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

Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 140 posts

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#111

Post by yadingus »

guerrilla wrote: post #41
rjprins wrote: post #14

Stress is all about perception. With mindfulness you can practice changing the way you look at things. If you practice zooming out of things that induce fear and see a bigger picture this will generally reduce stress. The mind has a natural tendency to zoom in on scary things. I guess that is our prey-animal heritage. Certainly, for rightfully stressful situations immediate action is needed and mindfulness is not a s…

> Stress is all about perception. No, stress is actually physiological. What your saying is limited to specific sources of stress.

The mind is the brain and the body. Stress is generated by the mind when contacting external objects, or when reliving past trauma.

There is no such thing as an external source of stress. You can't measure how much stress an object or situation is objectively emitting, because it is a response generated by the mind itself.

As such it can only be examined by the mind itself, and with that it can be mastered.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#112

Post by yadingus »

spaceheater wrote: post #79

[Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31306000 [Too Much Mindfulness Can Worsen Your Mental Health] https://www.verywellhealth.com/mindfulness-can-be-harmful-re...

If your body is ill and needs surgery, the aftermath of the surgery can make you feel worse for a while.

Likewise, if not understood well, not accompanied by proper understanding (which is a symptom of the western approach), it can just be poorly performed.

Quality, not quantity.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#113

Post by yadingus »

illwrks wrote: post #15

It depends on the nature of the stress. If you're over worked you don't have time for mindfulness apps.

There's a famous quote, paraphrased:

If you can, meditate for 10 minutes a day.

If you're too busy, then meditate for 30 minutes a day.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#114

Post by maximus-decimus »

NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #52
illwrks wrote: post #15

It depends on the nature of the stress. If you're over worked you don't have time for mindfulness apps.

If you're so overworked that you don't think you have time for ten minutes of meditation every day, then your time management is poor and needs a re-evaluation of priorities. Do you say the same thing about the gym, or sleep time? Are you too busy to rest in bed for 7-8 hours a night?

A ton of people don't go to the gym or sleep enough because they feel they don't have enough time. I'm just so confused by the question. It's well documented that parents are sleep deprived and it's a common "joke" that in college you can only pick 2 out of 3 : good grades, a social life or sleep. There's actually no upper limit to how long you can spend just on your studies.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#115

Post by mensetmanusman »

scns wrote: post #78
toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

There are the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama and there is the religion Buddhism created by his followers. He said: This is my truth, see for yourself if it is true for you too. This is the reason i take him seriously, in contrast to the monotheistic myths that all claim to have the only truth. > Understanding emptiness The other points are valid to me, this one belongs in the realm of metaphysics for me. Buddha said…

Few monotheistic groups claim to have the only truth. E.g. Catholicism highlights facets of truth present in many other spiritual traditions.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#116

Post by mensetmanusman »

maximus-decimus wrote: post #114
NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're so overworked that you don't think you have time for ten minutes of meditation every day, then your time management is poor and needs a re-evaluation of priorities. Do you say the same thing about the gym, or sleep time? Are you too busy to rest in bed for 7-8 hours a night?

A ton of people don't go to the gym or sleep enough because they feel they don't have enough time. I'm just so confused by the question. It's well documented that parents are sleep deprived and it's a common "joke" that in college you can only pick 2 out of 3 : good grades, a social life or sleep. There's actually no upper limit to how long you can spend just on your studies.

The average American watches three hours of TV every day.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#117

Post by fuzztester »

toshk wrote: post #35
fuzztester wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My teachings are from Tibetan kind, which is more mystical & compassionate oriented Any links or book names to read more about this?

There are many books, but in the end this can't be thought in a book. Bodhipath is probably a good place, they also have lots of online things to read: https://bodhipath.org/ . It's more focused on the compassion part. The mystical is something which is easy to find online, but hard to find someone with the experience. But there are different schools, more focused on study, mediation etc. Some are more formal, others…

Thank you.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#118

Post by [deleted] »

fuzztester wrote: post #16
toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

>My teachings are from Tibetan kind, which is more mystical & compassionate oriented Any links or book names to read more about this?

[deleted]

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#119

Post by rramadass »

fuzztester wrote: post #16
toshk wrote: post #11

Mindfulness took one small technique out of the Buddhist system that feels rational & scientific. It kind of works. But the corpus of Buddhism is what makes it powerful. And this is hard to make palatable for the West. The main goal of buddhism is giving you meaning & joy in life despite of stress or tragedy. Very important aspects of Buddhism that make the whole much more powerful are: - Living & acting out of compa…

>My teachings are from Tibetan kind, which is more mystical & compassionate oriented Any links or book names to read more about this?

1) Words of My Perfect Teacher: A Complete Translation of a Classic Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by Patrul Rinpoche translated by Padmakara Translation Group.

2) Essential Mind Training: Tibetan Wisdom for Daily Life translated by Thupten Jinpa.

Re: Mindfulness-based programs show promise in reducing psychological distress

#120

Post by orange_fritter »

Knee_Pain wrote: post #59
NoZebra120vClip wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You are surrounded by people The idea of corporate worship is that the assembly is united in their purpose, there is an order observed, and the people develop discipline from this orderly worship. Also, people are not machines and that's disgusting that you draw this analogy. People may distract, even in that situation. Many have their minds elsewhere, some don't want to be there, someone may even be actively disru…

My smartphone does exactly what I tell it to do during my meditation time. You keep arguing a strawman using religious language.

I'm not religious but I find the commercial and unnatural connotations of the electronic device to be a barrier - meditation often focuses on primitive physical sensations, whereas digital devices seem to work in contradiction to physicality.

Meditation is a very personal experience and strangely many people are telling eachother how it "should" be done. As if their way, which works for them personally, is the only way.

I find the direct involvement of a digital device to be somewhat unnerving and distracting. I use my Apple iPhone with my paid app about 50% of the time.

Post reply on HN