Meditation - your experiences please

[ADogg]

Hello

I’m becoming increasingly interested in meditation and am keen to hear people’s experience with it?

I need to work some “me time/head space” into my life and feel a meditation course/class/retreat could help.

Thanks!

[gregs656]

I did Zen meditation at uni. Was very good at settling the mind, particularly helped with my sleep.

[anonymous-user]

The app headspace is excellent with a free introductory sessions then a subscription. There’s mindfulness for all kinds of things like stress or addictions or focus for sport etc. It’s very good.

It’s just mindfulness without any spiritual Mumbo jumbo. You just set how long a session you want and crack on,

[ADogg]

Wow thanks for the replies! As a complete novice to true idea would you recommend the mindfulness app or did you go to a retreat?

Thank you again

[OverHonda]

Another recommendation for Headspace. They have apps for your phone, try-before-you-buy series of meditations etc.

See www.headspace.com

How I got into it? Work ran a taster course... since then I have gone along to a 10 minute session first thing in the morning, most work days.

[Joscal]

Another headspace recommendation here too. I find it very helpful and as mentioned above no mumbo jumbo. The book is worth a read too!

[anonymous-user]

ADogg said:

Wow thanks for the replies! As a complete novice to true idea would you recommend the mindfulness app or did you go to a retreat?

Thank you again

I would recommend the app headspace 100%

[anonymous-user]

another vote for headspace, although I never got beyond, or needed to, the intro files - I did pay for a bit but always fell asleep.

Apparently you're not supposed to do that, but I worked on the principal if it relaxes me enough to fall asleep then that's good enough for me

[Polite M135 driver]

I have also used headspace and think it’s great. I’m so much more chilled in traffic and hardly ever run people off the road anymore.

(But seriously it has been a great help through a particularly challenging year - both the basic intro packages and the various packs for ‘stress’ or whatever).

[Mothersruin]

I did a ten day Vipassana course thing a while back.

There's lots of stuff on the web as to what it is and what you do - it's all to a set plan and the same worldwide. What will be different is each and everyone's individual experience.

The best way I can describe my experience was like a Disk Clean Up and Defrag for the mind.

Because of the lack of stimuli and total focus on the technique, it allowed my mind to run riot. I was recalling long lost memories in immense detail and clarity - lots of them 'bad' which I probably didn't want to resurface, but I had no control. It was an extremely detailed look in the mirror with no hiding place. It was brutal. Nowhere to hide and I had to face it, look at it, deal with and learn from it. It was uncomfortable. What it did though, was allow me to sift through everything and work out what was important. I could 'wipe' the stuff that didn't matter and prioritise the important stuff. As much as there was 'bad', there was also the 'good' and I applied the same filters etc... I got rid of the baggage.

I cried twice during the ten days - once during the 'facing' period as it was pretty dark at times, and the second time was towards the end once I'd had the chance to look at the bigger picture and I was so positive about how good things could be. It was extremely liberating to really get the handle on who I am, where I should be going and knowing I was capable of getting there.

I know that all sounds a bit wishy-washy and I could go into more detail but it'd be a book, not a post.

I don't meditate regularly but I still use the technique to relax and have a bit of a think when necessary - I'm a calmer person on a day to day basis. I learn't to realise that change is constant, for good and bad, and you're often not in control of it anyway, so live in the now and go with it doing your best focusing on what you can control.

Anyway - that was mine - yours could be similar or completely different. Also, different people react differently to the basic experience, let alone where your head goes. It can freak people out being that insular for ten days.

[ADogg]

Thanks for all the replies so far! Plenty of things to look into

[ollie05]

As above, headspace seems decent, there was 40% off a years membership recently so made it about £40 if it's something you fancied after the trial.

Also try the app Insight Timer. There is a free 7 day course on there then a load of other random meditation audio things to try after that.

I find it quite difficult to do and am still new to it, but am going to stick with it, see how I go...

[Teddy Lop]

Bumpety-bump.

Have just paid for headspace app. What made you decide to do it and what did accomplish for those of you who did it? (Or any other medititations)

Really struggle to slip into it; suffer from urgent, invasive thoughts that I can't set aside. (I've been told over something else by someone highly qualified I'm describing the practical definition of an attention deficit disorder so that might be something to do with it)

have tried different times of day, first thing in morning before leaving the house and also early evening to "end" the "work" day so to speak. Doesn't help I run a business as of course there's always a million things I haven't done to worry about.

Also, what exactly does it mean to lose focus and let your mind free?

Thanks.

[ian996]

Teddy Lop said:

Bumpety-bump.

Have just paid for headspace app. What made you decide to do it and what did accomplish for those of you who did it? (Or any other medititations)

Really struggle to slip into it; suffer from urgent, invasive thoughts that I can't set aside. (I've been told over something else by someone highly qualified I'm describing the practical definition of an attention deficit disorder so that might be something to do with it)

have tried different times of day, first thing in morning before leaving the house and also early evening to "end" the "work" day so to speak. Doesn't help I run a business as of course there's always a million things I haven't done to worry about.

Also, what exactly does it mean to lose focus and let your mind free?

Thanks.

I can't comment on the Headspace app, but I took a Transcendental Meditation course back in the mid 1990's , when I was suffering from quite severe post viral fatigue.

I can certainly relate to your difficulty in slipping into a meditative state - it is not easy (particularly at the beginning) and I think there is a very strong counter-intuitive aspect to it....In a strange way, you kind of have to concentrate REALLY hard on not concentrating on anything extraneous, then you have to stop concentrating on what you have used to get rid of the extraneous thoughts, until finally you are not concentrating on anything at all. I found that I really had to commit to it and, if random thoughts impinged, just block them out and have another go. On a bad day, it might mean you just spend 20 or 30 minutes dismissing different random thoughts, and never actually get into a meditative state, but if you keep on doing it day-after-day and keep working at calming your mind, I think there is an increasing likely hood of slipping into it.....a sequence might be:

Monday: get nowhere

Tuesday: get nowhere, but relaxed a bit

Wednesday: get into a very relaxed state for a few minutes but then lose it

Thursday: get into the relaxed state a couple of times

Friday: after 15 mins slip into a borderline meditative state for 10 mins or so....very relaxing

Saturday: WOW! slip into the full meditative state thing...have no idea how long it took to get into it, or how long I was in it, but came out of it at roughly the expected time

Sunday: borderline meditative state again

Week on week, it would be a different combination of the above but, the more weeks you stick with it, the more days would involve the full meditative state.

Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you tend to get at it. As far as I remember, on my course, they suggested putting aside (as far as is possible) a sacrosanct time each day, as the routine helps the process. I also seem to remember that twice a day was preferred (morning/evening). While it seems a big commitment, my experience was that the time I lost (or had to make in a busy day) was repaid many-times over in terms of my feeling of well being. If there is one thing I would suggest it would be, don't try to relax from a 100 MPH day as part of the actual meditation process...be as relaxed as you can be before you start - I usually just do some slow controlled breathing to calm my thoughts a little before I start trying to empty them.

In terms of "losing focus and letting your mind free", the best way I can describe it is that you end up floating in your own consciousness - you are conscious...you know you are conscious, but there is nothing there, you are just (mentally) floating. It really is a genuinely blissfull feeling and, I think, when you are able to achieve it a couple of times a week (even if not every day), it does significantly help with stress. In my case I really believe it helped my physical well-being and recovery.

I had one quite odd experience while in a blissful state....out of nowhere, it was as if a lecture on stoichiometric combustion was running through my head. As far as I could/can consciously remember, I had no understanding of that process at that time. Without a doubt, I must have read an article or watched a TV program on it at some point previously, which had since slipped into my sub-conscious, but to have the information pop out of nowhere in a fully formed state was bizarre to say the least. It certainly re-affirmed my suspicion that the meditation was triggering something quite deep in my brain.

A meditative state is quite a profound thing when it happens - Once you experience it, I think it becomes easier to achieve, as you know what you are aiming for. Best of luck with it

[RobM77]

I read this book a while ago and found the parts on meditation really interesting:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waking-Up-Searching-Spiri...

Essentially, Sam's approach to the book is that there's an awful lot of good and scientifically interesting things about eastern philosophies, but much of it is wrapped up in religious mumbo-jumbo. He's not just a guy jumping on the "write a book" bandwagon, he has a PhD in neuroscience and has spent years studying meditation. He has also produced some guided meditations available online which are excellent.

[Richyboy]

Isn’t meditation simply sitting down with a straight back and not thinking (trying to not let thoughts enter your mind)? I bought a PROSHI meditation device many years ago that used to work wonderfully for clearing the mind but the battery died and I was unable to get an exact replacement.

[TimmyMallett]

It's whatever you want it to be, but for free, just focus on your breathing. Sit, quietly somewhere. It's hard at first to get your brain to shut the fk up, but with practice you get better at it. Eventually you'll get to the point your mind won't wander at all. You're not shutting everything out, you#'re still aware of your surroundings and noises but you just don't dwell on them, they come and go.

I found locking myself on the bathroom with Headspace (free version) kick started me.

[anonymous-user]

Teddy Lop said:

Bumpety-bump.

Have just paid for headspace app. What made you decide to do it and what did accomplish for those of you who did it? (Or any other medititations)

Really struggle to slip into it; suffer from urgent, invasive thoughts that I can't set aside. (I've been told over something else by someone highly qualified I'm describing the practical definition of an attention deficit disorder so that might be something to do with it)

have tried different times of day, first thing in morning before leaving the house and also early evening to "end" the "work" day so to speak. Doesn't help I run a business as of course there's always a million things I haven't done to worry about.

Also, what exactly does it mean to lose focus and let your mind free?

Thanks.

In headspace the introduction module helps you get into the different aspects and techniques like focus on breath, body scan and visualisations etc and then there’s usually a let your mind free section where instead of focusing on the breath or a body scan or visualisation you just let your mind do what it wants then you bring it back into focus on the breath etc,

It’s about practicing being with random thoughts and but not focusing too much on them or letting them take over.

The idea is then that if you’re going about your day and suddenly have a thought that affects you negatively. You might tend to think about this too much and these negative thoughts like stress or anxiety or whatever it can then lead to negative behaviour. Mindfulness can help us recognise these situations make us recognise we’re having a thought that puts us at disease but stops us focusing too much on it by just recognising that these are just passing thoughts and being more comfortable with it.

Headspace is all about being present I.e. focusing on what you’re doing and enjoying it rather than say sitting with a loved one having dinner but thinking about something at work etc.

For me it’s about helping me be more present in what I’m doing and part of an overall healthier life. I found I was doing loads of exercise and eating healthy but not really doing things to help my mind so headspace is great for that and I’ve felt huge benefits from it over the years.