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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)

#131

Post by ArtDev »

drcomputer wrote: post #115
dominotw wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

It changes your brain for the better. There is a lot of research into the subject. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12661646 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944261/

After 10 days of meditation, the change for me was dramatic. Regular meditation gives more lasting results though.

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

#132

Post by ArtDev »

krick wrote: post #11

I surfed through the links quite rapidly, but I haven't seen any description on what exactly exercises they used. "Meditation" is a term so easily abused, you know. There's quite a few schools calling "meditation" something completely different, some techniques almost opposites (quite literally) of each other. Hell, why to talk about different schools when even Zen has both very different zazen and other meditation p…

Look for Vipassana or Mindfulness meditation. Perfect for Atheists! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81

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

#133

Post by ArtDev »

chrissyb wrote: post #42
kranner wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They weren't expecting to see changes in the control group. Control groups represent the baseline, untreated state. Also, meditation and relaxation are not the same thing.

You're right, meditation is relaxation with a sprinkle of woo.

Meditation is really difficult! Like a marathon, it gets less difficult with practice.

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

#134

Post by dthunt »

vidarh wrote: post #60
sravfeyn wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why and in what way is thinking about sensations and one's body different from thinking about past or future? Aren't there other ways to condition mind to bring back its thoughts away from the Past or Future, why is focusing on breathing the only way that meditation teaches?

Not thinking about, as much as observing the current sensations. > why is focusing on breathing the only way that meditation teaches? It isn't. You can focus on whatever you like, and there are descriptions of using pretty much anything you can think of as meditation objects. What you focus on is not the most important part, but that you focus your attention and your ability to go of thoughts. Breath is often recomme…

When I meditate, I usually notice my feet, for example. I notice my feet if I get a little bit jittery, and for me that's sufficient to cut a lot of the whammy out of strong emotion, agitation, moderate amounts of panic, pain.

I haven't noticed increased concentration skills, except as could be wholly explained by learning the skill "calm down on demand", but I'm not willing to write off that as a possibility without testing (a little late for me to test on myself, anyway!)

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

#135

Post by dthunt »

vidarh wrote: post #74
chrissyb wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, meditation is relaxation with a sprinkle of woo.

You think meditation is relaxation, you do not realise how much effort it takes. I'd suggest finding a tutorial and trying even 5 minutes. As for the "sprinkle of woo", some meditation practices comes with buckets of foo, while some are entirely woo free.

I've done this for an hour or so on occasion. I don't find it a particular strain. I may be doing something different than what you are doing, though.

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

#136

Post by rgoddard »

radva42 wrote: post #94
scrapcode wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is great because I understand it. I've read up on meditation a little here, a little there. It was difficult for me to understand at first. What is meditation? What is the point? What happens when I do it right? When can I tell I'm doing it right? I just completely didn't understand it, and I couldn't find an explanation in any of the books that I read. I was making it out to be very complex. Then I actu…

Well, I wouldn't say that I can control it better. These reactions are way too primitive to be consciously controlled. I simply do not get triggered by the same situations any more ... maybe the mind becomes more resilient and thus the "grounded" and "calm" feelings. There are some pretty good explanations about how mindfulness actually works and how it causes the amygdala (the brain region responsible for emotional…

It is like interrupting a step in a chain reaction. The sooner you can identify and acknowledge one of the steps the sooner you halt or slow the reaction. So you may not be able to stop the initial emotion or thought, but by acknowledging it you may help stop the reaction to that emotion.

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

#137

Post by rgoddard »

radva42 wrote: post #94
scrapcode wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment is great because I understand it. I've read up on meditation a little here, a little there. It was difficult for me to understand at first. What is meditation? What is the point? What happens when I do it right? When can I tell I'm doing it right? I just completely didn't understand it, and I couldn't find an explanation in any of the books that I read. I was making it out to be very complex. Then I actu…

Well, I wouldn't say that I can control it better. These reactions are way too primitive to be consciously controlled. I simply do not get triggered by the same situations any more ... maybe the mind becomes more resilient and thus the "grounded" and "calm" feelings. There are some pretty good explanations about how mindfulness actually works and how it causes the amygdala (the brain region responsible for emotional…

It is like interrupting a step in a chain reaction. The sooner you can identify and acknowledge one of the steps the sooner you halt or slow the reaction. So you may not be able to stop the initial emotion or thought, but by acknowledging it you may help stop the reaction to that emotion.

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

#138

Post by thrownaway2424 »

chrissyb wrote: post #33

The thing i don't like about the term "meditation" is that its too closely intertwined with spirituality. Where meditation should actually be associated with relaxation. This article only mentions the control group twice, once to say "None of these changes were seen in the control group, indicating that they had not resulted merely from the passage of time". This is just bad reporting - How about telling us what the…

I don't see why meditation needs to be associated with relaxation, at all. Meditation (at least as I understand it) is giving your conscious mind absolute concentration on a simple thing or task, so as to give quiet and calm to the rest of your mind. One of the places I try to practice this is on my motorcycle. I give absolute attention to the act of motorcycling, paying attention to every little detail, until the background threads of my mind stop singing stupid songs and asking dumb questions. Nothing to do with relaxation. It's actually a lot of work.

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

#139

Post by kamakazizuru »

adrice727 wrote: post #114
kamakazizuru wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 in…

I got kind of out of the practice after a few months post the 10-day workshop (life), and this is really encouraging me to get back into it. "The end of the ball of yarn" - really hits the nail on the head. I feel like there's some deeper reason for a lot of the stupid thought patterns I know I have that don't help me - but never managed to get deep enough to find the root-cause. Maybe sitting again will take me there, or at least let me realize its impermanance and move on. It's weird how I can discuss this but feeling it is a whole other thing. :) Metta to you!

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

#140

Post by bcbrown »

codyb wrote: post #20
ozborn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a personal choice. For me there is definitely an implied or because I struggle to make time for exercise as it is. I also prefer almost any form of exercise over meditation. :)

I think many people (including Siddhartha or Buddha) used to walk for meditation. If that's the case, and you practiced mindfulness while exercising it might be possible to do both at once. Often when you hear of great athletes, especially great endurance athletes like Michael Phelps, they talk about how they don't think about the whole X meters or Y miles at once. They focus on performing the next stroke or next ste…

I've competed in powerlifting competitions twice, each time with 3-4 months of regular training beforehand. The second time, during the entire meet I had an out-of-body sort of experience. My awareness narrowed to just myself, the barbell, and the lifting platform, and I felt like I was merely observing my body as it went through the motions.

Intense competitive athletics is certainly conducive to focus that is likely similar to meditation. One book that I found somehow helpful or comforting was http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Archery-Eugen-Herrigel/dp/0375.... I found myself following similar practices, by which I mean I would approach the barbell, get set up, and then wait until my body spontaneously performs the lift.

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