Meditation

[civvver]

I want to get into meditation but don't really know what to do or how to do it. How much do I meditate? What method should I use? Has anyone had success with it?

My goal is self regulation. I was taking some drugs for mood swings but I didn't like the side effects and my doctor said try meditation as it's often more effective than drugs.

I looked up LKM and tried that a couple times. It felt kind of weird.

 

[MaryKB]

I'd suggest looking into local yoga studios ... you don't have to do yoga, but most will have meditation classes you can join.

I do meditation with my yoga group, I find it's very useful for centering myself.

 

[Hygro]

I did like a bootcamp with a group that offers a free 10 (actually 12) silent meditation program. I did the one in Kaufman Texas. Super legit. It will because you are alone together with only your own thoughts, seem a tad culty for a few days into it but after more you will see it’s not. The benefits are sufficient that people are motivated to donate to keep it going. You can find them thru dhamma.org it’s difficult but immensely worthwhile. They feed, house, and teach you for the duration. I recommend it.

I don’t meditate often but it’s easy for me now. I do a blend of the above Vispassana style and a more Zen passive style.

Before that I did some personal attempts, some guided ones with new age dudes, and a meditative wind down after tai chi (which I did for 3 months). The tai chi wind down was really good.

 

[dusters]

5-10 mins per session, 2-3x per day for a total beginner. Try to think slower, catch your thoughts and leave them to drift. You can also imagine yourself from afar and focus on that. Focus on letting your mind wander

 

[Hygro]

I too have a doctor who told me I needed to meditate for superior results than medication (in this case stimulants). I was talking about how much work it is and he was like "you don't have to do anything!"

I realized in the camp, similar to what dusters is saying about letting them drift away, you can just wind out your repeating thoughts. You don't have to fight to keep a "clear mind". I mean, you can make that your meditate focus if you want, but your clear mind might simply be unveiling all the clutter of thoughts you have swirling about.

I was surprised in my 10 days to realize absent media and stimuli I only really thought about 7 different things on repeat.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I was surprised in my 10 days to realize absent media and stimuli I only really thought about 7 different things on repeat.

Music, food, sex, ? ? ? ?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Music, food, sex, ? ? ? ?

posting on cfc

 

[Birdjaguar]

That's four, three more to go.

 

[Hygro]

In addition to thinking about meditation itself and the nature of reality, simple things. Pretty much like how to solve family problem x, which old girlfriend was actually good for me, what I wanted to be when I grow up (any day now) and other like super basic personal things. Nothing complex or advanced. No breakthroughs in music production or my understanding of economics. No big decisions. Definitely a very dramatic relearning of my body that I still am growing into. We definitely have a lot more control than we think but it really does take meditating, and doing so in non-comfortable positions only helps.