Meditation - helpful?

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Hi Amity this is very interesting. I, too, experience bliss sometimes.
For me now the best times to meditate are (a) early hours, before the world around me locally wakes up and before I ingest caffeine and (b) when I go to bed, before falling asleep. I sometimes get bliss at these times, and sometimes more generally if I have been meditating consistently and well in the previous 2-3 days.
When do you achieve bliss, and how could you achieve more of it?

Hi Henry, that quote was from Zenden


My morning and night time meditations have a different focus.
Morning is usually a visualisation of a favourite calming place, with bliss happening only if I can stay focussed for the whole process. I like the ritual, focussing on a candle, taking deeper breaths.

Night time meditation is for de stressing, might include a shoulder and neck rub followed by tensing and releasing of muscle groups starting with the feet, my main goal is to quieten my mind and relax.
Ive moved recently and I think my current space for meditating is not suitable as it can be unpredictably noisy. I'm hopeful that I can make some space in a storage room after I reorganise it, this would certainly help achieve bliss more often.

One of my grandmothers was a devout catholic, prayed morning and evening, (and several times during the day) spiritually well, strong when faced with adversity, peaceful etc when I was a child she explained that it was her time with God and it made her content and resilient, she ignored all interruptions during her 30 minute morning and evening prayer sessions. This made a lasting impression on me.

When I stopped practicing Catholicism, I felt the the loss of quiet daily reflection impacted on me in a noticeable way; long story short I attended a few general meditation/mindfulness workshops to learn the basics and now I practice it most days. Meditation is similar to the contented feeling I had in an empty church. I don’t subscribe to any discipline, but I can understand the attraction to the structure it provides as it is conducive to progression through the meditative stages.

I learned meditation long ago, and watched my spiritual group turn into a cult. Then, I tried to get along without it, like other people. I met people using different meditation practices, usually claiming to be the best. Still, when life was at its toughest and I could not sleep, meditation helped me get through. Now, I meditate on the numbers from zero to twelve for basic mind control and it works fine. Getting distracted by non-physical sights and sounds is OK. On a good day, the interior space is as vast as the exterior. I don't know if adepts in my branch of yoga meditate on two numbers or sixty.

I think it is more necessary in the over-stimulating modern world. It is like sweeping out a pile of scrap from half-formed thoughts. I used to be worried about throwing out some good stuff, but it turns out that the latest update from the subconscious is better if it can get through.

I know what you mean, and I totally agree. Good thoughts keep on coming in life, even if you are turning (conscious) thinking off at times to meditate.

Thanks for posting this; a very interesting story. I like the idea of meditating on numbers. Somewhere along the line I ended up building too much formality up around my practice, with rituals before and after and trying to push the length of time I was sitting more and each more every night. I got to 45-50 minutes from memory (one minute a night starting at 15,) and stopped when a depressive episode set in. I haven't been back. Attaching the idea of enlightenment to what is essentially just a psychic defragmentation process ended up hindering me at the end of the day.

Thanks for the support and encouragement everybody I've been prepping myself by taking the oportunity to concentrate on that wordless space in my mind when it arises. I can do a yoga class for free at work tomorrow so perhaps I'll start going back to that and see where it takes me.

P.S. - I watch the numbers go by at one per breath. One cycle from zero through twelve takes about a minute. I go from struggling to maintain a thread, to noticing the character of each number, to seeing them like atoms in a vast space. Meditation is like going from keeping up with constant change, to focussing on that which never changes - the ocean we swim in. Letting go is the hard part.

That's a really cool method, thanks for sharing

Very interesting. I am not sure meditation is just a psychic defregmentation process; it also seems a different brain operating mode also? which also has benefits that flow over into being present in normal (non-meditating) brain operating mode?

"Operating mode" does not seem quite right - the goal is non-operation. Like sleep, it engages self-repair and maintenance functions. If nothing else, meditation turns boredom into opportunity.

I like that, too.

Well, I've been meditating for at least 20 minutes a day since finding this thread, and I have to say I feel quite a bit better! Waking up easily in the morning, even deciding that some basic yoga to get my body in line before I go to work was a natural decision for me.

I've bypassed the mantra/spirituality side of things and am finding it a lot more enjoyable focusing on breath and bodily sensations, as well as the curious sensation I perceive as being 'autism,' the sensation of everything happening at once.
Getting back to being able to focus on that results in the dual benefit of slightly mitigating the overwhelming anxiety that results from letting that feeling get out of control, as well as the familiar traces of some stranger, deeper states often occurring simultaneously- for example, the other night my brain was racing along as it usually does, but in a strange and focused altered state with a significantly lowered breathing/heart rate. It was quite pleasant.

Thanks to everybody posting here for the encouragement and intelligent discussion.

Meditation is an ancient practice, not just in esoteric nonsense. It's been proven to actually help build new neural pathways associated with compassion, joy and love. There is loads of studies being done about it nowadays.

I've been doing meditation for years, and though I haven't got a regular practice these days, I miss it and I know I'd feel better if I did just 15 minutes each day.

Don't be put off by people who associate it with religious cults! You don't need to get involved in any religious stuff to sit and breath and rest your mind for a few moments each day. There's some cool apps for it too; 'Headspace' is a cool one, and 'Stop, Breath & Think' is really nice too.

haha it's amazing how hard it is to just build into life. The TM method of 20 mins in morning and in evening seems to work for some. I like to do longer, but find the only time that works is early hours (before the world wakes up).

I like to meditate before I rock climb, I've never done it in a spiritual sense or followed a specific method (IDK, what I do is certainly close to meditation at least). I use it as a relaxation and focus exercise. I find that once I have cleared my head of all thoughts I can focus totally on only what I am about to do.

I got on a Buddhism kick and started meditating (vipassana). It helped with some sound sensitivity issues and also helped me with driving (I hate driving). My blood pressure dropped as well. My sleep improved tremendously. Unfortunately, it was one of my obsessive self-interests and my passion for it dwindled. At one point I could maintain mindfulness for long stretches throughout the day. Need to get back on the mat.

One very good source for information I found is: Five Ways to Know Yourself....An introduction to Basic Mindfulness by Shinzen Young at: www.shinzen.org/Retreat%20Reading/FiveWays.pdf

In the introduction it covers: What is mindful Awareness? Five ways. Three techniques. Noting in a nutshell. and More about equanimity.

It lists the five ways in five chapters: 1. The way of thoughts and emotions. 2. The way of the physical senses. 3. The way of tranquility 4. The way of flow. and 5. The way of human goodness.

There are 7 additional chapters as well.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.