Jordan

Warning: This is an advanced practice. Meditation can cause psychosis. If you have mental health issues, work with a therapist and start with becoming experienced with mindfulness meditation before trying this. Hello, I had a breakthrough in my meditation practice and wanted to share the technique I have been having success with. I started giving meditation a serious try with Leo’s first meditation videos around 9 years ago. I took a liking to the mindfulness with labeling method. I have been experimenting with different types of meditation over the last couple years. I have watched many videos on YouTube about meditation. I have merged what works best for me in a way where I can consistently go into a deep high conscious state. This is what I do: 1. Get into a seated position with the spine straight up and down. Relax your shoulders, stomach and jaw muscles. Make sure you are not leaning to one side. Take a few deep breaths and check in with how you feel emotionally. The most important thing is that you are in a stable upright position that will be comfortable for at least an hour. 2. Imagine you are sitting at the top of a mountain, ocean all around you. No one around to disturb you. No obstacles in view. The ocean stretches out to the horizon. It is sunny with clear skies. A perfect place to meditate. You can internally describe this place to help you visualize it easier. This should take 2-5 minutes to really start to feel like you are there. 3. Count 1 for your inhale then 2 for your exhale and so on up to 10 then start again at 1. Count from 1 to 10 at least 2 times without being distracted. 4 times would be better. This could take less than a minute or 30 minutes+ if you keep having to restart. You want to get to a point where it does not take much effort to continue focusing without distracting thoughts disrupting your focus. There can still be thoughts but you should continue until your attention is not pulled away by them. 4. Breath in slowly focusing on your third eye chakra for 5 heartbeats, then move on to your throat, heart, solar plexus and root chakra for 5 heartbeats each. Next exhale starting at your tail bone and moving up your spine stopping at each spot at the spine that is in line with a chakra. 5 heartbeats each until you reach the top of your spine. Continue repeating the process around 10 times. If you can’t do 5 heart beats, then start with 4 or 3. It should be a bit of a struggle and like you are out of air. It is similar to this video at around 1:53:00 5. After you are done you should be starving for air so take several quick deep breaths until you catch your breath. Start repeating a mantra in your head. I use “Baba Nam Kevalam” Some people do claim it makes a big difference what mantra you use so maybe you can look into that yourself but the mantra I use seems fine for me. Repeat the mantra in a breathing pattern you like. I say “Baba Nam” clearly and slowly as I inhale then “Kevalam” as I exhale clearly and slowly. I sometimes stop at the end of the exhale and chant the mantra internally before continuing with an inhale. It helps to be able to focus when you stop breathing because less sensations are going on to distract you. Continue this until you reach a state where you are very focused and relaxed. Your body should feel like it is very comfortable and possibly a bit strange like it is vibrating all over. Usually it takes around 10-30 minutes. If you don’t reach this state but still feel ready to move on then go ahead and move onto step 6 6. Start doing mindfulness meditation with labeling. Note that you are aware of something, label it as see, hear or feel, then savor the sensation. Continue like this until it becomes second nature. Leo has a very good video on this you should watch if you are not familiar with the technique. 7. Continue with the mindfulness meditation with labeling technique and add a step of removing concepts between labeling and savoring. If you focus on your heart beating, note it, label feel, then remove the concept that there is such thing as a heart that pumps blood, in a body seated in meditation, in a room, in a house etc. Remove the idea of there being a body producing this sensation etc. then savor the sensation with all those conceptual stories forgotten. See Leo’s video for a guided exercise on how to do this 8. After doing this for a while, drop the see hear feel label and just continually drop or forget about concepts that come up for you as you savor whatever your attention is on. you can continue here as long as you want or optionally continue to step 9 9. Contemplate the nature of what you are experiencing right now. How did the experience get here, why is it like this and not some other way. Contemplate what you are made of, where you are, what you consider to be you. Ask the question then search your experience for the answer. No thoughts are required after the question is asked. As you can see, there are many steps. If you want to follow these steps you may need to practice one at a time in order and combine them as you go. If you have any questions or comments, let me know. Here is a list of videos that influenced me the most when creating this technique: Concentration vs Meditation - How To Develop Concentration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSxtR4psOoQ&t=304s Mindfulness Meditation - A Complete Guide With Techniques & Examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPUWdhHDKS4&t=2565s Guided Exercise For Realizing You Are God https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWxdhEB19s&t=1512s Contemplation - The Most Important Tool For Sages https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa-NAtBEMkA In Depth Meditation, Mantra, and Enlightenment | Dr. K Full vod – go to around 1:53:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqTINUKh7Zo&t=1s Meditation Technique. The most important practice. Step 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Msi5oaVbPU&t=621s

Ohh I focus on the sensation of the physical heart beating more than anything else haha. It really feels amazing when you are in certain states. If you remember where you heard that let me know and I might look into it. Right now I am not that concerned about it and I am pretty sure if it is something that has negative consequences for me I will be able to tell at some point. I just find it more enjoyable and interesting than focusing on breath sensations and it seems to give me more clarity of my emotions around my heart. I could use an internal mantra chant to keep track of time instead of counting heart beats and see if I notice any difference. Ohh cool, I do chant the mantra in rhythm with my heart beat which I guess I didn't mention. Usually 2 beats for Baba, 2 beats for Nam as I breath in then kevalam in 3 beats then hold the mmmmmm one beat as I breath out for a total of 8 beats for inhale and exhale like a song.

Hello abrakamowse, was that meditation technique the one where he gets you to focus on the sensation of the inside of your mouth and push yourself out of your head to the sensations and stuff like that? It is pretty cool you can be aware of things you never noticed before. It seems most people that meditate a lot do not get enlightened but maybe it helps increase the chances a bit compared to doing whatever everyone else is doing. Even if it doesn't get me any closer to enlightenment, It helps me be more aware of my thoughts and emotions so I can analyze my behavior and make better decisions. I can also feel my senses and emotions much more clearly which really improves the quality of my day to day life. It is really enjoyable to sit in bliss for a couple hours a day and leaves you feeling better after in a way that dopamine hits don't.

Hey CoolDreamThanks, thanks for the comment. Meditation is for realizing what is true but the ego, an illusion, does it's best to survive so it doesn't just let itself be completely dissolved in the snap of a finger. I am not sure what you mean by clearing the contents of consciousness. Isn't that what is done in this meditation as you remove or forget stories and beliefs and instead savor experience as it is in step 7-8? The preparatory steps before that are just to put you in a state where you can do exactly that without an on-guard ego distracting you. It is not like it takes much effort or time to do the preparatory steps but it seems more effective than just sitting there "clearing the contents of consciousness" without any preparation. Am I misinterpreting what you are saying?

I got off track with my other posts. I do think watching the breath is one of the most boring meditations. I want to make it more complicated and make it seem like I am doing something to achieve a different state. It really seems like the more simple the meditation, the more advanced you need to be for it to work well. I find that "dissolving every selfish thought into the breath" as you put it is very difficult to do if you just sit down and try to do that right away. I find it much easier to do preparatory exercises like visualization, breathing, counting breaths, mantra then slowly remove more and more until all that is left is something like the breath or heart beating etc.

I was a bit irritated I think because I remember a video titled "'How to Meditate' for Beginners | Sadhguru" and he doesn't explain how to meditate at all which might be why "how to meditate" is in brackets in the video title I guess haha. He just says meditation is not something you do it is a state of being. I am sure he didn't pick the title for the video but it is misleading. I didn't rewatch the video recently but I am pretty sure that is the one I was thinking of. Do you follow this practice or something very similar to it? I created a meditation practice merging what I learnt from different YouTube videos and it works very well. I go into a relaxed, high consciousness state after 20-30 min usually. I could give a step by step explanation if anyone is interested.

I don't like how Sadhguru teaches in his videos. He doesn't give any step by step process of a meditation technique. He just tells you that you want to separate yourself from the body mind process and give you a hint that it happens within and not something done physically with your body. I think it would be helpful for people if he broke it into little steps of a possible safe path instead of just explaining some end result and giving little hints on how to get there. I guess it might be helpful to some people too but it seems an aggravating way to learn from someone like that. It might also be because he doesn't want to give specific advice to a million people that are in different situations which I guess makes sense.

I would say it takes time for the mind to process/understand perceptions but experience has no delay. Experience is the antenna broadcasting the TV signal and the TV display is like the mind producing its understanding. Experience seems to be experienced without any delay. You might wonder, is there something that is sourcing the experience that precedes it, causing a short delay? I wouldn't know how it would be possible to know if anything sources experience because if you did become conscious of what is sourcing the experience, that source would be equal to experience. You can only really know what you experience now. Everything else you think you know is just stories you believe. Also now that I think of it, Time doesn't exist in the way that we typically imagine it. There is just now that changes continuously and when we want to describe how it changes, we describe it using time. Time is more a description than something that is flowing by. Experience flows along and it is understood through descriptions and comparisons such as time.

How is it possible to be a step behind now? It is always now. You seem to be conceptualizing perceptual latency as something that actually exists that is as real as your perceptual experience happening now. That concept of perceptual latency is an illusion.

I stopped meditating as consistently for a while doing 15 minutes here and there. Last weekend I started meditating a lot more. I did around 5 hours on Sunday. Today I sat for around 50 minutes in the morning and I had a strange experience. I think I dropped the concept of being separate from everything and it felt like I turned into a liquid and starting spinning counterclockwise in a spiral. It felt quite nice. I have changed up my meditation a lot. I watched a bunch of videos from TheHealthyGamerGG where he has sort of therapy sessions with popular streamers and does a meditation at the end. Recently I have been following these instructions: Sit straight and relax the body. Imagine you are on the top of a mountain. Nobody around. clear blue skies. Ocean all around you reaching to the horizon. Take 10 breaths internally saying inhale when inhaling and exhale when exhaling. Do several breaths moving through 6 of the chakras from top to bottom on the inhale then back up along the spine stopping at the chakra levels. Then I use the baba nam kevalam mantra with different breathing patterns. Whatever pattern I feel like. Then I will usually end with mindfulness meditation and possibly contemplate what I am. This video helped me conceptualize meditation in a different way.

Hello, I started a new years resolution of meditating 2 hours every day. It is January 9th today and I have been sticking with it every day. I set the rules of getting an average of 2 hours per day so I could do more or less on some days and just keep track of how many hours I am up or down for the day. I typically do 1 hour starting at midnight then 1 hour in the morning after taking a shower. I started out doing the do nothing technique but recently have just been doing mantra meditation. I basically sit up straight, say "Baba nam kevalam" in my head over and over and focus on the sound my mind is making. So far I noticed I am in a better mood during the day. I have been remembering my dreams as I wake up a bit more but didn't write them down and forget most of them now. I will stick with this technique for a month or so then switch to mindfulness meditation with labeling probably. I will update this whenever I feel like it.

A meditation technique is something you do that gives you a chance to put you in a state of meditation. You could define meditation as a mental state. Like sleep is a state, you can not force yourself to sleep, just do things that increase the chances of slipping into that state. The meditate state can be entered in a similar way without effort but in an environment that increases the chances. The technique that you could choose is whatever takes you into that state the quickest.

I am not sure about finding a teacher but Dr. K explains what the different parts of meditation are pretty well here: With this overview you can pick and choose a meditation that suits you and customize it for yourself.

I would like to think I am open minded but this seems very far fetched. I wouldn't waist time with this.

It seems like a tricky problem. Power corrupts people so easily. Even if the leader of a community is perfect, the 2nd or 3rd in command will still take advantage of their power right? The problem is the power difference and people being able to abuse it. I remember even for me as a kid I was much more giving and helpful when I started collecting a couple Pokémon cards then as soon as I had many, I did not even want to give any to my close friends. I think to avoid being taken advantage of or being corrupted yourself it is important to have separation from your spiritual community. Be connected with a community for a small part of your week but be separate and question your beliefs as you go about the vast majority of the time and spiritual work.

Isn't a big part of spirituality about questioning things? It sounds like a good way to start a cult by only allowing people that will follow your teachings without question.

I have not been exposed to many spiritual communities but it seems to me they are very deluded and cult-like. I think maybe they could benefit in helping find a teacher to teach you how to properly do practices like meditation or yoga. I would think you would want like 5% spent with a spiritual community and 95% your own solo work.

Sounds like you are having a rough time. Do you think it would help to find ways to release the emotions you have when you think those thoughts? You may have had trauma that has you worried about things like your girlfriend cheating on you. Things like journaling about what you are thinking/feeling or talking with a supportive friend or a therapist could help you take these thoughts and emotions out of your head and help you worry less.

I have been falling behind in my meditation. I lost track of how many hours behind I am now. Maybe I should have made a spreadsheet or something. I have been a bit busy at work, working 1-3 hours extra most days. It is a bit hard to meditate as much with less time outside work. I found that I seem to find more benefit with concentration type meditation rather than do nothing type of meditation. I have been focusing on my heart beat and breath a lot. Once I did that meditation where you focus on a light then close your eyes and focus on the afterimage. I forget what that one is called. Occasionally mantra meditation but not that often. I did have a dream on Monday that one of my stocks dropped. The market was closed on Monday but on Tuesday it dropped. I knew I should have sold it right as it opened haha. I slept in instead though and lost $$$. I miss my girlfriend a lot. It feels like my body is being ripped in two. It is pretty uncomfortable to say the least. It seems other people don't feel like this. I thought she would come back late this month but she will still be another 2 or 2.5 months. I know some guys from work that haven't had a girlfriend in years. I think they are built different or something. That would be the only thing I would be interested in getting if I didn't have one.

Do you exercise at all? If not you should try some sort of regular exercise in a group ideally. Some people like group exercises classes or you could join a climbing gym and find people there to hang out with. Be as mindful of your thoughts and emotions as you do this. Also don't wait to be motivated to do it. Just do it when it is the last thing you want to do and it will create the motivation in time as it becomes part of your routine.

Teaching death is imaginary is dangerous, I agree but I think you are misunderstanding what Leo is trying to say. You say that the reality is that death will come right? Leo does not disagree with that. What Leo is saying is that death is not absolutely true. Leo talks a lot about what is absolutely true and not what is relatively true because absolute truth is what is missing in most people's understanding of reality. Absolute truth is what is within your consciousness right now. It is what exists without you projecting anything onto your perceptions. You may see someone die but the experience of it would be emotions, shapes, sounds and colors ext. that you are projecting life and death onto. Relative truth is using imagined stories to explain the perceptions you have, then comparing other stories to decide what is true. Death is true relative to the reality that those stories construct. Those stories are imagined so you are comparing imagination with imagination which can be relatively true but not absolutely true. I am pretty sure that is all he is saying. Objective truths like gravity like you mentioned are imagined based off of patterns that are experienced. The Cause of the patterns has a story created to explain the pattern. They are relative truths and not the same type of truth that Leo is talking about when he is talking about what is absolutely true. Being blind is not absolutely true because you must imagine being blind and not being blind to conceptualize the difference between them and understand what is being said. The experience itself is all it is. If you want to understand blindness absolutely you must experience it now. If you want to understand it relatively then you can just imagine it but then the concept will just be relatively true. The point in giving examples of what is absolutely true and what is not, is to open people up to the possibility to being more than just relative objective truths. Most people do not realize this. Absolute truth is where you want to look to level up your relative understanding of reality, yourself, how your mind works, what is a good way to spend your limited time alive in this world ext. It is also where you want to look to improve your understanding of death and your relation to it. I think Leo is not that interested in making videos of relative truths. That is what he started out doing. Other people can make videos about that. He sees value in introducing and exploring absolute truth with people.

I have not experienced anything that makes me think spirits are real. I am not sure much about what the bible says about the holy spirit but I don't think it is using the word in the same way we talk about spirits.

Have you tried doing a few sets of pushups before meditating? You could also try meditating in a different place. When I am tired sometimes I take a 30 min nap then force myself to get up after and do some exercise and get back to meditating. Helped me out the last time I did that.

It sometimes feels like I am in a dream with how realistic I can visualize things when meditating. I think just focusing on one thing like the breath helps you to focus on other things like internal images. I also do not like to just do concentration meditation. I alternate between that and mindfulness meditation allowing the focus of attention to shift fairly frequently to things like thoughts and emotions without trying to manipulate them. I have been doing over 2 hours of meditation per day average since the beginning of this year.

I went to Victoria January 11-14th and on the last day we did a Nordic spa where you go in the sauna and then go into a cold plunge alternating for a couple hours. stayed in the cold for more than all my friends put together I am pretty sure 15 minutes in total over 2 hours. I have been doing cold showers on most days sometimes up to 3 per day starting out hot then finishing for 60-90 seconds on as cold as possible. I don't know if it is that or the meditation or both but my sex drive is up like 2x as much. I did add an hour to my meditation quota as I mentioned 2 posts ago after getting myself off. I have been averaging 1x per day but I don't feel drained at all, I could go for more so I guess it isn't the end of the world. Today at work I could feel my heart beating as I was working on the computer and it felt like it was orgasming with each beat. I sometimes feel this way during meditation so I guess this is a nice side effect. My meditation was a bit unfocused the last day or 2. Sometimes I get up to go to the bathroom or check something on my phone then go back into it. I will just keep an eye on this unfocused meditation. I think I don't need to make any changes right now. I should get better taking it more seriously over time. I have been keeping up 2 and usually 3 hours per day. Sometimes more on the weekends.