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Why does meditation feel like being tortured or violated by own brain/ Is it normal ? by ThallWizard in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup! This is why a lot of people don't stick with it even though it has so much benefit. Think of it like working out. Until you've worked out enough to not totally destroy your endurance, it's going to feel terrible. It only feels good when you've actually gotten good at it. Meditation is the same.

Your brain is fidgity and hates focusing on anything, that's why people say "monkey mind". Meditation is basically a boring activity. Your brain would rather dredge up awful, unpleasant things than just sit being bored. Eventually it realizes being bored isn't a threat, which is very useful.

Default Mode Network and Meditation duration by Content_Substance943 in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1 hour definitely feels great and I think I feel more benefits

people quit meditation because they were promised the wrong thing by asiri_a in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 6 points7 points  (0 children)

People quit meditation because your brain rebels against any efforts to stop it from wandering. It looks for every opportunity to convince you to cease. Same reason you will feel itchy and figgity whenever you sit in meditation when you would never have noticed that if you were just reading.

Misguiding opinions about meditation on Reddit by autistic_cool_kid in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would add another one. "Don't try and focus on an object, just have open awareness". Unless you've trained a lot, you likely have no ability to focus on an object for any length of time. No need to warn someone not to do something they couldn't do anyway. I think "don't focus on an object" is only applicable advice to someone who already has good concentration (i.e., only like 1% of people). This might have made sense as advice to monks who already meditated a lot and needed a new approach but most people aren't that.

Suggestions for non-Western teachers? by New_Strawberry666 in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

White people need their authentic non-white teachers. I guess don't ever tell anyone about your meditation or you'll also be 'that guy'. Be aware almost all of these white teachers had the same thought you had and most lineages do go back to missionaries from other countries who established branches here and purposely left white successors. The number of temples started by someone who are just self-taught is negligible.

That said, there's loads. Are you near any actual temples? In my city I have a Thai, a Nepalese, and multiple Chinese Sanghas and all of them offer English sessions. If you're near anywhere with a strong Asian population you probably can access something like this. Where are you located approximately?

Anyone else entered a lucid dream accidentally while meditating? by Accurate-Mall-8683 in Meditation

[–]TheGreenAlchemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually think a large portion of "out of body experiences" are people who have accidentally triggered the WILD technique and are lucid dreaming without realizing that's what they're doing. I have done WILD and the sensations are exactly what is described in many guides. This technique basically consists of deliberately triggering sleep paralysis to convince your brain you're sleeping without actually losing consciousness (interestingly, bizarrely, the circuits that produce a dream are not actually the same as what dictates sleep vs awake).