Meditation

[Offshore Toon]

Anybody into it? I did it quite a bit towards the end of uni to help with concentration but kind of fell out of the habit. I'm going to get back into it as I did feel there were benefits to it.

Really not convinced on stuff like astral projection, though, but the idea does interest me and I've met people that have said they've done it (although that may just be a bit of #Brighton).

[Spikey M]

Lol

[Lewis]

It's always struck me as relaxing for people so uptight that they have to formalise not being mental. Who was I lolling at on the Old Board for doing it? I think it was Reg, but then Hammer the nonce got involved and it all went off.

[Offshore Toon]

I didn't think it would go down too well on here. Most of the time I've got too many thoughts going on, so being able to detach from them means that when I need to focus I can. I'm still taking sleeping pills every night, and one of my aims is to get away from that but every time I try I just end up awake at a stupid hour and exhausted the next day.

[Lewis]

That sounds like an actual problem.

[Offshore Toon]

It is a problem, yeah.

[Mike]

At work when I sit down for dinner I always take the first five minutes to just think about nothing, forget the morning and relax.
I never really looked at it as meditation until I read about it, that it’s about clearing your mind to relax, and it can be for hours or minutes. So I guess I do? I dunno?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I often do it for five minutes in the car before I go into the office. Good for clearing the mind, wipes all the clutter away.

[Spikey M]

I think I'm going to need meditation defined. Because if it just means 'taking 5 minutes to think about nothing' then I think everyone has done it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I think I'm going to need meditation defined. Because if it just means 'taking 5 minutes to think about nothing' then I think everyone has done it.

For me it's not thinking about nothing, which isn't possible. Rather it is thinking exclusively about one thing with extreme focus.

[Spikey M]

For me it's not thinking about nothing, which isn't possible. Rather it is thinking exclusively about one thing with extreme focus.

You see, I can't sleep at night without doing that. I will lay down and make up a little story in my head. Like a dream, I guess, and will just fall asleep. It's my version of counting sheep.

That's not the way I understand meditation, though. That said, I know fuck all about it beyond what tv has taught me, so maybe I don't understand it at all.

[Bam]

Meditation. :roflol:

Otherwise known as being a lazy cunt.

[Spikey M]

Although theres always someone that understands something less than you.

[Magic]

I should do it more but sitting still is like pulling teeth.

Edit: that implies I do it. I don't. But I should.

[Bam]

Yeah and we know what that is, don't we sailor. ;)

[Offshore Toon]

You can do something like repeating a chant, but I think the goal is to move away from that. You can have thoughts appear but you're just supposed to let them pass and not hold on to them. The same goes for any random noises and possible interruptions too. I couldn't say I was ever any good at it, so somebody may know better than me, but I think meditation would be a state of heightened awareness but without thinking about anything.

I also do the story thing to fall asleep sometimes too, Spikes. Imagining myself playing football works now and then too. Generally I'll just do the repeating a chant thing, though, as that has the most success.

[Mike]

When I say think about nothing, I don’t mean my mind is blank, more that I don’t think about anything in particular, and say dream I guess.
It’s useful though.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You see, I can't sleep at night without doing that. I will lay down and make up a little story in my head. Like a dream, I guess, and will just fall asleep. It's my version of counting sheep.

That's not the way I understand meditation, though. That said, I know fuck all about it beyond what tv has taught me, so maybe I don't understand it at all.

I would personally agree that that is a form of meditation. No doubt there are purists out there who say you have to be a tantric prick to do it, but whatever.

[Mike]

I also do a thing before I sleep where I think about the day then take a long deep breathe and then the stress of the day is gone.
I’ve been told, a few times, by people knowing what I’m doing that it’s very annoying to know I unwind so easily.

[Offshore Toon]

I've only been stressed on a handful of occasions. Almost all problems have solutions. Its only the really big stuff where there's no happy ending that gets to me.

[Spikey M]

I also do a thing before I sleep where I think about the day then take a long deep breathe and then the stress of the day is gone.
I’ve been told, a few times, by people knowing what I’m doing that it’s very annoying to know I unwind so easily.

Mine is the exact opposite of that. It's designed to stop me thinking about the day I've had/have coming. Otherwise I'd just get wrapped up in an imaginary argument or something.

[Giggles]

Lol

Nailed it early in play.

[Kikó]

A doctor told me it's as effective as a twenty minute power nap for rejuvenating you. Don't do it myself but think I'd benefit.

[Raoul Duke]

I've never done it, per se, but the Apple Watch has a little app that encourages you to do a few deep breaths occasionally - it's a nice little relaxation technique.

Listening to rain/water sounds is pretty :drool: too

[mugbull]

Thinking about nothing is possible and I think it’s actually the aim of meditation. At least the Buddhist-influenced meditation that’s reigning supreme now in the West

[Reg]

Wouldn't call it thinking about nothing as such. Your mind has to do something. Jim's right - meditation is focusing on one thing.

Daydreaming is kind of the opposite of meditation. The latter is much more disciplined.

[Panda Bear]

Meditating makes you superior.

MRI scans show that after an eight-week course of mindfulness practice, the brain’s “fight or flight” center, the amygdala, appears to shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress.

As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex – associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker.

The “functional connectivity” between these regions – i.e. how often they are activated together – also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger.

The scale of these changes correlate with the number of hours of meditation practice a person has done, says Adrienne Taren, a researcher studying mindfulness at the University of Pittsburgh.

“The picture we have is that mindfulness practice increases one’s ability to recruit higher order, pre-frontal cortex regions in order to down-regulate lower-order brain activity,” she says.

In other words, our more primal responses to stress seem to be superseded by more thoughtful ones.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/what-does-mindfulness-meditation-do-to-your-brain/

[Lewis]

So why is it generally associated with low-level divvies and the maladjusted?

[mugbull]

You’re thinking of libertarianism

[Panda Bear]

So why is it generally associated with low-level divvies and the maladjusted?Are you asking me how a beneficial practice got co-opted and warped into an economic grab by a Western world obsessed with self-help and -improvement?

[Boydy]

You’re thinking of libertarianism
:D

Ha.

[Queenslander]

So why is it generally associated with low-level divvies and the maladjusted?

The Woo woo mob have claimed it as theres because any benifits is thanks to them. They can package it up with crystals and shakras and all the other bullshit that gets sold at high price.

[Pepe]

I don't know, but that Vinay Gupta is a total mentalist.