Meditation

[Invisible Man]

Don't meditate (as such), but I use a lot of white noise, drones...I scream, too. Usually in the car when it won't scare the shit out of people. But it does do something for me/to me, especially when nasty stuff is happening.

[decomposing]

Don't meditate (as such), but I use a lot of white noise, drones...I scream, too. Usually in the car when it won't scare the shit out of people. But it does do something for me/to me, especially when nasty stuff is happening.

scream therapy is great

[Sparrow]

[Aquietcabin1978]

Don't meditate (as such), but I use a lot of white noise, drones...I scream, too. Usually in the car when it won't scare the shit out of people. But it does do something for me/to me, especially when nasty stuff is happening.

Scream therapy is super effective for me. Especially with a side of punch the shit outta the steering wheel therapy as well. I hate my job and it keeps me from freaking out on my moron employees.

[BitchPudding]

Ive got one of these. Buddha machine. Cycles through ambient loops. Drones help me zone out.

[decomposing]

buddha boxes are fun. there's a ton of apps.
smoking a ton of weed is main go to though.
it helps me forget that we're all slaves and free my mind enough to bring the dream to life.
but yeah, I'm starting to take kava kava and l-theanine to help my shit out during the day when I can't be medicated.
people are dumb shit out there. it's rare when you meet someone that has a shine in their eyes. mostly drones sadly.
stay strong. one of my goals this year is to not let others affect my inner peace. I got there when I was in my 20's somehow... weed.
but things compile as you get older and the four agreements helped me out again. but man, things are tough these days.
cannot wait to have my own space and unlock some crazy sounds again. feel the energy flowing and get crazy.
ok I'm done. I think.

[$harkToootth]

Mindful bump (or rather ringing the figurative bell to wake the thread?). What are the folks who mediate out there doing? I would like to get back into me morning and evening routine of 20 minutes per 'session'. I don't think what I do is real mediation though. It probably looks like it (my seating posture is 100% from Zazan) but I don't try to tune things out. I kind of go through my attributes and try to visualize how I would like to act in any given situation. I am mindful of my breathing in the process but I don't focus on a sound or anything like in the Transcendental school of thought.

I also like to walk an hour per night in as cold of weather as possible. Even on my most hectic days I make that a priority because I think I get a lot out of it.

[aedes]

I've been liking insight timer https://insighttimer.com/

Basically you just determine how much time you have, then you can do guided stuff/nature sounds etc. Pretty cool so far.

Only thing that sucks is you have to create an account. But it's free. I'm pretty new to this stuff.

[UglyCasanova]

I still do a 30 min session at the start of every day. Other than that I try squeezing short sessions in on the subway or if I'm waiting for someone. On weekends I usually do some longer sessions, maybe one to two hours. I really, really want to go on a silent retreat some day. Maybe start with a weekend or something. Anyone fuck with that sort of thing?

My way of doing it is simply sitting comfortably, taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, then closing my eyes as I let my brain deal with breathing automatically as I become aware of the surroundings (sounds and smells) and then physical sensations. Gravity, points of pressure and weight. I then do a full body scan, starting at the toes and slowly working my way up. Noticing what's comfortable and what's not so comfortable, but simply observing it, never moving or getting too caught up in it. For me, this scan is always very heavy on mental imagery. I always get new shapes and colors that make up the internal image of my body. It's very interesting. After that I go into the main meditation, which is simply observing the automatic breath. Thoughts come and go, but the moment I realize that my mind has drifted, I very gently shift my focus back to the physical sensation of the breath. Just to learn what my mind is up to I may place the thought in a positive, negative or neutral category before returning to the breath. In the beginning I found it easier to count my breaths from 1-10 and starting over (1 breathing in, 2 breathing out etc), but I find there are so many different things to notice about the breath now that I don't find myself needing to do so anymore. Then I usually end it with thinking some loving thoughts about a person, known or unknown to me ("I see you and appreciate you and wish you well" sort of thing), before slowly opening my eyes and reflecting a bit on my experience.

Sorry for the rant, but that's how I do it.

[Faldoe]

I still do a 30 min session at the start of every day. Other than that I try squeezing short sessions in on the subway or if I'm waiting for someone. On weekends I usually do some longer sessions, maybe one to two hours. I really, really want to go on a silent retreat some day. Maybe start with a weekend or something. Anyone fuck with that sort of thing?

My way of doing it is simply sitting comfortably, taking a few deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, then closing my eyes as I let my brain deal with breathing automatically as I become aware of the surroundings (sounds and smells) and then physical sensations. Gravity, points of pressure and weight. I then do a full body scan, starting at the toes and slowly working my way up. Noticing what's comfortable and what's not so comfortable, but simply observing it, never moving or getting too caught up in it. For me, this scan is always very heavy on mental imagery. I always get new shapes and colors that make up the internal image of my body. It's very interesting. After that I go into the main meditation, which is simply observing the automatic breath. Thoughts come and go, but the moment I realize that my mind has drifted, I very gently shift my focus back to the physical sensation of the breath. Just to learn what my mind is up to I may place the thought in a positive, negative or neutral category before returning to the breath. In the beginning I found it easier to count my breaths from 1-10 and starting over (1 breathing in, 2 breathing out etc), but I find there are so many different things to notice about the breath now that I don't find myself needing to do so anymore. Then I usually end it with thinking some loving thoughts about a person, known or unknown to me ("I see you and appreciate you and wish you well" sort of thing), before slowly opening my eyes and reflecting a bit on my experience.

Sorry for the rant, but that's how I do it.

There is some good info in this podcast below, suggesting that a weekend isn't enough time for a retreat. Really you need more time to kind of settle in and get past the inevitable frustration of not being able to not be lost in thought.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/is-buddhism-true


Also, this is a good guided meditation. And Joseph Goldstein has great stuff.

[Derelict78]

https://hermetic.com/crowley/eight-lectures-on-yoga/index

[UglyCasanova]

There is some good info in this podcast below, suggesting that a weekend isn't enough time for a retreat. Really you need more time to kind of settle in and get past the inevitable frustration of not being able to not be lost in thought.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/is-buddhism-true


Also, this is a good guided meditation. And Joseph Goldstein has great stuff.

I've heard all of Sam Harris' podcasts and my favorite episodes usually have Joseph Goldstein in them.

I know longer is better as a general rule of thumb, but it's very difficult for me to make that happen due to other commitments in life. I have never become frustrated while meditating, even during my longest sessions (4-6 hours), so I'm not too worried about that aspect. I take it for what it is and how it ends up being, although I understand that I might be wrong and have my mind be annoying and all over the place for an entire weekend.

[popvulture]

There is some good info in this podcast below, suggesting that a weekend isn't enough time for a retreat. Really you need more time to kind of settle in and get past the inevitable frustration of not being able to not be lost in thought.

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/is-buddhism-true


Also, this is a good guided meditation. And Joseph Goldstein has great stuff.

I've heard all of Sam Harris' podcasts and my favorite episodes usually have Joseph Goldstein in them.

I know longer is better as a general rule of thumb, but it's very difficult for me to make that happen due to other commitments in life. I have never become frustrated while meditating, even during my longest sessions (4-6 hours), so I'm not too worried about that aspect. I take it for what it is and how it ends up being, although I understand that I might be wrong and have my mind be annoying and all over the place for an entire weekend.

Love Goldstein. Mark Epstein's (who I believe was a student of Goldstein) How to Go to Pieces Without Falling Apart is also really great.

I'm certain I've mentioned it on here (and so have others), but I also can't say enough good stuff about Headspace. Great place to start for anyone interested in meditation, and tbh a good place to stick around.

[ibarakishi]

I still do a 30 min session at the start of every day. Other than that I try squeezing short sessions in on the subway or if I'm waiting for someone. On weekends I usually do some longer sessions, maybe one to two hours. I really, really want to go on a silent retreat some day. Maybe start with a weekend or something. Anyone fuck with that sort of thing?

UC, Goenka is really popular here in Northern Thailand. They have free 10 day retreats all over here, and do it on a sort of 'if it works for you, all we ask is that you donate your time to volunteer to support others to have similar experiences at minimum' system, which i really respect. There are different levels, but all of them are silent studies. This aspect (silence over a long period of time) is very important. Maybe it would help you too? It really helped my partner deal with a lot of things in life, and has helped many of my friends too. The video below is meant for people that obviously can't attend an actual course, but if you ever have the chance to do either isolated retreats somewhere by yourself or actually take a course under the supervision of an instructor, i really recommend it. I don't know how to explain it unless you have experienced it yourself, but it is something best served as a whole over a long period of time, though obviously their are benefits that you can take from it too if you don't have the time and just want to do it piece by piece. But these are just my thoughts, everyone is different.

[$harkToootth]

Kind of related. I did a float session for an hour once. I thought it was cool but, it's a commodity at this point. If more places get them the price will go down but I think I got mine on a special and it was $60. Not everyone can afford to regularly do that.

I thought it was cool but (and this is coming from a one time judgment) I think 'whatever you get' out those, you can get the same things with meditation. The float tank helps expedite the process but meditation, you can do anywhere, float tanks...not so much.