Anyone meditate?

LikeAnOcean

And if so, has it helped you control your thoughts and fears? Helped you cope with everyday stress better?

Jeanie

Yep. And I've found it incredibly beneficial.

gobrowns19

Sorta. I found out later it was a form of meditating, but in high school during exam week if a teacher would let us study in their class I would lay on the ground and listen to Riot Act or Abbey Road and be stuck in an inbetween awake and asleep phase. I kinda was aware of everything around me but at the same time I wasnt, I don't know. But after it was over it was very refreshing.

releaselauren

I have in the past but with two sons with busy schedules, it is hard to find the time these days.

In my experience, it usually takes a good 10 minutes to silence my brain and I use certain crystals/stones that enable me to silence any anxiety I might feel. Burning incense also helps....I am into metaphysical/holistic healing.

What I find beneficial when I am feeling overwhelmed is to focus on breathing deeply, whether it be in my kitchen, in the car, wherever, I concentrate on breathing deeply..inhale through my nose, exhale through my mouth, while closing my eyes (obviously, not in the car) and repeating a mantra of "it's okay" or "breathe, breathe, breathe". It does help me not lose my mind.

I am incredibly stressed out at the moment, so trust me, learning to breathe deeply does help deal with thoughts and fears.

sponger

There's an article that can be googled which details a study that was done at MIT.

They hooked up a few MIT student volunteers and a few authentic buddhist monks to some kind of brain wave scanner.

The scanner measured the amount of gamma rays that the volunteers' brains emitted during meditation.

Apparently gamma rays are what the brain emits when it's concentrating.

The buddhist monks were emitting gamma rays that were several times stronger than the MIT students'.

LikeAnOcean

Well, I just seriously tried it for the first time. I'm usually a pretty edgy, anxious person and I want to train myself to conquer my emotions and be able to better harness my intuition.

It took about 20 minutes of me trying to calm the fuck down. I found that not only concentrating on my breathing, but concentrating on the little light that was entering my halfway shut eyes in the dark helped. The light began to take on crazy forms. I actually caused myself to naturally hallucinate, and before long I could no longer feel myself breathing or anything anymore..

It only lasted maybe 3 or 4 minutes of the 30 I set aside. Very cool while it lasted though. Hopefully I'll get better at it.

stickboy

I do


its called getting high


nah seriously tho I would look into this : http://healing.about.com/cs/easternculture/a/taichi.htm
its something thats always interested me and I was about to start classes last week on tuesday but it rained and today I got stuck a bit far away from the city so maybe next week. Free Classes in NY start at like 7am so its tough but eventually I'll get more involved

Jeremy1012

Occasionally. I keep meaning to actually start a routine of doing it. I have very disturbed sleep patterns and in general I find it hard to just relax and stop thinking so I can imagine it will be very benefitial for me.

anotherclone

LikeAnOcean wrote:

And if so, has it helped you control your thoughts and fears? Helped you cope with everyday stress better?

Yes!

It definately helped me when I was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago. My mind was obsessed with worry. I decided not to take antidepressants or anything like that, I meditated instead and it really worked.

I actually went to a couple meditation classes and that really helped me get the basics of how to quiet the mind. I learned how to get in the "zone" by having some sort of a mental chant, just something to repeat and focus on.

eyedclaar

If I were to concentrate on just one thing I would be denying thousands of over crazy and useless thoughts from entering my mind and that just wouldn't be right or fair.

TrixieCat

I really got back into it a few months ago. I combine it with yoga before I go to sleep. Stretch out my body and relax my mind.

turquoise_ninja

Yeah I have off and on for the past 5 years or so. It's so easy for me to get out of the habit for weeks or months, or more. Because of that, I haven't really progressed much or anything (so no awesome floating abilities yet :( ). But when I am in the habit, I've noticed that I get much better at being more aware of what I'm thinking and why - at seeing the thoughts behind my thoughts, if that makes sense. Which does come in handy, in helping control emotions and stuff.

chadwick

i meditate almost daily/nightly. (i have been meaning to do more yoga though.)
before bed time is when i do a great deal of meditation.
i guess i first started practicing meditation when i was pretty young.
my mom does it so that's who i learned it from.
it is very relaxing, calms the soul, eases the mind, and puts me to sleep in
a very deepened state of rest if only for a few hours it can feel like i've slept 6-8 hrs solid.
i am positive that meditation opens up different and higher levels of consciousness making a person more in-tune with one's surroundings.
i've had some awesome experiences whilst in deep meditation.
along with swirling flashing lights, visions of all kinds, tingling sensations, and a twitching nervous system, all have consumed me.
meditation will broaden one's innermost sensitivity which in-turn opens up the doors to one's psychic abilities. i believe in this stuff fully. some that practice deep meditation can reach the level of astral traveling, not all people can do this but many do. (i plead the 5th)

edit: walking through the forest and just being alone out there really does something for me that's similar to meditation.