I’m curious who here has some form of meditation practice?

I started about 7 years ago. It’s your fairy typical secular Buddhist mindfulness with a bit of metta.

Recently I’ve started upping the length and it really seems to start getting weirder the longer you do it. I’m putting this down to zoning into sleep. But I have noticed lucid dreaming experiences.

Overall I find it very useful and am thinking of hitting the big one and doing a week retreat.

I’m curious to know of people’s experiences.

I start about 5 out of 7 mornings with some form of meditation. It started as a coping mechanism for anxiety and depression, often before bed, but is more general now.

Gramsci wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:40 pm It’s your fairy typical secular Buddhist mindfulness with a bit of metta.

^^That sounds like a fair enough description for my baseline approach as well. If I'm struggling I'll often add guided meditations with affirmations to help me focus.

I've also had great luck following-up my meditation with a few rounds of breathwork, like Wim Hof style, "dragon's breath", "breath of fire", etc. I was a skeptic at first, but I am now FULLY onboard with this. I can often use breathing to establish a mind/body buzz of well-being that lasts me well into the day.

Not remotely crap.

A really big part of my daily life know. 5-10 minutes of silent in the morning. I've found body scan meditations to really help me with the neurological complications i struggle with. Lot of grounding and calm. I recently started attending some Zoom group meditations through Insight Meditation Chicago, on Wednesday evenings. A small community to sit with, discuss our practice and it's impact on our lives. As well as some other groups through Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City. I end my days with a Dharma Talk and lightly guided meditation from https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/?search=equanimity. FMGramsci they have a support group for people with chronic Health issues, meets twice a month on Thursdays.

That group, and my regular practice has definitely helped me emerge into a new space re: my Cancer diagnoses, and living with the complications from treatment.

A simple practice of daily mindfulness is wonderful.

offal wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2024 4:11 pm I've also had great luck following-up my meditation with a few rounds of breathwork, like Wim Hof style, "dragon's breath", "breath of fire", etc. I was a skeptic at first, but I am now FULLY onboard with this. I can often use breathing to establish a mind/body buzz of well-being that lasts me well into the day.

Not remotely crap.

Concur, conscious breathing can be pretty amazing.

I've meditated, closer to daily than not, for approaching thirty years. I started with Hemisync and I still largely defer to it. Whether you care for the woowoo or not it will give out whatever you put in. It's a tremendous balm for chronic pain, and provides a solid foundation to tackle the day. It's obscene that meditative practice isn't part of the curriculum.

Very lazy about doing it regularly, but sitting has enriched my life over a few decades and allowed me to experience things more completely.

Sitting gets rid of me for a while. When it really comes together, I can shed my concept of myself and appreciate just being here.

Breathing has been valuable for me, mostly calm down methods but sometimes amp-up breathing too if I'm gonna jump in a cold lake or something. But I haven't quite 'cracked' meditation yet. I always feel like I should be getting something more out of it, which is probably part of the problem. I'm sure it gets better with consistent practice.

penningtron wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:39 am Breathing has been valuable for me, mostly calm down methods but sometimes amp-up breathing too if I'm gonna jump in a cold lake or something. But I haven't quite 'cracked' meditation yet. I always feel like I should be getting something more out of it, which is probably part of the problem. I'm sure it gets better with consistent practice.

Yes...reminded of this quote from Taking the Path of Zen, which rings true for me in particular:

Thoughts can be very seductive. Small stuff can seem like big stuff. I have told about a man who came regularly to meetings and used his time to think about his business problems. Ultimately he stopped coming. Perhaps he solved all his problems.

eephus wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:31 am Sitting gets rid of me for a while. When it really comes together, I can shed my concept of myself and appreciate just being here.

NAIL ON HEAD

I’ve only purposely meditated a few times, but I came to a realisation that fishing scratches the same itch in the sense of being a peaceful but intensely singular focus on something to the extent that nothing else exists. Any sort of river/shore/rock fishing does this for me, probably slightly more so if float fishing. In some ways catching fish and the associated admin afterwards actually ruins this aspect of it for me, and as such I genuinely never mind if I don’t catch anything worth eating.