Live data from Hacker News

Sit.

sonnet.io

51–60 of 131 posts

Re: Sit.

#51
I guess if you can't make something complicated or push the limits, you just call it "art" or "thought provoker" and spend lots of words talking about an egg timer.

Re: Sit.

#52
post #26

Not that anyone asked: I've long given up on meditation timers. I go to a room without any digital technology except for a Casio F91W. I have gotten good at gauging how long I've been concentrating for and if I have aversion to continued sitting I just peek at the watch to know how long it's been. This is a solved problem that costs $0 and I don't have to worry about receiving personalised ads because I'm into 'mindf…

Yup. I count my breaths in batches of 12 (batch count on the in breath, breath count on the out breath). So like "1-1, 1-2, ..., 1-12, 2-1, 2-2" and it works out that the batch count is the number of minutes I've been meditating. So if I want to meditate for 10 minutes I do 10x 12-counts. No technology needed, can be done anywhere, anytime.

Counting makes it not so effective for me, but so do timers. I tend to just meditate however long feels right from 5-45 minutes.

Re: Sit.

#54
I like the simple approach.

And as a practical matter, just chillin' is safe. But still:

  [sitting] can get uncomfortable. But when you finish, 
  for some strange reason you feel better

Meditation requires some guidance appropriate to the person. Some people are attracted to meditation for the wrong reasons; encouraging them without proper direction can make things go badly for them.

Zen shinkanzen in particular is considered difficult for new students because it is object-less meditation (unlike e.g. Tibetan use of mandala, Christian prayer, or Vispassana body-awareness). Even Zen teachers often start with breath-counting and progress to other heuristics before approaching emptiness.

People are generally robust to thoughts and opinions, even somewhat negative ones, so it seems like the marketplace of ideas and apps is a fine place for that. But I would encourage people writing meditation apps at a minimum to take the same care that any health/diagnostic app would, amplified by the likelihood that someone emotionally unstable might embrace your offering a little too closely...

Re: Sit.

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, ant.care is intentionally designed to be a slow moving experience, goal is to have it unfold over real-world months, but until I get sufficient environmental depth it's going to feel weird. I give the user the ability to control time in sandbox mode to provide a practical means of demoing. The queen will give birth to worker ants every hour or so. Worker ants have a low chance of applying tunnel/nesting pheromone…

This is a really cool idea, I will try out your app!

Hey thanks! It's still in its infancy and isn't something I use as part of my daily routine yet, but that's certainly the goal and direction I'm marching towards :) Hope you keep it in mind as it grows.

Re: Sit.

#56
I’m glad we have the web for this. the app stores would never approve this, even as a free app

Re: Sit.

#57
post #54

I like the simple approach. And as a practical matter, just chillin' is safe. But still: [sitting] can get uncomfortable. But when you finish, for some strange reason you feel better Meditation requires some guidance appropriate to the person. Some people are attracted to meditation for the wrong reasons; encouraging them without proper direction can make things go badly for them. Zen shinkanzen in particular is cons…

I don't get what you're saying.

Anyway, I think meditation is best when used for thinking, not for not-thinking.

Re: Sit.

#58
post #54

I like the simple approach. And as a practical matter, just chillin' is safe. But still: [sitting] can get uncomfortable. But when you finish, for some strange reason you feel better Meditation requires some guidance appropriate to the person. Some people are attracted to meditation for the wrong reasons; encouraging them without proper direction can make things go badly for them. Zen shinkanzen in particular is cons…

I don't get what you're saying. Anyway, I think meditation is best when used for thinking, not for not-thinking.

I'm curious, best for what?

Personally, I don't need any practice to think - but not thinking, that's very challenging! And practicing has been very rewarding.

Re: Sit.

#59
> as long as I can get you to sit down on your ass for a moment and stop trying to be productive, I’m a happy man

I love this. You are my kind of a person. I'm also a big fan of meditation, mindfulness, and taking care. I hope you find success in this goal.

"Sit." as a name for the app just doesn't work for me. I laughed out loud when I found out it was an app for meditation, as I think of "Sit." as a put down. For people who don't know, It's a commonly used aggro comment put in match chat when you kill someone, typically in a high stakes duel.

However, that association puts me in the exact wrong headspace for meditation. Probably just me though.

Re: Sit.

#60
post #26

Not that anyone asked: I've long given up on meditation timers. I go to a room without any digital technology except for a Casio F91W. I have gotten good at gauging how long I've been concentrating for and if I have aversion to continued sitting I just peek at the watch to know how long it's been. This is a solved problem that costs $0 and I don't have to worry about receiving personalised ads because I'm into 'mindf…

Yup. I count my breaths in batches of 12 (batch count on the in breath, breath count on the out breath). So like "1-1, 1-2, ..., 1-12, 2-1, 2-2" and it works out that the batch count is the number of minutes I've been meditating. So if I want to meditate for 10 minutes I do 10x 12-counts. No technology needed, can be done anywhere, anytime.

This is brilliant. For me it was about 8 counts per minute (and I could adjust on the fly). This is a good one to add to the arsenal of breathing techniques.

Re: the app. My personal experience has been after while if you need an app to do nothing …

Post reply on HN