
Ask HN: Meditation - shire
Can you change your mind through meditation? does neuroscience back all the buzz about mediation lately?
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danbartlett
You certainly can. There are lots of directions you can go in, from working
with the emotions to recognising emptiness. Check out my meditation links for
my recommendations:
[http://danbartlett.co.uk/meditation/](http://danbartlett.co.uk/meditation/)

I also run [http://OpenSit.com](http://OpenSit.com) which is a free meditation
journal and global community, where you can share your practice and connect
with others. It's open source too ^-^

You can read my meditation journal, including goofy entries from when I first
started meditating 6 years ago, here:
[http://opensit.com/u/danbartlett](http://opensit.com/u/danbartlett)

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annythesillicat
From my experience, I had very very very bad panic attacked. Several months
ago I pass out 3 times in a roll and having on going shortness of breathing. I
was always afraid that my heart would stop beating. I didn’t take any
medication but melatonin, I took it for 10 days to restart my bio clock(I had
very bad sleeping problem) For 30 days straight, persistently, I practice deep
breathing, writing journal in mindfulness and meditate 10 minutes a day before
going to bed. I personally think that meditation helps me a lot to get through
this. Although I still have (sometimes) shortness of breathing, but I feel
more grateful and being a happier person. I have no fear of dying anymore. And
of course, my mind changed….for better…. I am not an expert and I hack
meditation on my own. If anyone wanna try, feel free to let me know. E-mail on
my profile :)

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sdnguyen90
I started using Headspace a few months ago. I've noticed a pretty positive
effect.

I react a lot better to stress. On days at work when I was in tough
situations, my mind would be racing for the whole day and I wouldn't be able
to sleep. I feel like now, I can clear my thoughts and focus on what I should
be focusing on.

I am very calm when in situations where I used to get angry(video games, lol).

I used to have major insomnia, now I can get to bed a little bit earlier. I'm
still working on this part.

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phatak-dev
Meditation, in it's highest form, is equivalent to sleep with awareness.
Neuroscience already has indicated that sleep has something do with our
information gathering system[1]. So in that sense meditation should help you
to organize thoughts over time.

[1][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51e2NEmuI7I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51e2NEmuI7I)

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MichaelCrawford
When I was in grad school, I worked out a procedure for solving my homework
problems in my sleep.

I thought this was my imagination, that it was purely coincidence that the
solutions to my problem sets would come to me in the mornings, but my
psychotherapist assured me it was real. Elsewhere I have read that one
function of sleep, for humans anyway, is that it enables us to solve problems.

~~~
ramblerman
Please elaborate if you can.

Did you use some form of presleep self talk, think about the problem just
before bed... It's a fascinating idea.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
They key is to work very, very hard at solving the problem before sleeping.
It's insufficient to just read the problem, or tinker around with it a little.

However it also doesn't work to beat at the problem so hard that I stay up all
night without sleeping.

I'm afraid that I didn't clue into this until _graduate_ school. As an
undergrad I quite commonly didn't start my problem sets until the night before
they were due.

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hognosis
The benefits to practicing one-pointed focus alone are worth it to me. Honing
ones concentration skills come in handy for many things, such as woodworking,
visualizing code flow, and dealing with A.D.D.

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MichaelCrawford
There are many different kinds of meditation.

While Buddhists commonly practice meditation, Siddartha Gautama's actual
question was "Why are so many people so very unhappy?"

No amount of money, fame, power, sex or what have you will make someone happy.
If one is happy, it's not likely the result of anything that one possesses.

The simplest answer to his question is that people are so unhappy because they
are trying too hard. Perhaps it is better just to accept what we have, rather
than striving for what we do not possess.

I personally am as poor as a churchmouse. There are times when it bothers me,
but not a whole lot. By contrast, the very most miserable time I ever had, I
was making $120.00/hour as a software consultant, but had to be far away from
my wife so as to work on-site.

When I do get any significant amount of money these days, quite commonly I
give it away. I find it odd that many of my colleagues, even my own mother,
regard me as grossly irresponsible for doing so.

~~~
timmm
Acceptance is typically the answer for ones emotional well being. I find that
I can still strive towards what I want but I accept that where I am right now
is exactly where I am meant to be on my journey. That it all will serve a
larger purpose.

Alternatively you can be in resistance to what is, which tends to rob you of
your serenity.

I meditate daily, using this app -
[http://stopbreathethink.org/](http://stopbreathethink.org/)

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MichaelCrawford
Yes, I am dead certain one can change one's mind through meditation.

I don't know about neuroscience's take on it, but my experience is that mental
health professionals all encourage me to meditate.

If you practice Buddhist meditation, be advised that it can be excruciatingly
boring.

It's meant to be.

How often do you just sit and do nothing? Not reading hacker news, soylent
news, tweaking your code?

I don't practice sitting meditation a whole lot, but quite frequently I walk
aimlessly, most commonly late at night.

~~~
percept
I don't claim any particular expertise (in anything), but I think from the
Buddhist perspective, a meditator would never be doing nothing, or acting
aimlessly.

They distinguish between the development of concentration (samatha) and wisdom
(vipassanā, inspiring the current "mindfulness" movement in the West), and the
objective is to cultivate wisdom, and not merely tranquility.

The mind is always directed and purposeful, and the (historical) Buddha
applied razor-sharp logic toward experiential existence, in a very practical
way.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
Strictly speaking, my mind is not aimless when I walk so much at night. It is
the walking itself that is aimless. That is, I don't go anywhere in
particular. Often I go to unfamiliar places, without any intent to arrive at
an actual destination.

When I walk I generally let my mind wander, but while doing so often come up
with really good ideas.

Not long ago I was questioned by a couple Portland Police Bureau officers. I
expect they thought I'd just scored some drugs, in the end I was able to
satisfy them that I just liked to walk around at night.

"You know, you shouldn't be walking around Crack Central at three in the
morning with that computer. Someone is going to stick a knife in you and take
it."

"Thank you officer, but no one ever messes with me because I look just like a
Hell's Angel."

