Is meditation a meme?

I’m not into Ugandan knuckles, but there’s many ways my friend

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not him, but I find that it allows me to handle negative thoughts as it gives them an opportunity to pass. Thoughts of regret, anger or fear are allowed to take residence, but you can return to your present self by focusing on your breath. In this way, it allows you to perceive those thoughts for what they are, objectively, and removing the power of the mind to attach whatever pain was previously associated with them. Literally, let the thoughts play out as a movie and see them for what they were.

It also allowed me to recognize negative emotions and think before acting on them, where as I'd be more inclined to act impulsively in the past.

I think when I started, I did the same as you and tried sitting still in a darkened room, which felt kinda weird. It wasn't until I started doing yoga where I got a better feel of bringing my attention to my breathing and in dealing with numerous, random thoughts.

For me it changed my entire perspective on life.

Things that you think subconsciously come into the conscious realm and you develop a greater ability to choose whether or not those thoughts physically and emotionally affect you.

Often times I would think that I am not actively stressing about something and then I would sit down to meditate. Meditating, breathing, and observing what thoughts were appearing in my head I noticed that certain things were actually on my mind (i.e disagreements or conflicts with people I had earlier that day or week). Thoughts that I believe influence how I feel from the background of my conscious. Meditating allows you to observe this background noise and let it dissipate, freeing you to some degree from feelings of depression or anxiety.

The last time I was in a violent confrontation with someone, I didn’t shake or yell or make threats or anything like that. I was simply aware of everything that was happening. It let me smoothly restrain the guy and talk him down without escalating it worse. I wasn’t even angry at him for it. Not consciously anyway.

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Meditation is great. It's not just about focusing on your breath, it's mostly about letting your mind run and just observing what happens, rather than pondering. Originated from the indo-aryans, too, so you don't have to worry that you're copying chinks and poos. Be careful, though, if you do it right you'll be a bit out of it for a while afterwards.

Indo-Aryans are by definition poos. And they didn’t invent meditation. Taoists, Confucians, Greeks, Yorubas, and Semites had their own varieties.

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>and is there a chance it might be placebo?
Even if it is, so what?

Look up the research that's been done on meditative practice and the part of the brain referred to as the "default mode network".

The tl;dr is that states achieved by meditation have been scientifically verified as inducing changes in brain activity associated with an enhanced ability to self-reflect without hindrance from the ego. It's also more generally been verified as a practice which helps with calm/clarity, or the ability to act and react in daily life more deliberately, with less knee-jerk emotion.

So, no. Not a meme. If you're feeling stupid, just remember: Catching your mind wandering, and then pulling it gently back to the breath, is the "rep" that you're trying to perform over and over in a session. That's the muscle you're working. Catch and pull.

Enjoy.

Here have at least one study to go over a little too:

>pnas.org/content/108/50/20254
>We investigated brain activity in experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls as they performed several different meditations (Concentration, Loving-Kindness, Choiceless Awareness). We found that the main nodes of the default-mode network (medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate cortices) were relatively deactivated in experienced meditators across all meditation types. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed stronger coupling in experienced meditators between the posterior cingulate, dorsal anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (regions previously implicated in self-monitoring and cognitive control), both at baseline and during meditation. Our findings demonstrate differences in the default-mode network that are consistent with decreased mind-wandering. As such, these provide a unique understanding of possible neural mechanisms of meditation.
>Mind-wandering is not only a common activity present in roughly 50% of our awake life, but is also associated with lower levels of happiness (1). Moreover, mind-wandering is known to correlate with neural activity in a network of brain areas that support self-referential processing, known as the default-mode network (DMN) (2–7).
>This network has been associated with processes ranging from attentional lapses to anxiety to clinical disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Alzheimer's Disease (6, 8, 9).

I enjoy meditation and mindfulness. But I don't do follow any of that Asian/ cult shit. I like the westernized white people, love yourself stuff. It certainly helped with my depression.

advaita vedanta wasn't fully codified until the 8th century AD in india by Adi Shankara

>if you do it right you'll be a bit out of it for a while afterwards.

That's not meditation, that's a trance. You should be fully active the entire time, even if you think about nothing.

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You should try hesychasm, repetition of the Jesus Prayer. Simply recite ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner’. Strive to do this constantly and fulfill the holy Apostle St Paul’s advice to pray unceasingly.

honestly i think it's a waste of time, although i could be wrong. i went to a phase years ago when i totally focused on everything mindfulness, even picked up stoicism on the way. and i have to say im not that kind of guy who likes to control stuff, and i didn't have the patience to follow it through either.
it's probably good for you, only if youre really committed

its a normgroid meme that have 2% true thoughts

I always feels less stressed after meditating

Here's a decent beginner's guided meditation:
youtube.com/watch?v=F0jedwTzIJg&t

Not a meme but like all things, takes practice and dedication. It's not a quick fix. There's also different types of meditation but I recommend starting with Mindfullness. Rest tend to have somewhat more philosophical goals which can be straight up off-putting if you're still too in love with your own view of the world.

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No. It's worth it if you have a lot on your mind. Takes forever to silence the inner voice but once you get there it's perfect.

It's a tool. It's helpful somewhat but not a panacea. TL;DR you're probably off better doing it. Doesn't have to even be long. 10 minutes should be enough.

Prayer helps a lot too, if you have stuff to figure out.
No, I'm not talking about "oh god please give me X" but rather, queting down and trying to figure shit out with your inner voices.

or maybe read a book?

Read part 1 of Elkhart tolle's book. That shit fucked me up senpai

The term placebo only applies to medicine.

>not a quick fix
this is important, think of it as a life long endeavor

Yoga is the Jow Forums way of meditating, instead of sitting on your ass you're stretching and getting exercise at the same time. Learn to do sun salutations.

>Wanted to dabble in mantra-based meditation
>Didn't want some hokey bullshit mantra, and didn't want to make one up and invite a bunch of internal second-guessing over whether it's kinda gay or whether I should tweak it this way or that
>Find this post

Hype.

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Tai Chi is highly underrated

God - supreme over all - is DUE our adoration.
ask not what you can get for God, but what He who bled His Most Precious Blood for you deserves
God bless you all; in nomine patris et filii spiritus sancti.

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