How to meditate - Stories relating to the practice of meditation.

When I meditate with my eyes closed for long stretches of time, I consistently have the experience of my left eye becoming ‘dominant’ (for lack of a better word).

Actual perception in the right side of my visual field doesn’t usually go away (though I have experienced this!), but it seems to become fuzzy and harder to parse the finer details from. I experience the physical sensation of my left eye being totally active with the seeing, whereas my right eye just feels like an ancillary body part (no different than my hand).

Under very long stretches of practice, it begins to feel like ‘I’ am seeing out of my left eye only, and my right eye is just attached to me.

This does not happen at all under non-meditative periods of me having my eyes closed, like trying to go to sleep.

I am also left-handed, if that detail is relevant. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

I have been diagnosed with depression and adhd for around 8 months now and don’t take any medication for either since i lied about a lot of my real depressive thoughts and my mom/apn said i shouldn’t cause of the potential side effects and risk of addiction. My depression did get better overtime and nowadays i have a lot more self-awareness and mindfulness with being kinder to myself but has gotten to points where i practice SH again and have thought bad things. Earlier this year i started to watch HealthyGamerGG who many of you may know delves into the discussion of meditation as well as adhd, depression, and weed which i all have been affected by. He made a lot of claims about how meditation really helps depression and adhd but I never had really tried to meditate even back then. Fast forward to the present time I tried shrooms (heroic dose) for the first time a couple weeks back since i heard many things about it completely changing people’s mentalities and even though it was not a fun experience, ever since I have been a lot more interested in the whole idea of spirituality and meditation. I want to begin meditation for the main purpose of having self-control and a clear mind. I want to be able to tell myself to do something difficult, and have contentment while doing that activity with no regret even if it’s not fun at all like work or a job. What are the possibilities of meditation and what can I achieve? How do I start? How do I stay consistent/ disciplined? I want to learn cuz ik knowledge is power especially from what i’ve seen from meditation it seems this is a great tool to take control of your life.

I used to react to negative situations with intense sadness which could last days and I was never the person who felt angry at things, maybe I didn’t let myself to. I noticed after I started meditating and doing yoga daily I stopped having intense sadness and started to respond with intense anger. It does feel better because I am not depressed for days on end but instead experience flashes of anger and then feel peace again. I was wondering if this could be linked to meditation.

I‘ve heard people mention that medition is especially really effective when it is really hard for you. When you really have to try not to drift off or fall asleep. How much truth is there to this? Is it more about pushing through discomfort, or the quiet tranquility, or do we decide that for ourselves?

Ok so is it just me or whenever i fully just let go my whole body shakes on its own like in a how do i say this like inside but really moving anything like non of my body parts i don’t feel freaked out or anything its just whenever i do it i feel distracted instantly by something my eyes end up opening and it feels like i have to do something but i don’t know i feel like ive done everything i needed to today

Hey there!

I've had the Headspace app yeaars ago, somewhere at the beginning of the journey (as well as Andy's fame and the app's popularity).

There were very nice easy to understand visuals back then that explained concepts in mindfulness so well!

I recall one where the animated person was sitting next to a busy road/highway and how the take of minfulness wasn't to control "the cars" (the analogy to thoughts), but to observe them as they pass (the character ended up leaning on a rock or something like that and continued watching the cars and their flow without getting into the traffic or trying to control it).

The app changed SO MUCH since then. I miss how simplified it was back then.

Do they still have these animations? Last I checked (maybe like 2-3 years ago) I couldn't find them (or at least they weren't present at the beginning of the "lessons")

I want to open my mind and spirit to the Universe/God. I know I must be still and let go. I want to practice this. The anxiety and depression in my struggles to sit with myself.

Would love to hear meditation tips from you! How do you sit with yourself? How do you let go? How do you listen to the universe?

Tap in if you are also on your meditation journey! Share your story here! What made you want to start practice meditating?

Om nashi me

- Large

Lately I’ve been trying to find the perfect cushion, perfect mat, perfect app, etc, but meditating is supposed to be so simple yet when I meditate time goes by so slow and I feel like I’ll never be able to actually go anywhere with meditating.

I'm fairly new to meditation and, generally speaking, am a pretty mindful laid back fellow, but I have a bad habit of starting the day off in a certain state of agitation. While usually my mind is relatively calm and clear, when I first wake up it's a torrent of thought. I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions on practices to stymie this a bit. For some reason it's tough for me to just view the thoughts as they are, so to speak. For a bit of context, I have been out of a job for a while and have mounting financial pressures, and I think that I'm truly good about putting these challenges into perspective, but, upon waking, my mind just goes through lists of things I need to do, people to contact, bills to pay, etc. I know a certain degree of this is perhaps inevitable but would love some advice from you all on how you all get your day off to a proper start.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been practicing mindfulness daily and reading books like The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Mindfulness in Plain English. I’m trying to deepen my practice and approach it with structure and consistency.

A close friend of mine shares similar interests. Sometimes he talks about feeling total equanimity or experiencing body energies, and I notice that I don’t feel genuinely happy for him. Instead, I feel envious and think about how he seems to progress effortlessly.

At least I feel like I’m putting in so much effort, meditating 20 minutes in the morning, same in the evening, observing my emotions, bodily sensations during the day, trying to be mindful but don’t feel the same results.

I noticed I also kind of want to have a self confidence that he has, especially in social situations.

These thoughts make me feel insecure and even guilty. I start questioning my own progress and worry that I’m being a bad friend for feeling this way. When we meet, I sometimes feel anxious about these thoughts, emotions and struggling to stay present in his company.

I want to approach this situation mindfully and grow from it, I don’t want to compare myself to others, but I’m struggling to find the right mindset.

Have any of you experienced similar feelings in your journey? How did you work through them?

Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Im able to relax my entire body except my throat. The tightness is not going and its very frustrating. Please help.

Hello,

When I started meditating couple years ago, it was with help of very cool meditating app. Developers had given premium from time to time a I was lucky enough to get one.

The app was structured in three-week courses, first week had 10 minutes meditations, second 15, third 20. Meditations were narrated in english with slight indian accent, it also had very clear and white interface.

I know it's a longshot, but does anybody know this app?

I really loved the course format and overall the structure of the meditation (you let your mind to wander first few minutes, then there was body-scan, then you focused on your breath with gentle help of the narrator and last couple of minutes you let your mind wander again).

Thank you and have a good day!

Hello. For some background, I’ve been meditating for around 2 years (some times more frequently than others) and I usually just focus in trying to feel body sensations and work on relaxing tensions throughout the day.

For the past couple of nights, I’ve been having this weird thing happening. When I am trying to go to bed, I feel a really strong burst of energy - atleast that’s what I assume it to be.

It happens in half a second, and it feels like all my sensations disappear and move straight inward to a point in my chest/heart area. Then immediately it bursts outwards and becomes a very strong feeling everywhere in my body. I also feels less of a distinction between the sensations inside and outside of my body. It has never happened during the day, only at night when I’m trying to sleep.

It’s a little scary when it happens immediately, but if I relax into it, it feels like that point you get to when you’re a little too high and overly sensitive everywhere. The issue is, I haven’t been able to sleep much at all the past two or three nights because every time I try and relax into sleep, I feel like it’s going to happen again and I start to try and stop it.

Does anyone here have an opinion on what this is or has had it happen to them before? I’m not against it happening as I’m sure it is meant to happen, but it’s kinda stopping me from being able to sleep at night. Thank you.

Hello! Greetings from Uruguay, South America, from a 27-year-old young man who has been undergoing treatment for chronic depression since he was 13 years old.

A few months ago I had a LCD trip in which I felt a peace, happiness and love that I had never felt before in my life to the point that it made my vision of life change in a very positive way in all aspects of my life. Since that day I started meditating, and I find it very rewarding.

After taking a few months as neuroprotection,this weekend I have everything planned and prepared for a nice trip on psychedelics to mix with my meditation session.

The question is, which psychedelics do you feel have helped you best on your trips? I'm between three options: MDMA, LSD or mushrooms.

Disclaimer: I am a medical doctor and I am aware of the risks involved in using any exogenous substance and I am not recommending the use of any of them.

i started to actually feel my emotions it started when i got my girlfriend i dont know how but its actually so overwhelming its so weird because i forgot how to cry and feel regret and stuff i knew how to smile but it feels like i was so depressed

So, I started meditating since 2016. However, my meditation practice has been very, very on and off. The most I have gone consecutively is perhaps a month. After that there's always this longish "sabbatical"...and then I start again...and well, the cycle repeats. I just cannot seem to be disciplined about meditating thirty minutes every day.

There have been phases though, when I have genuinely enjoyed the fruits of meditation. Like just existing in "beingness" some days...pleasantly content for no reason...with no need for any external stimuli.

However, more often, I seem to resist sitting in meditation in fear of the imagined boredom that'll follow, and also the dread of "ah well..now there'll be those endless thoughts once again...and there'll be no real meditating ...guess I'm just not good at this."

Throughout the day also, I'm very resistant and anxious about just being silent and aware in the moment, unless sometimes when there's really no other way around it (no internet/battery died/too bored for any media even). In those times, I actually don't mind the silence, even though there's this initial rushed panic : "Oh no...what do I do with this bit of time now?" My next instinct is to turn to Kindle, unless the phone/tab battery is very low or has died.

In general, I always have something on. Like some kind of documentary, or social media commentary, or podcast (love listening to Rotten Mango's true crime 🙈). I am not on any other social media except Youtube and Reddit, and I hardly use Reddit. It's just always Youtube, Spotify, or Audible throughout the day.

I genuinely want to try practicing working/existing silently (other than my mediation practice) in a day. Maybe start with like a few minutes first. However, the thought of going more than 5 minutes without someone talking in the background seems "terrifying" to me...quite literally.

You are free to judge me, but please help me 😢

On behalf of a friend who started meditating in the last few years.

They have said to me on more than one occasion that yes self criticism and guilt are unproductive/counterproductive thought processes but they had a question I couldn't answer.

Let's say we take the worst person to have ever existed (everyone might have their own opinion on who this might be) Hitler.

How did anyone decide that the shame/guilt/self criticism isn't deserved? Why shouldnt they hate themselves?

Quick bio: I have diagnosed anxiety and depression, and I am receiving treatment via medication and therapy. Today my therapist recommended I start meditation as a way to help deal with my anxiety.

My particular flavor of anxiety almost always settles on a perceived inability to breathe, or causes what I would call pseudo-heart attack symptoms. I have definitely been checked out by multiple independent doctors and there is no underlying physical issue with either my hear or lungs.

This brings me to the core of my question to anyone, but would love to hear from people with similar anxieties in particular: does focusing on bodily sensations and breathing really help manage this? My fear is that focusing on my breathing could exacerbate the anxiety. Is it like exercising where it can make me feel absolutely panicked in the short term, but over time eventually helps?

Any thoughts/suggestions/etc will be greatly appreciated

I have an on and off relationship with meditation for some years now (for esoteric purposes) and I noticed something that intrigued me quite a bit. Whenever I'm meditating, not only during meditation per se but throughout my day or in my sleep, I start hearing a distinct ringing sound that reminds me of the static sound old TVs make when they're on. The ringing can get really loud and it can be quite disturbing sometimes. I also feel a distinct pressure on the top of my head, which may or may not be followed by heat. It got so hot at one point that I had to take a cold shower to cool off my scalp.

I think it's worth saying I've been doing the "breathe in white smoke, breathe out black smoke technique" for centering and energizing; the "white flame meditation"; and the good ol' "stillness meditation" where you just think of nothing.

That being said, has someone had similar experiences before? If you have an idea of what's going on please tell me.

We all think that we have a mind, but in reality, the mind appears because of thoughts — a bundle of toxic thoughts. When we still these toxic thoughts, the mind disappears. Therefore, the mind could be considered a delusion for those who realize that the mind is nothing but MIND, Misery, Ignorance, Negativity and Desires. Have you ever seen the mind? Has anybody seen the mind? What is its color, size and shape? It doesn't exist, but it appears to be because of the toxic thoughts that get together and create fear, worry, stress, anxiety, regret, shame and guilt. Therefore we feel depressed because of the mind, a mind which we cannot find. We can call it a delusion or illusion. But in reality, it appears. Our goal in life is to realize that there is no mind.

I began a daily meditation practice in my late 50's, and it keeps getting more expansive, including steadily moving into my 'off the cushion' experience (such as noticing my breath in conversations with others that might have once been pure stress). After trying to get a regular practice going for literal decades, guided apps were the gateway that allowed me to get it going, and i now meditate silently with a timer (or counting breaths) using a variety of experiential techniques. Now several years in, so many of my overall habits and priorities are gently morphing, in a surprisingly steadily way that feels as natural as it is dramatic. Bedtime reading from leaders I relate to (Adyashanti, Joan Tolifson, etc.) as a daily bookend to waking meditation and occasional weekend retreats have also been helpful building blocks for me. If you also started meditating later in life, I'd value hearing about your experience, what took you so long (hehe), and where your practice is now. Thank you for sharing fellow older folks, if you're inclined to do so.

This is a question I wanted to ask, so I made this post. How would you show your 3rd grade friend, on the playground, during lunch, what you're seeing or experiencing as spiritual enlightenment? Using just words? Or "pointers" as Elkhart calls them.

Do you think of your environment as part of your meditation practice? I recently guided a meditation that focused on building intimacy with the world around us by meditating on what we share our environment with. I also am trying to break down the divide between ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ spaces. I’d love to hear if and how others incorporate their surroundings into mindfulness practices!
And also, if that's something that people are interested in, I can record it and share!

I have heard of achieved yogis and practitioners no longer needing sleep or only a few hours and I understand due to their meditative practice they are not day-dreaming or “recording” images or feelings/ thoughts to be processing or playing in sleep or not much is distracting in meditation.

I have gone a few days at a time with personal retreat and I have noticed I have fewer day-dreams or drowsiness that influences me to dream or distract my conscious mind. And sometimes I can stay meditative and aware as my body drifts to sleep.

But what is the cause of dreaming process? Is it necessary…..?

I have learned a little about dream yoga in books but I haven’t understood much about it in application.

If I do asanas and pranayama I experience I have more Prana and I can prevent myself from getting engrossed in a day-dream, but maybe after a heavy meal or no exercise I notice I am dreaming more than I am perceiving my experience.

Would lessening or extinguishing dreaming be a beneficial direction to go or is it necessary for any reason?

The past couple months have been hard. Not for any particular reason. No big life event thats messed me up or anything. My mental health is just not in a good place. I have an easy job. When i first started i was carefree and put myself out there and just went for everything i could. But after awhile this anxiety set in. I overthink the smallest things and it snowballs into full blown anxiety. I catch myself ruminating. I’m not living in the moment. I’m constantly rehearsing in my head how i should talk to people my emotions are flat and natural thoughts and feelings aren’t coming to me. They’re…suppressed….

I feel like i can’t function. I think i have undiagnosed ADHD that I’ve been suffering with for a long time, but i can’t see a doctor. So idk what to do. My mind is so full of junk. I let all these thoughts build up to the point I’m always distracted. I can’t even have a simple conversation with people lately because I’m really tense just thinking about other things. It’s painful. I have no focus. I can’t even watch an entire movie. Read a book. My thoughts are all over the place

I used to meditate with binaural beats and it made me feel good. I just tried some guided meditation on YouTube for the first time. But this time it hit differently.

The person said "I will count down from 5 and each time the number changes you will feel more and more relaxed" When he reached zero I felt my eyes starting to move like I was in trans. It felt like the time I was in hypnotheraphy. But way more intense.

After my eyes just started to move, I felt like the whole world was moving and it was as if I was watching it happen. Then it got more intense and I was beyond the existing universe and the whole universe was spinning in nothingness. At that point I just kind of panicked and that made me lose that concentration. (And no, I didn't use any substances or anything like that)

Wow... What an experience right? So, a few questions:

1- What in the ... was that? Lol. What is that called, did I reach Nirvana or open a chakra or something?

2- I don't want to panic during that experience. Altough my whole body was calm my mind just said "Nope! Something's wrong, snap out of it!" and that experience just ended. How do I stop myself from panicking?

3- I asked ChatGPT and it said "you could have opened your crown chakra". What do you think?

The body sort of comes to a stop, but forever participates in the cosmos. This death is made up. The ego invented its own death and now suffers from such kmowledge. We can give up knowing.

We can be so concerned with others ways of living. Their behavior, thoughts, the things they say about each other... i can truly act as if it does not matter because on a dark and deep sense, it truly does not matter. Mean anything.

I've had a daily practice for a few months now and it feels like a really good part of my life. I feel like things have been more interesting with long sits and I feel excited by having either multiple sits across a silent, contemplative day or one very long sit, or maybe even through a weekend. I'll be registering for real guided retreats but I think a very long sit just across a day would be really good. Has anyone done this and has tips for me?

Hello! Im meditating for a mounth or so and still learning and need some advices please. Also english is not my first language, so im sorry for the possible mistakes. Please correct me if im wrong - when i concentrate on breathing and then got distructed by a thought i must note the thought and then continue to focus on the breathing, right? So when i got anxious - i note "anxious". Etc. But how to note complex thoughts about some random stuff? Yesterday i tried to meditate, but got distracted by a song that kept playing in my head and by the random musical ideas. How to note that without thinking too long about the proper note for it? Also are we supposed to just note thoughts, or some thoughts must be observed? For example - when i feel angry i observe anger and connect it to my ego to distance myself from this emotion, but sometimes observing thoughts leads to spiraling into them. Or observing and concentrating are different types of meditation and must be done seperatly?

S