Is meditation helpful? Or is it a new age meme? Does it actually

>>17959770
No it is not some miracle drug that will solve all your inner and outer problems.

Yes, it is scientifically been shown to help in many areas both mentally and physically.

>>17959770
Its a meme, sorry OP

>new age
people across various cultures have been meditating for thousands of years

yes, it absolutely works

the way that you think on a consistent basis builds pathways in your brain, like water flowing through a canyon. If you are angry for months or years, it will be your default way of reacting to things. If you are calm and meditative for months or years, it will be your default way of reacting to things

>>17959775
>>17959779

Thanks, maybe i'll give this meme a try, then.

>>17959787

just remember that it takes practice. you won't have perfect sessions on your first try. A lot of times you might sit down to meditate and 30 minutes later you realize you haven't been doing it at all.
If you stick with it, you will get better, and it will pay off. You will basically have the ability to 'reset' your brain, the way you feel better about all the shit in your life after a night of sleep, but you can do it any time in 15 or 20 minutes.

>>17959803
Isn't meditation about not being in control and just letting things flow ? Isn't it about acceptance, so even if you try to control stuff it's okay and it's still meditation ?

If that's so then i don't care if it's not a "perfect" session as it wouldn't mean anything.

But am i mistaken ? And if i am, how do you meditate the right way ? A lot of people tend to disagree on what's meditation and how to do it. Care to give me some details ?

>>17959831

for sure, there's different ways of doing it.

personally I try to empty my mind and have no thoughts, so my mind can relax and hit that 'alpha wave' state that it does when you're in deep sleep. When I have a good meditation session I feel like I just had 8 hours of great sleep.

if I'm just sitting there thinking about random shit and I don't feel any different afterwards, I don't really consider that a good use of my time.

anyway, the way I do it, when a thought pops into my head, I try to drop it and return to thinking about nothing. but thoughts will continually try to pop back in and often you'll get dragged along with them for minutes at a time. so you want to remind yourself to stop thinking. that's what those humming mantra things are for, but personally I don't like those. you can also focus on your breathing, or touch your tongue to the back of your teeth, so when you're lost in some thought and realize your tongue is touching the back of your teeth, you sort of remind yourself what you were doing and get back on track more quickly.

Despite what you might believe there were extensive studies on meditation and it has been proved to help with a multitude of issues.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_on_meditation

But there are a lot of false beliefs about this practice. First of all, the immediate results of meditation are almost non-existent. Many people have reported feeling GREAT after a session of meditation, but that is mainly placebo. Or just the feeling you get from doing something that you perceive as constructive. Meditation is a lot like weight lifting. You're training your mind to do things more effectively, to focus on constructive thoughts, emotions and habits while avoid self-destructive ones. But just as you can't go to the gym and instantly bench 3 plates you can't become calm, balanced and focused after one session of meditation. In fact meditation takes longer to show results than weight lifting. The subjects that showed huge differences from the control group were meditating for decades.

That being said a lot of practices associated with meditation can be learned easily and will help you instantly. Simply realizing that thoughts are the ones influencing your mood and actions, not the actual outside events that's causing them can help you a lot to become a more disciplined person.

There is indeed a lot of new-age bullshit surrounding this practice, a lot of pointless mysticism, so you do need to filter the information you find about it. A book that explains very well this practice, among other things from a Buddhist (and scientific, to some extent) perspective is "Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard.

>>17959866
Thanks for the tips, i'll give it a try.

>>17959958
Very insightful, thanks.

I heard about Matthieu Ricard, good thing i'm french, i'll try to get his book.

Do you have some tips as to how i should try to meditate for the first time?

>>17959979
Well this guy >>17959866 described what "meditation 101" is pretty well. When you're a beginner the best way to practice is to focus on something bland (usually your breath, but it can also be an object in front of you) and try to keep a clear mind. When you get a thought let it pass, don't follow it. When a thought pops in your mind you're inclined to "grab on" to it, to construct on it. If you think about a project you're due next week you'll then think about the stage you're in, about what would happen if you're late, how good it will be and so on. You may start feeling a sense of urgency because of it, that may evolve to anxiety and so on. You must try to avoid it. Just let your thoughts fly by, don't hold on to them. You will get caught in some of these thoughts at times, and when you realize it you must go back to the object of your focus (your breathing, or whatever else you chose). I'll add that it's best to do this while relaxed with your spine straight. The best position for a beginner is sitting in a chair or sitting down with your back against a wall.

I'll also share a practice that I found works well for beginners. When you're experiencing a negative feeling, like anger, hatred or anxiety try to focus on the feeling itself. Not on the object or event that's causing said feeling, but on the emotion. This will cause that feeling to "disperse" and you can do it and see some results without that much practice.