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I expected something more granular than brain waves, but it's interesting nonetheless. Some of my favorite memories are playing music with my friends. In the m

I expected something more granular than brain waves, but it's interesting nonetheless. Some of my favorite memories are playing music with my friends. In the moment it has no philosophical flavor because everyone's focus is so pinpointed on performing, but afterwards, intellectually it felt like we were a single entity for a few moments. I've also had this happen during pair programming a few times. Incidentally, if this brain waves stuff is interesting to people, earlier this year I found out that there's research showing that ADHD is correlated with more theta states. Theta is like a low-level, comically chilled out brain. I struggle with ADHD symptoms and medicine hasn't helped. I have a Muse meditation headband that does some crude but fun measurements of brain states. Sure enough, when looking at the raw data, my brain was overwhelmingly in theta states just as the research had found... I'm afraid that maybe I meditated incorrectly for years and accidentally nerfed my own noodle.

handsarebags 5y ago
Thank you for this comment. Could you expand a little around your last sentence: > …afraid I meditated incorrectly… The dots to your argument didn’t quite connect for me. Maybe there’s some well known fact about meditation and theta states I don’t know about? Curious what you think was incorrect for your circumstance? Do you have another approach to meditating that you think is a better fit now? Regards
- nefitty 5y ago
  My meditation technique is purely focus-based. I pay attention to my breath, and tether my awareness to it. I fully believe in the power of meditation, which means it can go wrong if used incorrectly, just like any other powerful mind-altering technique. What I'm afraid of is that in my pursuance of it from such a simple angle (literally just breath focus) and without guidance, I may have pushed my mind into lower working states than are conducive to my goals. I hope that makes sense! I basically did not intend to be a meditative hermit, but maybe my technique and frequency of practice pushed me in that direction.

handsarebags 5y ago

Thank you for this comment. Could you expand a little around your last sentence: > …afraid I meditated incorrectly… The dots to your argument didn’t quite connect for me. Maybe there’s some well known fact about meditation and theta states I don’t know about? Curious what you think was incorrect for your circumstance? Do you have another approach to meditating that you think is a better fit now? Regards

nefitty 5y ago
My meditation technique is purely focus-based. I pay attention to my breath, and tether my awareness to it. I fully believe in the power of meditation, which means it can go wrong if used incorrectly, just like any other powerful mind-altering technique. What I'm afraid of is that in my pursuance of it from such a simple angle (literally just breath focus) and without guidance, I may have pushed my mind into lower working states than are conducive to my goals. I hope that makes sense! I basically did not intend to be a meditative hermit, but maybe my technique and frequency of practice pushed me in that direction.