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Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

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Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#51

Post by mattront »

aristofun wrote: post #34
mattront wrote: post #11

Personally, I find meditation as presented by Mingyur Rinpoche (from Tibetan Buddhist tradition) very useful and practically applicable to every day life. It goes beyond just mindfulness. Here is a quote from [0]: "...practicing meditation is a process of exploring the heart and mind, of fully experiencing the richness of awareness itself. This implies that meditation is not meant to eliminate the things we don’t lik…

How do you reword it in down to earth actionable way? So I go and know what to do, and some criteria to know if I’m doing it right.

Please note that this recap is not a substitute for taking the time to taking the time to learn about this particular approach to meditation through study and practice [0].

- Our every experience has two parts: its content (for example, a thought "pizza") and awareness (our ability to know / feel / experience it). Usually, we just notice the content, but do not recognize our capacity of being aware. As a counter example, unlike us, a computer can store the word "pizza" in its memory, but it does not have the conscious experience of it.

- Meditation consists of simply being with both, in a natural, relaxed way, but without getting lost

- Being with awareness is easy because it is a core part of every experience. Noticing it can be hard for the exact same reason.

- So, we practice being with awareness again and again, both in short formal meditation sessions and informal, while we go about our daily lives

- We gradually discover the built-in qualities of awareness: openness, freedom, creativity, joy...

The signs that we are doing it (any kind of meditation) right include:

- Being able to better handle ups and downs of life with a relaxed, curious attitude

- Increased sense of humor, creativity, spaciousness of where our life happens

- Kindness toward ourselves and others

The opposite would be signs that whatever we are doing is not benefiting us.

[0] - https://tergar.org/programs/

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#52

Post by CaptainZapp »

mattlondon wrote: post #25

I think for me there was one example that quite nicely defined it as a load of bullshit: Deep in Covid lock down we had a virtual off-site for a load of the management. They hired ( hired !) some mindfulness expert to come and do a session over zoom. "Just think about all of your frustrations, all of your interruptions, all of those things that take away your attention and just let them evaporate away". 10 minutes la…

I don't think that you can label the whole wide field as bullshit from just one example.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#53

Post by amriksohata »

Indian perspective here. All this mindfulness meditation is a "spun" version of meditation, the original version that comes from Hinduism in Hindu scriptures and further adopted by other Eastern religions. The reality of Yoga and Meditation was to be able to switch off our senses (we are outward looking/hearing/feeling people) and be able to focus on who we actually are and focus our minds on a higher purpose. However sadly its just been taken by business over here in the west and made into some product to deal with anxiety because your boss/modern life/tech etc puts so much stress on you.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#54

Post by rlp »

aristofun wrote: post #33
rlp wrote: post #14

It's about training your mind's executive control/function. You learn to focus on one thing and allow others to pass through your awareness without them being overly distracting/disturbing. Think of your focus like a spotlight. Most people have very little control over their spotlight and it gets aimed at whatever is the latest thing to enter their awareness: a thought, a sound, another thought, a visual, etc. It's b…

So you described concentration training. No need for meditation myth for that to, no?

No need for a meditation myth at all, absolutely. It's brain hacking as far as I'm concerned.

As for concentration training vs mindfulness meditation, I do think there's a difference. Concentration is a tight single-pointed focus, while mindfulness is a broad focus on the present moment. I found mindfulness meditation basically impossible without practicing concentration meditation extensively first, my mind was too overactive to settle in the present without an anchor to focus on.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#55

Post by [deleted] »

aristofun wrote: post #46
toxicFork wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can measure how many times you get distracted, and how far do you get dragged. This is very easy to do during meditation.

Yes, but who decides the standard here? I am distracted 5 times a minute. Is it good enough or should I continue practicing? And in the end - why is this a bad thing, to be distracted? If it’s in our nature in the first place? I’m not being sarcastic - I truly want to know the deep answers from someone knowledgeable, but didn’t find any answers yet.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#56

Post by aristofun »

toxicFork wrote: post #48
aristofun wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but who decides the standard here? I am distracted 5 times a minute. Is it good enough or should I continue practicing? And in the end - why is this a bad thing, to be distracted? If it’s in our nature in the first place? I’m not being sarcastic - I truly want to know the deep answers from someone knowledgeable, but didn’t find any answers yet.

You decide what you are comfortable with :) however in general we can roughly decide if someone is struggling or not. There are no "right and deep answers" for questions like this.

It comes down to “why do I need to decide at all in the first place?” So why?

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#57

Post by aristofun »

mdp2021 wrote: post #43

> What exactly is [formula] At Harward a bunch of young guys appeared who had an interest in some ideas coming from the east. One is Daniel Goleman ("emotional intelligence" etc). Others developed their "western constructions" over it. That formula you mention in the title is one. > Some You are constantly confusing practical advice ("try this and that") with the real thing - as if the point were "sleep" or "focus" o…

> get an idea of the practical goal

Any _practical_ advice to me? You say I get it all wrong, okay. But show me the right direction please, instead of “figurative” speach

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#58

Post by t-3 »

I don't think the action of meditation is anything special. It's the practice - the intentional repetitions over time - which accumulates positive effects. Taking a little time out to just breathe and think every day. De-stressing. Similar to cigarettes, but without the tar and smoke.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#59

Post by toxicFork »

aristofun wrote: post #56
toxicFork wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You decide what you are comfortable with :) however in general we can roughly decide if someone is struggling or not. There are no "right and deep answers" for questions like this.

It comes down to “why do I need to decide at all in the first place?” So why?

I see that you too are interested in philosophy ;)

Everyone has their reason to be interested in meditation.

The original Buddha was simply "not satisfied" and wanted to know why. So he discovered the causes and effects and removers of dissatisfaction in itself.

Part of his discovery that dissatisfaction comes from within, from all of the thoughts that poke us, especially when we let them to affect us.

Mindfulness meditation is only part of the puzzle of Buddhism.

Re: Ask HN: What exactly is a mindfulness meditation?

#60

Post by aristofun »

akavel wrote: post #50

I can't say much about mindfulness meditation specifically, but I've been practicing Catholic (specifically, Iesuit) meditation weekly for over a year now. Also, after my first experiences with it I talked with a friend who tried some non-Christian meditation a few times (can't recall if specifically Buddhist or "secular") - he seemed to say there are apparently a lot of similarities between those (but I didn't explo…

Great comment. Thanks. Any particular Jesuit meditation books, retreats you can recommend?
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