The Meditation Thread

[Zephyrus]

So after reading a treatise by Plutarch titled On Curiosity, I've come to the realization that the root of nearly all my psychological/cognitive problems that made last semester total hell for me was the fact that my attention span has so utterly collapsed it's to the point of intellectual suicide.

I have been doing much better emotionally this semester, but I still feel a disturbing disconnect from most of the things I used to enjoy. My thinking is still incredibly scattered and I am distracted by every possible stimulus in any environment. It's cost me my ability to absorb complex ideas and engage with them in real time, and what abilities I have left are a shadow of what they used to be (I use as evidence the stuff I've written in my blog last year).

It is imperative that I develop habits and practices that will help me regain an ability to maintain presence and focus in everything I do.

Use this thread to recommend strategies for achieving just that. As the title suggests, I'm thinking a guided meditation regimen would be the right direction. Those who do meditate, describe your routine, share success stories and what not. Show me the path, if you will.

 

[-CC-]

Try Adderall.

 

[Zephyrus]

I'm not sure if that was a joke, but for those out of the loop, I've tried stimulants and anti-depressants, and they both made me absolutely miserable.

 

[MasterOLightning]

Do us all a favor and stay off the internet.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

When starting its nice to have something to focus on. A candle, a light, an image. Try and focus as much as possible on breathing and really pay attention to each breath. And don't get pissed at yourself when your mind wonders and starts thinking about banal shit, because that's bound to happen.

Start with a reasonable amount of time. I do twenty minutes.

I find I do best first thing in the morning, before I eat breakfast but after I've had some water, but it will be different for everyone.

Also I find it's really easy to meditate in a sauna, if you have access to one. The heat forces you to focus on your breathing; on the downside, if other patrons start chatting it can be impossible to focus.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

It's not meditation but I fast every Sunday (only water) and it helps me get focused and prepares me for the week. There is always this point late in the evening where I feel peaceful and balanced. I shoot out of bed the next morning alert and energized.

 

[unknown]

Have you read Mindfulness in Plain English? It's pretty good, and you can find copies of it for free on the internet. Thich Naht Hanh also has some guides on walking meditation. I've found this to be pretty effective. Whenever I go hiking I enter a very mindful state. My only concern is placing one foot infront of the other, solidly, without slipping. Everything else fades into the background

 

[wandering_taco]

I like the idea of this thread. I too feel as though I'm having a lot harder time focusing like I used to. I'm graduating in a week, but I'd still like to recapture the focus I used to have.

 

[MasterOLightning]

I wasn't joking about staying off the internet. And that's really hard if your job requires being online a lot.

The internet is so much more stimulating than the physical world, and I do think it tends to warp one's perspective. No reference to the ancient Greeks is needed. Life with something like the internet is just very different to what evolution has programmed us for.

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

Nothing related to meditation, but I've always found that maintaining a regular routine in terms of academics, hobbies, physical activity, and proper diet is the key to success. I'm currently in a similar rut and it's because all of the things I mentioned above have gone out the window. I have far too much free time that I've started devoting to heavy drinking and pointless activity to pass the time in between sleeping. I've been through this before, and the solution led to what I would easily consider my highest point in life (I was in superb physical shape and the most intellectually active I've ever been): develop an intense exercise regime, eat well, and plan your days appropriately.

One of my favorite quasi-meditative activities is intense cycling in the middle of the night. I go out for a couple of hours, ride rigorously the entire time, and blast music in a ritualized fashion. Not sure if something like that is a possibility for you (it's one of the only perks of living in Central Illinois), but I would definitely try to find something like that.

 

[SentinelSlain]

meditation is haram.

 

[Zephyrus]

Have you read Mindfulness in Plain English? It's pretty good, and you can find copies of it for free on the internet. Thich Naht Hanh also has some guides on walking meditation. I've found this to be pretty effective. Whenever I go hiking I enter a very mindful state. My only concern is placing one foot infront of the other, solidly, without slipping. Everything else fades into the background

Last semester I actually started a Mindfulness class once a week at the local hospital, but I only went to a couple sessions, didn't take it seriously, and was going through a gauntlet of medications that made my mental state far too volatile. Plus I didn't like the environment of that class since it treated people with depression, which I certainly had, but I couldn't stand sitting around in one of those sing-kumbayah groups.

But now I sort of regret not doing that. The exercises they had me do were all about controlled breathing and focusing and controlling your wandering thoughts.

I wasn't joking about staying off the internet. And that's really hard if your job requires being online a lot.

The internet is so much more stimulating than the physical world, and I do think it tends to warp one's perspective. No reference to the ancient Greeks is needed. Life with something like the internet is just very different to what evolution has programmed us for.

And it's how I use the Internet that makes things worse. It's a large part of why I'm so scatterbrained and distracted all the time. Too many stimuli vying for my attention. I think part of what needs to change is that I should reserve its use to specific times a day.

Nothing related to meditation, but I've always found that maintaining a regular routine in terms of academics, hobbies, physical activity, and proper diet is the key to success. I'm currently in a similar rut and it's because all of the things I mentioned above have gone out the window. I have far too much free time that I've started devoting to heavy drinking and pointless activity to pass the time in between sleeping. I've been through this before, and the solution led to what I would easily consider my highest point in life (I was in superb physical shape and the most intellectually active I've ever been): develop an intense exercise regime, eat well, and plan your days appropriately.

One of my favorite quasi-meditative activities is intense cycling in the middle of the night. I go out for a couple of hours, ride rigorously the entire time, and blast music in a ritualized fashion. Not sure if something like that is a possibility for you (it's one of the only perks of living in Central Illinois), but I would definitely try to find something like that.

I understand that vicious cycle. Been definitely trying to keep up the exercise routine and healthy diet, and it's really helped.

 

[Einherjar86]

The internet is so much more stimulating than the physical world, and I do think it tends to warp one's perspective. No reference to the ancient Greeks is needed. Life with something like the internet is just very different to what evolution has programmed us for.

What has evolution programmed us for? Do you think it had something else in mind for us? Have we abandoned our teleological path?

Technology is not some alien, artificial, or unnatural entity that is taking over the "natural" world. Technology is every bit as natural as the evolution of organic life throughout the ages. I buy John Gray's dictum:

"Thinking of our bodies as natural and of our technologies as artificial gives too much importance to the accident of our origins. If we are replaced by machines, it will be in an evolutionary shift no different from that when bacteria combined to create our earliest ancestors."

 

[Vimana]

We as a species have shitty focus and attention span in comparison to our brain power. Our short-term memory is one twentieth of a cat's. I think this is because if we could hold a train of thought longer than thirty seconds with nothing to hold us back, we'd get lost in our thoughts, which would make it very easy for whatever deadly predators surrounded us for most of our evolution to take us out.

However, due to the versatility of our brains, we're capable of more focus if we're engrossed in something. This can be practiced to the point of extreme mindfulness. So what I do is I lie down with headphones on and listen to music. I put all of my mind on keeping track of all aspects of the music. Every time my mind wanders, I catch it and go back to the music. It gets easier each time. I used to have to go through two or three songs before I could focus on one without spacing out, now I can do it first or second try, no problem.

I realize that the experiences from music I used to get on psychedelic drugs I can get this way. I stop thinking about my body and my life and all of my brain activity becomes devoted to absorbing the song. After a few songs, I come out of it and it's like waking up, except without feeling tired or like going back to sleep. It's very similar to the moment of realization of LSD kicking in.

Another type I do is sexual. I imagine, or remember sexual experiences from a first person view and don't move or open my eyes, at all. It works more or less the same way as listening to music.

These have helped me immensely. I had ADHD, and did a lot of psychedelic drugs for a while, which made my mind go all over the place. The only thing that satisfied me was instant gratification, so I'd find myself only listening to parts of songs and watching maybe thirty seconds of porn to be able to finish.

The meditation most definitely has helped me in all facets of my life. I wish I tried it way sooner, because I would've been able to dominate in high school if I could learn how to focus. It's given me better results than any medication or drug, and without fucking up my brain. I highly recommend it.

 

[Zephyrus]

I'd love to, but the inevitable march of evolution and technology has deprived me of my primal essence.

 

[Vimana]

Our primal brains are every bit as there as they were 40,000 years ago. The only difference is our environment is hardly like the one we spent most of our evolution, so the triggers for aspects of our natures are misguided. Everything is still life and death, but it's not a matter of staying safe and getting food. It's a vaguely-defined social competition.

 

[Zephyrus]

I was jesting. For once I'm not fixated on the ontological status of my mind in relation to the world. Training one's mind to focus is a different matter.

 

[Eligos]

Chakra meditations are great for introducing harmony to the chaotic parts of your life, their use in grounding is quite remarkable.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

 

[KafkaX]

I have tried almost every meditation technique under the sun to gain better concentration, insight, mastery of my mind, and peace within myself and the only one I have found useful is Vipassana, strictly from the Burmese Buddhist tradition of Sayagi U Ba Khin who has maintained this technique from the words of Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, in its pristine purity.

I think posted these links here before, somewhere on the forum, but Ill post em again. Heres more info about Vipassana, from the current lineage holder, direct disciple of U Ba Khin, SN Goenka.



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--71jSYMMqg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--71jSYMMqg[/ame]

They have donation based meditation centers located around the globe, that will teach this technique. The program is quite extensive; 10 days meditating, something like 11 hours a day from 4am to 9 am, with few breaks to eat and a evening discourse to explain and recap.

This is the best I can to do to point out the way. I cant give advice because Im not a teacher, but can only speak of what it has done for me, and encourage others who are interested to see for themselves: Take a course, learn the technique from qualified experienced teachers, and see from your own personal experience if it works with you or not.

I have taken many of these courses over almost 10 years, both nationally and internationally, have stayed on site for long stretches at a time living as a monk on the meditation grounds, and am involved with the trust with a local center. I say this not to brag, but to merely state my extensive involvement with this lineage to show that Im just not talking out of my ass with blind faith on this.