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Does anyone else have experience meditating this much? Many people seem to attribute a lot of their success to meditating daily and swear its benefits elsewhere

by Shoop 10y ago

Does anyone else have experience meditating this much? Many people seem to attribute a lot of their success to meditating daily and swear its benefits elsewhere in life. However, two hours a day as well as one sixth of the year nonstop is a lot of meditating. At that point are you meditating just because you enjoy it or is it still beneficial enough to be worth the time commitment?

njx 10y ago
One starts meditation due to past life patterns and inclinations. Then as you keep increasing the effort, it becomes enjoyable. The purpose of meditation is towards self growth and rest of things are side effects.
- samblr 10y ago
  >> "One starts meditation due to past life patterns and inclinations" - how is this true ?
  - ChrisLTD 10y ago
    It's such a broad statement that it's impossible for it not to be true.
    - samblr 10y ago
      "broad statement that it's impossible for it not to be true?" - Do you have more examples of these ?
      - johnchristopher 10y ago
        I found some: You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a great deal of unused capacity, which you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others statements without satisfactory proof. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. At times you are extroverted, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
        hythloday 10y ago
        In the literature these are called Barnum Statements (after PT Barnum, of "there's one born every minute"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect
      - ChrisLTD 10y ago
        "My entire life lead up to this point"
    - robobro 10y ago
      Doesn't sound like healthy skepticism or productive empiricism to me...
  - westoncb 10y ago
    I think what he's getting at is people often start to 'fix something' from there life. They don't start because it's enjoyable but because they see it as a solution to a problem they have.
  - njx 10y ago
    This is mainly from personal observations and after reading tons of material. The answers to all personal or self issues are deep within us and that can be bubbled up only through deep meditations. I remember when I was a kid, started reading books on yoga and meditation all by myself even though there was no one in my family doing it. I sometime reflect on why at that age felt the need to do meditation. The only reasoning is due to past life habits and inclination. I meditated even though sometimes it gave me headaches but now i can easily sit 2-3 hours.
    - SiVal 10y ago
      The only reasoning is due to past life habits and inclination. I suspect there may be other explanations at least as plausible.
  - finid 10y ago
    I think that's just his way of saying that things we like to do or don't like to do in this incarnation are informed by events from previous incarnations. That makes sense if you believe in reincarnation.
    - yorwba 10y ago
      I parsed it as "past (life patterns) and inclinations" which seemed vacuously true to me, since everything anyone does is influenced by these things. Apparently, others parsed it as "(past life) patterns and inclinations", which does sound like an unsubstantiated claim about reincarnation. Thank you for helping me understand the skepticism expressed in this branch of the comment tree.
markestefanos 10y ago
One of the primary effects of meditation is weakening and eventually undoing harmful habits of mind and behavior. Everyone has quite a lot of those, and clearing one layer of gunk often reveals a subtler layer to be worked with. Because of this, it can feel like the work is never done with meditation, and the practice is still beneficial. There's a lot more to it, but hopefully that helps.
Icedcool 10y ago
Depends what kind of meditation. For the practice the author is talking about (vipassana) It became much more enjoyable and that didn't decrease the benefits I got. It moved beyond working through letting go of patterning, into understanding the nature of my human-ness and being able to work with that better(insight). And... I'm certainly not done with patterning haha.... I do think it starts to S curve on the benefits received against time committed. When you get to that point though, your overall life will be more than likely at a fantastic point.
tzury 10y ago
Jerry Seinfeld on Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7Yru3cHoA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7Yru3cHoA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRdy6LrOAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRdy6LrOAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-YFdJSnGI0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-YFdJSnGI0
- ndr 10y ago
  There's a lot of Bob Roth in those videos. I fell in the rabbit hole and came across his short presentation of TM[0]. It feels like a huge PR stunt to sell his certified "Transcendental Meditation®" trainings. Does anyone here have an insight into that? [0] https://vimeo.com/87931619 https://vimeo.com/87931619
  - jblow 10y ago
    Having done TM as well as Vipassana (discussed in the original article) and other meditations, I do not recommend TM. You will do just fine (or better) with other things. TM happens to have some famous exponents (e.g. David Lynch) but I find it a somewhat cult-like money extraction machine, and the actual meditation they teach to be less worthwhile than the other flavors of meditation in which I have experience.
finid 10y ago
It benefits every aspect of ones life. The problem, though, is daily responsibilities make it very difficult, nearly impossible, for most people to meditate that long every day. But taking time out to go inwards everyday doesn't have to take that long. Just 20 minutes or even 5 minutes every day will do just fine. The key to benefiting from it, as with most things, is to keep the same time every day. Just pick any time of the day or night that you can afford. And make it a habit. To take it to another level, find a spiritually-powerful word that you feel comfortable repeating (chanting) to yourself. Then chant it during those times you seat in meditation. There' are higher forms of meditation, but start somewhere. With time, you'll begin to see aspects of life that your physical senses cannot perceive. And as you become more aware of the visible and invisible aspects of life around you, you begin to worry less.
mindfulgeek 10y ago
Think of meditation as exercise for the mind. the more time you spend, the healthier it can be. Although like anything, in excess it can cause problems. Think of an elite athlete. They can be injured or need to retire early or surgeries from over use. Too much meditation can bring a person too far away from their physical reality. Everything in moderation. I meditate between 1-2 hours a day. Sometimes I will do more and sometimes less. I find it saves me more time that it costs. I get distracted less, I need less sleep and I find myself in the right place at the right time more often. I also have more clarity on what is important so the time I have, I use wisely.
- retreatguru 10y ago
  I resonate with this. Meditation even though it takes time actually makes you more efficient at work because you don't get distracted as easily. Running a company or programming is mainly mental work and meditation, especially lots of it, helps hone that mental muscle. Many teachings of meditation also incorporate teachings on compassion and self love which are sorely lacking in modern workplace. I received so much from meditation (and ayahuasca) retreats it led me to co-found Retreat Guru. http://retreat.guru http://retreat.guru. Our mission is to get more people on authentic retreats.
- 09bjb 10y ago
  I disagree that it can bring a person too far away from their physical reality. On the contrary, it can bring to into such acute awareness of all of your senses in the present moment that those around you feel painfully distracted, or even creeped out by your expansive attention. Not that this a state I attain very frequently :P
  - mindfulgeek 10y ago
    Wonderful that you connect to that state at all! There are certain breath techniques that will land you in the clouds. If you do a practice like that without proper grounding, you are likely to be very disconnected from physical reality. That's my opinion and personal experience. In general (and they have the science to back this up) it heightens awareness of your senses. Though people who meditate have higher pain tolerance -- not because they feel less (since they feel more) -- because they have developed willpower to not react to stimulus the same way. Super fascinating!
tombh 10y ago
I've been doing regular week-long retreats for 15 years and recently did a 30 day retreat. Personally I just think there's way too much variation amongst my experiences, let alone if you include the gamut of others', to come to any solid conclusions. For example I've met people that meditate more than me that I consider a social liability. Correlation does not imply causation and all that. Are coffee drinkers more productive or are possessors of palettes predisposed to coffee's chemicals/culture more productive? What is the magic ingredient in meditation that the mainstream seem to be missing out on!? I'm sticking my head out and firmly stating: nothing. All the scientific and anecdotal evidence derives purely from the sober and unromantic intention to pay attention to something -- how you pay attention, the sincerity with which you pay attention, the subconscious emotions and intellectual knots illuminated from such attention, these are the factors that determine the various reports we find concerning the 'magic' of meditation.
- retreatguru 10y ago
  I think attention alone is enough. Pure attention leads to 'magic'.
  - amazingman 10y ago
    I think this phrasing works for certain kinds of people, but turns off other kinds of people, and worse even misleads another category of personality.
  - Leigho 10y ago
    I agree with you if the attention you are implying is focus. I think we draw to us things we focus on, good or bad. I have been meditating off and on for over 15 years and perhaps many of us have been daydreaming far longer. Daydreaming is similar to visual mediation. I find value in silent-non- visual and visual meditation. I find value and get results with 10 minutes or hour long meditation. Some of the results I have gotten are good physical health, sound mental health and goal attainment. Any more than an hour and I run the risk of taking a nap or sleeping.
retreatguru 10y ago
I have attended many long meditation retreats and can say they transformed me into a better person each time. They helped me especially to be kinder to myself and accept myself as I am. But after getting married, having kids, and founding a startup, my meditation practice has largely dried up. There is always something vying for my attention it seems (including Hacker News). I aspire to go on retreat again to hopefully bootstrap a daily practice. Ironically my startup is Retreat Guru!
- amazingman 10y ago
  Is there something that happens in your life every day that you can anchor a meditation habit to? For example, my personal anchor is the fact that I take public transportation to work every weekday morning. Overlaying my meditation practice onto my daily commute gives me 15-30 minutes of meditation time* 4-5 days a week. * eyes open or closed, standing or sitting, breath or open or metta or body scanning, all are doable
  - retreatguru 10y ago
    Great idea. I often remember to practice simple driving mindfulness when i drive my car to work. Other than that I just need to find the discipline to go to bed early and wake up early to practice.
cwp 10y ago
For me the take away to this podcast was not that Harari spends a lot of time meditating. It's that he's good at it. He's learned how to distinguish what is real from what is not, and how to focus his attention for long periods of time. It's not surprising that those skills are useful when it comes to intellectual pursuits. So, yeah, he spends quite a bit of time meditating. That's kind of like noticing that top athletes spend a lot of time exercising.

by Shoop 10y ago

njx 10y ago

One starts meditation due to past life patterns and inclinations. Then as you keep increasing the effort, it becomes enjoyable. The purpose of meditation is towards self growth and rest of things are side effects.

samblr 10y ago
>> "One starts meditation due to past life patterns and inclinations" - how is this true ?
- ChrisLTD 10y ago
  It's such a broad statement that it's impossible for it not to be true.
  - samblr 10y ago
    "broad statement that it's impossible for it not to be true?" - Do you have more examples of these ?
    - johnchristopher 10y ago
      I found some: You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a great deal of unused capacity, which you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others statements without satisfactory proof. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. At times you are extroverted, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them.
      - hythloday 10y ago
        In the literature these are called Barnum Statements (after PT Barnum, of "there's one born every minute"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum_effect
    - ChrisLTD 10y ago
      "My entire life lead up to this point"
  - robobro 10y ago
    Doesn't sound like healthy skepticism or productive empiricism to me...
- westoncb 10y ago
  I think what he's getting at is people often start to 'fix something' from there life. They don't start because it's enjoyable but because they see it as a solution to a problem they have.
- njx 10y ago
  This is mainly from personal observations and after reading tons of material. The answers to all personal or self issues are deep within us and that can be bubbled up only through deep meditations. I remember when I was a kid, started reading books on yoga and meditation all by myself even though there was no one in my family doing it. I sometime reflect on why at that age felt the need to do meditation. The only reasoning is due to past life habits and inclination. I meditated even though sometimes it gave me headaches but now i can easily sit 2-3 hours.
  - SiVal 10y ago
    The only reasoning is due to past life habits and inclination. I suspect there may be other explanations at least as plausible.
- finid 10y ago
  I think that's just his way of saying that things we like to do or don't like to do in this incarnation are informed by events from previous incarnations. That makes sense if you believe in reincarnation.
  - yorwba 10y ago
    I parsed it as "past (life patterns) and inclinations" which seemed vacuously true to me, since everything anyone does is influenced by these things. Apparently, others parsed it as "(past life) patterns and inclinations", which does sound like an unsubstantiated claim about reincarnation. Thank you for helping me understand the skepticism expressed in this branch of the comment tree.

markestefanos 10y ago

One of the primary effects of meditation is weakening and eventually undoing harmful habits of mind and behavior. Everyone has quite a lot of those, and clearing one layer of gunk often reveals a subtler layer to be worked with. Because of this, it can feel like the work is never done with meditation, and the practice is still beneficial. There's a lot more to it, but hopefully that helps.

Icedcool 10y ago

Depends what kind of meditation. For the practice the author is talking about (vipassana) It became much more enjoyable and that didn't decrease the benefits I got. It moved beyond working through letting go of patterning, into understanding the nature of my human-ness and being able to work with that better(insight). And... I'm certainly not done with patterning haha.... I do think it starts to S curve on the benefits received against time committed. When you get to that point though, your overall life will be more than likely at a fantastic point.

tzury 10y ago

Jerry Seinfeld on Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7Yru3cHoA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7Yru3cHoA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRdy6LrOAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRdy6LrOAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-YFdJSnGI0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-YFdJSnGI0

ndr 10y ago
There's a lot of Bob Roth in those videos. I fell in the rabbit hole and came across his short presentation of TM[0]. It feels like a huge PR stunt to sell his certified "Transcendental Meditation®" trainings. Does anyone here have an insight into that? [0] https://vimeo.com/87931619 https://vimeo.com/87931619
- jblow 10y ago
  Having done TM as well as Vipassana (discussed in the original article) and other meditations, I do not recommend TM. You will do just fine (or better) with other things. TM happens to have some famous exponents (e.g. David Lynch) but I find it a somewhat cult-like money extraction machine, and the actual meditation they teach to be less worthwhile than the other flavors of meditation in which I have experience.

finid 10y ago

It benefits every aspect of ones life. The problem, though, is daily responsibilities make it very difficult, nearly impossible, for most people to meditate that long every day. But taking time out to go inwards everyday doesn't have to take that long. Just 20 minutes or even 5 minutes every day will do just fine. The key to benefiting from it, as with most things, is to keep the same time every day. Just pick any time of the day or night that you can afford. And make it a habit. To take it to another level, find a spiritually-powerful word that you feel comfortable repeating (chanting) to yourself. Then chant it during those times you seat in meditation. There' are higher forms of meditation, but start somewhere. With time, you'll begin to see aspects of life that your physical senses cannot perceive. And as you become more aware of the visible and invisible aspects of life around you, you begin to worry less.

mindfulgeek 10y ago

Think of meditation as exercise for the mind. the more time you spend, the healthier it can be. Although like anything, in excess it can cause problems. Think of an elite athlete. They can be injured or need to retire early or surgeries from over use. Too much meditation can bring a person too far away from their physical reality. Everything in moderation. I meditate between 1-2 hours a day. Sometimes I will do more and sometimes less. I find it saves me more time that it costs. I get distracted less, I need less sleep and I find myself in the right place at the right time more often. I also have more clarity on what is important so the time I have, I use wisely.

retreatguru 10y ago
I resonate with this. Meditation even though it takes time actually makes you more efficient at work because you don't get distracted as easily. Running a company or programming is mainly mental work and meditation, especially lots of it, helps hone that mental muscle. Many teachings of meditation also incorporate teachings on compassion and self love which are sorely lacking in modern workplace. I received so much from meditation (and ayahuasca) retreats it led me to co-found Retreat Guru. http://retreat.guru http://retreat.guru. Our mission is to get more people on authentic retreats.
09bjb 10y ago
I disagree that it can bring a person too far away from their physical reality. On the contrary, it can bring to into such acute awareness of all of your senses in the present moment that those around you feel painfully distracted, or even creeped out by your expansive attention. Not that this a state I attain very frequently :P
- mindfulgeek 10y ago
  Wonderful that you connect to that state at all! There are certain breath techniques that will land you in the clouds. If you do a practice like that without proper grounding, you are likely to be very disconnected from physical reality. That's my opinion and personal experience. In general (and they have the science to back this up) it heightens awareness of your senses. Though people who meditate have higher pain tolerance -- not because they feel less (since they feel more) -- because they have developed willpower to not react to stimulus the same way. Super fascinating!

tombh 10y ago

I've been doing regular week-long retreats for 15 years and recently did a 30 day retreat. Personally I just think there's way too much variation amongst my experiences, let alone if you include the gamut of others', to come to any solid conclusions. For example I've met people that meditate more than me that I consider a social liability. Correlation does not imply causation and all that. Are coffee drinkers more productive or are possessors of palettes predisposed to coffee's chemicals/culture more productive? What is the magic ingredient in meditation that the mainstream seem to be missing out on!? I'm sticking my head out and firmly stating: nothing. All the scientific and anecdotal evidence derives purely from the sober and unromantic intention to pay attention to something -- how you pay attention, the sincerity with which you pay attention, the subconscious emotions and intellectual knots illuminated from such attention, these are the factors that determine the various reports we find concerning the 'magic' of meditation.

retreatguru 10y ago
I think attention alone is enough. Pure attention leads to 'magic'.
- amazingman 10y ago
  I think this phrasing works for certain kinds of people, but turns off other kinds of people, and worse even misleads another category of personality.
- Leigho 10y ago
  I agree with you if the attention you are implying is focus. I think we draw to us things we focus on, good or bad. I have been meditating off and on for over 15 years and perhaps many of us have been daydreaming far longer. Daydreaming is similar to visual mediation. I find value in silent-non- visual and visual meditation. I find value and get results with 10 minutes or hour long meditation. Some of the results I have gotten are good physical health, sound mental health and goal attainment. Any more than an hour and I run the risk of taking a nap or sleeping.

retreatguru 10y ago

I have attended many long meditation retreats and can say they transformed me into a better person each time. They helped me especially to be kinder to myself and accept myself as I am. But after getting married, having kids, and founding a startup, my meditation practice has largely dried up. There is always something vying for my attention it seems (including Hacker News). I aspire to go on retreat again to hopefully bootstrap a daily practice. Ironically my startup is Retreat Guru!

amazingman 10y ago
Is there something that happens in your life every day that you can anchor a meditation habit to? For example, my personal anchor is the fact that I take public transportation to work every weekday morning. Overlaying my meditation practice onto my daily commute gives me 15-30 minutes of meditation time* 4-5 days a week. * eyes open or closed, standing or sitting, breath or open or metta or body scanning, all are doable
- retreatguru 10y ago
  Great idea. I often remember to practice simple driving mindfulness when i drive my car to work. Other than that I just need to find the discipline to go to bed early and wake up early to practice.

cwp 10y ago

For me the take away to this podcast was not that Harari spends a lot of time meditating. It's that he's good at it. He's learned how to distinguish what is real from what is not, and how to focus his attention for long periods of time. It's not surprising that those skills are useful when it comes to intellectual pursuits. So, yeah, he spends quite a bit of time meditating. That's kind of like noticing that top athletes spend a lot of time exercising.