Saw this new subforum was created. I think it’s a good idea to open a thread to discuss about meditation. Western world tends to call it mindfulness, but yeah I don't really differentiate the two.

Meditation is a great way to reduce stress in our daily lives. I tried to practice daily but with the busy working life it is hard to be persistent. There are lots of different ways. The method I use is simple (but may not be easy), taught by a psychologist. I focus the attention on the breath as a start. Then I practiced the so-called 6 seconds cycle, i.e., 3 seconds in-breath and 3 seconds out-breath, that will make 10 breaths in a minute. If the mind wanders (which it will), try to bring the attention back to the breath. Continue doing this for at least 5 minutes, preferably longer.

Anybody has practice meditation regularly? Feel free to discuss here.

Edited: [Content added 12-9-2017]
There was once a screening of “The Connection: Mind Your Body” when I was studying. The filmed is made by a journalist who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, i.e., her immune system attacked her own body. She travelled around the world interviewing experts with remarkable stories of recovery from severe diseases. She found that there is a connection between mind and body (it has to be), that the mind will affects the body’s physical health and vice versa that the body will communicate with the mind. Therefore, if we are stressed continuously in our lives, chronic illnesses are likely to manifest.

The file uses a simple example that, e.g., when we encountered a tiger in a jungle, we activate the fight or flight response, which is associated with increased heart rate, blood pressure etc. If we are stressed, we are usually worrying what might happen in the future, as if there is a “virtual tiger” in our mind. When this happen for a long time, it produces adverse effect to our health, both mental and physical. Meditation, on the other hand, helps us to only focus on the present moment and let go of unnecessary thoughts. It activated what is called the relaxation response, which is associated with decreased heart rate, breathing rate etc.

Another point worth noting is that western medicine often treats mind and body to be separated. For example, when a patient has a prolonged back pain, then doctor would prescribe medicines for back pain. But sometimes this doesn’t help. Would it be possible that the daily stress in the mind causes it to manifest as back pain? This is something worth pondering.

I personally think it is a great film. You can watch the first 15 mins of the film for free here


This post has been edited by chonghe: Dec 9 2017, 11:00 PM

I suppose it is another kind of method, there is really too many approaches, we just have to find one that suits us

Medications for mental health issues?

Try to meditate, try to watch your thoughts. Once you are able to watch the incessant thoughts and the thought will stop, that is already one big step forward.

Probably we have different opinion but that's fine

Not sure what do you mean by serious meditation? How long is considered serious?

"let your mind go blank" - I think it is more appropriate to say focusing on the present moment, and that is essentially what meditation is for. If you notice, our physical body is always in the present moment, but our mind, which is filled with incessant thoughts, is either always in the past (thinking of past events) or future (worrying about what might happen). This discrepancy causes disunion between mind and body. Meditation helps to bring the mind back to the present moment, which is beneficial to prevent further thoughts from occurring.

A simple search would links to lots of benefits of meditation, e.g., https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindful...ss-201401086967
And yes, if you search for harmfulness I believe you can find lots of info too

At the end of the day until when you really try it only will you know if it is good or not

Have you ever tried? You never know until you really give it a go

which is exactly the reason you should try
Yes at first it may look hard because you can't concentrate at all, but once you start noticing the thought and start focusing attention only on your breath then things will get better
give it a go

It is definitely secular, I don't like the idea of linking meditation to any religion, too many institutions are doing this way
You can try to search some websites or read some books by westerners, they are more open and do not link to any religion but interpret meditation in an open approach - I like it this way

Hope this helps.

yeah you remind me of apps, headspace is quite good and is completely secular
another one is Stop Breathe & Think: Meditate which is also quite good
but just focus on one app first, if you find headspace useful, then go ahead

I hope you find meditation helpful

Anything we can discuss

After the meditation session did you feel better overall? For my case if I was stressed before meditation sometimes I will feel better after the session, in the sense that I feel more relieve and less stressed.

Now I am unguided all the time because the approach I used is simple. I just pay attention to my breath and try to focus, but the mind always wanders, always. When it happens then I just bring the attention back to the breath.

Don't feel that there is a lot to learn, there are many approaches, choose the simple one to follow (again, simple may not mean easy).

Hope this helps

edit: try not to think/expect to get benefits from meditation when you meditate. expectation is no good. just focus on the things you do, and the fruit will come on its own

This post has been edited by chonghe: Apr 8 2018, 05:54 PM

usually at night

do you mean you get into very deep states that can replace sleep?

sitting requires your back to be straight. over time you should be able to use to it

good to hear that
ideal period is 20 mins minumum
well, easier said than done