This is really brilliant advice Dave, thank you. The bottom line with meditation is that it is a practice, and you have to work at it. It's like learning to play the saxophone. The difference is with the saxophone, you're dealing with technical mastery, whereas with meditation there is not really a performance metric, you are just learning to be more in the present. Thanks again.
First off-thank you. The message you send is dearly needed in these troubled times.
I’m 71. I’ve actively meditated for nearly 53 years. It truly makes a difference. My current practice involves breathing and use of a mantra( a sound reduced to a word, reduced to a single point of concentration) that I practice most mornings and often after work for anywhere up to 50 minutes. But it started at 15 minutes twice a day.
I’ve pursued studying of eastern religions , chanting with Buddhists in Taos New Mexico. I’ve sat with Native American Holy Men in their sweat lodge ceremony. I’ve attended Mass as a Catholic.
All share a notion of the Divine.
And none of that is necessary to experience the benefits of meditation utilising any of the methods described by the author.
Meditation can help you go to sleep at the end of a stressful day, can refresh you in the evening and help you gain focus in the morning. My reflexes are quicker as the result of meditation. My ability to focus is improved. My health is improved. The last visit to my doctor had him advise me to keep doing what I'm doing because I was in terrific health for my age.
Most importantly, meditation removes and helps one control stress , which in our society does as much damage on a daily basis as anything you do that undercuts your health.
Again , thank you for spreading this important message.
Thanks. My question: How do I know when I'm successfully meditating (as opposed to just doing nothing, or thinking about a spot or my breath or th trees... or falling asleep). What am I aiming for? And please don't say "inner peace" or vague words that I don't understand.
People say that mindfulness is useful. What is the state of mindfulness and how do I know when I'm there? "Oh, you just know ..."? Thing is: I might be meditating every time I boil the kettle... how would I know?
The whole "am I doing it right" thing is legit, and it still rears it's ugly head once in a while. One of the big challenges with EVERYTHING related to spirituality religion and "altered states" is that they're inherently subjective. I have no idea what your internal world is like.
IF You're someone with a lot of internal dialog, well, when that goes away, that's a sign. Or perhaps, when you start being able to have metacognitive awareness of he FACT that you've got the internal dialog going.
When staring at a candle, there's a difference between a voice in my head saying
"well, there's the candle. I guess I'll look at the tip. Darn my eyes darted ill try again. Wait why am I thinking abotu cheese"
and just the thoughtless, present awareness of the candle flame, in narrower and finer and more unique detail.
But, simply the act of concentrating, failing, and returning, again and again, has demonstrable, measurable impact on stress markers.
ALL that said: I'll never tell anyone they "should" meditate. You do you.
Thanks, Dave. That might be useful. I suppose it must be a "you'll get it when you get it" (YGIWYGI). I'll keep on aiming for something recognisable as different. Possibly too much analysis as always. Thanks.
2: Fire Kasina meditation. Because it's SO visual, working with both the flame and the afterimages are essentially self-feedback. If you're honest with yourself, you know whether your eyes moved off the candle flame. When you close your eyes, even holdign the after image for more than a few seconds can require significant concentration. If you're really needing data, you can even try and track how long you can "hold" the afterimage. Big difference between 10 seconds and 20 minutes.
This is really brilliant advice Dave, thank you. The bottom line with meditation is that it is a practice, and you have to work at it. It's like learning to play the saxophone. The difference is with the saxophone, you're dealing with technical mastery, whereas with meditation there is not really a performance metric, you are just learning to be more in the present. Thanks again.
Thanks for reading Bob. You were in my head writing this! I think we talked about this as "mental Jazz" at one point!
First off-thank you. The message you send is dearly needed in these troubled times.
I’m 71. I’ve actively meditated for nearly 53 years. It truly makes a difference. My current practice involves breathing and use of a mantra( a sound reduced to a word, reduced to a single point of concentration) that I practice most mornings and often after work for anywhere up to 50 minutes. But it started at 15 minutes twice a day.
I’ve pursued studying of eastern religions , chanting with Buddhists in Taos New Mexico. I’ve sat with Native American Holy Men in their sweat lodge ceremony. I’ve attended Mass as a Catholic.
All share a notion of the Divine.
And none of that is necessary to experience the benefits of meditation utilising any of the methods described by the author.
Meditation can help you go to sleep at the end of a stressful day, can refresh you in the evening and help you gain focus in the morning. My reflexes are quicker as the result of meditation. My ability to focus is improved. My health is improved. The last visit to my doctor had him advise me to keep doing what I'm doing because I was in terrific health for my age.
Most importantly, meditation removes and helps one control stress , which in our society does as much damage on a daily basis as anything you do that undercuts your health.
Again , thank you for spreading this important message.
Thanks for reading Sean!
This is great.
I’ve certainly tried to workaholic my way into meditative bliss—shockingly, it has not worked.
Enjoyed reading this, Dave! I’m going to take the hint and simply sit.
JP would be proud.
Dave, absolutely beautiful. Thanks!
Thanks for this post man. I needed / been looking for the info here and had no clue how to find it. Gonna give the Michael Taft sleep stuff a try tn
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for sharing what you've learned!
If you sleep with a spouse or s/o, how do you do get them to agree to the sleep meditation?
well, maybe that won't be where you start. But my wife will drift off with an earbud in now and then and it doesnt seem to bother either of us.
Thanks. My question: How do I know when I'm successfully meditating (as opposed to just doing nothing, or thinking about a spot or my breath or th trees... or falling asleep). What am I aiming for? And please don't say "inner peace" or vague words that I don't understand.
People say that mindfulness is useful. What is the state of mindfulness and how do I know when I'm there? "Oh, you just know ..."? Thing is: I might be meditating every time I boil the kettle... how would I know?
Thanks!
The whole "am I doing it right" thing is legit, and it still rears it's ugly head once in a while. One of the big challenges with EVERYTHING related to spirituality religion and "altered states" is that they're inherently subjective. I have no idea what your internal world is like.
IF You're someone with a lot of internal dialog, well, when that goes away, that's a sign. Or perhaps, when you start being able to have metacognitive awareness of he FACT that you've got the internal dialog going.
When staring at a candle, there's a difference between a voice in my head saying
"well, there's the candle. I guess I'll look at the tip. Darn my eyes darted ill try again. Wait why am I thinking abotu cheese"
and just the thoughtless, present awareness of the candle flame, in narrower and finer and more unique detail.
But, simply the act of concentrating, failing, and returning, again and again, has demonstrable, measurable impact on stress markers.
ALL that said: I'll never tell anyone they "should" meditate. You do you.
Thanks, Dave. That might be useful. I suppose it must be a "you'll get it when you get it" (YGIWYGI). I'll keep on aiming for something recognisable as different. Possibly too much analysis as always. Thanks.
If you're struggling for feedback loops, two thoughts:
1: Muse 2 (https://choosemuse.com/products/muse-2) It's a spendy toy, but the feedback is legitimate.
2: Fire Kasina meditation. Because it's SO visual, working with both the flame and the afterimages are essentially self-feedback. If you're honest with yourself, you know whether your eyes moved off the candle flame. When you close your eyes, even holdign the after image for more than a few seconds can require significant concentration. If you're really needing data, you can even try and track how long you can "hold" the afterimage. Big difference between 10 seconds and 20 minutes.