anyone meditate? what have you learned?

[bemused]

Let me first say that I am not into the hippie, new age yoga type of crap. When I say meditate, I mean it in the sense of ‘mindfulness’. The practice of observing your thoughts and feelings without any form of attachment to them during isolated sessions.

I am not into any religion or practice any form of Buddhism or any other eastern philosophy (frankly, I’m incapable of following strict rules and guidelines, and besides I live a world filled with sensory distractions). However, after reading extensively over the years about meditation, I decided to try it out...after attempting various forms, I eventually found a method that worked for me: it’s the ‘just screw it and lie there with the eyes closed watching thoughts run wild and observing how the central nervous system and body react method.

A lot of the times it is UNPLEASANT. The brain starts conjuring up embarrassing memories. At times intrusive and scary thoughts are flowing through the mind; the heart starts racing, the body tenses up, but as long as I stay detached from the thoughts and feelings during the session, once I open my eyes (20-30 minutes later) it’s like waking up from a REM cycle. 10-15 minutes later, the mind is clear and I feel refreshed. However, the meditation part of it, in my experience, is usually unpleasant.

 

[Base groove]

Perhaps the "hippie yoga crap" is a vehicle through which unification of body and soul can be achieved while meditating.

Since you have mentioned the unpleasant physiological effects of meditation I would submit that you are not reaching the highest state of self-awareness and you can go ever deeper.

It's possible that your realizations would not be so corrupted if you allowed your body to naturally come to grips with this duality instead of ignoring it. You will only get so far and no farther.

 

[bemused]

not really into the whole transcendental thing. not looking for nirvana or whatever. meditation is just a tool used to cope with a relentless mind and sensory overload.

 

[Turniphead]

not really into the whole transcendental thing. not looking for nirvana or whatever. meditation is just a tool used to cope with a relentless mind and sensory overload.

Yah and? That doesn't prevent you from following some sort of structure and "going deeper".

In the Buddhist context nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished.

cope with a relentless mind

Sounds like you are actually looking for "nirvana or whatever".


Meditation without some sort of structure is basically just regular thinking.

 

[TBerg]

Most of my life has been a struggle with detachment and plausible schizotypy. When I take a test in school or otherwise, I have a lot of inability to concentrate, because my internal perceptions simply overwhelmed much of my intentional thought and distracted me from the object of the test. Thinking about it right now actually causes me some anxiety and makes me forget about what I am trying to think about...paradoxically. This creates a lot of disordered perception without an ability to recall the perceptual chain or the ability to rearrange it without much stumbling. In order to bring some order to my psychology, I have been meditating outside while sitting for ten to twenty minutes a day, and having the same approach when dealing with certain simple daily tasks. This allows me actually to remember what I am facing at any given moment, and it allows me to organize a more appropriate response to the situation. Meditation has allowed me to also moderate my inner emotional child.

Meditation is the best thing since sliced bread, as they say.

 

[Cavallier]

Let me first say that I am not into the hippie, new age yoga type of crap. When I say meditate, I mean it in the sense of ‘mindfulness’. The practice of observing your thoughts and feelings without any form of attachment to them during isolated sessions.

I am not into any religion or practice any form of Buddhism or any other eastern philosophy (frankly, I’m incapable of following strict rules and guidelines, and besides I live a world filled with sensory distractions). However, after reading extensively over the years about meditation, I decided to try it out...after attempting various forms, I eventually found a method that worked for me: it’s the ‘just screw it and lie there with the eyes closed watching thoughts run wild and observing how the central nervous system and body react method.

A lot of the times it is UNPLEASANT. The brain starts conjuring up embarrassing memories. At times intrusive and scary thoughts are flowing through the mind; the heart starts racing, the body tenses up, but as long as I stay detached from the thoughts and feelings during the session, once I open my eyes (20-30 minutes later) it’s like waking up from a REM cycle. 10-15 minutes later, the mind is clear and I feel refreshed. However, the meditation part of it, in my experience, is usually unpleasant.

Right. One of the benefits of meditation is that you shut off all the external stimuli and allow your mind to process all the thoughts and feelings you been ignoring or masking. I try to take note of the thought or feeling that I have, accept it, and then let it go. Often the thought circles back around several times. Each time I examine it and then let it go again. After a while you will stop fixating on the thought and your mind will stop going back to it. If I fight the thought or feeling I get more and more stressed. My mind sticks to the thought more.

I find that counting my breath helps. I count each intake of air. As thoughts float across my mind I tend to lose count. Once I recognize that my mind has wandered I let go of the distracting thought and start over with counting my breath. After a while I am able to count for longer periods of time. The counting helps me focus.

Anyway, weird disturbing thoughts pushing their way to the forefront of your mind when meditating is normal.

 

[The Void]

From meditating I learned that my thoughts are not my own.
It just runs by like some automatic computer. (actually I lied. I learned that from getting sleepy. At that moment it becomes clearer. Thoughts comes and goes, but I am not thinking. May be I am actually never thinking. Thoughts just arise out of nowhere. It is complicated or too simple, or whatever, I don't care, I can never know really, no one can,)
..........
I meditate 24/7 anyway. I do nothing.
Doing nothing means not resisting forcing or vainly trying to attach or control or complexify stuffs (not even resist resistance) but working aligned with the flow of the universe.

 

[manishboy]

Anyone tried eliciting their relaxation response (look up Herbert Benson)? It's an easy, simple, immediately verifiable, scientifically measurable, natural (I'm struggling to find more adjectives...) physiological response to a short (~10 min) session of gentle mental focus.

bemused, it's not surprising your experience is unpleasant if you haven't been meditating for that long. It's like when you begin a sport and find that you've got two left feet. Just an adjustment period while you adapt.

I don't practice formal meditation (save for the relaxation response) but I do find myself continually peering into the processes of mind--esp. the involuntary reactions to external stimuli and the hidden assumptions that drive my behavior. It's a chore but someone's got to do it!

 

[Milo]

I've learned a lot. You learn how to become the person you want to be while learning out to change your experience of life into anything you want.

And I didn't do all that "rule-based" meditation that you said you hate. I found out my own way to modify my own perceptions with both truths and intricate lies.

 

[nguyenle]

I've found it to be relaxing once I can get away from all the random thoughts that pop into my mind. It definitely makes me feel that all the gadgets and toys I surround myself with distract me from maintaining an inner calmness and peace. I also find that disengaging from the social world to be soothing.

 

[PmjPmj]

Being an Ni-dom, I'm already enlightenment personified. I have no need for your 'meditation'

(Fact: When I have tried, I just fall asleep).