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Poll: Do you meditate?

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Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#81

Post by evangineer »

angkec wrote: post #4

Any one has any tips to form meditation as a habit? I know meditation is good for oneself, and I have personally meditated on and off for 20+ sessions. But the habit never sticks. Somehow after a few days of meditation I feel massively better and then I forgot to do so. It's like stop taking pills after I recover from sickness. Anyone has any tips? Thanks.

There's an app for that! ;-)

Seriously, on my Android device I have an app called Routinely which is one of probably dozens of apps focused on supporting the formation of positive habits. I've set up both a morning meditation activity and an evening meditation activity on it on a daily basis. It does regular scheduled notifications & it does the Seinfeld chain thing when you tick off a completed activity.

I'm following the Natural Stress Relief approach to meditation which is a form of mantra meditation not unrelated to Transcendental or Vedic Meditation. Each session is 18 minutes in length.

I'm not long into my practice, but I find that as a night owl, it helps me sleep more soundly if I do an evening meditation and that the morning meditation dispels the grogginess I usually have on waking. After meditation, I generally find myself refreshed, relaxed, alert and calm and there is a real delta in my state compared with before the session.

Link for Natural Stress Relief http://www.natural-stress-relief.com/

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#82

Post by arnarbi »

notatoad wrote: post #14

I go skiing in the winter, biking in the summer. I've always found this to be a meditative-like experience - if i'm cruising down a mogul run as fast as i can the only thought in my head is where my skis are going. it's impossible to think about anything that doesn't need to be dealt with in the next few milliseconds. That's much clearer than i can ever get my head by sitting down and trying to meditate.

Same here. Speed demands full attention and gets me into flow, where all that matters is the immediate sensory input and reacting to it.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#83

Post by adkatrit »

After experimenting with meditation in my teens, I've found bio-feedback techniques have helped maintain focus, breed creativity, and given a general feeling of happiness. I'm not claiming anecdotes are evidence, but here is the technique that works for me: When I find myself stuck on a problem or burned out I will put the idea of a problem in my head and really only just be aware of it. Then, I will shift my focus onto enhancing my perception of each of the senses, starting at sight, then smell(feeling the positive being inhaled and the negative exhaled), then recalling good flavors for taste, then just hear my surroundings, preventing the noise from causing extraneous thoughts. Finally I will feel with my skin, all at the same time all throughout my body. I'll continue this until I feel the need to stop (usually about 5 minutes).

I feel like a million bucks after this. Every time. More often then not, when returning my attention to work, the answers seem obvious and I am more tolerant of distraction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_cognition

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#85

Post by richforrester »

I used to. Not anymore. Too busy doing random stuff to sit around and do nothing, clearing my mind.

I do other stuff to clear my mind. I run out to a basketball court and get some shots up, perhaps play some computer games, maybe have a drink, read some comics for half a day, etc.

To me, these work just as well as meditating.

However, to control my asthma I do watch/manage my breathing a lot, which used to be a vital part of my meditation technique.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#86

Post by pkennedy »

mehulkar wrote: post #11

I practiced Transcendental Meditation[1] for about 8-9 years regularly twice a day as part of the curriculum in school[2], but then I went to college and all went downhill. I'm disappointed there are no options for this in the poll. But in all seriousness, TM and the advanced techniques have been one of the best experiences of my life. [1] http://www.tm.org/ [2] http://www.maharishischooliowa.org/

Hey, another MSAE graduate! (I graduated in 1997, and went to MUM after that.)

I've found TM pretty useful in my life, too. I still do it regularly. Nice way to step away from everything and re-center.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#87

Post by adkatrit »

arnarbi wrote: post #82
notatoad wrote: post #14

I go skiing in the winter, biking in the summer. I've always found this to be a meditative-like experience - if i'm cruising down a mogul run as fast as i can the only thought in my head is where my skis are going. it's impossible to think about anything that doesn't need to be dealt with in the next few milliseconds. That's much clearer than i can ever get my head by sitting down and trying to meditate.

Same here. Speed demands full attention and gets me into flow, where all that matters is the immediate sensory input and reacting to it.

This is mindfulness. In my opinion it is all the same thing (meditation, yoga, tai chi, etc..). All these being different techniques(albeit with different side-effects) to attaining the same thing. True focus, no conscious linguistic thought just reacting naturally to stimuli.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#88

Post by cooop »

JohnBooty wrote: post #42
notJim wrote: post #28

I try to meditate about twice a week, but I haven't been keeping it up lately, so I put once a month. I started because there was a thread here where people described the benefits. I was (and still am) very skeptical of the self-reported effects, since there's a strong possibility of placebo, but at the same time, I figured if all these people like it, it's worth a try. Maybe it's just a placebo, but it sounds like a…

Thank you, I'm going to check that book out. Like you, I'd like to learn more but the religious aspects are a turnoff. When I think about it, it's hard to believe that improving one's state of mind and mood wouldn't have a number of benefits.

> I'd like to learn more but the religious aspects are a turnoff.

This is a shame. Within the frivolous details we debate so much religion holds a wealth of wisdom and value that anyone can apply to their lives and benefit from.

I took a similar stance when getting into meditation. I was looking for a way to deal with stress and I was certainly not "religious". I quickly found that modern/western Buddhism is stripped free of a lot of the Asian cultural traditions that I perceived as religion.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#89

Post by richforrester »

richforrester wrote: post #85

I used to. Not anymore. Too busy doing random stuff to sit around and do nothing, clearing my mind. I do other stuff to clear my mind. I run out to a basketball court and get some shots up, perhaps play some computer games, maybe have a drink, read some comics for half a day, etc. To me, these work just as well as meditating. However, to control my asthma I do watch/manage my breathing a lot, which used to be a vital…

By the way, I used to meditate a lot during my late teens/early twenties, if that matters.

Re: Poll: Do you meditate?

#90

Post by adkatrit »

001sky wrote: post #53
up_and_up wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically (within the yogic meditation tradition), 'concentration' is defined as 12 seconds of one-pointed thought, ie the mind is fixed in one place. This is considered 1 unit of concentration. 'Meditation' is considered 12 units of concentration, so 12 * 12 seconds which is 144 seconds. So technically, according to the definition of the old school meditators practicing 1000s of years ago, you are not really 'medi…

why is there so much pseudo-cultural baggage? seems a signifier that this enterprise has nothing to do with what it portends. people who are into this sub-culture need to check themselves.

right on.
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