
Ask HN: How has meditation helped you? - Anand_S
What area&#x27;s of your life has had the biggest impact due to meditation? What type of meditation you do? How frequently and how much duration? Comparison between daily practice vs long duration retreats?
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ux4
The biggest impact meditation has had on me is that it's improved my
introverted intuition; my ability to recognize myself, recognize what makes me
happy, define my goals, and step back when my feelings are getting the best of
me.

I just concentrate on my breath for 10-20 minutes at a time. Take in a
diaphragmatic inhale, hold for 4 seconds, release for 6 seconds (technique
used by Navy SEALS). Repeat this and focus on the sensations going on in your
body such as the feeling of air rushing through your nose, the life of oxygen
in your lungs, the dissipation of stress as you exhale through your mouth.
Inhale, hold, exhale, repeat. Your mind will naturally try to distract you and
chew on problems going on in your life, but it's important to recognize that
it's only a fruitless thought and your immediate purpose is to focus on your
breath and survive.

After ~15 minutes of this, I stop consciously breathing and just observe the
sensations going through my body. Most immediately, you will notice you
continue breathing, even though you're no longer consciously doing it. This is
a subconscious activity, what other subconscious activities are going on in
your body? Start recognizing the sensations in your toes and move up your
body, it feels like a body scan that relaxes whatever body part your conscious
of.

Once you feel satisfied, wake up, notice your surroundings, and feel the
refreshing glow of calm happiness.

~~~
riku_iki
> Take in a diaphragmatic inhale, hold for 4 seconds, release for 6 seconds
> (technique used by Navy SEALS).

I found many mentions of another approach advertised as used by Seals: square
or box breathing, discussion on HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13508038](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13508038)

------
jotjotzzz
I have been doing it consistently, 10 minutes a day after waking up, longer on
weekends, 15 minutes or more. I have been consistently doing it for 6+ months
now.

I am observing that it is helping me become mindful of my thoughts. Before,
when thoughts appear in my head -- I don't take a second to say 'yes, that's
my thought'. Now, when a thought, especially negative ones, come into my head
-- I can observe it and reflect on it first, seeing it for what it is. It has
helped me become the observer of my thoughts if that makes any sense.

I also notice I am calmer in lots of situations and less prone to rush or
panic. I think it helped me become slower, calmer, more focused, and more
clear-headed. I ended up quitting caffeine or weaning off of it, as I noticed
that it was causing negative effects on my thinking and sleep. It also helped
me self-reflect and assess my life every day.

I recommend if you want to try meditation, do it consistently until it becomes
a habit.

~~~
specialist
Thanks for sharing. My experience, received benefits are similar to yours.

These techniques
[http://www.thewayofseeing.com/](http://www.thewayofseeing.com/) helped me get
meditating again. The drills I had done as a kid no longer worked, and the
many variations I tried since haven't worked, for whatever reason.

I definitely encourage people to experiment, until they find something that
works. Maybe it's tai chi, qi gong, hiking, the counting drills I'm doing now,
sewing...

------
aynsof
I did a ten-day silent retreat (Vipassana) and the effects were profound. I
was far calmer, far more able to focus.

It's hard to explain, but physical pain was also reframed from negative 'pain'
to simply neutral sensation.

I also found I had much less desire for stimulus. Usually when I'm cooking
dinner or cleaning the house I feel the need to play a tv show or listen to a
podcast, but after the retreat I could just experience the activity.

For a year after that I kept up between one and two hours a day, until I found
that I was feeling a lot of guilt around the practice - when I put it off,
when I wasn't able to find time. It seemed like I had begun to miss the point,
so I stopped. I'm getting back into it currently, though.

I'd highly recommend the practice, especially learning by going to a ten-day
retreat. It really gave me an experience of what is possible with meditation -
true peace and fulfillment.

~~~
lopatin
> physical pain was also reframed from negative 'pain' to simply neutral
> sensation.

What does it mean to reframe physical pain? How reframing changed your
experience of physical pain?

~~~
0xf8
It means you no longer experience it as an explicitly negative experience.
While physiologically the pain signals are still present, your brain's
reaction to them changes. Most notably (in my experience) the change occurs
when one learns to stop resisting in any fashion the experience of the pain
and just accepting it is there, neutrally observing it. From an uninitiated
person's standpoint, I can't say this means things will no longer "hurt," they
still do, you just change what it even means to be hurting. At the very least
from something that is unequivocally negative and must subside, to something
neutral that is occurring in the midst of everything else that is occurring.

~~~
babygoat
Well said.

We've conditioned ourselves to pay close attention to pain for obvious reasons
(e.g. something presents an acute threat to our survival), and we respond by
escaping the sensation as quickly as we can.

With practice, we can learn to accept pain as any another sensation. If you're
not afraid of death, it won't bother you at all. If (like most of us) you do,
next time you stub your toe, recognize your conditioned response of trying to
soothe the pain, just try leaning into it a bit. Know it won't kill you. Just
take the opportunity to explore the experience and try to understand it more
deeply. Remind yourself that you're not in danger, accept you can't unstub
your toe (or whatever it may be), realize that the fight or flight response
isn't necessary or appropriate, you can take more of your attention back from
it than you gave it in the first place. It will still hurt, but you can make
it much quieter, as it were.

~~~
lopatin
> We've conditioned ourselves to pay close attention to pain for obvious
> reasons ...

Have we conditioned ourselves to acknowledge pain? It seems to me that we
evolved the ability to have pain, which is, by definition, a sensation that
grabs your attention right away.

> If you're not afraid of death, it won't bother you at all.

Am I understanding your phrasing correctly? That, if you're not afraid of
death, then physical pain won't bother you at all? I don't think that's right.

Another q: What kind of benefit/enlightenment do you achieve by leaning into
the pain of a stubbed toe? Why lean in to it and pretend that you're "above
the pain", instead of shouting out a swear word, complaining about it for a
minute or two, and then moving on with your life?

~~~
babygoat
>Have we conditioned ourselves to acknowledge pain? It seems to me that we
evolved the ability to have pain, which is, by definition, a sensation that
grabs your attention right away.

I don't know if I understand what you mean. I agree that we evolved to have
pain for a very important reason and that it's extremely useful to react to it
differently than other sensations. But does a relatively light, non-life-
threatening pain need to take so much of your attention once you realize
you're not in danger?

>Am I understanding your phrasing correctly? That, if you're not afraid of
death, then physical pain won't bother you at all? I don't think that's right.

I'm not saying submit to it willingly, or not to escape if it's possible, but
otherwise yes. To me it's the struggling against the pain that causes
suffering.

>Another q: What kind of benefit/enlightenment do you achieve by leaning into
the pain of a stubbed toe? Why lean in to it and pretend that you

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moraya-re
I've experienced the thoughtless awareness state. Just being present without
any thoughts crossing my mind.

I do around 25-30 minutes of meditation session usually right after bath & try
to do 10 minutes before sleep.

Most of the time, I'm able to be thoughtlessly aware. But trying to be more
steady.

After trying various meditation techniques, I found "Sahaja Yoga" & life has
been gradually becoming peaceful & enjoyable. Give it a try. It's free of cost
& the most beautiful experience you can have on planet earth.

Visit Sahaja Yoga center nearby & ask anyone where can I get self-realization.

If you want more information, please comment. I'll be happy to help.

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pinchharmonic
It helps you be more mindful and detach from the moment to moment undulations
of modern life. This can be good and bad.

I can meditate anywhere. But usually I sit in half-lotus, slowly easing myself
into a blank state. I think about radiating outward. Anywhere from 5-25 mins.

Never did a retreat.

The problem with meditation is I think that it can release a latent and light
form of schizophrenia. Things that society values, you no longer value as
much. It makes it tougher to fit in with "normal" people. The benefit is that
you can draw your path more clearly and execute more clearly. I'd like to hear
others' opinions as well.

~~~
culturalzero
Meditation on the Buddhist tradition is more like 'leaning in' or becoming
immersed in your experience. It's certainly not at all about achieving a blank
state, or detachment. Not saying there _isn 't_ a meditation tradition that
works like that, but from a Buddhist/psychology perspective, that sounds more
like dissociation..

~~~
creep
It's called void meditation, and is actually part of the buddhist philosophy.
There are many different methods for practicing meditation even in buddhism.
The goal with meditation in general is to will oneself into any desired mental
state. One "practices" meditation to the ends of being able to call that state
wherever one happens to be. It is a future-oriented practice, even when doing
meditation that immerses one in the "moment", it is about eventually being
able to do it anytime and anywhere one needs it. Often it is about
introspection, but void meditation is about self control, and creating a
feeling of safety in a mind full of loose and anxious thoughts. Void helps in
times of deep emotional stress, so that instead of causing trauma, one can
simply ignore the thoughts until they can be processed more coherently.

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cygned
I would like to say I meditate everyday, but I don’t. It was - and still is -
my plan to do so, though.

These days are very busy; working 15-18hs a day is normal routine. Being in
meetings, talking to clients, making business decisions and still being
involved in coding, which requires a lot of focus stresses concentration and
eventually health.

I know that meditation can help me. Every time I take the time for it, and may
it be 5 minutes, helps me a bit already. I have not yet been able to do it on
a daily basis at a fixed point in time even though I had the chance to do so.

How does it help me? I experienced me to be calmer and more thoughtful when I
practiced Zazen (my mediation style) over a longer period of time. Days become
longer, that is, I am more focused on every small moment. I am not stressed by
external factors that much, not angry, never in a hurry mentally - my inner
self stays calm even when I am faced with a difficult situation.

I highly recommend meditation to everyone I talk to about topics like stress,
work life balance or being more thoughtful. Mediation does not only mean to
sit concentrated on a cushion. Going to the gym, taking a walk or “just”
sitting on a chair - all of these can be some kind of meditation when
practiced with mindfulness. Meditation is not about doing that one thing, it’s
about finding your own right way, and thus I think everyone can benefit from
it.

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phakding
I don't do the meditation exactly, but I recently trekked to Mt Everest base
camp and stayed in Nepal for few days. I get mentally overwhelmed with the
natural beauty and that sort of creates effect similar to meditation.

After coming back, I feel much calmer. Very few negative thoughts occur in my
mind and I noticed that I don't get worked up that easily. I somehow learned
to not get angry at the slightest provocation.

Not sure if this helps you, but thought I would put it out there.

~~~
creep
This happens to me in any encompassing natural situation, or even after
watching a well-made nature documentary. It feels as though the troubles of my
daily life do not matter as much as the beauty I have witnessed-- it feels
like I'm privy to another world that seems external, but feels internal, like
the creations of nature are actually a part of me.

------
ChanceParuchuri
The biggest impact has definitely been with an increase in my self-awareness,
especially in the presence of great pressure. Such an increase is not as
consistently present as I want it to be, perhaps, but it's present enough to
make me realize that practicing meditation, and mindfulness as a whole, helps
me.

My meditation tends to be simple - wherever I am, I pretty much just take a
seat, time a few deep breaths, keep my eyes closed, and either reflect with an
objective in mind or just let my mind wander for 10 to 15 minutes. No mobile
app, no fancy bells or whistles, nothing like that. No set schedule either,
though I'm sure some sort of set schedule would be a great way to approach
meditation and be more measured about meditating.

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kalid
Much less mental stress; ~90% of the issues that used to bother me don't any
more. Specifically, notice that emotions/thoughts tend have a physical
component which you can observe without judgment (tightness, heat, tingling,
etc.).

Breaking the loop of "negative" physical sensation -> negative emotion/thought
is freeing. Feeling tightness in your chest does not require you to become
afraid, it just means you are feeling tightness in your chest. But typically
we have years of stimulus/response conditioning so we jump to the negative
thought / emotion once the sensation arises.

I meditate 10-30 minutes ~5x a week, usually breath counting or doing the
above. I found Noah Elkrief's videos helpful.

------
bootcat
I am doing something related to meditation, where i close my eyes for 40
minutes and chant for a good part of it. It is really helping me progress
spiritually.

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SirLJ
Not much, my advice is do exercise instead, even 15 min a day will make a
difference...

~~~
x2f10
I agree - IMO, meditation's benefits pale in comparison to the benefits of
regular exercise. That's not to diminish the benefits of meditation but to
emphasis the benefits of exercise. I find that with regular exercise, I am
much less prone to depression and anger.

~~~
Octokat
"I find that with regular exercise, I am much less prone to depression and
anger." Agreed. I think meditation touches upon a different aspect of our
everyday lives: it makes us more self-aware and makes us want to think clearly
in any given situation. And we learn to calm ourselves even in the most
unnerving situations.

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gallerdude
I live a lot more in the moment. I’m a lot less scared to speak my mind, and
I’m a lot more engaged in conversations. It also puts my long term goals at
the front of my mind.

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MihailBurduja
Meditation helps me. I'm calmer and I can stay concentrated for way longer
periods of time when doing something. I also, rarely get bored because of it.

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LeoJiWoo
I've been trying the wim hof meditation to help with chronic pain and
inflammation.

It helps but not as much as I would like.

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cvaidya1986
Heartfulness meditation has been a life saver.

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mankash666
Can anyone here prove their claimed benefits to actually stem from mediation?
Any academic study?

~~~
0xf8
I think personal experience here is the answer. Even an excellent academic
study, peer reviewed, conducted by experts in the field, published in a
prestigious journal, is still at best one single experiment. Pretty sure the
common answer to this is question is, try it yourself. Do it consistently 10
minutes a day for at least a week and see if you notice any benefit. That
should be more informative than any study and as relevant to you as any
experiment can be, you are the test subject. Also probably take as long as any
review (a thorough one anyways) of academic literature.

If you see a benefit, consider it "proven," if not consider it a still
unanswered question. That being said, I recall having once come across some
interesting research in neuroscience dealing with meditation. However, it
being neuroscience and not psychology, I don't think the research set out to
ascertain any proclaimed "perceived" benefits. Just understanding the impact
on the brain, neurologically, of meditation. I will try to link if I can
recover the source.

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Top19
Going to church has been easier for me, and it also connects you to the
community. Also only once a week.

Since this will inevitably come up, I am liberal, and yes I still go. If
you’re liberal and don’t like church, one thing I would suggest is that by
going to church, you can actually make it more liberal instead of leaving it
to others. Also fyi gays are the new jews and will be fully integrated like
Jews were between 1930-1960 (until 1959 it was legal in Houston, Texas to
restrict Jews on the deed restriction!!).

