A Simple Guide to Meditation

#1

Post by MichaelAO » Thu, May 21, 2015, 3:02 AM UTC

A Simple Guide to Meditation
theflowstatecollective.com

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#2

Post by leke » Thu, May 21, 2015, 4:49 AM UTC

A while back, I was looking for a guide to meditation and found this to be really helpful: http://www.meditationmojo.com/

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#3

Post by cnp » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:03 AM UTC

Just got back from a meditation gathering from meetup.com and all I have to say is WOW. Powerful, and highly recommended.

Start with 3 min a day right when you wake up (before food, cigarette, anything at all) and then go from there.

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#4

Post by masterminding » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:12 AM UTC

cnp wrote: post #3

Just got back from a meditation gathering from meetup.com and all I have to say is WOW. Powerful, and highly recommended. Start with 3 min a day right when you wake up (before food, cigarette, anything at all) and then go from there.

That's what I've been doing lately, as soon as I wake I focus on my breathing for a few minutes.

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#5

Post by tomjen3 » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:20 AM UTC

cnp wrote: post #3

Just got back from a meditation gathering from meetup.com and all I have to say is WOW. Powerful, and highly recommended. Start with 3 min a day right when you wake up (before food, cigarette, anything at all) and then go from there.

I tried meditation for a month, all it did was bore me and make me fall asleep.

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#6

Post by fierycatnet » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:22 AM UTC

For those who are interested in advanced meditation and pushing the limits, I can recommend book "Focused and Fearless". Covers very powerful techniques. I went from unable to sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour of effortless deep meditation within a week. YMMV.

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#7

Post by cko » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:29 AM UTC

Meditation is one of those things that people think they're talking about the same thing when actually they're not. It's not just one thing - different religions and traditions have completely different approaches. Sure, there are some key concepts common to all like "awareness" and "mindfulness" - but awareness and mindfulness of what? Christians might "meditate" on a passage in the Bible. Theravada Buddhists have the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. There are Zen koans. I have no idea on other forms but I imagine there are way more.

Even among Theravada Buddhist meditation instructors there are clear disagreements on what the experience should be, how concentrated the mind should be, etc.

For example, for something as simple as a pull-up there are questions like: what muscles are being worked? What is the proper form? Pronated or supinated grip? What pace and why?

If I read an article on any subject I expect to see lots of footnotes.

Meditation is something way more subtle than doing pull-ups, yet most guides seem to assume that there is one concrete definition in the learner's mind. Where did the prescribed method come from? What is the goal? To just put instructions or information about any subject without mentioning background or citing any sources is strange to me - is meditation so new, obscure, or insignificant a subject that it doesn't warrant a little more rigor?

TLDR: meditation is a bigger subject than most people reslize.

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#8

Post by cko » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:37 AM UTC

fierycatnet wrote: post #6

For those who are interested in advanced meditation and pushing the limits, I can recommend book "Focused and Fearless". Covers very powerful techniques. I went from unable to sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour of effortless deep meditation within a week. YMMV.

http://www.leighb.com/jhanantp.htm

I'm definitely going to check out that book. I heard about the author from above site. What are your experiences so far?

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#9

Post by nstart » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:40 AM UTC

fierycatnet wrote: post #6

For those who are interested in advanced meditation and pushing the limits, I can recommend book "Focused and Fearless". Covers very powerful techniques. I went from unable to sit for 15 minutes to 1 hour of effortless deep meditation within a week. YMMV.

Sadly, I never made it to advanced meditation. 10 minutes in and I fall asleep. Used to do that in the shower right after I got home from sports/training. Meditate for 10 minutes under a very light stream of water. The results from doing that for nearly 6 years serves me well every single day

Re: A Simple Guide to Meditation

#10

Post by ggreer » Thu, May 21, 2015, 5:59 AM UTC

cko wrote: post #7

Meditation is one of those things that people think they're talking about the same thing when actually they're not. It's not just one thing - different religions and traditions have completely different approaches. Sure, there are some key concepts common to all like "awareness" and "mindfulness" - but awareness and mindfulness of what? Christians might "meditate" on a passage in the Bible. Theravada Buddhists have t…

One reason meditation is so varied is that it's unlike most skills. You can't learn it by watching someone else, and teachers can't see if you're doing it wrong. Progress is only made through trial, error, and dialogue. This is quite different from any physical activity, where visual feedback makes errors obvious.

To borrow an analogy from Sam Harris: Imagine if looking at the stars required building your own telescope. Nobody could ever see someone else's telescope, or even the images from it. They could only listen to each others' descriptions. This would make research much harder and much less rigorous. But the stars would be no less beautiful. That's the state of meditation today.