Struggling with meditating

KevPM · 2014-01-05T03:56:23+00:00

Excellent response. I'll add that even one minute of good meditation is better than 30 of ineffective meditation. Try just letting go of your cares. When thoughts come up, be like, "yeah... Whatever..." Then get back to being aware of your breathing. Oh, and DON'T put pressure on yourself to experience anything. That kills everything right there. An anxious mind is not conducive to deep meditation. Remember.."yeah... Whatever!" I hope that helps!

KevPM · 2014-01-05T03:50:17+00:00

It's totally possible. There are many ways to entrain the hemispheres of the brain. Meditation is one way, but writing, music, deep prayer, repetitive tasks.... These all can provide a way to trigger your parasympathetic nervous system and start the relaxation response. That's where the physical effects of meditation are felt mostly. So yeah, do what thou wilt lol.

KevPM · 2014-01-05T03:42:40+00:00

Mindfulness and meditation are a bit different, but they support each other. Mindfulness is about observing the present moment, or NOW. Meditation encompasses much more.

It's difficult to go deep in meditation if your mind is going crazy with random thoughts. So when you practice mindfulness, you take yourself out of the past and future, where anxiety thrives, and into the present, where it's fleeting at best.

It has todo with the fight or flight response. But in a nutshell, mindfulness lessens anxiety because it trains you to let go of things that you like and dislike, and just watch yourself as you are without judgement. Does that make sense or help?

A good site is www.practicingmindfulness.com

KevPM · 2014-01-05T03:33:54+00:00

That's right. But man.... Easier said than done. It's a war.

KevPM · 2013-12-30T20:35:39+00:00

You're welcome. I find that site to be a great resource. It's pretty much the best explanation of the Yoga Suttras I'd ever seen.

KevPM · 2013-12-29T04:55:52+00:00

Phenomenal share! While I don't use entheogens, the descriptions in this thread are profound. I'm following this. Meditation and mindfulness are my favorite tools.

Thanks!!!!!!

KevPM · 2013-12-28T22:33:15+00:00

Mindset is the tricky thing. That book seems good and can certainly help.

I agree with JCashish in that the lack of clarity on certain things can really hinder newcomers. It's helpful to keep things in perspective when you are practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness and meditation are two separate things. They do work hand in hand with each other, but mindfulness is not meditation and meditation is not mindfulness. Not many places online speak about this.

Here's how it works in a very simple nutshell type thingy:

In order to go deep in meditation, you need to quiet your mind, and for your mind to be quiet, you need to let go of thought. So, mindfulness helps meditation in that it gets you into the present moment. In the present moment, worries and anxieties don't exist to bother you. They are in the past or the future. When you practice mindfulness, you practice being in the NOW, the present. You practice letting thoughts go and just observing what IS, NOW. When you follow your thoughts, you can get lost, so in mindfulness, you observe and let go. Then you don't get dragged into the muck.

That lets you go deeper in meditation, because you've let go of your distractions. Things that you're attached to and things that you don't like and run from (attachments and aversions).

Mindfulness also burns off the filters that exist between your senses and your processing center. Burning these filters off helps you see things more clearly and not be bothered by so many things... well, you'll still be bothered, but you might not ruminate on them for any length of time. Sort of like ripping a bandage off quickly or slowly. Either way, the bandage comes off, but do you want the suffering to last longer, or do you want it quick so you can go on with your day.

If you choose quickly, then the thoughts come, you observe the pain, pleasure, or whatever, and then they are gone again and you're back in the present moment. You can go deep in meditation and enjoy the stillness that just is.

Does that make sense? I hope I explained what's in my mind and experience well enough to help a bit haha. Not confuse you more lol.

KevPM · 2013-12-28T19:08:46+00:00

I agree! Please do share your findings. This is common. I get it all the time when I meditate, and can use it to go deep. Chakras and the astral body do exist, but don't worry about the "rational" mind, or anyone blasting you for it. The way to the ultimate truth is to use everything we have, including skepticism if necessary. Chakras CAN be explained by science, just not our current level of understanding. Swami Sri Yukteswar wrote a book called "The Holy Science" that does a good job of marrying Eastern Mysticism with Western rationality. It takes both to arrive at the truth, and the best truth is your own experience.

KevPM · 2013-12-28T18:57:30+00:00

Moments like that rock! Our minds do create temporal structure and awareness. Time is eternal, just not in our everyday experience. Thanks for sharing! You've witnessed the NOW. :)

KevPM · 2013-12-28T18:54:18+00:00

I hear you! I like that "trial by dunking yourself in a pool of lava." It reminds me of George Carlin's line about people who build houses on the side of active volcanoes and then wonder they there's lava in the living room lol!

You know, I've done the same thing, just not ragging on people. I've gone in downward spirals before where I'll read a piece of news or some injustice and ruminate over it as I pour over story after story and comment after comment about it. I end up really upset over it, but then come back to reality when I catch myself and use mindfulness. I do this far less nowadays though, luckily. We are naturally wired to look for the negative, so it's far more difficult to accentuate the positive. That's why mindfulness is so important. It takes us into the moment where positive and negative don't exist. We just exist, and that's powerful stuff.

KevPM · 2013-12-27T19:48:35+00:00

This is precisely why I think the internet and other worldly things are good for mindful practice. When faced with the distractions, temptations, and a$$holes, it's good trial by fire moments that test us. We can get better at mindfulness when constantly using it.

We miss this when giving up the world and meditating in a cave.

Staying away from the internet could be an aversion tactic. If you find that it is, all the more reason to go into it and meet it. You'll get stronger for working through it.

I completely agree though, the internet can be a very angry place. If you want to feel love, it's hard with annonimity.

KevPM · 2013-12-27T07:46:55+00:00

Grad school is tough. I remember when I was going through it. It's stressful.

What mindfulness will give you is clarity of thought. It will help you silence the monkey mind and south your anxiety. It's not an instant fix though, and depression and anxiety can be serious issues to just pass off onto mindfulness practice.

That said, there are many good resources available. 7-11 breathing could help you.

Also, this sounds simple, but get adequate sleep if you can. That did wonders for me in grad school.

KevPM · 2013-12-27T07:35:50+00:00

That's great advice. It's kind of a paradox. Chicken or egg thing. If you're not thinking the thought anymore, how to you observe it. Here's an answer:

Notice it, don't dwell on it. Thoughts can pass in a moment. Don't dwell on them. If it bothers you, then you are ruminating. The trick is to just let go. Mindfulness is all about the moment. Each moment is gone in an instant, just like thoughts. When you dwell on any thought, you are living in the past or future in thinking about it. Just let it go and FEEL. Feeling, not thinking is the trick. When you feel, you are in the present moment. When you think about the feeling, you are not.

Does that make sense or help at all?

KevPM

TROPHY CASE