Does meditation actually work?

Does meditation actually work?

Yes I does work if you stick with it, that's the hard part.

Does someone have the Starting Meditation infographic?

Seconding this, I have deep riddled anxiety that flares for no reason and would like to give this a try before turning to medication

yes.

i am an authentic asian and i follow philosophical taoism.

i know some things about meditation if you want to learn.

as for if it actually works, it depends on what you need it for. it wont cure cancer, for one thing.

...

What do you mean "work"
>i am an authentic asian and i follow philosophical taoism.
No you're not, you're a rootless cosmopolitan and western spiritual homosexual, as evidenced by the fact that you referred to yourself as "asian" instead of your actual ethnicity.

Some cucked european peoples also do this (germans, british when referring to themselves as "white", european americans), you must do all to resist this program of assimilation. If you are American, this program is the foundation of your nation.

well. im chinese, if thats what you mean.

and why should i bother resisting assimilation?
if thats the way things are going, then who am I to fight it?
it is more important to be true to the principles of your culture and to retain some aspect of it that survive the test of time and progress than to stubbornly hold onto the whole hurr durr mah culture thing.

Culture and spirituality are intrinsically linked to blood and soil.

In these times, it is critical that in order to preserve the character of the human races and their spirituality, we resist the post-ideological integrationist one world world program. Lest we all descend into bugmen, crammed into tiny concrete boxes.

It works for me, is free and can be done anywhere so why don't you try it yourself?

It will also make you look younger

I use the calm app, I was dumb enough to buy the yearly membership for $40 but it got me through some rough times. They have free guided meditations that are good and I'll use when my membership is up tho

...

alright its clear you guys dont quite understand what meditation really is.

put simply, it is a tool to gain greater control and insight over your mind.

there are three main "modes" of meditation.

there is stillness, where you try to shut off your mind completely and cease excess and unnecessary thoughts. its also seen as entering a trance, if you're into that sort of stuff.

then theres observance. where you observe the flow of thoughts going through your head. this often goes hand in hand with stillness, as one needs to observe a thought in order to let it go, otherwise it ends up persisting and you never reach a deeper level.

then there is visualisation, where once things are stilled, thoughts are observed, one can begin to visualise, and analyse certain thoughts, patterns, etc.

its akin to putting away all your toys into a box, then taking one out at a time to examine and change, if need be.

visualisation relies on stillness, the more still your mind, the clearer your thoughts get.
stillness in turn relies on observance, as if one does not acknowledge the thoughts, then one can never let them go.

the longer time you have and the more practice, the deeper you can go into meditation.
that being said, even a 5 minute session on a chair during a break period at work is good for keeping a clear head.

there are no real positions to do it in, i can even do it with my eyes open, once you get used to shutting out all the external stimuli.
but you should ideally be sitting or lying down, in case you fall over. and you should probably not be in a position where you can sleep, i.e. you have to actively be maintaining your balance, so you cant fall asleep. but you should be comfortable and preferably without too many external distractions.

as for the practical aspects, should i cont?

Much appreciated.

Prime example of bugman enamored by the post-ideological world, a man letting his phone guide his contemplation through exotic Spirituality-in-a-box™, the drive-through version of authentic existence.

i feel even looking at the 10k chart is killing my gains.

Please continue

>get into whatever position fits the criteria of comfortable but not falling asleep
>shut out all external stimuli, mostly sight/sound, but if theres an overpowering smell or if youre sitting on something thats scratchy, make a conscious effort to shut those out. the small things fade on their own. in this way, you wont get itches or stuff.
>focus on your breathing. it acts as a calming point. try to breathe with your diaphragm, i.e. abdominal breathing, because breathing with your chest takes a lot more effort. just breathe at a normal rate, but really be aware of your breathing. feel the air in your nostrils, feel your lungs expanding and contracting. at this point you should be aware of any muscle tension/stress. try ot get rid of it, but dont be too worried if you cant, just deal with it when you finish.
>you should be not aware of the world once you get to this point, and thoughts will start to fill that empty space. the goal is to keep that space empty without forcing the thoughts out. you let them occupy a bit, then you just let go. and if they start feeling overwelming, focus on your breathing until the thoughts go away, then go back and try again. you make progress each time.
>this is ths state where you try to cultivate the empty stillness. some days it is hard because you have a lot on your mind, other days it is easy. either way just try to maintain it as much as you can. its like a mental clense. i usually take myself out of meditation once ive maintained this state for as long as i need to. i.e. 30 minutes in the morning before i start my day.

that's part one. for getting the stilness and using observance. they are considered seperate because stillness is a result, and observance is the action.

the next bit covers visualisation, i.e. mental problem solving, emotional status, and mental fortitude building.

usually achieving stillness is the goal, but sometimes there are issues that need to be worked out. if you are feeling stressed/angry/depressed, it usually means there's sometihng on your mind, even if thats not readily identifiable or misidentified.

its hard to achieve stillness when youre like this, but nevertheless you should try for as still a state as possible, but if you cant achieve it, that's okay too, as long as you try for it. the stiller your mind, the more mental resources you have to work with, but less still just means it takes a tad longer is all.

>once you are still, you will realize your awareness is unoccupied, as is the goal. at this point ease into the subject slowly. if you find yourself getting any kind of emotional feedback, drop it and go back to the breathing to regain that stillness
>once you have it out, let it run its course and see the outcomes. if you let yourself be free of emotion, then the outcomes will be free of your emotional influence, and you can make a logical decision and when you come out of meditation, that subject would be logically resolved in your mind. and there wont be any emotional angst associated with it.
>as for issues that are unidentifiable causing emotional distress, again, once you get yourself relatively still, let that emotion seep in a bit, then probe with various subjects and see what triggers a bigger emotional feedback. its merely methodical introspection. then once you work out what subject triggers the emotion, seperate the subject from the emotion and apply the above.
>for mental fortitude, visualise a real object you have in front of you. hold the image without altering it for as long as you can. tires you out mentally though, i dont recommend it. but if you want to build attention span, sure.

You're pretty wise. Do you have an app I can download?

Thanks, saved

Kawaii-Goethe Digital Companion

only available in Japan, S Korea and Taiwan

You /pol/counts are literally a joke. Large words, sayino nothing.