Giving this a new try currently. Just finished reading "The Alchemist" and am going to attempt "The Power of Now" although I've heard it can be difficult to get through for cynics like me. Maybe not necessarily "meditation" but trying to increase my mindfulness. The limited meditation sessions I've tried though have been very helpful. Used to think it was hippie bullshit but my experience has proven otherwise.
If anyone else is interested, and maybe this isn't the place, but here's a PDF of The Alchemist. Quick/easy read and helpful for those going through tough times/life changes: http://www.shipk12.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Paulo_Coelho_-_The_Alchemist.pdf
Hello at the show, seems like as good a place as any, allothers. Meditation helps me relate with emotions and removes barriers between their experiential quality and concepts of what they should be. I think of it as a practice of nonviolence towards myself, which is pretty cool in itself, but that didn't mean as much until I began dealing with my projections as fluid and exciting situations.
A post from Reddit Meditation: The way mornings used to be feels like a distant memory now. A quick blur of motion. Doing as many things as possible at the same time totally autonomous. Robotic. I never stopped to appreciate the beauty of toast. I fully recommend that people make a habit of getting up very early. With proper practice this will become effortless as the need for sleep reduces significantly. Wake up. Meditate for 30 mins to an hour. Stay in that head space as you make yourself breakfast and a cup of tea (I like green with jasmine). Now bask in the absolute glory of the moment as you slowly sip the cup of hot steaming nectar, pause in the infinity of now with every bite of your chosen meal. There has been no greater gift to my life than discovering the power of doing one thing at a time. And no greater time to do it than listening to the world come to life in the stillness of equanimity. What is amazing about it is through the meditation you reach a state of utter bliss and contentment with no external stimulus. So when you now stay in the same mindset and introduce these simple yet pleasurable sensations it becomes a powerful source of joy
I'm a daily meditator, and I spend at least one week per year on silent meditation retreat. I practice Vipassana (Insight Meditation). It's a practice that has changed my life in immeasurable ways. The "mindfulness revolution" is in full swing, and there are tons of books and on-line groups you can join if you're interested in getting on board. My practice has its roots in Theravada Buddhism - and I consider myself to be a (struggling) Buddhist - but there are several teachers that have made it more accessible to us in the West. As someone who's been at it for a while, I'd be happy to answer any questions people have about starting a practice.
I got big into it after I started yoga about 2 years ago, that lasted about a year. Football season came, got out of the routine, but have been going to yoga for the past 2-3 weeks and have been getting back into it. At least for me, they go hand-in-hand. I definitely don't follow any practices, and not sure what I'm doing...but, in my opinion, that's the beauty of it. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Just do it. Yes, you'll feel goofy and awkward at first. It's new. It was quite hard at first to let my mind go. Think of nothing. Any thought that enters, let it float away. My job can be pretty damn stressful, and yoga+meditation does absolute wonders for my mental health. I do want to try to wake up in the morning and begin practicing for at least 30 min/day. I just really, really like sleep. I know if I do it a few times and break through that barrier it will become easier. Just need to suck it up for a week or so.
Thought it said mediation. First comment was about Devine. Then figured Bamanug was bumping it to settle the Topss issue. Nope, just the bi thread.
Just finished the book Zen Guitar and it was fantastic. Has anyone else read it? Recommend it 1000% if you're a musician. Still could be good to a non musician, or maybe just find a book that teaches about Zen in a different way. I can honestly say the book changed my life because I notice myself thinking differently since reading it
http://adequateman.deadspin.com/notice-more-things-1773871157 Article from Deadspin about mindfulness that I found very accessible for someone just learning about it. The comments are good too. Last place I would have expected to find an article on mindfulness, but here we are. Spoiler Eye fatigue from fixing your gaze on a lurid screen. Back cricks from the bad chair. Shivering from too much air-conditioning. Perfect numbness to the surroundings amid which you’ve spent far too many of your hours. You could wile away all your vacation days just counting all the ways it is possible to feel unpleasant in an office space. Some of these have easy fixes (an extra sweater), but others are more insidious and evergreen. And still, most people do very little to alleviate their dissatisfaction. If your strategy for dealing with an unpleasant present is to disengage from the environment and retract into your own turtle shell, drifting off into your internal monologue, you’ll often find yourself instead bumping into anxiety about the future or regret about the past, or just idling endlessly in unhealthy circles of thought. You might be best served by engaging with your environment head-on, rather than distracting yourself from it. This idea owes something to mindfulness, which, though articulated in plenty of ways over the millennia, I like hearing from psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer: And so, mindfulness, for me, is the very simple process of actively noticing new things. When you actively notice new things, that puts you in the present, makes you sensitive to context. As you’re noticing new things, it’s engaging. And it turns out, after a lot of research, that we find that it’s literally, not just figuratively, enlivening. This hypersensitivity might feel more intuitive when it comes to savoring a pleasant sensation, like a scoop of caramel ice cream—noticing the notes both salty and sweet, or the mildly soggy crunch of its waffle cone, ratcheting up your enjoyment with every new observation. But this practice can help you ascend out of deadened, boring conditions, and even make you feel less helpless in the face of bad ones, too. Somehow by taking the time to pick out the nuances of something rather than intaking it as one homogenous stew of badness, you can find some mild relief. Dr. Langer studies how the very practice of noticing—merely noticing, not even sorting these sensations into buckets of bad or good—can help you feel more engaged, even healthier and more competent. Recently while walking to work and coming to a major road, I witnessed some chaos: an errant car in the middle of the intersection, some smelly steaming coned-off construction, one of those double-decker tour buses with full garish advertisements on their flanks lurching forward at a gawky angle, aggressive cabs looking to flit right through the logjam, horns blaring from every car that could feel remotely justified in doing so. And me standing on the curb, on the cusp of all this, my gut already knotting with anxiety, most of my senses overloaded. Then I just removed my headphones and soaked in the scene. By taking that chaos and just reducing it to its components, my mind was, if not completely at peace, less at the mercy of my senses. While noticing the aspects of this mess, I was calmly occupied, perversely stimulated, and, eventually, prone to laughing out loud instead of wallowing in the bad vibes. At some point, I thought to myself: This is almost comically unpleasant. But I’m alive, intact, and almost back in a quiet place. To see this practice carried out to its logical and aesthetic extreme, you could pick up Nicholson Baker’s The Mezzanine. I first read the novel while maximally alienated by a particular office environment, and it felt like tailor-made therapy. The short novel takes place over the course of an office worker’s lunch break; most of it consists of absurdly thorough meditations on everyday objects and designs in his workplace. Baker lavishes attention on those things that might seem least worthy of it: Unlike home rolls, the toilet paper here was hosed in a locked device that paid out the frames of paper with a certain amount of resistance, so that you had to pull slowly and carefully in order to keep the paper from tearing on one of the perforations, discouraging waste, and when one roll was spent, a second dropped into place. I was willing to have my wastefulness discouraged, to some degree—before that invention, I had sometimes felt a qualm when I was able to make the roll trundle momentumously around the spindle, reeling off a grate drape of unnecessary paper; although when you have a cold and you want a mass of absorbency to hold to your face when you blow your nose, the care you have to take tugging at the nearly tearing paper can be irksome. On this same page, there’s a page-long footnote on perforation. (Dude was doing the whole super-empirical footnoted thing before DFW got to it, and squeezed every last drop out of it.) Because Baker’s writing remains vivid and always tethered to emotions, somehow this shtick doesn’t get tedious over the course of its 133 pages. Skeptics (I was one, before I read it) might take this for a novelty read, but over time it accesses emotional depths, dealing with nostalgia, boredom, dissatisfaction, celebration of the ordinary, and the extent to which thoughts comprise the person who’s having them. If you’re receptive to its lessons, this book—and this practice of mindful noticing in general—will make you feel less bored in your surroundings, and maybe even grateful for the stimuli they provide just by being around. While I can imagine how hokey this sounds to a disbeliever, fed up with his or her cubicle and all it contains, I promise you can’t make your ennui any worse just by paying attention.
I had been off meditation for month (busy with work, had our 2nd child, just being a lazy asshole in general) and realized since coming back that stopping was so dumb. This really is one of if not the best way you can spend your time (even if it's just a couple minutes a day). Anyways, hope there are still some on here that are practicing
I downloaded an app called headspace that I have enjoyed. It starts you with 10 minute sessions each day for 10 days plus it has little cartoons before you start to help explain things.
There is a "meditation club" or something at my college that has their first meeting of the semester tomorrow night. Gonna check it out. Really really wanna learn more about this stuff and make progress with it this year. Might try one of the videos you mentioned on my own JohnnyChimpo or maybe try out that app Flagpole. Iron Mickey what is the vipassana of which you speak? I googled it and see that it's a Buddhist thing but is that something you practice on your own, watch videos of, go to classes for etc?
I've really sucked for the past 6 months with a lot of life changes going on. Any quick tips for jumping back in and staying focused? feel like i've been saying this every 6 months for the past like year and a half
Any particular videos you would recommend? Or that anyone would recommend? I have been using the app Stop Think Breathe and doing different 5-10 minute meditations from it and it's ok but I am ready to try something else. I have started getting up earlier than I used to so I have a little time in the am before I go to work and I have been making a meditation sesh part of that and it feels really amazing Been doing it about 2 weeks steady now. Definitely recommend to anyone interested. Either do first thing in the am or 5-10 minutes before bed; even lunchtime could work. Just pick a time and make it a regular thing and see how it feels after a little while. The results definitely begin to build IMO
was going to bump the long-form thread, but this thread works http://www.gq.com/story/happiest-man-in-the-world-matthieu-ricard
Obviously haven't had a chance to read the article yet; will try to later But looking at the gist of it, it reminds me of a thought I had recently. I am about to turn 33 on Sunday and I was thinking about how a few years ago I wanted life to be more complicated. I broke up with this girl bc I thought she was kinda boring and the last thing I wanted was to get "stuck" in the same city or doing the "same" shit for the rest of my life. Now my mindset is changing. Instead of wanting life to get more complex, I want it to be simpler. And I no longer feel that "same" would be boring...or that "same" even exists. Like William Blake said: "See the world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wildflower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour"
Depart next Wednesday for Rishikesh, India. Starting off a 2 month tour of Asia with four days in the Himalayas with nothing but yoga and meditation on the Ganges. Been looking forward to this for a long time.
Rishikesh is incredible. Watched the sun rise over the Ganges this morning. Here during the International Yoga Festival, signed up for a full day pass tomorrow. Tomorrow's schedule: Spoiler
I'm reading a book called tools of titans. The author has a podcast where he interviewed lots of different types of people who are very successful in a variety of fields (athletics, business, military, artists, etc). The book is about what commonalities he found in all these people. He says 80% of the people he interviewed have some sort of mindfulness or meditation practice. That's pretty cool, imo.
A sweet app that has a free trial but you have to pay for it after that: Headspace A more basic app that is free: Stop Think Breathe An easy book to get started with some of the basic concepts: "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle A super cool fucking book if you are a musician: "Zen Guitar" by Philip Toshio Sudo
Has anyone tried transcendental meditation? I'm pretty new to mindfulness and my experience is limited to Headspace and a few other guided meditations. Just curious on whether anyone has any thoughts/experience with TM.
I've been meditating off and on for a few years but still haven't pulled the trigger on Headspace... TC worth the $8/month?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer, I was given a free trial. When it ran out I did not reup (immediately, I may still do it at some point). But I feel like what I gained from it was easily worth $8 (I thought it was more like $12 though). In the end, meditation/mindfulness is super valuable so whatever it takes to get you there is worth it. There are a lot of different ways but Headspace is super convenient being on your phone and very attractive with the animated videos and the friendly British dude named Andy that explains everything to you.
I know there is a TM center in KC that offers informational sessions and courses. I think I'm going to go check it out but I'm hoping it's not a hard sales pitch.
Anybody have a rec for a 5-10 minute video on mindfulness meditation? I use an app for my personal practice but want something I can do in class with college students. I realize I can google and find a million but just wondered if anyone had any personal favs for beginners
Found a free meditation class on MeetUps that a nearby yoga studio does every Tuesday night, went to the class tonight. It was about 10 minutes of introduction/instruction, 30 minutes of practice, then 15-20 minutes of discussion of a short buddhism article. First time I've taken a class since I was in India, first time I've practiced in a few months. It was active/mental meditation--eyes open, focus on thoughts rather than let them pass, enjoyed it. Have also been practicing more yoga than I ever have, going about 4x/week. Have wanted to get into some more advanced poses, so have been supplementing it with a lot of leg and ab workouts, tons of squats and ab roller. Can go from headstand down to crow without my feet touching, can hold a handstand for a bit, next goal is to master handstand then work on crow>>handstand>>back to crow. Also booked a yoga retreat for a long weekend in the mountains in late January, includes like 5 classes and a snowshoe hike. Dear diary
For those of you on spotify (almost everyone these days), there's a plethora of free guided meditations available - here's a link to some of the main Headspace meditations: I think for me personally the guided meditations were an absolute staple as a beginning meditator. However, as the experience became more regular and I sort-of found my own space (only way I can describe it), setting a meditation timer, lowering the gaze/closing eyes and just watching the breath for 10-15 minutes became a deeper/more calming practice. Possibly the biggest thing I've realized recently (nothing ground breaking) is that the meditation is really just a tool to help 'set the stage' for the rest of the day. i.e. after establishing a regular meditation practice it has naturally guided me to become more present in other areas of life when not meditating. Less interest (virtually none) to just sitting around watching tv/playing video games/ playing with phone and more time reading, tidying and playing/being more present with my kids - I suppose just not as much of a "stimulation junkie" as my 'old self'. I guess this is sort-of a long-winded way of saying that once you establish a normal meditation practice it is likely to affect almost all aspects of your life without much effort (in a lot of ways you may not even notice). Like BamaNug said above - Dear Diary
I am about to begin a regimen of 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week for 8 weeks. It's in conjunction with the book "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn; anybody ever read it?
That's actually on my "to read" list - amongst a lot of other books A few years ago I read "Wherever you go, there you are" by Jon Kabat-Zinn and it was fantastic, so i'm sure Full Catastrophe will be really good.
Starting using the Calm app about a month ago. Anxiety was over taking my life but this has helped a ton.
Apparently that one is his second book and "Full Catastrophe Living" was his first so I'm sure they're pretty similar. I have some of the meditations from the book you read on a CD. What do you do for a living out of curiosity? I do administrative office work and it's killing me lately; wondering if I have the right personality type for it. Curious what another meditation fan does for work
I'm the sales manager for an industrial automation manufacturer Most of the guys I work with (mostly old guys) would probably think all this mindfulness/meditation stuff is a bunch of malarkey. Like you, I'm pretty sure I won't be doing this forever but it pays the bills and keeps me off the streets for the moment.
I recently read "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac. Not a meditation book per se but great story touching on some of the concepts. Anybody ever read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"?