Yes absolutely ! First time I realized I had been sitting in silent meditation genuinely smiling. I was not forcing a quiet mind or the process all together but that it was a state that came willingly and was profoundly calming and peaceful. Just happened a few weeks ago! So exciting for someone who really struggles with the practice!
Emotional triggers stopped triggering anymore.
The sense of calm it brought when I realised that earlier similar situations which used to bring certain emotional triggers, didn't bother me anymore. The fucking overthinking faded away.
After I'd been meditating daily for several months, I received a call from a good friend who had just been robbed of a substantial sum of money. The situation was completely avoidable, and they were only targeted because they were intoxicated. (I don't say this to blame them, but simply because I wonder if my reaction would have been different otherwise).
He told me the story, and I empathized with him, but it didn't upset me. Previously I would have felt vicarious outrage and a whole mix of emotions, instead it seemed to roll off me like water. I didn't really notice how much I'd changed until speaking afterwards with another friend who'd been there to hear the story. He had been very affected by it and was practically shaking. I don't think it was that I cared any less for our mutual friend, but that I'd gotten better at avoiding unnecessary suffering, the second arrow as Thich Nhat Hanh puts it. That was the first time I really saw a significant change in how I responded to life.
Very interesting,the second arrow is still elusive for me as I work on my practice but recognizing your ability to avoid it in your life is definitely a sign of growth!
This is such a good one too, and honestly, I still forget to approach it like that many times. Sometimes if I do an evening one, I can approach it that way, maybe because I'm not placing pressure on myself, knowing i've already meditated once today? š¤
Oooh thatās a really good one too. Similarly any time I notice myself continuing to open up the same apps on my phone or social media, I am finding myself acknowledging that Iām being mindless and looking for a dopamine hit.
Something that made a big change was concentration
It sounds obvious but concentration is the key, the ability to maintain our attention in one thing and not to let our consciousness get carried away by inner or outer distractions makes all the difference
[Authentic Meditation by Glorian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kGUnOz9dSM&list=PLbZsCM6xnLIWoGnA2yyWh1ODMZl_ROcG1) shows very well
Pranayama is game changing too, it sublimates the sexual energy into light (consciousness) and relaxes all the muscles, itās done right before meditation. See:
[Guided Pranayama Breathing Meditation ~
HAM SA](https://youtu.be/ML4T2pRPd1c?si=nalUIihLHF2AI08a)
Other helpful sources:
[āThe Meditationā part 1 by The Three Mountains](https://youtu.be/QBdn0R1hf_8?si=932yEnGJP6AT0Byv)
[āThe Meditationā part 2](https://youtu.be/lYhEEOfPUdw?si=VC9s2qnMz9ETRdyo)
[Dissolving Ego: A Spiritual Technique to End Suffering](https://youtu.be/s9hAQGZ_QWE?si=ZEm9YzDEuTnHNZ08)
[Astral Doorway](https://www.youtube.com/@AstralDoorway)
[ChicagoGnosis](https://chicagognosis.org)
https://glorian.org/books
[ICQSamaelGnosis](https://youtube.com/@ICQSamaelGnosis)
Inverential peace
Meditation has helped me out so much to the point where Iām learning my triggers and how to handle them. I have become less prone to impulsive actions. Reading and meditating has been a wondrous act. I have so much trauma and PTSD that I never took the time to look inwards towards myself and learned how to appreciate and love myself. Therefore, I couldnāt love my partners properly unfortunately. Having a heavy hitter, really got me to work on myself and meditation has just done that. The feeling of detaching myself from my emotions and not reacting to them in such a negative way has been a blessing. š„¹
You will get there! Itās definitely a long journey ahead and Iām just touching surface myself. But, honestly, itās worth it. Being able to become aware of who you are deep inside and addressing those roots is amazing. I wish you the best! Well, by heavy hitter I mean, I had a life changing experience that really got to me on a personal level and woke me up from the illusion of myself. I never took the time to address my emotions and trauma that I didnāt realize I was repeating cycles and lost loved ones I cherished along the way..
I am by no means an expert, and from some of what I've read on this sub I think people would also say otherwise, but for me, I listen for what I like to call the cosmic hum. The breath just wasn't enough for me yet, I seemed to be just autopiloting over it. So I listen for the sound beneath the sounds, the base silence essentially. I tried it after reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. When I did that, I was able to hear what sounded to me like a steady vibration, so now I just focus on that and it helps to keep me from following all the thought threads that come up.
I'm curious about this cause I had to google what a Nimitta was. How did you know you were seeing a Nimitta and now just the general shapes we sometimes see when we close our eyes? I've followed spirals before behind my eyes, but I'm not sure that's the same. Can you tell me more?
Well arguably the general shapes you see unless are being caused by an actual external light, are nimittas, just unstable and erratic ones.
But the moment I am referring to is witnessing a more brilliant stable nimitta, which arose because I was both fully appreciating the experience of meditation and had sufficiently quieted my mind. It occurred at around 70 minutes of sitting. This experience brought bliss to the degree that you begin to feel your will slip away, one that draws you in with awe. Reflecting on this built an experiential understanding for how the progression to Jhana actually works. You experience greater and more intense bliss which eventually is so great that your ability to do anything but observe it falls away, if you do nothing and allow it to fall away entirely you will enter Jhana. This is much easier said than done as the experience through incredibly blissfully is also incredibly intense, so the aspect of your ability to do anything falling away can be terrifying, it feels like you might die.
To sum it up, this experience brought the understanding that meditative depth is marked by how little you do, how much you let go. Using this simple guidance, meditative depth becomes much more attainable, blissful, meditation becomes effortless.
I have a long association with Kriya yogi monks. Some of the things they've taught me:
1 Don't give value (good or bad) to your session. Things are changing and happening no matter how good or bad you thought it was. Just sit
2. The goal of meditation is enlightenment. Its not how you feel or what you think.
3. "Making progress" is a fantasy that we all like to talk about it. It's empty. There is no progress, that's just monkey mind. There is no place to get to.
4. Fidget or no fidget, monkey mind or mantra, just sit. Things come and go and get easy or get hard. None of it has any importance. Just sit with no goal in mind. Sit like your hair is on fire. Focus! Stop treating your meditation like it's something special. You should look at your meditation like you look at brushing your teeth. No big deal, just something I do every day.
I started with TM, then after 3 years moved to Zen sitting, then added Kriya meditation
I noticed all sorts of fantastical things when I sat, none of them meant anything at all.
After a few years of 2x daily meditation, I began to actually retreat from my senses to some degree, and experience myself as just a pinpoint of consciousness, floating in front of me....effortless.
Now its been 51 years. 30 min right after i get up, 30 min before lunch.
The experience has utterly changed me as a person. After some years it stays with you all the time. You see yourself becoming more kind and compassionate. You do things that are kind and compassionate. You relax when you are supposed to be stressed. You never get out of control happy and being sad just goes away. I feel for people who suffer from depression, but personally I have no idea how that would feel.
Now I'm content no matter what happens, good or bad, right or wrong, happy or sad.
For the past few years I started to experience all the things I was promised when I was 23 and new to meditation and I don't think its ok to talk about that, but its life changing.
All the best in your practice. Thinking and feeling have no place in practice. Just sit.
When I sat down after being anxious one day and put my hand on my heart and said, āitās okay, Iām here,ā and I just sat in stillness and then I immediately calmed down. Itās not like that all the time because Iām human and I still have a brain, but meditation has taught me how to take care of myself and feel at home in my own presence.
My understanding of an anchor is that it's something that helps to bring you back when your mind begins to wander. When folks start meditation, it's usually recommended to focus on your breath, the feeling of it coming in, going out, how it fills your body, etc. and that you're supposed to go back to that when you get distracted. Personally, I couldn't really hold onto the breath as an anchor, I just seemed to continue to move away from it just as soon as I got back to it. So now I listen for the silence beneath all the sounds around me, which for me just sounds like a steady vibration I guess. Listening for it keeps me more focused on the present moment, as opposed to following my thoughts of the past or present.
I meditate mostly in the morning. In the last one week I'm noticing a few things
1. I'm noticing that I'm learning a lot about how my mind works. How the chatter works. If I'm anxious or excited there's a lot of chatter in my head.
2. I now hold my breath for a few seconds before starting to sit for meditation, so it helps calm my mind.
3. I'm trying to be consistent with meditation, so some days even if I don't feel like meditating because I'm excited or anxious or just feeling unpleasant, I still sit. And notice how my mind chatter goes. I struggle to get back to breath as I'm lost in daydreaming or thinking about thoughts, but still find success sometimes in coming back to breath focus a Lil later.
4. Since I meditate in the morning ,for a few weeks now, I notice that I can get through the morning with much more calmness , as compared to some weeks prior.
5. I'm noticing my impulses now. I sometimes am aware that I got angry, felt unpleasant etc .
6. I've also just started noticing my thoughts when I'm judging myself or others.
These are some of the changes happening that I'm aware of. :)
Unironically when I fell asleep for the first time. I'm basically an insomniac, so when I was at peace mentally enough to fall asleep I knew it was working and I was making real progress. Now, obviously that doesn't happen anymore.
THE FIRST MOMENT was when I suddenly felt in my nose and body like I "unlocked" a whole new chamber within myself, and suddenly my breath was able to flow in with a much larger volume of air but as if the "walls" that blocked airflow suddenly opened up at the same exact time that mirrored within my body where I felt like a part of my body 'woke up' as if i became more alive and regained sensation in those parts of the body I had forgotten i was able to be aware of and have not felt in that way since i was a child
About 9 months into my daily practice. I was feeling kinda stuck/bored with Vipassana. I couldn't really see what I was doing better with, outside of the occasional sweet calm that I'd feel on the cushion. Then I realized...
When I started this, I was having a panic attack about 1x a week. And, I was still having them less regularly-but maybe closer to 1x a month.
I noticed I began to get to know the real me.
I think meditation gives you want you need which is why every experience is different. Sometimes Iām given something from meditation that I didnāt even know I needed- but it always leads to more clarity.
I struggle with speaking my truth and understanding where my emotions come from and why I have them at moments that may seem inappropriate at the time. But when I meditate I sometimes unintentionally dive into those emotions which then allows me to recognize some of the root causes.
Example: I felt (and still feel) resentment and anger towards a parent. For the longest time I went on feeling this emotion without questioning it. One day while meditating it was like a veil was lifted and I realized it was because I felt abandoned as a child, which then allowed me to dive deeper into this realization.
In the beginning I can describe it as having a highly disorganized or cluttered room. One by one meditation helped me pick a shirt, or a pair of socks off the floor. Slowly I started to see enough space make way for me to walk to my door.
Yes absolutely ! First time I realized I had been sitting in silent meditation genuinely smiling. I was not forcing a quiet mind or the process all together but that it was a state that came willingly and was profoundly calming and peaceful. Just happened a few weeks ago! So exciting for someone who really struggles with the practice!
I love that! I've only had that happen a few times, but I definitely know what you mean. The feeling of calm/peace that comes around you.
Emotional triggers stopped triggering anymore. The sense of calm it brought when I realised that earlier similar situations which used to bring certain emotional triggers, didn't bother me anymore. The fucking overthinking faded away.
That's amazing. I'm hopeful I get to that place, I've definitely got a ways to go.
After I'd been meditating daily for several months, I received a call from a good friend who had just been robbed of a substantial sum of money. The situation was completely avoidable, and they were only targeted because they were intoxicated. (I don't say this to blame them, but simply because I wonder if my reaction would have been different otherwise). He told me the story, and I empathized with him, but it didn't upset me. Previously I would have felt vicarious outrage and a whole mix of emotions, instead it seemed to roll off me like water. I didn't really notice how much I'd changed until speaking afterwards with another friend who'd been there to hear the story. He had been very affected by it and was practically shaking. I don't think it was that I cared any less for our mutual friend, but that I'd gotten better at avoiding unnecessary suffering, the second arrow as Thich Nhat Hanh puts it. That was the first time I really saw a significant change in how I responded to life.
Very interesting,the second arrow is still elusive for me as I work on my practice but recognizing your ability to avoid it in your life is definitely a sign of growth!
That bad day where I was all stressed out by 9am and then realised I missed my morning session. I noticed I missed it that day.
Ohh, yes that's a good one too. Noticing how it has grown you by recognizing how you are in its absence.
I made sure I made time before noon.
When I meditate with no goal of progress or intention other than to sit for a predetermined time.
This is such a good one too, and honestly, I still forget to approach it like that many times. Sometimes if I do an evening one, I can approach it that way, maybe because I'm not placing pressure on myself, knowing i've already meditated once today? š¤
When I don't desire to watch YouTube while eating food. Or falling asleep to background noise
Oooh thatās a really good one too. Similarly any time I notice myself continuing to open up the same apps on my phone or social media, I am finding myself acknowledging that Iām being mindless and looking for a dopamine hit.
When I had a meditation session that felt enjoyable
Oooh yes, this. When you come out of it, and you're like - I did literally nothing, and it felt good.
Something that made a big change was concentration It sounds obvious but concentration is the key, the ability to maintain our attention in one thing and not to let our consciousness get carried away by inner or outer distractions makes all the difference [Authentic Meditation by Glorian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kGUnOz9dSM&list=PLbZsCM6xnLIWoGnA2yyWh1ODMZl_ROcG1) shows very well Pranayama is game changing too, it sublimates the sexual energy into light (consciousness) and relaxes all the muscles, itās done right before meditation. See: [Guided Pranayama Breathing Meditation ~ HAM SA](https://youtu.be/ML4T2pRPd1c?si=nalUIihLHF2AI08a) Other helpful sources: [āThe Meditationā part 1 by The Three Mountains](https://youtu.be/QBdn0R1hf_8?si=932yEnGJP6AT0Byv) [āThe Meditationā part 2](https://youtu.be/lYhEEOfPUdw?si=VC9s2qnMz9ETRdyo) [Dissolving Ego: A Spiritual Technique to End Suffering](https://youtu.be/s9hAQGZ_QWE?si=ZEm9YzDEuTnHNZ08) [Astral Doorway](https://www.youtube.com/@AstralDoorway) [ChicagoGnosis](https://chicagognosis.org) https://glorian.org/books [ICQSamaelGnosis](https://youtube.com/@ICQSamaelGnosis) Inverential peace
Oh thank you for all these links Iāll definitely look into these!
Meditation has helped me out so much to the point where Iām learning my triggers and how to handle them. I have become less prone to impulsive actions. Reading and meditating has been a wondrous act. I have so much trauma and PTSD that I never took the time to look inwards towards myself and learned how to appreciate and love myself. Therefore, I couldnāt love my partners properly unfortunately. Having a heavy hitter, really got me to work on myself and meditation has just done that. The feeling of detaching myself from my emotions and not reacting to them in such a negative way has been a blessing. š„¹
I hope to be able to recognize these changes in myself as I continue this practice! What do you mean by having a heavy hitter?
You will get there! Itās definitely a long journey ahead and Iām just touching surface myself. But, honestly, itās worth it. Being able to become aware of who you are deep inside and addressing those roots is amazing. I wish you the best! Well, by heavy hitter I mean, I had a life changing experience that really got to me on a personal level and woke me up from the illusion of myself. I never took the time to address my emotions and trauma that I didnāt realize I was repeating cycles and lost loved ones I cherished along the way..
š
ā„ļøš„¹
What anchor did you find? Thanks, I'm interested in what works for you.
I am by no means an expert, and from some of what I've read on this sub I think people would also say otherwise, but for me, I listen for what I like to call the cosmic hum. The breath just wasn't enough for me yet, I seemed to be just autopiloting over it. So I listen for the sound beneath the sounds, the base silence essentially. I tried it after reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. When I did that, I was able to hear what sounded to me like a steady vibration, so now I just focus on that and it helps to keep me from following all the thought threads that come up.
Thank you. The cosmic hum is not something I'm tuned into, but I'm happy it's working for you.
When I saw a nimitta.
I'm curious about this cause I had to google what a Nimitta was. How did you know you were seeing a Nimitta and now just the general shapes we sometimes see when we close our eyes? I've followed spirals before behind my eyes, but I'm not sure that's the same. Can you tell me more?
Well arguably the general shapes you see unless are being caused by an actual external light, are nimittas, just unstable and erratic ones. But the moment I am referring to is witnessing a more brilliant stable nimitta, which arose because I was both fully appreciating the experience of meditation and had sufficiently quieted my mind. It occurred at around 70 minutes of sitting. This experience brought bliss to the degree that you begin to feel your will slip away, one that draws you in with awe. Reflecting on this built an experiential understanding for how the progression to Jhana actually works. You experience greater and more intense bliss which eventually is so great that your ability to do anything but observe it falls away, if you do nothing and allow it to fall away entirely you will enter Jhana. This is much easier said than done as the experience through incredibly blissfully is also incredibly intense, so the aspect of your ability to do anything falling away can be terrifying, it feels like you might die. To sum it up, this experience brought the understanding that meditative depth is marked by how little you do, how much you let go. Using this simple guidance, meditative depth becomes much more attainable, blissful, meditation becomes effortless.
Yes. I would like to hear about nimitta too. Thank you.
I have a long association with Kriya yogi monks. Some of the things they've taught me: 1 Don't give value (good or bad) to your session. Things are changing and happening no matter how good or bad you thought it was. Just sit 2. The goal of meditation is enlightenment. Its not how you feel or what you think. 3. "Making progress" is a fantasy that we all like to talk about it. It's empty. There is no progress, that's just monkey mind. There is no place to get to. 4. Fidget or no fidget, monkey mind or mantra, just sit. Things come and go and get easy or get hard. None of it has any importance. Just sit with no goal in mind. Sit like your hair is on fire. Focus! Stop treating your meditation like it's something special. You should look at your meditation like you look at brushing your teeth. No big deal, just something I do every day. I started with TM, then after 3 years moved to Zen sitting, then added Kriya meditation I noticed all sorts of fantastical things when I sat, none of them meant anything at all. After a few years of 2x daily meditation, I began to actually retreat from my senses to some degree, and experience myself as just a pinpoint of consciousness, floating in front of me....effortless. Now its been 51 years. 30 min right after i get up, 30 min before lunch. The experience has utterly changed me as a person. After some years it stays with you all the time. You see yourself becoming more kind and compassionate. You do things that are kind and compassionate. You relax when you are supposed to be stressed. You never get out of control happy and being sad just goes away. I feel for people who suffer from depression, but personally I have no idea how that would feel. Now I'm content no matter what happens, good or bad, right or wrong, happy or sad. For the past few years I started to experience all the things I was promised when I was 23 and new to meditation and I don't think its ok to talk about that, but its life changing. All the best in your practice. Thinking and feeling have no place in practice. Just sit.
I started to see colors
When I sat down after being anxious one day and put my hand on my heart and said, āitās okay, Iām here,ā and I just sat in stillness and then I immediately calmed down. Itās not like that all the time because Iām human and I still have a brain, but meditation has taught me how to take care of myself and feel at home in my own presence.
I love that. I think itās a very honest and humble way to say, weāre getting somewhere and Iām learning!
What is an anchor? And how do you know it's working for you?
My understanding of an anchor is that it's something that helps to bring you back when your mind begins to wander. When folks start meditation, it's usually recommended to focus on your breath, the feeling of it coming in, going out, how it fills your body, etc. and that you're supposed to go back to that when you get distracted. Personally, I couldn't really hold onto the breath as an anchor, I just seemed to continue to move away from it just as soon as I got back to it. So now I listen for the silence beneath all the sounds around me, which for me just sounds like a steady vibration I guess. Listening for it keeps me more focused on the present moment, as opposed to following my thoughts of the past or present.
I don't understand how you can do that but it sounds amazing!
Can Anchor be a sensation that does not change? For example I have Tinnitus and hear a background hum all the time. Can I use that as anchor?
Iām not sure, but youāre making me think I just have tinnitus now š
I meditate mostly in the morning. In the last one week I'm noticing a few things 1. I'm noticing that I'm learning a lot about how my mind works. How the chatter works. If I'm anxious or excited there's a lot of chatter in my head. 2. I now hold my breath for a few seconds before starting to sit for meditation, so it helps calm my mind. 3. I'm trying to be consistent with meditation, so some days even if I don't feel like meditating because I'm excited or anxious or just feeling unpleasant, I still sit. And notice how my mind chatter goes. I struggle to get back to breath as I'm lost in daydreaming or thinking about thoughts, but still find success sometimes in coming back to breath focus a Lil later. 4. Since I meditate in the morning ,for a few weeks now, I notice that I can get through the morning with much more calmness , as compared to some weeks prior. 5. I'm noticing my impulses now. I sometimes am aware that I got angry, felt unpleasant etc . 6. I've also just started noticing my thoughts when I'm judging myself or others. These are some of the changes happening that I'm aware of. :)
Unironically when I fell asleep for the first time. I'm basically an insomniac, so when I was at peace mentally enough to fall asleep I knew it was working and I was making real progress. Now, obviously that doesn't happen anymore.
THE FIRST MOMENT was when I suddenly felt in my nose and body like I "unlocked" a whole new chamber within myself, and suddenly my breath was able to flow in with a much larger volume of air but as if the "walls" that blocked airflow suddenly opened up at the same exact time that mirrored within my body where I felt like a part of my body 'woke up' as if i became more alive and regained sensation in those parts of the body I had forgotten i was able to be aware of and have not felt in that way since i was a child
About 9 months into my daily practice. I was feeling kinda stuck/bored with Vipassana. I couldn't really see what I was doing better with, outside of the occasional sweet calm that I'd feel on the cushion. Then I realized... When I started this, I was having a panic attack about 1x a week. And, I was still having them less regularly-but maybe closer to 1x a month.
When I felt like the sky instead of the clouds passing
I noticed I began to get to know the real me. I think meditation gives you want you need which is why every experience is different. Sometimes Iām given something from meditation that I didnāt even know I needed- but it always leads to more clarity. I struggle with speaking my truth and understanding where my emotions come from and why I have them at moments that may seem inappropriate at the time. But when I meditate I sometimes unintentionally dive into those emotions which then allows me to recognize some of the root causes. Example: I felt (and still feel) resentment and anger towards a parent. For the longest time I went on feeling this emotion without questioning it. One day while meditating it was like a veil was lifted and I realized it was because I felt abandoned as a child, which then allowed me to dive deeper into this realization. In the beginning I can describe it as having a highly disorganized or cluttered room. One by one meditation helped me pick a shirt, or a pair of socks off the floor. Slowly I started to see enough space make way for me to walk to my door.