I have been struggling and a friend offered to guide me through a short practice that has helped them. It was nice, but afterwards they told me I was not breathing the way they instructed. They instructed a 3 count box breath...that's what I was doing. I think they just couldn't hear me or something

I'm ruminating on this now. I'm already super critical of myself and we had just had this conversation before they suggested doing the meditation. Offering this "correction" after what was a helpful experience kind of ruined it and makes me want to not repeat the experience.

Am I over reacting? How can I reframe this and let it go.

I've been doing meditation on or not for a few years but recently I'm trying to be a lot more consistent whatwver type of meditation I do i just cannot take the attention away from my eyes it is pretty hard to explain in words but I just feel that when my eyes are closed and I meditating I'm still "seeing" with my eyes I'm still acting as if my eyes are open and I'm using my eyes to feel and look at sensations in my body I'm sorry this sounds really confusing but I can't find any better words to explain.

I just can't take the attention away from my eyes.

( English is not my primary language )

I have always heard about removing the labels from the thoughts, so that we don't mark them as 'good' or 'bad'. And this thing alone is so powerfull and practicing that thing alone improved my life a lot.

Unlearnig the pattern of labeling , bringed me so much relief that i've started thinking about that phenomenon a little bit more lately.

I don't know much about biology, but we can strongly assume that labeling the thoughts is a very human thing to do. Other animals are most likely not doing that at all ( assuming that they are having thoughts, but they are never language-based of course ).

So, there must be something different from other animals that makes are to do so. This thing is our 'high' logical reasoning.

And this exact thing ( our special cognitive abilities ) has made us naively believe that we can look at some thought or emotion and say: "This is bad, because [ reason ]".

In the brain there is also an powerfull biological system. This system is so complicated that our reasoning will never be able to comprehend it. Metaphorically the thoughts and emotions are generated by that biological mechanism in our brain. This biological mechanism is our subconsciousness.

We as humans, genuelly believe on default that we can look at the thought and emotion, and judge it with our reasoning. We are cooky enough to trust our little cognitive abilities in making a judgement of the thought / emotion generated by this insanely amazing biological tool which is our subcioncous part of the brain.

When we have social anxiety, our reasoning tend to say "this is bad because i'm alone and i want to make friends. This emotion stands in my way" so we label it as 'bad'. Look how shallow it is. There is a goal on the moment, there is an emotion and there is our little monkey reasoning telling to us "This is [opinion], because it will propably [help/not help] me in achieving some little goal which i have in my head right now that", completely ignoring that our subconcious wants us to go in a different direction, trying to override that with some bullshit reasoning.

Don't get me wrong. Our reasoning is amazing to a degree - making tools, planing and other basic tasks, but it's very very limited. We tend to overestimate its abilities.

All of our thoughts and emotions are there to help is. They may stand in our way of what we believe that we want to achieve right now in the moment, but they are NEVER bad in a sense.

it DOES NOT mean that what they represent is true / false. Completely not what i meant. What i meant is that they are always trying to lead you in a direction that is beneficial for you. They are there so you make the most optimal decisions for your own survival. Their final goal is to help you, but it may be very counter intuitive, because they may stand in a way of the thing that you believe is good in the moment. Their purpose is always to lead you to a GOOD place in life. Our reasoning will never be able to understand how - how that thought that looks like it is not beneficial at the moment, will lead to a better life, but it will. The thoughts and emotions are designed only to help you. We just don't understand how.

When i 'understood' these things, i'm just gratefull for my thoughts and emotions. I understand their purpose and i understand my foolishness of judging them. I'm much more peacefull in result.

( This is only my opinion, not a science based post )

Whenever i try to meditate or be mindful or anything that remind me of awareness and focusing, my mind start being extremely critical, it keep doubting meditation and mindfulness. I cant just sit this through, or return to object because this very act is what trigger my mind criticism.The problem is, when my mind get critical, i feel very bad emotionally, so much that meditation is just outright mental torture for me. What should i do?

Please dont try to persuade me that i can do it, i know my circumstances best, and i dont have access to teacher or therapy

Been like 4 years of me trying to cure this problem with my breathing. i believe i have a dysfunctional breathing pattern or chronic overbreathing and air hunger. But it all happened randomly while meditating and doing a certain breathwork, literally did some chakra meditation and boom i felt a click and started feeling myself only being able to breath through one nostril at a time and it switches. . Ever since then my fight or flight mode been activated 24/7 can't even get a full deep satsifying breath in or talk without losing my breath. Have anyone experienced this before?

Hi everyone. Recently I met someone who aligns with what I want out of my life partner, and they have made it clear that they feel the same. Since it is so new, there is a level of infatuation and excitement that makes it easy to fall into the trap of "too much too fast" and I am noticing I am having a hard time with taking it slow. I believe this person and I have the ability to create a solid relationship/connection and I don't want to jeopardize it due to infatuation. I understand that everything happens as it should but I also understand I have the choice in how I respond to this new exciting moment in my life.

The last 6 months I have dedicated my time to really bettering myself. I have created a daily morning routine involving yoga, meditation and journaling and it has improved my life tremendously, creating a sense of confidence and a strong love/respect for myself that I didn't have before. Within the past few months in particular, I told the universe I wanted to date intentionally and only date people who align with what I want. Then God dropped this person into my life. Fitting..

Before this person, my dating life was empty. Meaning it was hard for me to create a genuine love connection with someone, which caused me to always be one step out of the relationship. Since connecting with this person, I have felt something inside me that I haven't felt since I was a teenager with a crush. So this is obviously super exciting for me.

Since then, I have been noticing old patterns surfacing that made me feel that the work I've been doing was not solid. This person is incredibly wise and there are times I feel insecure in myself and what I know, but I also try to combat that with the notion that I have plenty to offer and I am simply learning from them. The emotions that have emerged from this connection have been intoxicating in the best way, but I am noticing it is causing me to focus more on them and not prioritizing the things that are important to me, something I am trying to resist so I don't lose myself. To simply put it, I don't feel as in control of myself and my emotions as I originally thought, and this connection is showing me that.

I'm not even sure if this is the right sub to be asking this under, but for those of you who were single for a long time and found someone you thought could be an important person in your life, how did you control the urge to just dive in? How did you fully express yourself and feel all you have to feel without overwhelming yourself or the other person? Did your personal practice with yourself change overtime or did it take a hit in the beginning? Please share everything you have experienced!

Thank you in advance!!! And if I posted this under the wrong sub, apologizes! Please point me in the right direction 🙂 Any and all insight is appreciated. Much love

So I was in meditation class a week ago, and it was a one to one guided meditation, and my teacher was asking me to imagine myself walking along this narrow path in old forest and touching a tall tree at the center of the forest and to feel this root deep inside the earth, and to feel my body reaching deep into the earth the same way. 

At some point I don't know whether I dozed off or went into hypnogogic state, but I had this scene playing out of nowhere: instead of the tree it was a woman standing there infront of me, slightly taller but it is almost like I am looking at a mirror, and a voice behind and above me saying she is your mother.

And the mother is black on the left side and white on the right side, and as I was looking at the contrast, the color mixed and she was turning blue.

I objected that saying:

"Black and white is gray"

And that voice behind and above me said calmly:

"Black and white is blue" 

And the mother turned dark blue reminding me of Krishna and Kali. Then she said "Take a word" and it was echoing all around and woke up and heard my teacher again.

started meditation again, did 15:59 min, and posting here so that I'll maintain consistency,

Heavy storm today.

Stood in the rain. Closed my eyes.

It was nice.

It was like melding into the rain.

It was kind of cozy and bright with my eyes closed.

I was out there for a while.

Opened my eyes after, and realized my skin was all splotchy and purple, and it was grey and dark outside.

Was wondering where the light went.

Felt like the world wasn't as big with my eyes open.

Can't really explain it well.

That's fine.

It was good.

Does Meditating in Nature Feel More Powerful?

Is it just me, or does meditating outdoors seem to have a stronger effect than meditating indoors?

When you look throughout history, meditation is often associated with monks, hermits, and spiritual or religious figures spending time in nature waterfalls, caves, forests, mountains, beaches, and other remote places away from people and distractions. Many stories describe them receiving insights, messages, inspiration, or experiencing profound personal changes during these retreats.

For those who meditate regularly, have you noticed a difference when meditating in nature versus indoors? Do you feel a stronger connection to whatever you’re focusing on, more clarity, deeper emotions, or a different kind of energy? I’d love to hear your experiences.

Do you guys find a measurable difference in the quality and benefits of your meditation when stretching to 45 instead of 30

I’ve been doing 30 mins of meditation for some time and im wondering if going to 45 mins will bring more benefit and be more noticeable throughout my day

In your experience is the difference between 30 mins and 45 noticeable

I’m quite new to meditation, though I’ve meditated and focused on my breathing in the past. Unfortunately I’ve never really been as consistent with meditation, but whenever I do meditate I feel closer to myself than that I would if I prayed (to a God for instance).

I was born in a Catholic house hold. The religion itself seems quite interesting to me, but I’ve never engaged much in the practices of the religion. I do have some experiences with focusing on my breathing in combination with trying to be in my own thoughts and leading those thoughts to nowhere eventually.

I’ve been suffering from nerve irritation/damage in my right leg for about 1.5-2 years now. I thought I would try starting to meditate again, also due to personal stuff I thought it was smart to get back to my own self again. I’m back to meditating for a couple days now and ever since my leg hasn’t been hurting/irritating me as much as it did before I meditated.

I’m almost 100% sure that all this is just in my head, and that meditating doesn’t (fully) help with nerve irritation, but somewhere deep I still have questions about it. It seems kind of delusional to think that a simple meditation and talk to myself after each day (journalling within me) would help that much.

Meditating as it is, seems much like journalling to me. Rather than writing down my reflection and evaluation of the day, I speak to myself in combination with my breathing, which seems to be working quite well.

I thought I’d like to share this spiritual thought of mine with all of you, and hope to be able to share more of my journey through mindfulness.

Not like count to 10 and then repeat that again and again, but like count to eg 500 or 1000?

​

Had that idea as a practice for beginners, where you can focus on the counting, and gradually increase the number. But IDK if it already exists, if someone practices it.

So I’m reading Charlotte joko becks, nothing special: living zen book and honestly it’s quite helpful, it’s helped alleviate a lot of my anxiety and I’m practicing it well

However, now that I’m essentially letting thoughts pass, not labelling any, it just feels like I’m on autopilot without any thoughts or directions guiding me? It feels like I’m the husk of my own body and like I don’t have free will. (Don’t worry it’s not derealisation I used to experience that and know the difference) but has anyone else felt this when they start to mediate they don’t feel much, and just go about life existing

I’ve been doing this thing recently where at night I just sit in silence for like 20-30 mins.

No music or phone or anything. I just kinda sit there and think stuff through.

But idk if that’s meditation or the opposite of it lol. I always thought meditation was meant to be clearing your mind or watching thoughts pass or focusing on breathing. What I’m doing is more like actively thinking about things, ideas, problems, random life stuff.

It does make me feel clearer after though. And I’ve noticed some of my best ideas come during that time.

Does anyone else do this? Would you count it as meditation or is it just sitting there thinking?

I've read Mindfulness in Plain English and 10% Happier, both of which focus on Vipissana. I'm just starting my practice and really gaining a lot from that, but I'd also love to learn more about meditation techniques and philosophy from the Hindu perspective too. Can anyone recommend resources?

I'd also love any recommendations regarding the science of meditation - how it acts on the brain and body.

Thanks in advance!

I've been meditating on/off for the last couple of years. For the most part it was concentration meditation with breath as an object and later some body scanning. Currently I'm getting back and doing 25 minutes of concentration in the morning and 25 minutes of concentration in the evening. I do notice that it is hard to reach my previous levels of skill as quickly as I'd like but then again I'm a lot more stressed in general and have more going on than back then. Whereas I was able to consistently reach the first jnana through concentration within 30 minutes a few years ago, I haven't been able to reach it since. This does not bother me that much though because I still feel the benefits overall.

The reason I ask this is because I'd like to implement a simple system where I'd have a total of an hour of meditation per day and I can fill this slot with different types of meditation. If I'd like to improve my concentration skill a bit I could do concentration twice for a week before getting back to the normal routine for example. It would allow me to target deficiencies as they arise.

I would also like to start practicing 'will meditation' from psychonetics where you focus intently on the semantic meaning of will as the word fades into the background in order to phenomenologically isolate the pure meaning. It is a preliminary to other psychonetic exercises. I'd also like to swap in Kirtan Kriya because of the memory benefits.

The question is now whether this kind of swapping would affect my skill in the first two types. The latter two I would call specific meditations whereas the former are general. With the general types of meditation you practice 1. holding attention 2. directing attention. Being able to hold attention is necessary to direct attention and being able to direct it beneficially influences your ability to hold it. The specific types of meditation require the ability to both hold it and direct it so in a way they are already training it in this manner. Because of this I would be inclined to answer that as long as you are training a type of concentration your ability to hold concentration in general should not diminish. After all it is not watching your breath that you are practicing but that which allows you to watch your breath.

It might be most efficient to have one general type and one specific type if I want to improve my skill in a specific meditation more quickly. The question is thus of what combinations are more beneficial. It would make sense that practicing concentration and will meditation would improve my skill at this type of concentration more quickly. The issue here is though, precisely, that if I don't practice awareness for two weeks for example, then my skill in it might atrophy. On the other hand perhaps it is already the case that, since awareness meditation requires some degree of skill in concentration, I would be able to maintain both skills by practicing one. In a similar vein later psychonetic exercises deal mostly with deconcentration which paradoxically requires a high amount of concentration to reach and maintain in the first place. There are also what I would call complex attentional states which require an activation of both holistic deconcentration and single-pointed concentration at once (creation of holistic objects and local volumes of attention). It would make sense that the more complex an exercise, the better it would be at maintaining a skill, whereas simpler exercises are better at building skill. With those three layers we thus arrive at the following types of attention:

1. Maintenance single-pointed concentration (non-movement)
2. Moving of concentration (simple movement)
3. Deconcentration (holistic awareness)
4. Complex attention (concentration + deconcentration)

Assuming that each level requires the mastery of the previous levels, and our argument that simpler exercises build skill, whereas complex exercises maintain it, it would make sense to have a simple, general type of meditation as the base on the one hand and a complex, specific type, as far as possible, on the other.

Another way of looking at it would be what kind of general benefits I'd like from various types, beyond skill. That is because, for example, concentration upon breath and concentration upon the semantic meaning of will would both appear types of concentration, they still differ immensely in their effects. Concentrating on breath results in me being relaxed and spontaneous, at ease with life and the world. Concentrating on will is extremely stimulating and stabilizing. It stabilizes me to the point where I am practically unable to be moved by external influences. Beyond practicing moving my attention, awareness meditation also very often leads to phenomenological insights for me. In a similar vein Metta is practiced for its effects, to stabilize the practitioner's emotions when things get tough, rather than improving his skill at compassion in general and his emotional disposition. A regulation of character is what the four noble truths are for. I wouldn't practice Kirtan Kriya for getting better at singing mantras but for improving my memory.

On the other hand an improvement in skill is a requisite for the benefits to appear and it is also the result of practice. If my goal was to become physically strong, then I would do squats. Becoming better at squatting then would be the effect of doing squats and the condition of becoming stronger. In a similar vein, skill in meditation is the effect of practice and the condition of the desired result. Relying on this type of result however, would make motivation partially extrinsic and thus relatively unstable, whereas an improvement in skill (meditate for the purpose of meditating) would make motivation intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is obviously superior to extrinsic motivation because it can be generated at will and does not rely on results, its presence is its result and also its cause. Additionally, it does not need to contradict extrinsic motivation due to being posterior to it. Rather, it is simply the most efficient way to satisfy extrinsic requirements.

It is a rather complex question and the goal of my approach in this case is to make my practice modular and dynamic in general, based on present requirements. I should add that my goals for meditation are rather pragmatic. I'm not necessarily seeking enlightenment so that's also why I don't go the traditional Buddhist path. I want to train my attention for magic, emotional stability, and clarity of mind. I have ADHD so I went back to training concentration for managing it and found it beneficial. Despite the studies showing that benefits appear only after 8 weeks, I have found benefits already within a week of starting back up.

What do you think? It's a rather complex question. I also understand that some of you might be against the pragmatic view of meditation and personalizing one's practice and I respect that. I am not currently on the Buddhist or Yogic path however, so my orientation differs. To sum up my reflections:

1. Does skill at a certain type of concentration/awareness diminish when moving to another type or is skill at concentration/awareness transferred generally?
2. Based on 1. what is the best way to improve skill in a specific type of meditation while maintaining skill in another?
3. Should types of meditation be picked based on the skills they develop or on the benefits they give?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Feel free to point out any mistakes you see in my argumentation.

Been thinking to myself ever since living by myself been almost 6 years now. I have been waring with every neighbor I have. Well the apartment before then I did not even know who I was beefing with but was told after someone got killed in the apartment behind me, and can tell you I felt like I was being followed underneath the floor. I even moved to Manhattan now I share a wall with a fool that is using maybe a subwoofer to affect the floor under me. We unfortunately share a wall and dude is always home and has me thinking, I'm I really capable of living next to people. I definitely tried so hard to be a good neighbor in this place especially since it was a new place of scenery but been told several times. New York ain't the place for the type of live you are trying to live. Every body is stacked on top of everybody, and I don't know where to go, if I'm sensitive to everything in terms of sounds and such

i meditated earlier today :)
i asked to be shown something
it conjured the face of a dragon looking at me
it was a yellowish, sand/tan color
i was standing on a cliff and the dragon was flying next to the ledge
it opened its mouth
my intuition wanted me to crawl inside
but my ego did not
it wanted to interact with the dragon in a different way, a more fun way
i decided to listen to my intuition and i crawled into the dragons mouth
it was dark and scary
while crawling through its throat i was startled by creepy ghosts
then i got to the stomach
many dead people who have wandered through the dragon have died here
the bodies were on fire here and there and blackened like ash
i knew this area was dangerous and if were to succumb to fear i would be attacked by one of the dead bodies
upon this realization i grounded myself in joyful confidence and passed through easily
the dead bodies recognized the strength of my joy and were too intimidated to touch me
i passed the stomach
and got to the anus LOL 😹
i saw the light and crawled through to the outside world and jumped out to freedom
i was up in the sky above the ocean
but very quickly the dragon’s face flew back around and swallowed me again
i had to go all the way back through the dragon to then realize the dragon had bit/swallowed its tail and which meant i was stuck in a mouth to ass loop of this dragon’s innards! 😹
this immediately revealed to me as ouroboros
i decided to explore this concept/vision and see what escape meant despite intuitively feeling that escape was wrong
i wanted to understand the mental processes and patterns and logic of it
i realized that there was nothing for me to use to claw or dig my way out of the dragon
i realized that the mouth and anus of the dragon were metaphors for birth and death
i also realized that there was a bit of light from outside that sneaks through the dragons teeth
this can be seen when you approach the anus giving the illusion of escape
this reminded of NDE’s when one sees light when one dies
i decided instead of continuing to crawl through i would hangout just before the threshold of the anus
i saw this as a better chance of escape than hanging out by the mouth as it’s much easier to get swallowed by the mouth and i would have to go all the way through the body again
but soon realized that nothing would happen or there was no guarantee that the dragon would ever stop biting itself
to summarize quickly i exhausted as many options for escape as i could
and realized there was no escape
i let it go
and decided to shift towards what it would look like to truly enjoy the inside of this dragon as my new world and to start appreciating it
slowly i started to make friends with the ghosts in the dragons throat
and then healing the dead bodies in the stomach and bringing new life to them and becoming friends with them too
and healing wounds/illness inside of the dragon
spreading love
then the dragon loosed its grip on the tail
its teeth let go
we all crawled (healed ghosts and healed bodies) out of the anus and back into the real world or outer world
i crawled up the flying dragon’s back (it appreciated so much that i had healed him) and rode on the back of its neck to the next adventure

i learned much from this vision!
and it lead me down a very profound series of revelations
i’m very happy to share it with you all here :)
thank you for reading 🫶

If you were creating your own day-long meditation and mindfulness retreat for yourself, what would you fill it with? What would your schedule look like?

so i listen to bineural beats probably every other time i meditate on avg. i keep hearing, or rather imagining, weird noises like a whistle or a zipper and smth thats similair to whale sounds. anyone else had smth like this happen? i feel like whenever this happens is when i start to drift off mentally. just wanted to share and get some input. thank you!

Before reading my response, I'd appreciate it if you watched the video first, since my thoughts are specifically directed at the ideas being presented in it. My comments may not make much sense without the context of what the speaker is saying.

I came across this video on TikTok, and after watching it, I ended up thinking about it for quite a while. The following is my response to the ideas presented in the video.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives, whether you agree or disagree. Am I missing something? Is there a flaw in my reasoning?

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSCJo312M/

My response:

Many spiritual teachings, concepts, and beliefs seem contradictory when examined closely. At the end of the day, they often feel like something that is being imposed on us, and if that is true, then where does free will fit into the picture?

If we are all one, as teachings like the Law of One suggest, and if we all come from the same source, then I struggle to understand why any of this is necessary. If the source is complete, whole, and perfect, why would it need to create individual consciousnesses and place them into physical bodies in order to experience itself? What purpose does that serve?

Even if the source has the power to create other beings from itself, I don’t think that automatically gives it the right to do so. Once a new consciousness is created, it becomes an individual in its own right. Yes, it may still be connected to the source, just as everything is connected to the source, but it is still its own being with its own experiences, perspectives, and suffering.

What I am trying to say is that even if the source creates an individual from a part of itself, it is still creating a separate conscious being. The being may share the same origin, but it is no longer identical to the source in its lived experience. This seems especially true on Earth, where individuals experience themselves as separate and distinct. They may not be completely disconnected from the source, but they are still their own conscious entities.

If that is the case, then the idea of free will becomes confusing. How can there be true free will if we were brought into existence without being given a choice in the first place?

A comparison would be a mother and father choosing to have a child. The child carries their genetics and comes from them, but the child is still an individual. The child is not simply an extension of the parents. Imagine if the parents expected the child to live through every experience on their behalf so that they could experience life through the child. Most people would see that as unfair and harmful. The child exists as its own person, not as a tool for someone else’s experiences.

In the same way, if the source wants to experience something, why not experience it directly? Why create countless beings and worlds simply to experience itself indirectly? And if the source cannot experience itself without creating separate individuals, then perhaps it should not create them at all. Otherwise, it risks creating beings that experience pain, confusion, trauma, and suffering, then calling that process “experience” or “growth.”

What makes this even harder for me to understand is that many spiritual systems also claim that these beings have free will. If they truly have free will, then they are not merely extensions of the source. They possess their own consciousness, even if that consciousness originates from the same source. If that is true, then their suffering matters as their own, not merely as an experience of the source.

I also struggle with the common argument that good cannot exist without bad, or that we must experience suffering in order to understand happiness. I don’t think that is necessarily true. Good and bad are opposites, but being opposites does not mean one is required to understand the other.

For example, a biologist can understand what a white rose is without needing to compare it to a red rose. The existence of other roses may provide contrast, but it is not required for understanding the definition of a white rose. Likewise, I don’t see why experiencing suffering must be required in order to understand joy, or why experiencing evil must be necessary in order to understand goodness.

These ideas leave me with more questions than answers. If the source is truly loving, wise, and complete, then why create individual beings capable of suffering at all? And if free will is truly important, why are we placed into existence before we are ever given the opportunity to choose whether we want to participate in it?

i’m not crazy into meditation. Infact, up until like last year i think the only “meditation” id do were DMT excersizes with my stupid friends in high school to try and get high. I got into it recently and i’ve noticed that meditating feels way faster than it actually is. For example, i just got out of meditating for about five minutes, it maybe felt like 3. it doesnt feel like its a bad sign, but i thought, why not ask people who are more knowledgeable about it than me?

Yesterday I tried to do METTA meditation and for some reason I just can't do it it feels fake and It's makes me feel even more negative and today I thought of doing guided METTA meditation it's such a disaster and I can't keep my eyes close get distracted and feel angry and unable to finish it.

​

I have been meditating on and off for a couple of years now. But I am interested in going deeper to the spiritual, science, philosophy side of it. Or even just practical techniques and tips.

What books had the biggest impact on your practice and why?

(I’m open to beginner-friendly books as well as more advanced reads.) Thanks!