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Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

health.harvard.edu

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Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#61

Post by mping »

elcapitan wrote: post #51
not_an_account wrote: post #25

Mindfulness meditation is one of the pillars on which my life rests. If you have never done it before, realize that it's hard, especially if you fall anywhere on the ADHD spectrum, and it's just brutal for the first few weeks for anyone. As your brain becomes more still and your focus improves you'll notice your productivity improve. As the mental chatter drops you'll also notice the problems in your life, that you'v…

> I rarely talk about meditation in professional circles because, for one, people think it's weird No, it totally makes sense. Long walks in the woods or long runs are almost like meditation for me, and it is definitely like vacation for the mind. I just wonder where to get started with actual meditation - I have to admit I find the predominant literature about that topic extremely esoteric, and that's something that…

Go to a regular class, try different classes. If you have the luck to live near a place where there are experienced meditators (personally, I find that monastics are waaay more skilled than "normal" people) that is the very very best. For me, meditation can be hard work but it totally pays off. It's a skill you develop just like any other skill, and proper guidance makes a world of difference.

As for the esoteric literature, there is a wide spectrum of quality, and some things are better understood after you practice for a while - then it all makes sense. It's like trying to read code when you don't know nothing about programming yet. It's esoteric. Hell even today some code is esoteric :)

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#62

Post by mping »

q-base wrote: post #43
marmaduke wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wanted to confirm this. I did it daily for two years, almost 8 years ago, and I'm pretty sure some of the effects stuck.

Second this. Don't do it as regular as I usd to because I don't feel like the effect is as profound anymore. That is not to say that I don't feel like meditation works, but more to say that there seems to be a big change after a longer regular period of meditation, but then further improvements seems to slow down. But I can way more easily get into a relaxed state and calm my mind than I could before doing any medita…

You need to find the proper guidance/tools/technique to continue to make progress. That's why is best to find a competent teacher, otherwise you will hit a plateau and will think that's all there is to it.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#63

Post by noja »

zuzuleinen wrote: post #55
elcapitan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I rarely talk about meditation in professional circles because, for one, people think it's weird No, it totally makes sense. Long walks in the woods or long runs are almost like meditation for me, and it is definitely like vacation for the mind. I just wonder where to get started with actual meditation - I have to admit I find the predominant literature about that topic extremely esoteric, and that's something that…

I recommend HeadSpace https://www.headspace.com/ . I think it's great that you start slowly and guided which is perfect for a beginner.

Seconded, HeadSpace is amazing. Surprised to see it only mentioned here once.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#64

Post by elcapitan »

mping wrote: post #61
elcapitan wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I rarely talk about meditation in professional circles because, for one, people think it's weird No, it totally makes sense. Long walks in the woods or long runs are almost like meditation for me, and it is definitely like vacation for the mind. I just wonder where to get started with actual meditation - I have to admit I find the predominant literature about that topic extremely esoteric, and that's something that…

Go to a regular class, try different classes. If you have the luck to live near a place where there are experienced meditators (personally, I find that monastics are waaay more skilled than "normal" people) that is the very very best. For me, meditation can be hard work but it totally pays off. It's a skill you develop just like any other skill, and proper guidance makes a world of difference. As for the esoteric lit…

> Hell even today some code is esoteric

Especially if you work in a monadstery ;)

Thanks for the suggestions!

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#65

Post by elcapitan »

noja wrote: post #63
zuzuleinen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend HeadSpace https://www.headspace.com/ . I think it's great that you start slowly and guided which is perfect for a beginner.

Seconded, HeadSpace is amazing. Surprised to see it only mentioned here once.

Ok, I've heard from that before, but it looked too much like a game to me, I'll try it out then :)

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#66

Post by ddorian43 »

origami777 wrote: post #13

I've been going through challenging times and have been confronted with somethings I've never had to deal with before. There are a couple of things that trigger anxiety in me on a daily basis now. I wake up in the middle of the night with little anxiety episodes. I'm unfocused at work because of what feels like underlying emotional issues. The only thing that's helped (I am trying to fix without medication) are the t…

Can you try kickboxing/muaythai/mma/boxing ? It requires physical & mental coordination, and is very taxing on your muscles and will leave you exhausted and in a state of ~high after training. Though don't do sparring if you're not completely ok.

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#67

Post by davorb »

elcapitan wrote: post #51
not_an_account wrote: post #25

Mindfulness meditation is one of the pillars on which my life rests. If you have never done it before, realize that it's hard, especially if you fall anywhere on the ADHD spectrum, and it's just brutal for the first few weeks for anyone. As your brain becomes more still and your focus improves you'll notice your productivity improve. As the mental chatter drops you'll also notice the problems in your life, that you'v…

> I rarely talk about meditation in professional circles because, for one, people think it's weird No, it totally makes sense. Long walks in the woods or long runs are almost like meditation for me, and it is definitely like vacation for the mind. I just wonder where to get started with actual meditation - I have to admit I find the predominant literature about that topic extremely esoteric, and that's something that…

If you are a technical/rational type, a lot of the information on meditation can seem ...well, wacky. That's why I would suggest listening to a few episodes of Sam Harris' podcast. Specifically those about the mind and consciousness in general. He's got a background in neuroscience and approaches this subject from a viewpoint that you might feel more comfortable with.

He's also written a whole book about this topic, called "Waking Up: a Guide to Spirituality Without Religion", which I think might be of interest to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMiPBy4Zwag

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#68

Post by andyjohnson0 »

There was some useful discussion of meditation on HN a few years ago [1]. Reading it, I was surprised by how many people here use meditation and benefit from it - professionally as well as personally.

This [2] post by twotimesposter is a particularly good answer to the question of "how to meditate to achieve mindfulness?". So much so that I bookmarked it. Really must get around to trying it.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4926642

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4928060

Re: Regular meditation may be more beneficial than vacation

#70

Post by aryamaan »

not_an_account wrote: post #25

Mindfulness meditation is one of the pillars on which my life rests. If you have never done it before, realize that it's hard, especially if you fall anywhere on the ADHD spectrum, and it's just brutal for the first few weeks for anyone. As your brain becomes more still and your focus improves you'll notice your productivity improve. As the mental chatter drops you'll also notice the problems in your life, that you'v…

Could you please share more details. Whenever I start things like that my own after reading few how-to-do, I am always questioning myself if I am doing them correctly.
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