Meditation

why is meditation involved so much with religion too?!
obviously i know yoga and shit but seems like majority is religious

In mindfulness meditation you're just supposed to be dispassionately aware of whatever enters into your experience. The point is to not try to change anything about your experience, but just to be aware of it. It helps to focus on one thing in particular, like the breath, and to return to it whenever you're distracted. Doing this over and over again makes you better at it, and stills your mind.

Man, this guy is so smart. I think he gets it all, he must also play basketball very well, or anything he wants, really, just because of meditation. Damn. He can become president, he can fly, he can solve differential equations without pencil and paper. Ugh if only meditation made sense for science.

t. non-meditating brainlet

I can see a scenario where a person of average intelligence is able to study complex mathematics after years of studying complex mathematics.

No, it's a pseudoscience shit

everybody says its good spiritually,

>red pill me

what the hell does spiritually even mean

The claim with meditation that the Buddhists make is that there is a gap between how our minds appear to us and how they actually are. This gap can be bridged by cultivating the skills of attention and concentration, and then using these skills to experientially investigate the mind. In particular they say there are three things to notice about the contents of our experience: first, that they are impermanent; second, that they are unsatisfactory and bring us no happiness; and thirdly, that nothing within our experience is a self, belongs to a self, or constitutes a self. This is not knowledge in the form of belief, but something you can actually experience directly (or so they claim).

They also claim that to have these experience is to remove suffering from your mind, so that you can be happy no matter what your experiencing.

interesting

Usually you try to not let your mind wander. It depends on whether or not you are doing it for a religious thing or whatever but what most people say to do is to focus on your breathing and try not to break concentration as much as possible. Thinking about nothing other than the in and out of your breath is kinda hard to do but if you can do it for like a half hour it feels pretty awesome.

The claim is that the proximate cause of our suffering is desire and aversion - the mind's pulling towards or away from the contents of our experience. For example if you were to break your leg, you would feel pain. But according to the Buddhists, the suffering associated with this is actually caused by aversion to this pain, which is the attempt of the mind to pull away from it. By training the mind to see all experience, including the pain you would get from breaking your leg, as impermanent, unsatisfactory and not self, you are supposed to find a freedom from suffering that is present no matter what you experience. Buddhists would say advanced meditators still feel pain, sadness, etc. but that their minds no longer desire or are averse to these experiences, and hence they don't suffer.

It makes sense, honestly. There's no real reason to fear pain, it's just another sensation only with slightly different parameters than others.

The problem is though that a mere intellectual understanding of this doesn't prevent the mind from instinctively reacting with desire or aversion. To actually free yourself from suffering you need to practice.

>he doesn't sleep sit so he is a brainlet
When the greatest insight you had all day is The Power Of The Ad Hominem

Dude, Whoa...! Enjoy your atrophied Gray matter, m' dude.

wow, really makes you think.

I always fall asleep when I try to meditate.

You do realize meditation increases gray matter, right?

Yeah, I'm sure sitting around all day literally doing nothing is really increasing the amount of mitochondria volume within neuron cells due to its extraordinary high caloric output nature! It's not like it is less active than say watching some good old TV!

You posted your lumosity score on Veeky Forums to prove your'e not retarded? We all totally believe you.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3004979/?__hstc=133243537.c773f89949c75cda0bb2ae1552d2dda8.1489622400061.1489622400062.1489622400063.1&__hssc=133243537.1.1489622400064&__hsfp=1773666937
s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/4356169/mbm_long-term_results.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1505757810&Signature=TGR2Tw0IWzCq4VnRE2bmDxgxfT4=&response-content-disposition=inline; filename=Long-term_meditation_is_associated_with.pdf
news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/

If you want to become smarter,. the way to do it is to study mathematics.

not joking I went from an IQ of 135 to 145 or above in less than 2 years

>abbot

kek

it's literally training of your ability to focus
better focus - better everything, which is why it's so amazing at treating anxiety disorders and children with ADD

sure, after decades you also experience very weird altered states, but that's not what sience is interested in
although personally I found that those trance states are what it's really about if you aren't reductionist radical materialist faggot

>Rather, the main focus of Insight meditation is the cultivation of attention and a mental capacity termed ‘mindfulness’, which is a specific nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment stimuli without cognitive elaboration

>without cognitive elaboration

I bet you can register gray matter growth with simple walking and cleaning the house. If you play tetris for too long, there is more caloric output in the beginning and then there is a big drop as your brain becomes more efficient at that specific task. There is even research on meditation that claims it does nothing, and there are people who even trigger some schizo gene with it. It is a consensus that research on meditation is one of the worst out there, I can't even begin to expect that you have read any of these links. I've tried meditation myself for a long time, I'm not saying anything here out of the blue, but you have to admit that when you meditate that is exactly what happens: you just perceive without thinking, you become a mindless poor creature, you kill your very Veeky Forums soul to become non-judgemental. Look at how obsessed you are with this.

I'm not obsessed with it, it's simply that you've yet to provide one counter-argument that's based on anything while, ironically, accusing me of relying on "bad" research, while you either rely on the conveniently outlying research that says meditation either does nothing or induces schizophrenia or on your own anecdotal evidence. You accuse me of killing my Veeky Forums soul yet you're the one more reliant on feelings than research.

So meditation is used for a pretty wide variety of purposes so what you are supposed to "accomplish" is a bit variable. What you say might be a fair criticism of some meditation, but if you are meditating for he purpose of "insight" then your mind is not supposed to be idle while you are doing it. You are supposed to be focusing on something specific, usually a very basic thing like your own breathing, and the idea is to not break concentration at all for long periods of time. I would believe it if this turned out to be either a good thing or a bad thing for your health but it's only comparable to watching tv in that you are sedentary.

What I do is awareness meditation, it is also the most researched one. Not a guide, but what I do really short: I just sit and am open to what I sense. Hear, Listen, Smell, Taste, Feel, and then think. The key is that you just notice the things and then go on an be open again. "I feel how my leg rests on the bed" "I hear how the heater is doing its thing" "I just thought about fucking an old person" "I just thought that eating pancake would be nice"

With everything: Try to sense as much as possible but do not think about it too hard. Just notice it, label it and move on and sense more. 10 Minutes are good for a beginner, I do 30 now. Godmode is being in this mode all day. This is also when your braing changes and you are able to regulate emotional responses better and listen to your body better etc.

Yes, here are two base types, with different styles comprising them (from different religions):
>focused attention
Focusing on some mantra (usually just breathing), to the exclusion of everything else. Regularly reaffirming your focus. Attempt to not do anything except cycle through the mantra.

>open monitoring
Usually eyes are open, looking at hands or something just in-front of you. You monitor the present and everything happening, but you don't focus and you don't attach yourself. Stay attuned to the present physical world (and your body) without effort or strain.

Meditation is basically about entering a state of extreme one-sided regularity. When you regularly undertake an activity that you are unused to, your brain with change significantly. In meditation's case this is the same except that it has more extreme effects. You exclude all else to do one action with soft regularity. Potentially, it could be applied to other actions, created based on research as opposed to traditional methods of religions and philosophies.

Look up scientific papers for meditation, it's in its infancy so there isn't much of substance, however.

>Potentially, it could be applied to other actions, created based on research as opposed to traditional methods of religions and philosophies.
By this I meant differing actions to produce different results. It could be possible to, say, enter a meditative state (one-sided and consistent/regular above all else) and do some other action. Like completing a mathematical proof, affirming a personal philosophy, affirming confidence in oneself, and more. Those these are more abstract and entirely mental, while 2 types I gave are far more simplistic and grounded in physical action. Perhaps a re-purposing of focused attention would work to some degree.

>christians don't meditate
Its a sin to lie, you know that right?

Monks sat in prayer for multiple hrs per day

Pffffffft

All this reminds me of LSD

read the dhammapada and learn what this is pic related

It is nearly impossible to explain to some one like because you are so attached to this false reality and unable to ascend to higher levels of consciousness in fact you will mock this notion saying it is some religious nonsense or mumbo jumbo and not even realize the significance of what I telling you. You don't even know you are in the matrix yet and everything you know is all a lie. a complete fabrication. You will look at this symbol and though you don't know what it is or what it means you will still feel the effect of it's power on your consciousnesses. I will just tell you my friend this rabbit hole does deeper than you can possibly imagine, there is no fiction book or movie that are ever anywhere near as strange as this world when you see through the facade of this false reality

Christians don't meditate?

Also, why is there a proportion of posters here equating mediation with Buddhism?
Meditation isn't an inherently religious activity (even though it's frequently associated with religion). It's a good way of relaxing when physical exercise isn't feasible and your eyes need a break from the screens/books.

Can be useful for anxiety I find.
youtube.com/watch?v=1MHfU-a1m_4

>take some time to sit down and think
>become a more collected person
waow

schizo

To be fair if you mastered meditation it would help in learning ANYTHING because you'd have infinite focus.

Yeah man all those asian monks and their grand contributions to sciences and diversity of skills mastered, truly something to be in awe of.

those monks and "contributions to sciences" are not relevant to validity of meditation. do you have a point?

I see youve been to a similar place friend. What i found is once you reach the end of perception, then you can start to piece two worlds together. The world of human perception and universal perception. Its an amazing journey one can go through when you start to see past the veil of human perception

Better question, do you have any point or argument except introducing red herrings whenever you are confronted about your idiotic statements?

>implying praying is not meditation

>and there are people who even trigger some schizo gene with it
I think I might be one of these people. Mediation has caused me to live in a constant state of disassociation from reality, and I hate it. My mind is always blank too, when it used to be filled with noise that would lead to creative ideas.

>Implying you do not have autism

>Jewish hexagon

I didn't claim otherwise, desu
But repeatng x amounts of hail mary is not the same as repeatong random buddhistamtras

I have ADHD and I daydream a lot and lose a lot of stuff easily. What kind of meditation can help me?
I don't take any meds.

The closest thing I've done is a thing where you try to stay awake (counting is good but not required while allowing your body to fall asleep. When it does, you get this tingling then numb sensation all over as the natural paralysis of sleep sets in, then you start getting hypnagogic imagery, hear thoughts audibly and eventually might segue into a dream. If you start moving you'll feel stretching as when you wake up in the morning.

>Implying perceiving without thinking is bad
>Implying most of personality problems of people it is not because they think too much shit, like "omg, I am going in front of class, what if they laugh?"

There are different types of meditation, the one you become a wanderer is the open one, and it should not work like that you still got have moderation, still be able to think when need it.

Mindfulness meditation.
Google 'Satipatthana Sutta'

sleep paralysis is an ok method to enter a lucid dream, those are really interesting
this do 10 minutes daily at least and don't get discouraged because it's gonna be near impossible to stay focused and many people get frustrated and give up

So muslim prayer is the second type of meditation.
and it requires to let everything let go and focus on one dot in the ground where you put your forehead. and pray "oh god the mercifull guide us to the one right path"..etc
Interesting.
They say if you think about other things while praying,then the prayer wasnt prayed the right way.

Practice what? Meditation?

>Yeah man all those asian monks and their grand contributions to sciences and diversity of skills mastered, truly something to be in awe of.
they don't give a shit, they are not meditating with that in mind, the purpose is spiritual

Hmm it's almost as if it's good to relax and reflect or just simply vegetable out...

From my own anecdotal experiences meditating isn't bs, you can create this weird feeling by focussing real hard. I've found out you can generate body heat by focussing on your spine or some shit idk how to explain it. You can do the same with your brain but it's harder to maintain, I assume that's what monks do all day.

>meditating is anti-christian now
Kek, /pol/ is literally afraid of everything

>learn what this is
It's a circle of radius R, overlapped by six circles also of radius R, centered on the vertices of a regular hexagon centered at the center of the original circle, then circumscribed by another circle of radius 2R. Sorry if you wanted it to be something magic. Try /x/.

>look at this symbol and though you don't know what it is
It's a drawing created by user "darkhalo" on DeviantArt by playing around with the shape tools and color gradients in Photoshop. Sorry if you wanted it to be something magic. Try /x/.

What is he deal with high octane? Does it really improve your downhill?

>From my own anecdotal experiences...
lmao

>christfags
>on Veeky Forums
Please leave. Adults only.

Of course it does silly billy. Also I've had a daily 15 minutes meditation routine for a little over 2 years now so ama.

Hmm I guess the best way I can describe it is for any here who is fit. Imagine how much better life is now that you are in shape. To meditate is to work out your mind. And over time it gets stronger.

Mindfulness meditation is healthy and very useful as a psychological tool to monitor your own mental health.

Brainlets and spiritualfags completely ruin the whole point with 'enlightenment' bullshit, but just ignore them and read some real research on the subject.

Meditation doesn't 'do' anything. That's the point. Not doing anything.

People will say meditation is 'spiritual' and the point is to 'clear your mind'. This is wrong. The thoughts that arise are the whole point Imo.
My favourite description I've heard is that it's like 'a weather report for your mind'.

Anything could improve your brian

...

I mediate. I think of it like training your metacognition. You become aware of your thoughts, and you learn how to dismiss them. Which is kind of like learning to control your mind better, but its not exactly like that.

Really you realize that you are not thinking any of your thoughts. They are just arising out of your brain, and popping into your consciousness, and then you think "Ah yes I thought that thought" but really it was almost given to you.

The best analogy I can give is playing a video game in 1st person your whole life, and then discovering 3rd person mode. Nothing about the game has really changed besides your perspective, but changing your perspective can change how you play the game.

Look into image streaming. You can get your creative flow back, and it will probably be stronger than before.

If you think you're meditating, you're not meditating.

No you didnt. I have this archetypal blonde who just finished a bs in pure mathematics, yet shes the type of person who spends 2 mins figuring out why the "touch screen" on a desktop pc from 2008 wont work. I've known her for like 10 years and she's not improved at all since her teens.

Just google it m8

>sit down and focus on your breath
>when you start to think about something, rededicate all your attention towards your breath
>do this for a week

When you're able to focus wholly on your own breath for a couple of minutes (aka no thoughts at all, no "gee been sitting here for 1 min, only 1 left"), you can try to shift your attention towards something else, like music or a specific sensation.

Then you can go on towards more intermediate practices like ones involving visualization.

And calculus is the doodles of some 80 year old probably gay virgin

How'd you notice your mind getting "stronger"?

It's pretty suspicious that you posted a cropped screenshot and not the actual link. I'm guessing this is complete bullshit and you're trying to bait.