10 ms·
Meditation Becomes Beneficial Surprisingly Fast
- brihas 16y agoCheck out Vipassana meditation: http://www.dhamma.org http://www.dhamma.org. They offer 10-day residential courses for no charge at centres worldwide.
- kalmar 16y agoBe aware that there are some reports of these Goenka retreats being cult-like and involving some aspects of brain-washing. Additionally they may force a particular style and experience of meditation. http://melissamaples.com/how-not-to-do-a-goenka-vipassana-retreat-in-15000-words-or-less/ http://melissamaples.com/how-not-to-do-a-goenka-vipassana-re... http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/goenka.htm http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/criticism/goenka.htm (I do not wish to start an argument, I am just pointing this out so that readers might be better informed. I have considered going, and did some research online looking for accounts of the experience. I am not decided yet, but time-wise it is not possible for me at the moment.)
- rsheridan6 16y agoI've done it and I didn't find it at all cultlike. They had a donation booth at the end with no pressure to actually donate, and that's it. Nobody's tried to contact me or pressure me or anything like that. Most of the retreat is spent in silence. As for the links you posted, the first one had a bad experience at an incompetently run retreat (it was tl;dr so I didn't finish it - maybe there were more problems). I can say that I was well fed at the one I went to. The second one is by an obvious lunatic who was mad that they didn't recognize that he's many times more egoless than they are. Other reports trashing the retreat that I've seen (and I read a ton of them before signing up), with the hindsight of having actually done it, mostly come across as people who feel like losers because they couldn't finish the retreat, so they blame it on anyone but themselves.
- delackner 16y agoSince you say yourself that you are not speaking from personal experience, perhaps it would help to have the words of someone who is speaking from experience. The meditation retreat is difficult and uncomfortable because of its unfamiliar rules: no interaction with other students, no talking, very strict schedule of waking, meditation, food, and breaks. All of these are tools to eliminate distraction from the reason you are there: to develop a basic capacity to perform the meditation technique properly. The course materials and instructions repeatedly stress that nothing they say is important; there is no philosophy you have to accept, no ideas you have to believe. As someone who is very logical minded and anti-all-"isms" and beliefs, I would have left after the first day if they didn't stress that you can ignore 100% of everything and anything they say if you just do the meditation technique. The entire benefit of the experience is derived within you, in the same sense that no matter how many books you read about how touching a flame "burns," the experience of touching a burning stove is how you actually learn "ah, fire BURNS". Ten days seems a long time to devote to learning "how to meditate", but it simply isn't possible to do in any shorter length of time, nor would it work if you simply did several 1-day sessions. Suppose you went to the gym every single day, but you only did 1 pushup and 1 crunch every day. You might complain that this whole exercise thing is pointless. This would be a great loss. Feel free email if anyone has questions. I'd be happy to discuss but the topic would overflow many pages so I'll just leave it for now.
- mannicken 16y agoI used to meditate but no longer do since I'm starting to trip (audial/visual hallucinations) very fast and the trip is usually not a good one. It is a very powerful natural psychedelic experience, comparable to third plateau of DXM at least... but controllable, unlike DXM.
- petervandijck 16y agoI don't think the idea is to get hallucinations?
- mitjak 16y agoI believe he's saying that he'd love not to.
- programnature 16y agoHallucinations are very common once you get high enough concentration. For example simple visual hallucinations (lights) is commonly associated with the onset what is called "access concentration". Complex hallucinations are also possible, visiting eg the "realm of the hungry ghosts" . A lot of this kind of stuff is talked about in http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml
- d_c 16y agoThat definitely does not happen for me. Do you close your eyes while meditating?
- alexkiwi 16y agowere you on nutmeg?
- mannicken 16y agoNope and I stay the hell away from deliriants.
- gojomo 16y agoSome people react poorly to meditation -- even having hallucinations. See this story for more examples: http://www.sfweekly.com/2002-08-28/news/bad-vibes/ http://www.sfweekly.com/2002-08-28/news/bad-vibes/ So sure, try it, but if it doesn't feel right, don't force it.
- Estragon 16y agoAn equally valid interpretation is that Tolkien rots your brain. This is shoddy science, because their "control" experiment is little more than a fig leaf.
- GiraffeNecktie 16y agoIt seems unlikely that Tolkien rots your brain, but I agree that it would have been more useful to compare meditation to just sitting quietly or taking a nap (and to reading Tolkien). I recall some previous studies on meditation found that it didn't make much difference if you were doing specific meditation or just spending some quiet time.
- gcheong 16y agoI don't see how that is an equally valid interpretation. In the abstract all they claim is that both meditation and listening to a recorded book improved mood, but only the meditation group improved along other dimensions. It did not note any negative effects from listening to Tolkien. The aim was to have both groups engaged actively on something (meditation vs listening to a recorded book) and to compare the outcomes. Why is that an invalid comparison?
- tokenadult 16y agoControls are always the toughest issue in experimental research. http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html
- silentbicycle 16y agoWhat would make a good control group against meditation? Sleeping? Sitting quietly? Playing cards? Deliberately "carrying on" doesn't suggest anything in particular. Tolkein is a funny choice, though.
- yewweitan 16y agoMattheiu Ricard on Meditation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwnXj0Ck1k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwnXj0Ck1k
- 10ren 16y agoit's 4 x 20 minutes, according to these articles about the paper: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414184220.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100414184220.ht... http://living-mindfullyblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/cognition-accelerated-by-just-4-x-20.html http://living-mindfullyblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/cognition-a... This one claims to have the fulltext, but their webpage is broken for me: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/42975499_Mindfulness_meditation_improves_cognition_Evidence_of_brief_mental_training http://www.researchgate.net/publication/42975499_Mindfulness...
- moolave 16y agoI can say it's true that meditation does help with insomnia. In my case, it has made me sleep easily. Give it some time to relax and breathe, next thing you know you are feeling groggy. I know some serious meditators avoid falling asleep if they want to do these for hours, but it can be a challenge achieving that.
- mike463 16y agoI learned to relax many years ago using one of these that a friend had: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E22DFE http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E22DFE It's a galvanic skin response gadget. There are others (I got one from radio shack too). Search for GSR. It basically lowers a tone when you relax. It takes almost no time at all to learn to relax with the immediate feedback the device offers. When you lower the tone very low, you have basically relaxed your whole body and can easily fall asleep. I have no idea if this is like meditation or not, since I don't know how to meditate. It could be, because you concentrate on the tone the device makes.
- moolave 16y agoIt's almost like it, and that is an awesome gadget. You basically lower your body's frequencies - more like into a theta state. And that's when you can easily get into superlearning mode and/or eventually fall asleep.
- markbao 16y ago| For the study, participants were taught to meditate by focusing on the sensation of their breathing, acknowledging and dismissing any stray thoughts that popped into their heads. For those who do practice meditation, what are other techniques that are effective to you?
- pvdm 16y agoOther techniques ? There is only one core technique. Some people do yoga as an adjunct activity. I have an hourly chime that keeps me centered in case I stray. Minimum amount of TV. Walking vs driving. If I have to drive, I stay in the right lane and focus on the sensation of driving instead of pedal to the metal. I throw away stuff or sell them on ebay constantly to keep down the clutter.
- GiraffeNecktie 16y agoThat's the essence of mindfulness meditation (the technique used in the paper). There's a completely different school that requires the use of mantras like "om" etc. Transcendental meditation is an example of a mantra-based technique. For myself, I find the mindfulness approach more useful and grounded than the mantra approach. There are also more active techniques such as tai chi, qi gong and yoga but they only qualify as "meditation" if they're done with a very conscious and meditative mindset.
- samatman 16y agoQi gong, tai chi, and yoga qualify as themselves only if done with a conscious and meditative mindset.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- Oxryly 16y agoThe article describes the basics of vipassana (insight) meditation. The same description applies to zazen, the meditation practice in Zen. I believe it is actually the basis for all meditative practice. You can layer on certain guided thoughts (like mantras and chants), but meditative practice is more powerful the simpler it is. You must strip away as much as possible -- to just sit and bring the body, breath, and mind into sync using breath focus and an aware non-judgmental mind. There are many books written on the subject; I can personally recommend Mindfulness in Plain English (free version at http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html). Meditation of this form is key to transforming your entire life. It is the gateway or pathway you can use to find and accept your true self and see yourself and your life for what it is. It is how you truly see that you cannot escape the present moment and that you have the full ability to choose how you relate to it. Sogyal Rinpoche says it better than I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tIBYxed16s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tIBYxed16s.
- Tawheed 16y agoI learned Transcendental Meditation about a year ago, and it has had a seriously profound effect on my life.
- anemecek 16y agoI tried to look up more info about it but it seems like to learn anything, one has to take some $1500 course. Can you summarize how it differs from the standard meditation (i.e. zen meditation)?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- silentbicycle 16y agoZen meditation isn't really "the standard meditation", American culture just has an infatuation with Zen because the Beats and Hippies drew a lot of attention to the San Francisco Zen Center at the right time, while otherwise Buddhism and Hinduism have mostly stayed in immigrant communities. (I don't know enough about the Hare Krishnas to say anything either way.)
- FraaJad 16y agoAFAIK, Hare krishnas do not practice "raja yoga" the Hindu school of philosophy that deals with "Yoga" and "meditation" as people know of it popularly. Hare krishnas practice the "Bhakti" (devotional) school of philosophy. Zen meditation is a japanese adaptation of the chinese adapation of the Raja Yoga techniques of Hinduism/Buddhism. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Yoga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Yoga
- michael_dorfman 16y agoAs others have pointed out, Zen is not "standard", but just one variety of meditation among many. However, to answer your question: TM is focused on the internal repetition of a one-word Mantra, given to you by a teacher, and in that regard is not very different than mantra meditation you'd find in some Buddhist (Thai, Tibetan, Indian, Chinese) traditions. (I should point out that I do Buddhist meditation myself, but I've had friends and family members do TM, and we've compared notes.) If you are interested in meditation in general (and not TM specifically), there are a lot of meditation centers offering free (or nearly free) courses. I've never heard of a Buddhist center turning anyone away for lack of funds.
- ufomuffin 16y agoFocusing on breathing is great, I was thought that at meditation class, with more details of course. But it's really important to keep your eyes almost closed, not open nor closed, almost closed. You have to be aware of the world, meditating is not about shutting yourself from the world
- Estragon 16y agoIt's so dope when I focus on my breath 'Cos I floss all the time and I chew Big Red! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gCU5uplB4A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gCU5uplB4A
- johnohara 16y agoI used meditation in college as a student-athlete mainly to learn how to relax during 800 and 1500m races. Many people believe that in order to run fast you have tense your muscles and push harder but the opposite is true. When you relax and concentrate on your form and breathing the speed flows right through you. Haven't used it in quite a while but when I did it brought a nice balance to things. Good focus, a gentle calm, better stress management, etc. Nothing mystical. Just healthy benefits.
- minus1 16y agoFor anyone interested in trying meditation, I found this podcast useful: http://www.audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/1762/ http://www.audiodharma.org/series/1/talk/1762/
- kymmx 16y agoFor me as a one who lives in Eastern country and practiced breathing, I can really say that it helps your body and mind. It is far old tradition to practice some kind of breathing(or zen you say, or yoga for more physical). After a few months of daily practice, I myself experienced amazing response of my body. But never attend classes that has some kind of religious color or ask you to buy some products. They might not be a hoax but some were reported as hoax and made some news in here.
- obama123789 16y agoWelcome to our website: ===== HTTP://wowcool.org ==== jordan air max oakland raiders Ed Hardy AF JUICY POLO Bikini Christan Audigier BIKINI JACKET gstar coogi evisu true jeans coach chanel gucci LV handbags coogi DG edhardy gucci t-shirts CA edhardy vests.paul smith shoes jordan dunk af1 max gucci shoes EDhardy gucci ny New Era cap coach okely Adidas CHANEL DG Sunglass ===== HTTP://wowcool.org ====
- obama123789 16y agoWelcome to our website: ===== HTTP://wowcool.org ==== jordan air max oakland raiders Ed Hardy AF JUICY POLO Bikini Christan Audigier BIKINI JACKET gstar coogi evisu true jeans coach chanel gucci LV handbags coogi DG edhardy gucci t-shirts CA edhardy vests.paul smith shoes jordan dunk af1 max gucci shoes EDhardy gucci ny New Era cap coach okely Adidas CHANEL DG Sunglass ===== HTTP://wowcool.org ====
- mark_l_watson 16y agoCarl Jung said that it was scientifically provable that yoga and meditation help physical and mental health - he probably made that comment 60 years ago, but it is still true today.
- Dirt_McGirt 16y agoCarl Jung and science do not belong in the same sentence.
- c00p3r 16y agoThis is a temporary, not lasting effect, just a glimpse that 'it works'.. After a short time the state of dullness will return. It's a very common phenomena, when people were achieved temporary insight and thought they were got enlightenment or some high state. Actually it is not even a the first step. It is just a temporary result of the effort, while true meditative state is effortless and natural, like breathing itself.
- c1sc0 16y agoI'm working on a startup/iPhone app that is tangentially related to meditation. I've been meditating off and on for fifteen years now and as part of the app development I took it up again, as a kind of dogfooding approach. I've successfully used meditation in challenging sport situations (mountaineering, skydiving, swimming) but I've also had moments where everything in my life was going wrong except the meditation. Meditation can help you stay healthy, focussed and relaxed but anyone claiming it will fix your life is a charlatan.
- djshah 16y agoI posted this question to HN a few weeks back - also related to meditation in a way. Some useful information posted by HNers... http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1398844 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1398844
- tome 16y agoI once went to a lecture given by a psychoanalyst who was also a Buddhist. His main point was that Buddhism and analysis were very similar means of self-introspection. Does anyone here have a perspective on both to share?
- andrewbadera 16y agoThe Dalai Lama says pretty much the same thing quite a bit. A quick read along these lines would be The Universe in a Single Atom.
- paulgrahamsmom 16y agoAlso, my boy said that hackers and painters have a lot in common
- michael_dorfman 16y agoWell, oddly enough, I'm midway through an M.A. in Buddhist Studies, and did my undergraduate thesis on psychoanalysis, so, yes, I have a perspective. I'd argue that the differences between the disciplines outweighs the superficial similarities. If one is so inclined, one can definitely make lists of similarities, and can stretch the interpretation of the doctrines of one field to fit the other, but what would be the point, really?
- andrewbadera 16y agoThe point from the Dalai Lama's perspective? To defend his culture in the face of modern science. The point from the perspective of the rest of us? Analogies and recognizing analogous forms are a good way to expand one's mind. Gaining respect for introspection as well perhaps. What's the point of asking what's the point, except to come off sounding like a conceited ass? (And I'll be the first to admit here, it takes one to know one.)
- michael_dorfman 16y agoI think you're trivializing a whole list of things here. The Dalai Lama may think that he is defending his culture in the face of modern science, but reducing Buddhism to a branch of psychoanalysis is not an effective way to do so in the long run. By the same token, reducing psychoanalysis to a modern manifestation of Buddhism isn't doing psychoanalysis any favors, either. In cross-disciplinary studies, it's important to resist the urge to reduce the strange to the familiar, as it is only in doing so that one is able to fully appreciate the richness of the traditions being compared. In other words: analogies are useful, when starting out, to help one get a vague impression of a new territory, but (unconsciously) clinging to these analogies serves only to mask one from actually expanding one's mind. Asking "what's the point?" may have the unintended side-effect of making me sound like a conceited ass, but the intention was more philosophical.
- akaalias 16y agoI started daily zazen meditation about 6 weeks ago, having tried it on and off before. The effects are subtle but powerful, providing me with patience and a hightened state of relaxed alertness. Combined with Yoga ever other day, it feels great! If anyone is interested, I built this webapp for myself to keep track of my progress. My meditation training can be found at http://stepset.com/habits/efac7b8e-6446-11df-ab99-7f306a906e78 http://stepset.com/habits/efac7b8e-6446-11df-ab99-7f306a906e...
- mattmaroon 16y agoShould be "Surprisingly Quickly". Just saying.
- obinine 16y agoA plug for a meditation resource that I help maintain: http://diydharma.org http://diydharma.org including a comprehensive howto guide: http://diydharma.org/how-meditate http://diydharma.org/how-meditate
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mkramlich 16y agoI learned to meditate as a child. Independently discovered it you might say. I had no fancy terminology for it, no official system. I just did it. But I agree, it's very very helpful and healthy.
- mkramlich 16y agoMeditation stripped to it's core is good. All the religious hokum that often seems to surround it I find a bit nauseating.