helped you further?

Absolutely. I practiced for 2 hours a day for many months after the course. Life circumstances forced me to take a several-month hiatus, but I'm now back to sitting for about 90 minutes a day. I can't attribute it to my meditation practice alone, but there have been some huge changes in my life since doing the retreat. I've become a lot more compassionate and accepting of myself and I've started to gain some major insight into the patterns of negative thinking and self-sabotaging behavior that I've engaged in for most of my life. It's like I finally found the end on the ball of yarn of all my negative bullshit, and I'm slowly starting to unravel it.

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#115

Post by drcomputer »

dominotw wrote: post #93
redmaverick wrote: post #23

There are different types of meditation styles. I had experience with a type of meditation mentioned in the article. It is known as mindfulness meditation. Even in mindfulness meditation there are different approaches. Mine is mindfulness through the awareness of bodily sensations. http://www.dhamma.org/ This is the 10 day course I underwent. It is pretty brutal and intense. You meditate for 8 hrs a day in total sile…

Isn't it strange that people are using meditation to make more money, achieve material success, perpetuation of "self". The very idea of self that meditation is supposed to examine. I will never understand western obsession with finding meaning in everything materially. Idea that if it doesn't give you something in return then its meaningless.

> The very idea of self that meditation is supposed to examine.

Meditation is 'supposed' to do something?

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#116

Post by MarkL4 »

pgrote wrote: post #3

What is the best way to learn how to meditate? Any good resources?

http://meditationstuff.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/how-to-medit...

http://meditationstuff.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/how-to-do-fo...

http://meditationstuff.wordpress.com/articles/

"Meditation and transformative practice vis-à-vis rationality, phenomenology, neuroscience and {clinical, developmental, evolutionary} psychology because humans."

(self-link)

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#119

Post by DenisM »

bobsgame wrote: post #59
redmaverick wrote: post #23

There are different types of meditation styles. I had experience with a type of meditation mentioned in the article. It is known as mindfulness meditation. Even in mindfulness meditation there are different approaches. Mine is mindfulness through the awareness of bodily sensations. http://www.dhamma.org/ This is the 10 day course I underwent. It is pretty brutal and intense. You meditate for 8 hrs a day in total sile…

I went to one of these and got freaked out because it's an unmistakable cult. The teachers on the podiums up at the front is a creepy psychological hack, the recorded chanting they play while you meditate is hypnotic programming, the 2 hour video lectures of the great leader convincing you of his religion being your only stimulation, the bowing and mindless chanting from the regulars being passed off as "optional for…

I did a full 10-day course and it was everything but a cult. I can see how one can perceive it as such, but my impression was entirely opposite - there is strong, effective and well-tested self-improvement methodology dressed into a tiny sliver of Buddhist religion. The dressing makes it easier to digest for some people and is easy to ignore for others.

The freak-out is not unusual, a friend of mine left in a hurry reporting something remotely similar to claustrophobia. She never mentioned being banned or anything like that, and I'd surprised if it happened. My other two friends shrugged off the whole experience. Yet another acquaintance reported permanent reduction in anger, and completely giving up alcohol, which was previously a problem. Myself I became less "jumpy", less likely to be frightened by a sudden noise or such. There were otherpositive effects like reduction in compulsive eating, but they worn out in about 6 months. None of us ever went back, and I only get an occasional email from them.

Re: Meditation study shows changes associated with awareness, stress (2011)

#120

Post by NiceOneBrah »

radva42 wrote: post #54

I have been practicing mindfulness meditation for the last 14 months - 30 minutes, everyday and I have to say that it has been virtually the most important skill that I have picked up. Because it's essentailly that - a skill. I was very stressed and the anxiety started to affect virtually every aspect of my life. My family wanted me to seek professional help (take pills), but I decided to try to take care of it mysel…

Thanks for the comment. Are there any books or resources about mindfulness that you found particularly helpful?
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