Meditation

[softmachine1988]

When it all becomes too overwhelming for me, I take the time, no matter where I am, and I meditate. Meditation to me is becoming more and more simple. My advice is to just focus on your breathing. Feel and let go of your thoughts completely. I like to focus on my heart beating as it synchronizes with my breathing. It sounds cliche, perhaps, but try it. Close your eyes and feels your breath fill up your body and feel your heart pump and the inner rhythms that we are often too distracted to notice. There is an amazing guided meditation on youtube with OCD Depression and Anxiety in the title. Its been helping me fall asleep when I find myself awake at 3-5 in the morning.

 

[listener1987]

@softmachine1988, I'm sure others would be interested in that video! Care to share the link?

 

[John Snort]

Meditation can be a good way to relieve anxiety or depression. The reason why most people don't try it is because they don't know how it is done. It is somewhat easy to learn though if you are willing to try again and again until you get it. Good thing is there are numerous instructional videos and blogs where you can learn "simple meditation" first. Zenhabits.com has a really good meditation guide.

 

[pwarbi]

Meditation I think can often be overlooked as people see it as an alternative form of treatment and because of that, they are unsure as to if it's going to have the desired effect or not. There are a lot of techniques on the internet that you can have a look at and try out yourself at home, and it's not always a case of having to go and get professional help. If you aren't sure if meditation is for you, then maybe looking at some sites and practising what you see on there could help you make up your mind if it is something you want to look more into in the future.

 

[fuzyon]

I've never believed in meditation until I tried it, and I wasn't convinced then either. I tried meditating for at least an hour per day and I wasn't seeing any progress until a month passed by. I was at work trying to do some stuff and I was banging my head against a problem for a few hours. Surprisingly, I didn't get frustrated for a second and I was actually trying to solve the problem instead of giving up after a short period of time. It can really do you good, your mind becomes more relaxed in situations like these.

 

[kelden]

Great. It takes time to become accustomed to meditation habits and benefit from it. I have read of all of the cognitive enhancement you can acquire from maditating.

 

[HappyKoi]

Meditation is a good idea. Like other people said, it does take time. I think a lot of people get frustrated and quit because it is so hard to quiet your mind. Still, it's like any other skill- the more you practice, even if you aren't sure it's doing any good at the time, the better you'll be. Meditation does wonders for improving focus, memory, and the ability to handle stressful situations even when you aren't meditating.


On kind of a silly note, here is a funny meditation. Warning: some of the language is a little...colorful.

 

[Azelma]

My therapist suggested this for me too, except under the name of mindfulness exercises. She explained (because I asked specifically how can one empty their mind of thoughts, which is what I understood was one of the points of meditation) that it's not so much emptying your mind of thoughts, but letting the thoughts come naturally and sort of gently pushing them aside and letting them float there. Is this anything like your idea of meditation?


I've been meaning to start practise with some classical music in my headphones and lying on the bed, is this a good way to start in your opinion?

 

[rfields.84]

I am currently working on meditation. Though I have a fear of suffocating so focusing on my breathing is difficult, because then I get preoccupied with whether i am breathing properly and if I am getting enough oxygen. I have started to get through that mental block and now that I am do that, I find that I can't full let myself go blank, because I'm also concerned that someone will interrupt me - or worse, hurt me while I'm not paying attention. I'd actually thought about someone snapping my neck or shooting me while I'm not paying attention. This has been something that is been harder for me to overcome. But with all of that, I have noticed that meditation has been very helpful. If you are like me and you have a hard time concentrating, I have actually started using this really great app called ChakraPro. Its the specific tones for cleansing certain parts of your chakras, but it is really good for helping me just focus on something other than the passing and frequent fears I have while I'm meditating.

 

[Surrender]

I am not sure about meditation. I used to try to meditate when I was younger, and could never get far with it, the thoughts running out of control thing. So at that point in my life it was a good exercise to try, to try and clear my mind and focus on breath. It did make me clearer and more sane the times I made a conscious effort at it.


But now somehow I am different and am able to focus better or something, because I can relax and clear my mind. And now if I mediate (which I stay away from) I can start to see lights and colors swirling. And I don't know if it's a good thing. I feel successful meditation can open you to "things" you don't know about and might wish you weren't opened to. I have read a Christian perspective on meditation saying the bible says we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind - not the emptying of it. Because when you empty it - well it leaves room for it to be filled with something else.


I don't know, it's a strange practice. When you are working on level 1 of it, it seems so hard and how could this possibly be harmful to your life, it is clearly helpful at stage 1, right? But then move up in the stages and I don't really know there are a lot of people out there (other than in the far East) who are experienced and knowledgeable about what happens next.

 

[kgord]

I don't have that much trouble clearing my mind strangely enough, but the kind of breathing you are supposed to do when you are meditating feels unnatural to me. It is not the way I breathe normally, so I find myself getting distracted by the process. I just feel like I have carbon dioxide in my body, and it just doesn't work for me. They say you should focus on your breathing,,to me it seems like taking the focus away from breathing might work! I am pretty sure the goal of mediatation is not more anxiety!

 

[17emilyhalko]

Meditation is great! I learned the wonders of meditation when I was in middle school, when I actually had a respectable teacher. Unfortunately, she was fired for letting us meditate, though meditation was very good for us all! I don't meditate much anymore, though wish that I did. I also find pilates very relaxing.