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(Pardon the fact that it's a Google Doc; I haven't had time to write it into HTML yet and the Export function is not quite cutting it.)

jwrobes 13y ago
I've been practicing meditation for a long time off and on. I've gone months with sitting every day. I've had stretches where I sat an hour a day. I've participated in mediation retreats. One new concept that I'm trying to put in place relates directly to the point about how just sitting every day doesn't change the stress level at work. It's the idea of trying to break away the practice of awareness from the cushion and spread it out during the day. It's really simple, but I've found it very difficult to practice. It's 5 "moments" a day you remember to "meditate." Basically this moments should lass from 15 seconds to a minute, and you just try and gain awareness of whatever is present in that moment. To me this could promise some powerful benefits, beyond just sitting every day. But thus far, I've found it very hard to do this 5 times a day. Anyone ever try this?
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  To me this could promise some powerful benefits, beyond just sitting every day. But thus far, I've found it very hard to do this 5 times a day. Anyone ever try this? This sounds really interesting. Something I'd like to strive for is more purity in experiences. What I mean is that when I go swimming, I shouldn't be thinking about work. When I'm at work, I shouldn't be thinking about my next swim. I'm far from qualified to opine on this topic, but it seems to me that the "most meditative" practice is to do whatever you're doing well, with intent, and free of pollution from other influences, i.e. "when I sleep, I sleep; when I eat, I eat". The Deep (to me) is a lot like being in a coding flow, or that blissed-out feeling you get an hour or two into a long bike ride or a swim.
  - jwrobes 13y ago
    Now to bounce off this. I think that there may actually be a difference between what this practice can do for you and the experience of being in the flow. However, I think they are closely related. My idea of what it means to be the flow, you are, in a sense, not acting from your conscious "I" mind, but just kind of acting without acting. This is the whole Taoist Wu-Wei concept. But really, you are coming from the space from which thought arises, rather than the thought itself. So when you are in the flow with coding, swim, or bike ride, you are in the midst of an action that granted you access to this state. But you did not actually consciously enter this directly state by choice. But the I think the trap can be that you can only access this when you are doing things that lead to being in the flow. What about being able to enter this state when you are really upset about something or when things are going badly, or when you are bored, or when you are doing something compulsively. The practice I believe is trying to access this state at random times of the day, and especially in those times when you are not engaged in an activity that lends itself to this awareness, but actually engaged in activities that do the opposite (such as being annoyed at someone). The idea is that you are building this muscle that allows you to access the "flow" more and more and eventually maybe realize that in some way can always access the space from which thought arises, because that space must always exist. But again, this is theory. Practice is hard. I'll take a moment now. The concept for this came from this ebook. I've only skimmed it. http://www.greatfreedom.org/Gallery/ShortMoments.pdf http://www.greatfreedom.org/Gallery/ShortMoments.pdf
    - funkjunky 13y ago
      I believe the flow state is essentially an active meditation. One accesses it by stilling the blah blah thought mind and ego enough to allow the subconscious to freely flow into action. There are plenty of ways to do this, in fact I've found boring repetition is great for it (I play piano). Above all else though, meditation is probably the best practice, since that trains one to be still enough to allow deeper parts of the mind to "flow" freer whilst maintaining enough focus that one isn't derailed by every possible distraction that could arise. And I also agree with you on the "muscle" training throughout the day. This state is always available, and the trick to being a baddass at life is to be able to find it NO MATTER WHAT else is going on. The only way to train that is to do in distracting situations. This is why I like yoga, because there's a bunch of other crap going on that I have to "overcome" with focus and stillness of mind. Only then will the asana make sense and I'll access that state, and that same training makes me better at it for rest of my daily activities. Kind like how doing math also makes you good a solving problems in general, or reading/writing literature makes you more emotionally intelligent.
- funkjunky 13y ago
  See my post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929509 There are tons of micro exercises you can come up, the trick is to "catch" yourself as often as possible every day. screw the 5 times, just try to max out every day. Dont stop what you're doing, just start to become conscious of what you're doing. The breath is the key. Its tough but it works.

jwrobes 13y ago

I've been practicing meditation for a long time off and on. I've gone months with sitting every day. I've had stretches where I sat an hour a day. I've participated in mediation retreats. One new concept that I'm trying to put in place relates directly to the point about how just sitting every day doesn't change the stress level at work. It's the idea of trying to break away the practice of awareness from the cushion and spread it out during the day. It's really simple, but I've found it very difficult to practice. It's 5 "moments" a day you remember to "meditate." Basically this moments should lass from 15 seconds to a minute, and you just try and gain awareness of whatever is present in that moment. To me this could promise some powerful benefits, beyond just sitting every day. But thus far, I've found it very hard to do this 5 times a day. Anyone ever try this?

michaelochurch 13y ago
To me this could promise some powerful benefits, beyond just sitting every day. But thus far, I've found it very hard to do this 5 times a day. Anyone ever try this? This sounds really interesting. Something I'd like to strive for is more purity in experiences. What I mean is that when I go swimming, I shouldn't be thinking about work. When I'm at work, I shouldn't be thinking about my next swim. I'm far from qualified to opine on this topic, but it seems to me that the "most meditative" practice is to do whatever you're doing well, with intent, and free of pollution from other influences, i.e. "when I sleep, I sleep; when I eat, I eat". The Deep (to me) is a lot like being in a coding flow, or that blissed-out feeling you get an hour or two into a long bike ride or a swim.
- jwrobes 13y ago
  Now to bounce off this. I think that there may actually be a difference between what this practice can do for you and the experience of being in the flow. However, I think they are closely related. My idea of what it means to be the flow, you are, in a sense, not acting from your conscious "I" mind, but just kind of acting without acting. This is the whole Taoist Wu-Wei concept. But really, you are coming from the space from which thought arises, rather than the thought itself. So when you are in the flow with coding, swim, or bike ride, you are in the midst of an action that granted you access to this state. But you did not actually consciously enter this directly state by choice. But the I think the trap can be that you can only access this when you are doing things that lead to being in the flow. What about being able to enter this state when you are really upset about something or when things are going badly, or when you are bored, or when you are doing something compulsively. The practice I believe is trying to access this state at random times of the day, and especially in those times when you are not engaged in an activity that lends itself to this awareness, but actually engaged in activities that do the opposite (such as being annoyed at someone). The idea is that you are building this muscle that allows you to access the "flow" more and more and eventually maybe realize that in some way can always access the space from which thought arises, because that space must always exist. But again, this is theory. Practice is hard. I'll take a moment now. The concept for this came from this ebook. I've only skimmed it. http://www.greatfreedom.org/Gallery/ShortMoments.pdf http://www.greatfreedom.org/Gallery/ShortMoments.pdf
  - funkjunky 13y ago
    I believe the flow state is essentially an active meditation. One accesses it by stilling the blah blah thought mind and ego enough to allow the subconscious to freely flow into action. There are plenty of ways to do this, in fact I've found boring repetition is great for it (I play piano). Above all else though, meditation is probably the best practice, since that trains one to be still enough to allow deeper parts of the mind to "flow" freer whilst maintaining enough focus that one isn't derailed by every possible distraction that could arise. And I also agree with you on the "muscle" training throughout the day. This state is always available, and the trick to being a baddass at life is to be able to find it NO MATTER WHAT else is going on. The only way to train that is to do in distracting situations. This is why I like yoga, because there's a bunch of other crap going on that I have to "overcome" with focus and stillness of mind. Only then will the asana make sense and I'll access that state, and that same training makes me better at it for rest of my daily activities. Kind like how doing math also makes you good a solving problems in general, or reading/writing literature makes you more emotionally intelligent.
funkjunky 13y ago
See my post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6929509 There are tons of micro exercises you can come up, the trick is to "catch" yourself as often as possible every day. screw the 5 times, just try to max out every day. Dont stop what you're doing, just start to become conscious of what you're doing. The breath is the key. Its tough but it works.