Meditation and Performance • Hacker News Board

Re: Meditation and Performance

#31

Post by UntitledNo4 » Wed, Feb 25, 2015, 9:41 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #17

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good, but scientific, intro to meditation practices? All the ones I read seem so interspersed with nonsense I find incredibly distracting. And not just "secular", either. I'm referring to talk about "Life force" or "true nature" etc. Those are matters of biology and physics, so writing about them when your only source of knowledge is sitting by yourself thinking private thoug…

I don't know if it is really what you are looking for, but I have always been curious about meditation but not the religious side of it, and was recently introduced to headspace.com. I have just finished the first (free) 10 sessions and subscribed for some more. I can't say I'm sold yet, but I'm still curious to practice it some more. At the least, I enjoy taking 10 minutes every day to just take a break from life.

Re: Meditation and Performance

#32

Post by MichaelGG » Wed, Feb 25, 2015, 9:57 PM UTC

dood wrote: post #25

MichaelGG wrote: post #17

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good, but scientific, intro to meditation practices? All the ones I read seem so interspersed with nonsense I find incredibly distracting. And not just "secular", either. I'm referring to talk about "Life force" or "true nature" etc. Those are matters of biology and physics, so writing about them when your only source of knowledge is sitting by yourself thinking private thoug…

Mindfulness in Plain English is what you are looking for. You can read online but there are OCR errors: http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html - I'd recommend buying a copy.

That one was the one I was reading, which refers to "seeing things as they truly are" and "life force" and other hand-wavy concepts. But it seems OK otherwise.

Re: Meditation and Performance

#33

Post by TMfranken » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:26 AM UTC

computer wrote: post #30

TMfranken wrote: post #10

To each their own; but mantra based meditations are probably more effective at attaining hemisphere coherence which is what brings gains in creativity at those random moments throughout the day. http://youtu.be/RAETeTPhekk?t=1m40s

Do you have any scientific sources for that?

I used the word probably to convey that I personally have not done the research. But the TM people have done an extensive amount of scientific studies (some funded by governmental and military sources).

The reason why I wanted to share it was because of my own experience with TM results despite being a life-long an East Coast skeptic.

The mantra repetition is a very simple thing but it does actually have the ability to alter brain wave activity and I believe it has something to do with the cyclical nature of the repeated thought.

You can check out http://www.tm.org/ and other TM related sources for more on the scientific research that they have completed.

Also there are plenty of other reports from successful, creative people who have made TM a part of their daily lives, some for decades e.g. David Lynch, Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern, etc.

In addition, in my personal experience there has been a "lucid dreaming" or "inner hallucination" component to my meditations which are sometimes quite visceral in nature....all from just repeating a simple phrase.

That along with its other benefits that I have experienced personally prompted my belief that a mantra based practice is worth trying.

Re: Meditation and Performance

#34

Post by TMfranken » Thu, Feb 26, 2015, 2:36 AM UTC

Scarbutt wrote: post #11

TMfranken wrote: post #10

To each their own; but mantra based meditations are probably more effective at attaining hemisphere coherence which is what brings gains in creativity at those random moments throughout the day. http://youtu.be/RAETeTPhekk?t=1m40s

Do you know a good resource for getting started with TM?

http://www.tm.org/

So the foundation that was eventually created after Maharishi moved on is actually based in Iowa. But they have TM Centers in most places. You can find your local contact through the website and make an appointment.

It's not a big deal, you go, you pay once, you get a mantra and then you're on your own depending on whether you feel it's beneficial or not.

As an East Coast skeptic I was surprised by how legit the results were.