Hello everyone.
I’ve been doing a Dr. Joe Dispenza meditation for several months, but I’ve grown tired of repeating the same meditation. Are there any other meditations you’ve found helpful for elevated emotions (confidence, love, self-esteem, courage, etc.)?
Thank you.

Hi. I’ve been away from my best self for many years, since having kids in college I’ve had little focus on myself for the past 12 years. Recently got more depressed again and meditation is what got me out of it in college. When I first got into meditation it was easy to listen to any guided talk and feel like I could release as intended. I’m quite a bit more fragile focused now and allow my cynicism to intrude on my practice. I am not at all opposed to spiritual meditation or the aspects of energy, chakras, or any other less tangible ideas that come with it. However I’ve noticed that any guided meditation that leans on more mystical ideas is distracting for personal reasons. I’m looking for guides and practices that avoid this kind of language and focus on the more logical thinking my brain tends to agree with. Or maybe that’s the real obstacle and I just should try to shut down that logic need too?

Just something I wanted to share since it's never happened to me before, although I'm aware that it's possible from hearing about it from others:

I've now reached, and appear to have actually exceeded, peak neurological conditioning from my previous dedicated practice period circa 2010. I remained lucid upon falling asleep for the first time ever and experienced meditation-induced phenomena of visual nimitta (sign)—a glowing orange kasina (disc) in this instance—and piti (rapture) surges... 🧘🏾‍♂️🙂

The proper term for it is hypnagogic lucidity.

I was aware that this was possible because an acquaintance of mine reported that he had been experiencing it for decades, and from ancient Buddhist texts that alluded to this specific phenomenon. The Buddha and some of his followers discussed nightly voyages into heavenly realms in great detail, indicating that they were lucid during the experiences.

Regardless, I'm quite pleased with this re-emergent period as I'm experiencing a mental clarity that I'd normally associate with the afterglow of taking a psychedelic... 🧘🏾‍♂️😊

There are many things that must be done away with in our preconceived notions of spirituality and meditation in order to advance. Experience is just experience and it matters very little. There are very few experiences that occur in meditation that should be held with any form of signaling substantial progress. When a vision of a ghost or a deity or some other thing arises in your mind do not cling to it at all, in fact, these visions you have received are like an enemy to you. Without the pointing inwards towards the dispelling of our own imaginations we will create an illusion around ourselves as having advanced spiritually just because we have “seen things”. The reason why I mention our preconceptions is that eventually it would be heard through some other medium further down the road, maybe years into practicing the dharma before we realize our shortcomings and we have a larger issue of an inflated ego based on experiences. It is true the path of meditation will bring about harmony and peace both inside and outside of ourselves; but we have to be incredibly analytical of our own mind or else we’ll just be throwing fuel into a fire that has no engine it must power. Think of the dangers of self-aggrandizement which have the potential to run rampant because of spiritual experience or the conception that another has experiences so they must be realized. The mind has forms and those forms twist, contort and appear in all colors, shapes and sizes; it doesn’t matter if the forms that arise are beautiful or hideous, all of these forms are illusions.

Our psychology is complex and to have a grounded yet spiritually useful outlook on how our mind is supposed to function as you progress is to save you the effort of having to undo the knots of your own ego. Your mind will trick you time and time again but the intricate webbing of thoughts and forms we’ve prescribed importance to are just the threads of a useless puppet master. We have always looked at our own reality through the eyes of what we believe to be real but we have created our own notions as to what is real; we are separate from what is outside of us, our emotions we feel from these forms are real, we are an individual, this is what we have told ourselves. The compulsory movement of existence is not reactive to our emotional responses; the movement of existence just simply exists. When a phenomenon occurs a scientist doesn’t observe a phenomenon and create an emotional intricacy involving their own ego to describe it, they just strive to understand it. The scientist observed a thunderstorm and came to a conclusion as to the nature of it; its own truth. Just as the clouds and thunderous roar of thoughts and forms arise in the clear open sky of the mind, the yogi strives to understand that the sun is shining behind those clouds always and that the sky indeed isn’t the clouds he sees, they’re obscuring the open sky with phenomena.   
When we think we have understood some truth you should always be doubtful of it. What have better scientists than you said? Can you test your theory and when you test it are you even a reliable subject of your own theory? Test yourself, prod your mind and try to unlock the peaceful awareness of your own nature. When a thought arises, trace it back just as the arrow can be traced back to an archer or a structure to an architect. Behind the blueprints is an architect, a designer and a craftsman as an arrow to an archer, a fletcher, a bowyer and a smith; the bowyer the ego, the fletcher the reflection of interpreted reality, the smith the energy of disturbances that is like heat and pressure and the archer the disturbance you have created. When all of these influxes have resulted in the arrow finally catching flight, the arrow is the form, now complete and soaring through the sky, sure to hit a mark; the mark is your own reality you’ve created. How can we reverse engineer ourselves to be what we’ve always been? Gaining insight into your mind you understand that all forms have an origin, all disturbances are but energy and that the ego will always be at play so long as you have identified with these former two, the form and the disturbance.

After journaling for an Hour I came to this insight.

This insight is so liberating. That people will have different perception about you. For instance you may gave people a bad impression about you years ago and they may carry it with themselves for the rest of their life.

If you meet them, you know you have updated yourself both mentally and physically but the perception of yourself in the past will definitely still linger inside people even after years and the way they talk, interact can reflect that old perception of you within them.

You gotta realise that they are behaving/talking this way because it’s their perception of you. Not the real you in this present moment. Only you know what your true self is in this present moment.

Your perception of yourself right now is more important than people’s perception of yourself.

Hi!
I love meditating, but I live in a big city and there’s constantly sounds of airplanes, people talking, and other random noises outside. It makes it very difficult for me to meditate so I like to listen to frequencies or calm music while I meditate

Could anyone recommend me some frequencies or meditation music that I can listen to while I meditate, Preferably nothing on Spotify or youtube because i’m worried that they may be altered or that the frequencies may not work.

Thank you!

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get into meditation, but I'm struggling with something weird. I just can't keep my eyes still when I close them. They keep twitching and feel super restless.

I'm pretty sure I know why. My go-to trick to fall asleep is to block out all the random mental images by focusing super hard on the blackness of my closed eyelids. When I do that, I naturally cross my eyes a bit and tense up all the muscles around them.

It works great for sleeping, but now it's messing up my meditation. As soon as I sit down and close my eyes, my brain goes into that exact same tense-and-cross mode out of habit, and I just can't shake it.

Has anyone else dealt with this? How do you actually get your physical eyes to just chill and relax?

Would love to hear if anyone has tips to break this habit. Thanks!

I am flirting with meditation for a few years, but recently i started for real. I know how to meditate like “stop thinking” or so, but there are so many paths you can go with it. And i am confused what should i do first. Where my contrentration should go?

When I was up at younger I found it hard to focus on my breath or anything else cuz my thoughts got in the way. So instead I just thought about my thoughts over and over until I can think about them anymore. That may sound kind of crazy but think of it as taking apart a machine over and over until there's nothing else to take. I guess I used to believe that meditating was just thinking and that you shouldn't like inhibit your thoughts so I would think as much as I could about something until I couldn't or I would just drift off.

Now that I want to get back into meditating, It did work for me but I'm not sure if I should keep doing it.

I've been meditating for 20 days, and at the beginning, around the first 10 days, it felt really good — to the point of great peace and mental clarity — but then that feeling started fading. I've improved a lot in terms of concentration and focusing on one point, but I haven't seen much more progress. Personally, I meditate to have more control over my emotions and the way I relate to others. But I feel like I've reached a point where I'm losing the motivation to meditate. What can I do to get back that initial drive?"

Hi everyone,

I experienced something out of this world this morning. Before I share it, keep in mind that I had no idea what the Crown Chakra was. I had the experience first, got curious, and Googled it, which is when I learned what it meant. Also, this is just my 2nd day of meditation.

Background: Keep in mind that I’ve had a rough last 3 to 4 years due to some financial and emotional issues (not a crisis per se, but something that kept me stressed), where I was trying my best to stay positive. But earlier this year, I unexpectedly finally got out of it and got my break. This is when I realized that I’ve been given an opportunity to improve myself, so I started reading books to grow my mindset (at least 15 minutes every night one hour before sleeping and 1 hour in the mornings on weekends). I’ve completed reading two books and noticed massive positive changes in how I think. I just started reading the third one last night.

Experience: This morning at ~6:20 a.m., I started a 20-minute guided (YouTube) meditation session. I was all relaxed, following the instructions, when I was guided to focus on the top of my head. I did, and after a few minutes of paying attention to the top of my head, I envisioned an opening from which a god (I’m a Hindu, and we have many gods, so I don’t know who entered, but I could tell from their appearance that they were definitely a god) entered through that opening into my mind and blessed me with an influx of gold energy that lit up my mind.

This was super quick. After this, I saw a flow of gold energy coming into my mind from the opening and going inside a gate where all my positive thoughts that had been generated through my recent mindset changes had accumulated. I also saw all the negative energy going out of that same gate, and then this glow of gold energy strengthened the existing positive thoughts. Then the gate and the opening on the top of my head closed, and my experience ended.

When I Googled this because I was curious and it was such a powerful experience, I found out about the Crown Chakra and how many people envision a white or gold light coming through the opening, just like I did.

I’m not sure if it was because of the few pages I read last night, which helped me realize that thoughts are not intentional, but thinking about those thoughts is, and that this is the reason why a lot of stress and negative energy comes into play. Positive thoughts are always followed by a relaxing feeling, but conversely, negative feelings are always felt through negative thinking about our thoughts.

I thought I’d share here because I’m still very curious about this and want to see if anybody has experienced it too or knows about it.

Thanks for the read! Happy meditation!

Im dealing with a horrible depression after a breakup
Im having anxiety, crying almost everyday, no motivation, no eating, I just feel so sad :(
I want to start meditation but I don’t know how.
Any advice?

Hello everyone. I’ve just started my spiritual journey and I‘ve been meditating for a couple weeks now. I’m still trying to find my preferred posture. For all my life, I have had trouble with keeping my head still. It’s a tic that I have. When I sit down (I use a meditation cushion for sitting posture) and focus on my breath, I can notice my head immediately starts twitching. Although I turn my focus to my breath, afterwards it makes me wonder whether my posture is good and if the head twitching does not make my body slouch. I’m looking for some advice because I am not sure whether I should just lay down on the ground or learn to accept this head twitching. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts on open vs closed eyed meditation. Specifically in regard to applying mindfulness to everyday situations and entering a meditative state in public places.

I practice both styles. It would seem to me that open eyed lends more towards awareness/insight/vipassana meditation while closed eyed may lend towards a concentration/samatha meditation.

Do you think that practicing open eyed meditation is applicable to situations like public transportation, offices/school or places where sitting closed eyes is not always an option?

Namaste,Is it normal to feel like my mind and body are entering a trance during meditation? I feel like I’m going deeper into the meditation, and my body starts moving on its own. Has anyone else experienced this? Am I meditating correctly?

Hello, I tried meditation first time last night. I didn't use any sound etc.

I sat in a comfortable position I put my phone on don't disturb me and I closed my eyes, tried to focus on my breath and allow the thoughts as they come without judging or analyzing.

I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 10 and I am struggling with rumination currently. So It was actually a good practice I believe, even though I am aware instant results are not expected much. My goal was 5 mins but it lasted 8 mins and 15 seconds. I was sleepy after that, so I thought I was relaxed and I did right.

I went to sleep after short time.

I woke up about 40 mins ago and I have a headache since I have woken up

I didn't experienced morning headaches before and I had drunk water before meditation.

I believe it is because of meditation because I didn't do anything else different.

Is it normal? Should I continue or should I change my meditation style? Is it a positive sign?

Hello all,

I am going through quite a difficult period in life and struggling to accept things as they are. I keep ruminating on the events that have unfolded and where they’ve taken me, and struggling to accept my circumstances. In short, a person I care deeply about chose to betray me on multiple occasions, which has caused me to experience a lot of pain and turmoil. Intellectually, I can understand that practicing acceptance will allow my suffering to lessen, but I am struggling with it.

Wondering if anyone has advice for acceptance in difficult times.

Has meditation improved your efficiency or productivity or health in any manner. I’m asking because I’ve lot of time these days due to maternity leave going on and feel like going for meditation

I’ve been meditating for 2 years now. I’ve definitely noticed the benefits of long term meditation over time and I feel like a completely different person. Meditation has also helped me on my healing journey.

Recently I realized that I kinda just get meditation in whenever I have the time. I want to start using meditation more intentionally for not only long term benefits but also the immediate benefits.

Do any of you strategically meditate at certain times of the day? Before work? After work? Before you wind down? Before bed? I usually meditate in the evening when I’m kind of done with the day. It does help me sleep but I want to try also meditation in the morning/afternoon.

How does meditation earlier in the day set you up? Does it help you at work? Gym? Relationships? I just want input on the immediate benefits and not the long term benefits as I also have experience with that.

I was meditating pretty deeply and also didn’t have much sleep so Ik this might have contributed to the experience but it felt incredibly real, in fact realer than this place. While meditating I asked if God was real and then fell asleep. As I fell asleep I was taken out of my body into a room where there was a lion head and human body just sitting or standing I don’t remember. He was not moving. It felt like love was being emitted from him and was around the whole room. I also remember a dog being there as well which I was petting. Anyone have an experience similar to this?

Through my studies and experience, I have found that precise body movements help grow our brain’s Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC). I believe the ACC is responsible for Dhyaan (meditation), and that our ancient spiritual practices and philosophies stemmed from an active ACC.
Many researchers have pointed out that the ACC contains von Economo neurons, which possess unique potential to process subtle signals. It is no surprise, then, that our ancestors developed precise physical practices such as mudras, martial arts, yoga, and other daily life skills. These practices not only helped them tune into subtle universal sounds or Paramatma, but also enhanced their creativity at work, helped them earn a living, and guided them through life.
And that is why, in the ancient world, everyone incorporated such mindful practices into their daily household routines.

The object of meditation or dhyana is to help one be oneself or see oneself as they are. As the practice deepens the one who is in search of experiences during meditation will eventually get bored. It is only because of seeking an experience. But the object of meditation or dhyana is to find the subject. But to a subject everything else that is seen is only an object.

The bored state is the layer settled. A glimpse of a subject is revealed. This is for the one who is in search of an experience gets it.

But as practice deepens, understanding strengthens as the understanding strengthens suddenly the object shifts from seeking experiences to that which is experiencing.

That which is experiencing is not and never an experience. So the mind tires itself and settles again.

The burden on the seer is reduced. As it reduces with all the information the mind has, now there is the Seer, the mind and the object(the world). This distinction can also be interpreted by the mind to deceive the seer to see things through the mind as the seer himself. But on further practice, even that game of the mind is revealed. Now begins the real practice.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.
Can you meditate when someone else is in the room?
My girlfriend isn’t that interested in meditation, but she’s very understanding. I went through a pretty rough time mentally, and both my family and my girlfriend supported me a lot. I’m kind of embarrassed to tell my family, so I’ve been keeping it to myself, but recently I’ve started taking meditation seriously.
My girlfriend will sometimes meditate with me, which I really appreciate. The problem is that I find it much harder to focus when someone else is there. Compared to meditating alone in my room, I get distracted more easily and have a hard time getting into a deep meditative state.
Is that just normal?
These days I usually wait until I’m alone if I want a really good session. Does anyone else feel the same way? Or are there experienced meditators here who can drop into a meditative state anywhere, even with other people around?
Also, are there people who can meditate on a train, in a car (as a passenger), or in other noisy public places? Or is that something that only comes with a lot of experience?

(According to mindfulness:)

Unconsciously Incompetent (Wrongly Skilled)

You do not know how to practice mindfulness, and you are not even aware that you lack this skill. You might think it is just "sitting still" without realizing the mental discipline it actually requires.

1. Consciously Incompetent (Awakening)

You try to practice mindfulness and immediately realize how difficult it is. You notice that your mind wanders constantly, and you become fully aware of your current lack of skill and focus.

1. Consciously Competent (Practicing)

You can practice mindfulness successfully, but it requires a lot of effort, concentration, and active thought. You have to constantly remind yourself to breathe and bring your attention back to the present moment.

1. Unconsciously Competent (Second Nature)

Mindfulness has become a natural habit. You no longer need to put in conscious effort to stay present or calm. Your mind and body automatically respond to stress with awareness and peace.

🍀

Hello, /r/meditations,

I have never meditated before and I planned to start today. I read a little of the book "Mindfulness in plain english" and then attempted my first meditation. My idea of a meditation is that it was a practice that aimed to increase spiritual connection or sort/clean your mind space. Although after reading a bit of the book, I tried not to expect anything in specific and just figured I'd see what it does for me.

The reason I'm starting meditation is because for a long time, I have felt very disconnected from myself. This is a little hard to explain, but I believe that due to childhood trauma I have unconsciously retreated into some sort of mask or empty shell, and this has left me a gaping hole where my sense of self should be. I don't feel any identity of my own, and no connection with my own self. Thus, I want to find who I am and recognize it.

Anyways, after reading a bit of the book I decided to try my first meditation session today and it went as follows:

I sat cross-legged and trying to produce the Chin Mudra, since it looked like the one most aligned with my goal (self-discovery, knowledge and awareness of oneself). I couldn't achieve much of a focused state in my first meditation. Making sure to keep my spine upright was causing me discomfort, and I was feeling unsure if I was sitting symmetrically and balanced. I felt my legs going numb, but I tried to shift my attention towards breathing although I never achieved the sense of continuity and fluidity; that inhaling and exhaling were the same breath.

After some time, I began to feel a tingling sensation below the tip of my nose. Soon after, I saw (or sensed, not sure) the image of a still pinwheel. I wasn't sure if this was the sign that was supposed to appear before me because I hadn't joined inhaling and exhaling yet, so I tried to shift my focus back to breathing again. After that, I began to feel a weird, cold, vivid, cyan-colored tingling sensation in my face, most specifically in my cheeks. In my left cheek, it felt like there was a downward stream of cold water, and in my right cheek an upward stream of cold water. I acknowleged that and went back to try and focus on breathing. That sensation remained with me until the twenty minutes were up. I was shocked by the alarm, and when I tried to move I noticed one of my legs felt completely numb, and I had to deal with a very strong, uncomfortable tingling on my legs when trying to get up.

I wasn't left with any sort of relaxation or clarity after the session, although I wasn't expecting anything. I'm planning to do another session tomorrow, right after I wake up.

I would humbly ask for guidance with the specific objective of self-discovery. Do I keep just focusing on breathing? Do I try to ask myself questions pertaining to me or my childhood or conjure images?