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Last year, I started meditating daily (usually only 10-20 minutes, sometimes twice). 3-4 months into the practice, I am still a n00b but have honestly told a c

by veidr 5y ago

Last year, I started meditating daily (usually only 10-20 minutes, sometimes twice). 3-4 months into the practice, I am still a n00b but have honestly told a couple friends already that this was one of the most life-transformative things I have intentionally done, except maybe for moving to Japan at age 19 (where I ended up mostly sticking, for decades now). I really think YMMV on this one. I personally had one of those personality types (or more accurately, set of personality traits) where meditation probably has relatively major impact. Like, I was never not thinking about stuff. Usually, interesting problems in software engineering, for work or for hobby. But also home upgrades, DIY contraptions, am I doing well as a parent, should I get my kids a pet, how can I learn cooking/photography/piano/video-editing/martial arts/horticulture/etc on top of the stuff I am currently doing, etc. And if I wasn't thinking about something, it felt terrible, like a true waste of time, the most precious resource any of us has! Probably not coincidentally, I fucking HATED meditation whenever I had tried it previously (usually at the behest of some friend who advocated for it). And I initially thought I was "failing" and "couldn't do it". I mean to say, I felt like I couldn't achieve meditation. I was just sitting there, doing nothing, having my usual nonstop thoughts about quasi-random shit. I couldn't "focus on my breath" (the usual beginner object of attention, before moving on to other sensations, thought and feelings, or aspects of the current environment) for more than like 2 seconds, literally. After 3 weeks or so, though, I learned more and realized yeah that is part of it, just keep practicing and you'll get it. And you do still keep getting lost in thought, that's OK and normal, its the practice of noticing those thoughts arising, and returning attention to _____ that is a major part of the point. After a few weeks it is obvious that paying attention (aka "being mindful") is a trainable skill, and practice yields improvement. The TL;DR thing about it, the `n00b gainz` part that I think anybody can get, unless they already naturally have it, is: most of the thoughts you have that feel like "you" aren't, really. They are largely just thoughts. You feel like you are having them, thinking them, but generally that's not the case. Pay close attention and you can see the gap clearly between almost all thoughts that arise and "you". It is then much easier to respond to thoughts and feelings in the way you actually want to, rather than in some reflexive way that is not actually they way you would like to respond. The good thing about meditation is that you can just run your own n=1 experiment and try it. I chose the Waking Up app as my coaching tool (a real human teacher might be better, if you found the right one, but any of the apps will probably work fine I think) because it started with that premise: don't take our word for it, try this yourself and check the result for yourself. I did so, and the results have been pretty subjectively fantastic. I'm more present with my children. I am less reactive to (and therefore significantly less irritated by) dumbasses at work and in general life. And it feels way, way easier to stick to every mundane goal (running every morning before kids wake up, going to bed on time, adhering to my physical trainer's diet, and any and all other shit like that). After doing sitting meditation practice for a few months, I added walking meditation, which is fucking fantastic. This experience has made me want to try fasting, which I have never tried but other people recommend a lot, including in this very thread. Like meditation, it isn't something you have to take anybody's word for. You can just try it yourself, and see what the results are.

fedorova 5y ago
Please tell us how you do the walking meditation. It sounds great and I’d love to try it.
- veidr 5y ago
  Well, I started with the guided walking meditation in the app I use (Waking Up). It has 3 pre-recorded coaching sessions for walking. I did the longest one which is for walking outside in public. I wished it had more, but it only had that one. So I bought this other app, called “Walking Meditations” (on iOS), and it basically just has 3 guided walking meditation sessions. I also have “Ten Percent Happier” so I did that app’s walking meditation. After trying all these guided walking meditations a couple times each, I started trying to do it on my own, without any guidance/coaching. That works, but I personally still do better with a guided session. (That is to say, when I have an audio guide, I tend to notice more quickly when I get lost in thought, and observe the thought and let it pass, then return focus to the object of meditation, whether that is my breath, body sensations, environmental sounds, etc. If left to my won devices, after a while I still tend to get lost in thought for several minutes before realizing it.) So then I realized, hey, I can do the regular guided meditations while walking. The guide does usually say something like “OK, take your seat. Close your eyes, and bring your attention to the sounds around you | your breath | the weight of your body in space.” I just ignore the non-applicable parts, or substitute something applicable. If walking outside, I don’t close my eyes. Instead of bringing my awareness to the feeling of my body in the chair, I bring it to the feeling of my feet hitting the pavement, my legs supporting my body. But the rest of the coached meditation generally works fine. The commentary in these sessions generally consists of long pauses with gentle reminders and hints, to softly note your in/out breaths, become aware of sounds or sensations, or note when you become lost in thought and return your focus to the object of meditation. I believe with more practice I will likely just do it without coaching, but for now I like it with the coaching. I also made a habit of doing morning meditations standing on my roof, eyes shut usually, but facing the sun. That works great, too. Especially great for walking are the guided meditations that have you pay close attention to all the sounds around you. In a city, or in nature, even in a stil and quiet place. TL;DR - “just do the same meditation, but while walking”

by veidr 5y ago

fedorova 5y ago

Please tell us how you do the walking meditation. It sounds great and I’d love to try it.

veidr 5y ago
Well, I started with the guided walking meditation in the app I use (Waking Up). It has 3 pre-recorded coaching sessions for walking. I did the longest one which is for walking outside in public. I wished it had more, but it only had that one. So I bought this other app, called “Walking Meditations” (on iOS), and it basically just has 3 guided walking meditation sessions. I also have “Ten Percent Happier” so I did that app’s walking meditation. After trying all these guided walking meditations a couple times each, I started trying to do it on my own, without any guidance/coaching. That works, but I personally still do better with a guided session. (That is to say, when I have an audio guide, I tend to notice more quickly when I get lost in thought, and observe the thought and let it pass, then return focus to the object of meditation, whether that is my breath, body sensations, environmental sounds, etc. If left to my won devices, after a while I still tend to get lost in thought for several minutes before realizing it.) So then I realized, hey, I can do the regular guided meditations while walking. The guide does usually say something like “OK, take your seat. Close your eyes, and bring your attention to the sounds around you | your breath | the weight of your body in space.” I just ignore the non-applicable parts, or substitute something applicable. If walking outside, I don’t close my eyes. Instead of bringing my awareness to the feeling of my body in the chair, I bring it to the feeling of my feet hitting the pavement, my legs supporting my body. But the rest of the coached meditation generally works fine. The commentary in these sessions generally consists of long pauses with gentle reminders and hints, to softly note your in/out breaths, become aware of sounds or sensations, or note when you become lost in thought and return your focus to the object of meditation. I believe with more practice I will likely just do it without coaching, but for now I like it with the coaching. I also made a habit of doing morning meditations standing on my roof, eyes shut usually, but facing the sun. That works great, too. Especially great for walking are the guided meditations that have you pay close attention to all the sounds around you. In a city, or in nature, even in a stil and quiet place. TL;DR - “just do the same meditation, but while walking”