Any lifelong meditators here?

[spartan max2]

Hello,

Any lifelong meditators on UM? If so, what's your routine?

I've dabble with it in the past and have enjoyed it but recently decided I should get back into it. My stress has been building up the last year or so. Current events not helping lol.

I want to try to get back into it. I'm thinking about making trying to out 15 mins aside each day. What has worked for you?

[+OverSword]

I used to but my brain won't be quiet anymore.  I relieve stress through exercise now.

[XenoFish]

I spent about 10 years in daily practice till everything went to hell in my life (2011). I've done mindful meditation mostly now. 

[spartan max2]

18 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I used to but my brain won't be quiet anymore.  I relieve stress through exercise now.

I normally run, but my I.T band started acting up so I haven't been able to for a couple months and it's starting to drag me down I think.

So I'm trying to find alternatives.

[spartan max2]

15 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

I spent about 10 years in daily practice till everything went to hell in my life (2011). I've done mindful meditation mostly now. 

What was your routine?

[XenoFish]

3 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

What was your routine?

Do Easy

This is what I try to do each day as it is basically mindful meditation.

I used to perform both focal (focused attention) and void (no thought) meditation an hour each daily. But I've stuck with the 'do easy' method for over a year now.

[+Desertrat56]

My meditation, something I have been doing since I was a kid, is when I am doing yard work or dishes.  I didn't realize it was  meditation until I a few meditation classes.  I have never found the "blank mind" meditation possible or useful.  Hatha Yoga is a good way to get exercise and meditation at the same time, but if you are a runner you know that in itself is a type of meditation.

[lightly]

2 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

Hello,

Any lifelong meditators on UM? If so, what's your routine?

I've dabble with it in the past and have enjoyed it but recently decided I should get back into it. My stress has been building up the last year or so. Current events not helping lol.

I want to try to get back into it. I'm thinking about making trying to out 15 mins aside each day. What has worked for you?

I should get back into it too.  I used to just ,sit up straight, close my eyes ...and pay attention to my breathing...slow , calm , and full...and pay some attention to letting all of my muscles relax...from head to toe..  By paying some attention to those ...I could lessen attention to what was going through my mind.  I wouldn't  try to ignore thoughts....just let them pass by without attaching to them.. I would picture my mind as calm water....and thoughts as ripples on calm  water. ...and thoughts would quiet and fade. ..by relaxing like that my heart rate would soften and slow down.      I can still reach that state in just a few slow , relaxing breaths .

Edited July 17, 2020 by lightly

[micahc]

i listen to different videos on meditation on youtube.  i ran across this guy and found him interesting. a little goofy but he teaches meditation.  he has a few guided ones as well as instruction.  

this is the first one i listened to of his.

 

Edited July 17, 2020 by micahc

[Duke Wellington]

4 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

Hello,

Any lifelong meditators on UM? If so, what's your routine?

I've dabble with it in the past and have enjoyed it but recently decided I should get back into it. My stress has been building up the last year or so. Current events not helping lol.

I want to try to get back into it. I'm thinking about making trying to out 15 mins aside each day. What has worked for you?

For stress?

Step 1: You encounter a threat to your emotional or physical well being.

Step 2: In response to the threat your brains sends a signal to your kidneys telling them to release adrenaline. It also makes your posture go rigid which is part of the mechanism that suspends your breathing.

Step 3: Your brain detects higher adrenaline and responds by activating the problem solving part of your brain. It makes you search for what made you stressed, how it happened, how to stop it, how to avoid it in the future, and trawls your memories looking for similar events which might have relevance to the current one.

Step 4: The focus of the problems solving area of your brain on the stress sends a signal to your kidneys telling them to release more adrenaline. Your posture is kept rigid. And around and around it goes. The longer it continues to more stressed you become.

You fix stress by:

Step 1: While you cannot stop the feeling of being stressed you can stop yourself thinking about what caused it, how it occurred, how to stop it, how to prevent it happening again in the future, and stop yourself trawling through your memories.

Step 2: Force yourself to adopt a relaxed posture and breath normally.

It takes a few minutes to get rid of your stress because you have to wait for your circulating adrenaline to be burned off.

If you want something that shuts down stress fast then smell lemons. Keep smelling them, the stringent smell overrides the stress response, and keep smelling it for a good 5 minutes to break your focus.

Edited July 17, 2020 by Cookie Monster

[+Desertrat56]

3 minutes ago, Cookie Monster said:

If you want something that shuts down stress fast then smell lemons. Keep smelling them, the stringent smell overrides the stress response, and keep smelling it for a good 5 minutes to break your focus.

  I would love to see you with your lemons in line at the DMV or waiting to be called for Jury Duty.

[Piney]

4 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

So I'm trying to find alternatives.

Focal meditation up until I was 35 then switched up to doing it while I'm doing my sword forms. 

[ExpandMyMind]

Lifts weights. It's the same sort of mindfulness benefits to other forms of meditation and exercise.

[spartan max2]

5 minutes ago, ExpandMyMind said:

Lifts weights. It's the same sort of mindfulness benefits to other forms of meditation and exercise.

****en Covid lol. I have a gym membership and gyms are technically open where I am at but I don't really want to go in them right now. 

[ExpandMyMind]

12 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

****en Covid lol. I have a gym membership and gyms are technically open where I am at but I don't really want to go in them right now. 

Just buy a set of adjustable dumbells and a bench. You'll get both for under $100.

[Tatetopa]

I was never so good with a sword, but a jo or a bo staff worked for me.  I think it is the forms and breathing that draws the focus and calms the spirit.   It might be that any physical movement routine where body awareness overrides wandering mind can work.  Splitting wood was excellent for that, and productive too. Gardening seems to work for me now, especially tree pruning.

For no mind, void type exercises, I was always too antsy.  

I found that sweat lodges did it for me  automatically.  The heat and steam that a good intercessor can control will put you at the edge of single point focus, just breathing and staying in the moment.  When you come out and lay on the cool earth, it is a close to satori as I have been.  No mindtalk, no checkbooks, no tasks, no future or past, just breathing and feeling the now with your body.

[Piney]

Just now, Tatetopa said:

For no mind, void type exercises, I was always too antsy.  

Daremo....

that's where I go when I'm doing my jianshu forms. 

[micahc]

years ago i downloaded a guided meditation audio for like 10 dollars. it was more self hypnosis but amazingly relaxing.  I had it stored on a computer that died years ago. today's post got me  curious, and i found it free online now. It really worked for me.  I used it to go to sleep or just sit in a chair and meditate.  try it if you want. 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=just+notice+your+hand+hanging+by+your+side+meditation&&view=detail&mid=E1D7154D312CF4E6CAD4E1D7154D312CF4E6CAD4&rvsmid=57855F3B32338A7F6A8157855F3B32338A7F6A81&FORM=VDRVRV

[XenoFish]

5 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

What was your routine?

If I'm remembering correctly. My pre-2011 routine was a bit more in depth.

Breathing meditation 100 inhale/exhale (equals 1 rep) of life, air, fire, wind, and water elements. Which was a visualization exercise I picked up from the initiation into hermetics. Which produced some psychosomatic effects. 

Focal meditation typically done for an hour. Using either a single point or a sigil.

Void meditation done before bed mostly.

I also did shielding in the morning which later on I found simple acted as a mental filter. 

[Tatetopa]

7 hours ago, XenoFish said:

If I'm remembering correctly. My pre-2011 routine was a bit more in depth.

Breathing meditation 100 inhale/exhale (equals 1 rep) of life, air, fire, wind, and water elements. Which was a visualization exercise I picked up from the initiation into hermetics. Which produced some psychosomatic effects. 

Focal meditation typically done for an hour. Using either a single point or a sigil.

Void meditation done before bed mostly.

I also did shielding in the morning which later on I found simple acted as a mental filter

Can I ask, which practices you found most helpful and what you might recommend based on your experience?

[XenoFish]

39 minutes ago, Tatetopa said:

Can I ask, which practices you found most helpful and what you might recommend based on your experience?

The method I mentioned in post #6.

I also recommend micro disciplines as well. An example would be not chocking your phone every 5 minutes if you are prone to doing so. 

[Duke Wellington]

12 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

  I would love to see you with your lemons in line at the DMV or waiting to be called for Jury Duty.

Why would they cause you high levels of stress? 

For normal levels of stress in our lives we shouldn`t avoid it. If someone has acute or chronic stress then they are either in an adverse/negative environment, have just gone through a trauma, or they have underlying issues going on which need to be addressed.

The brain is an adaptive organ meaning the more you use one of its faculties the more neurons are laid down to strengthen it. If someone spends time in an adverse/negative environment where they experience high levels of stress then the brain lays down more neurons strengthening the experience of being stressed. Over time (as in weeks and months) it leads to a person feeling stress more intensely and makes them more susceptible to it. This is the most common cause of acute and chronic stress and anxiety. They have enhanced their ability to feel stressed and to feel stressed more intensely.

The exact mechanism going on is the person experiences something stressful, their mind goes to work analysing it, and it keeps going around and around. As such the person keeps themselves stressed, it gets worse over time because they want stop thinking about it, and if they cannot move on from it the damage to their brain is done. Of course, people cannot move on from it in adverse/negative environments because its stressful event after stressful event so their brains dont get any time off. It is dealt with by advising the person to remove themselves from the stressful environment (although this isn`t actually necessary, but it helps). While teaching them to get a grip of their minds. While we cannot stop ourselves feeling stressed and shouldn`t even attempt too, we can stop our minds obsessing about it.

When our minds start asking what made us feel stressed, how did it arise, how can it be stopped, how can it be avoided in the future, what revenge should be taken, and trawling through our memories looking for relevant information from other experiences, then we keep ourselves stressed. Our minds will go around and around digging us into a deeper and deeper stress hole. As this continues we lay down those detrimental neurons. Unless we get a grip by taking responsibility of the thoughts we allow our minds to engage in. We need to stop ourselves being sucked into this thinking activity loop. On the topic of revenge, revenge is good. It makes us feel better. But the plotting of revenge messes with our emotional state. So all revenge should be taken `off the cuff` so to speak. We should stop ourselves plotting or fantasising about it.

As we get a grip of our minds then we atrophy brain neurons involved with stress. Over time, our brain returns to normal, and then can continue going further if you wish leaving you quite resilient towards stress.

[XenoFish]

3 hours ago, XenoFish said:

The method I mentioned in post #6.

I also recommend micro disciplines as well. An example would be not looking at your phone every 5 minutes if you are prone to doing so. 

Really shouldn't post at 4 am.

Edited July 18, 2020 by XenoFish

[spartan max2]

Tried it Friday, Saturday, and today. I set my timer for about 20 mins, close my eyes, and take times breaths. 

Im not really trying to control my mind right now I just let it drift.

Don't know if I'm doing it right because it almost feels like I'm sleeping.

[XenoFish]

3 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

Tried it Friday, Saturday, and today. I set my timer for about 20 mins, close my eyes, and take times breaths. 

Im not really trying to control my mind right now I just let it drift.

Don't know if I'm doing it right because it almost feels like I'm sleeping.

As it should. Think of your mind as a stormy sea, eventually the waves will settle.