Try waking up 10 minutes earlier than you need to of a morning and doing it then. Alternately make it the last thing you do before getting into bed of an evening.
Health Meditation
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Try waking up 10 minutes earlier than you need to of a morning and doing it then. Alternately make it the last thing you do before getting into bed of an evening.
Purchased a zafu cushion and have found it to be exceptional for meditation. It helps to prevent your legs from going numb during longer meditation sessions and correct your posture. Best $40 purchase I've made this year, highly recommended.
funny, I literally purchased a cushion 3 days ago to improve my practice and it's helped heaps. Mine is a Zafu fold out one.
I recently signed up to the Waking Up app by Sam Harris. If you request a free membership for 12 months they grant it no questions asked, is really good.
Definitely goes a bit deeper than Calm and Headspace, whom seem to focus a bit more on 'relaxing' than actual practice. I recommend it if anyone is looking to get started. I'm probably not far off needing any guidance anymore.
Glad to hear the zafu has also worked for you! Check out Insight Timer as well which offers a stack of free guided and unguided meditations. I'm a big fan of Tibetan singing bowls or American Indian Flute as background music rather than guided meditation.
- Nov 9, 2012
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Meditation is wonderful.
Love chilling out in the park on a nice day escaping from this world.
Love chilling out in the park on a nice day escaping from this world.
Have been going hard on the meditation again during lockdown. During the 2020 lockdowns I got up to a 160ish day streak, currently on 17 days in a row and completed two 30 minute meditations today. It's an absolute lifesaver when you can't get out of the house.
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Need the escape tbh. The mind isn’t meant to cooped up... mental health deteriorates.
I've transitioned from meditating every morning to doing 15-20 of breathing exercises(Patrick McKeown/Wim Hof style) each morning, instead I do 90 minute Yoga classes most days and I find that has a great meditative affect.
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Glad you're trying different techniques. There's no real right or wrong way to meditate, and about a thousand different activities could categorised in the same way. Reckon it's better to be open to exploring other ways of training your attention, and different circumstances call for different approaches.
I still practice basic anapana in the mornings, but I've started taking deep breaths while laying down and listening to music. Really brings the sounds into focus, and relaxes you at the same time.
Exercise can also be pretty meditative if you bring your attention to your body and thoughts while you're doing it.
Has anyone experimented with meditation where instead of clearing the mind you absorb every little detail in your surrounding, acknowledging all senses. I do this every now and then. At work I heard noises on the machines, little ripples that I had never heard in the 4 years I'd been there.
Focusing on feeling, how cold it is, how it feels, the sounds, visuals, how your feet touch the ground. It's amazing how focused your memory becomes. I also do this with music.
Focusing on feeling, how cold it is, how it feels, the sounds, visuals, how your feet touch the ground. It's amazing how focused your memory becomes. I also do this with music.
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I do this every now and then. It's not part of my regular practice, but I've definitely had some unbelievable moments of stillness just taking in my immediate surroundings, paying attention to whatever sounds come my way. It's Eckhart Tolle's method, or what I think is roughly his 'technique.'
Had a huge rush working one of my first office jobs doing this. Felt like I was in the centre of a sitcom - everything became funny: colleagues using corporate buzzwords, papers shuffling, coffee boiling. In hindsight I was probably going through something resembling depression, and that hour was a generous moment of release, but it was pretty powerful.
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the other day at work I was observing a conversation between two colleagues and I observed things I'd never observed previously. I had always thought it was just me that had the issue with this one guy but I noticed that he had a someone trying to help him and explain something to him and he wasn't even listening, and then I saw an eye roll haha.
Engimal v3
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How to meditate
To put it simply, practice.
To expand on it a bit more download a meditation app (I use Insight Timer) and start by meditating for 2-5 minutes a day by listening to either guided (someone talking) or unguided (music, white noise) meditations. It's important to start short, as there's really no excuse for not being able to find 2-5 minutes in your day to build your meditation habit.
Try and carve out a regular spot in the day to meditate as this helps build the routine (I do it as soon as I wake up, and a second meditation when I go to bed).
Once you're comfortable with 2-5 minutes of meditation then jump up to 10, from 10 move to 15 etc. Play around with different guided and unguided meditations to find what works best for you, I'm typically a fan of unguided meditations but will occasionally listen to a body scan or chakra cleanse guided meditation instead if I'm feeling sore or a bit all over the place.
The good thing about meditation is it's free and provides an incredible opportunity to become better attuned to your body and thoughts. If you're looking to expand a bit more though, I'd recommend eventually getting a zafu, as it allows you to meditate with your legs crossed for longer periods of time while still allowing blood flow.
If you've got any questions let me know, happy to answer them!
After years of trying I find clearing the mind and thinking of nothing impossible, I've tried many techniques and the one that works best for me is to focus your attention on one thing at a time... be it your breath, a humming noise, 1 thought/idea or as you say a feeling, I'd call it a daydreaming/zombie state or getting in the zone.
I've been doing a lot of breathwork lately and I definitely get in a meditative state doing this on the odd occasion eg. I do a series of breath holds on the exhale and can quite comfortably get up to around 3 minutes and a few seconds, if I get into this zombie state time just seems to disappear and I have got up to 4 minutes and 30 seconds and I'll come out of it and think holy s**t where was I. I also find that as soon as you acknowledge to yourself that you are in this state you pop out of it, like when you dream and you realise you are dreaming and you quickly wake up.
It's ******* amazing. I still remember that day I sat in the cafe absorbing everything. Like you said, you could focus on colours, or sounds, or even human behavior. But its so awesome to direct your whole focus on one thing. In fact this is how some of the worlds greatest ever musicians and mathemeticians were unbelievably talented, or autistic people. Unfortunately in reality direct focus all the time can be detrimental.
patterns
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Start with only focusing on breathing exercises/techniques IMO.
Engimal v3
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Thought it was hocus pocus until giving it a go recently. Seriously life changing.
When I can't go to BJJ to clear my head during lockdown, meditation serves that purpose.
Woke up this morning with a a lot of usual "Monday stress". Mediated for 15mins at 10am and it all fell away after that.
When I can't go to BJJ to clear my head during lockdown, meditation serves that purpose.
Woke up this morning with a a lot of usual "Monday stress". Mediated for 15mins at 10am and it all fell away after that.
Osho
Time is not linear, when we're here in your car.
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BJJ?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
