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

The Impact of Meditating Every Day

pascalprecht.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 214 posts

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#151

Post by jrochkind1 »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #55
EamonnMR wrote: post #50

I've tried in the past, but I wonder: how do you know if you've successfully meditated or not?

So in the kind of meditating he's talking about, you sit there focusing on your breath. When you notice your thoughts doing something else, you non-judgementally bring them back to your breath. That's it. If you're doing it, you're succesfully meditating. It doesn't matter how often your thoughts go somewhere else, or for how long before you notice. No matter, if when you notice you focus on the breath, you're doing…

(It can be "hard" to do because it can be an uncomfortable or "boring" thing to do, that you don't really want to do. But if you just do it anyway, it's "easy", it doesn't take any skill, anybody can do it, you just have to do it. It is sort of a kind of exersize for your mind, like going to the gym for your mind. You are practicing: a) noticing what your mind is doing, self-reflection in the moment; and b) directing your attention).

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#152

Post by [deleted] »

ericmcer wrote: post #137
thomk wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ex cannabis user here, so I thought I'd give you my empirical perspective & and opinion. I will tell you what I would tell my own child: Cannabis, like any recreational drug, steals the most precious resource we have: our time. I've been on benders in my life that I simply can not remember what I did during that period, sure, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about is the time any person needs…

Cannabis is just a substance, if I drink kombucha and eat broccoli while at a party it’s still going to be a “waste of time”. If I get high and go for an 8 mile hike and meditate at the top of a hill it’s going to be a great experience and really feel like an important and memorable use of my time. Granted alcohol and weed hinder self discipline but don’t blame the substances for your actions. Have you ever done a lo…

[deleted]

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#153

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #11
cube2222 wrote: post #6

I had always had some kind of anxiety or ocd for as long as I can remember. I'd searched for various ways to deal with it but only discovering meditation really worked for me. After meditating for 6 months every day (starting with 5 minutes daily, ending with 20-30) I've completely got rid of it. A nice side effect was that I got to be a happier person overall (though that wasn't ever a problem for me), and learned t…

Would you recommend an app like Calm or Headspace to get started with meditation?

Headspace is too bossy.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#154

Post by emanuensis »

mlangenberg wrote: post #115

Personally, I find meditating on a daily basis for longer periods (months), the most difficult. Whenever I go through a "down" phase in life, I start meditating and observe it being really beneficial, but the routine quickly starts to bore me. When I feel good and energized, I jump out of bed, enjoy a day at work and fill the evening with stuff I enjoy. I totally forget to meditate and (digital) reminders are easily…

Same for me. Though i am very "advanced" having been a yogi for over 50 years. What really helped me was meditating hourly, on chimes. i have found the practice mentioned a few times, eg Thich Nat Han recommends. Content wise, length wise etc etc there are many variations. Pick one. Maybe graduate to another. Or out, or on infinite repeat. Taking control of yourself, at all times, even when not "meditating" is to be awake.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#155

Post by bob457 »

cols wrote: post #58
spectaclepiece wrote: post #54

I began meditating every day after I wake up four years ago and it has been the most beneficial change I ever introduced into my life, quitting cannabis securing a stable second place. I began with five min and worked my way up to 15. Now I have an iOS shortcut “hey Siri, start meditation” which sets a timer randomly between 15 and 20 min to counteract the body clock expectation of a fixed duration.

You mentioned quitting cannabis. If you don't mind elaborating, I'm curious what benefits you have experienced and why you ended up quitting. Thanks!

I used to smoke a bowl almost every night. I quit because it had a number of affects on me I didn’t like: (1) it made me sleep poorly. (2) it made me paranoid/anxious, as in I would become hyper focused on all the ways my life could hypothetically fall apart (3) I couldn’t manage to do much besides sit on the couch and watch tv or game (4) I would basically become paralyzed by overanlysis, to the extent that I couldn’t really talk to people.

Friends of mine smoke regularly have basically the opposite experience. It really appears to me that weed affects people in really different ways, so it’s hard to make a general statement.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#156

Post by newone21451 »

spectaclepiece wrote: post #54

I began meditating every day after I wake up four years ago and it has been the most beneficial change I ever introduced into my life, quitting cannabis securing a stable second place. I began with five min and worked my way up to 15. Now I have an iOS shortcut “hey Siri, start meditation” which sets a timer randomly between 15 and 20 min to counteract the body clock expectation of a fixed duration.

Did meditation help you quit cannabis? How so? Any tips? I've been trying for a while but it hasn't been the easiest thing to kick.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#157

Post by Fnoord »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #126
thomk wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ex cannabis user here, so I thought I'd give you my empirical perspective & and opinion. I will tell you what I would tell my own child: Cannabis, like any recreational drug, steals the most precious resource we have: our time. I've been on benders in my life that I simply can not remember what I did during that period, sure, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about is the time any person needs…

This is not my experience at all. I am more motivated to eat healthier, exercise, and so on when I smoke regularly. I spent most of my 20's sober and the opposite in my 30's and overall, my experience in my 30's was much better. I remember about as much either way - at least in the long term. I also learned a second language while mostly stoned. Overall, I'm much more motivated. And I'll state that overall, my life i…

Keep in mind different amounts of THC and CBD lead to different effect, and also different individuals (which gives both of your stories credibility, but also devalues them).

I've had multiple psychosis's due to cannabis as I am sensitive to it (possibly related to autism). Therefore, what I will say to my kid (same genepool) is be very careful with alcohol, cannabis, and other drugs. Please, don't.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#158

Post by Fnoord »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #11
cube2222 wrote: post #6

I had always had some kind of anxiety or ocd for as long as I can remember. I'd searched for various ways to deal with it but only discovering meditation really worked for me. After meditating for 6 months every day (starting with 5 minutes daily, ending with 20-30) I've completely got rid of it. A nice side effect was that I got to be a happier person overall (though that wasn't ever a problem for me), and learned t…

Would you recommend an app like Calm or Headspace to get started with meditation?

I have some very good audio [1] guided meditations (in my own language). I guess they're called podcast in popular culture? Not sure, as they're not publicly available.

Anyway, they're from mindfulness teachers. One teacher my partner had, the other one I had. These can absolutely help. It can teach you the methods of the different meditations without further help or reading (though it was recommended to read up on them in a complimentary book). The ones I have also have a friendly, calm voice. One's even specifically for people with autism (I have a diagnosis).

With regards to apps, I'd mind my privacy. I'd rather pay for an audio fragment than that.

I also do yoga weekly which is concluded with a 10-15 min long meditation. My yoga teacher also has a friendly voice. Sometimes I find his visualization techniques rather... flighty? but then I just follow my own flow and ignore him. Doing it in a group has the advantage that you're into it together, but it has the disadvantage that other people can be noisy at times. One guy in my group falls asleep and snores which enforces pressure on staying calm, as it can upset me, but you could consider that part of the exercise.

Re: The Impact of Meditating Every Day

#159

Post by Fnoord »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #86
adolph wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a podcast with the author: https://samharris.org/podcasts/is-buddhism-true/

Of course, Sam Harris himself has a meditation app (Waking Up). I think might be the best option for the HN crowd.

Here [1] is the Exodus Privacy report for this app. To be fair, I did like the FAQ on the website.

[1] https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/38025/

Post reply on HN