Hey
Yes.
I basically "kill" the ego and surf around in the absolved state of all-knowing, looking for clues on what to do next in the real world.
Poll: Do you meditate?
141–150 of 233 posts
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#142My wife did for most of her life, but then stopped as she realized that it more "harming" her than "helping". I learned per her custom as were dating and so tried "her" method myself, and I'm not sure I got much out of it myself -- granted that I was doing it for somewhat selfish reasons.
We both don't now-a-days. I may or may not return to it in the future, depending; I doubt my wife will, given her bad and prolonged experience with it.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#143Average once a day, shooting for twice. Grew up in disciplined martial arts. Easy trick to get started is count from 100 to 0 then back to 100, if you screw up, start over. Your goal is to go 100-0-100 without getting distracted or messing up the counting. This will discipline your mind to focus on "nothing"– your eventual goal is to be able to think of nothing hear nothing feel nothing. Someday you'll just stop coun…
But do you find that counting prevents you from having other thoughts? Because I can count just fine and still be thinking (usually about the fact that I'm counting ;)
In fact, the fact that I'm actively doing something to avoid thinking just brings self-awareness of that and therefore more thinking. In many other activities I can concentrate and think of nothing else just fine.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#144I've meditated weekly for about 2 to 3 years on and off, but these past three years, I've meditated almost daily averaging an hour every session, sitting zazen and breathing. For me, there's two types of meditation. One that clears my mind from the day and one that relaxes my mind. a) Clearing my mind - I usually do this when something existential consumes me i.e. I get a bad phone call, someone pisses me off, anxiou…
Could you elaborate a bit more on the details of your breathing exercise? Do you do: 5 second inhale, 5 second exhale 7 second inhale, 7 second exhale 10 second inhale, 10 second exhale 5 second inhale, 5 second exhale 7 second inhale, 7 second exhale 10 second inhale, 10 second exhale etc.. or do you do: 5 second inhale, 5 second exhale repeat 5 second inhale/exhale X times or for Y minutes 7 second inhale, 7 second…
5 second inhale, 5 second exhale, repeat 5 second inhale/exhale X times or for Y minutes, etc.
Note that 5, 7, and 10 are arbitrary numbers that may change per person. The rate of inhale/exhale should be as constant as possible as well, meaning you don't fill/empty your lungs in the first 3 seconds and start slowing the last 2 seconds.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#145Missing an option: I've never tried it, but would be open to it. If someone could give a rational (non-mystical) explanation of how and why to do it. Or point me to an existing one.
the kind that is fashionable in "western medicine" at the moment is called "mindful meditation". if you google that phrase you can find more info. it's basically practicing not giving a fuck (whatever you are thinking about you try to give up thinking about - you are aiming for a kind of "not caring about anything" state). so if you think that would be a good thing to practice, give it a go. i do it because it was re…
People have to try not giving a fuck? It comes rather easily to me ;) Maybe I just don't have much to worry about.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#146I 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.
Yes, that kind of focus, or 'being in the now' is an example of mindfulness. It's great, isn't it?
The idea of meditation is to exercise that ability so that you can bring it to the rest of your life. Ideally, you should have that state in everything: relationships, work, doing dishes...
There's a mistaken notion that meditation is something you do and then you go about the rest of your life, somehow magically more focused, calm, together. It's more like training for an athlete, who then goes on and uses that training (knowledge & fitness) in what they do.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#147I haven't yet been able to decide whether meditation is legit or not. I keep reading about how awesome it is, how much "scientifically proven benefits" it has. But as soon as you try to learn a little more, everything is mingled with bullshit religious mumbo jumpo. It's difficult to find nice rational sources about the subject.
I've pre-emptively excluded meditation from my set of legitimate things, because it pattern-matches to white people taking something non-white people do and finding "deep wisdom" in it. It's the same reason why various fruits and berries that are common and worthless in south africa sell like hotcakes in the US, and the same reason why anime has so much Christian imagery.
I'm sorry, but that's just hilarious, as in absurd. You might as well throw out mathematics because so much of it originated in India and China. I'm a skeptic myself, but that cuts both ways.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#148My wife did for most of her life, but then stopped as she realized that it more "harming" her than "helping". I learned per her custom as were dating and so tried "her" method myself, and I'm not sure I got much out of it myself -- granted that I was doing it for somewhat selfish reasons. We both don't now-a-days. I may or may not return to it in the future, depending; I doubt my wife will, given her bad and prolonge…
I frequent some online meditation communities, and I've seen people reporting adverse effects, ranging from extreme detachment in everyday life to odd physical reactions.
If it's not too personal... What's the harmfulness your wife has experienced?
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
#149I recently started meditating, using the method in "Mindfulness in Plain English". So far, I've been able to meditate for between 1 to 3 hours at a time, every day. I do feel quite a bit of calm afterwards and during the deep parts of the meditation, and have also experienced some occasional hallucinations (like a feeling of intense bliss, like my arms are floating, like my chest is a hundred feet from my head) when…
>>>>> I want to find out what (if anything) lies beyond our ordinary perception of the world. Is what we normally take to be the "real world" (or "objective reality", "external reality", etc) actually an illusion like Buddhism and Hinduism claim? If so, can the techniques of Buddhist or Hindu meditation really reveal the "true reality" beyond the illusion of the ordinary world? I would like to find out.
I've studied Native American religion and Shamanism for about 10 years now (I have a degree in it) and I think you might be referring to ASC or altered states of consciousness. It's hard to describe to people what shamanic meditation and journeying are since most are dismissive of things they do not understand. Trust me though, it is fascinating and is eye opening once you've experienced it.
I would start here: (this was the first book recommended to me by my freshman professor when I first became curious about ASC and Shamanism)
The Way of the Shaman - Michael Harner http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Shaman-Michael-Harner/dp/00625...
p.s. there are a ton of ways to elicit an ASC, some use drugs, but the vast majority use drumming instead.
Re: Poll: Do you meditate?
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