Are Meditation Retreats A Waste of Time?

[r0ckyreed]

I am curious as to how me sitting down and focusing on my breath is not going to be a waste of time.

2 years ago, I meditated for 4 hours straight, and it seemed like a complete waste of time. I was sitting, focusing on my breath, and counting my breaths, and that was pretty much it lol.

I don't really see how meditation is going to add to any existential understanding of reality.

One thing that I did gain from my meditation retreat was that I learned how to deal with discomfort and boredom, but me sitting and counting my breaths didn't add anything else. There was no insight from no thought.

It is kind of frustrating because I have read a lot of meditation books, and it just doesn't seem to be as effective as simple contemplation. 

The only meditation technique that has worked was Leo's Satisfaction Meditation. But that meditation doesn't gain me any insight that reality is imagination. All meditation has ever done for me is give me insights into equanimity and suffering. 

It seems like I gain more contemplating something for 10 minutes than I ever could from a 2 hour sit.

I think a good 10 minute meditation session a day is good, but anything longer than that seems like a waste of time, and one is better off approaching women to see if their meditation practice can hold to the test. I agree with Owen Cook that sitting down and meditating is a waste of time. I can meditate while I am thinking, making a business, and socializing with women. I see the benefits of a 10 minute sit and an occasional 1 hour sit, but there is a threshold to where a certain amount of sitting time on the cushion doesn't add anything more to your life. 

Edited February 18 by r0ckyreed

[Leo Gura]

To the contrary. Daily meditation is a waste of time. Retreats is where results happen.

Meditating for 4 hrs does nothing. Meditating for 100 hrs does something.

Edited February 18 by Leo Gura

[Thought Art]

@Leo Gura my daily 30 minutes in the morning is not a waste. It’s very important for me. 
 

I admit I haven’t done a super long retreat though. I will plan one.

But, as a centering practice my sit helps out a lot. 
 

Sitting in silence for 30 minutes at least a day does have a usefulness for mindful, peaceful living… 

Edited February 18 by Thought Art

[StarStruck]

Meditation is like heating a sword. The longer you heat it the more flexible it will become. 

[r0ckyreed]

17 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

To the contrary. Daily meditation is a waste of time. Retreats is where results happen.

Meditating for 4 hrs does nothing. Meditating for 100 hrs does something.

I will just have to find the time to do a more intensive meditation retreat.

The main thing that is holding me back is that I have 120 hours of paid vacation time per year, and I honestly would rather use that time to travel and go on adventures around the world than to spend all that time, confining myself in one room, one space, just sitting and meditating. 

Maybe confining myself in extreme solitude like that could elevate my consciousness, but I just have too much of an adventurous personality to just sit still and do nothing.

 

[r0ckyreed]

21 minutes ago, Thought Art said:

@Leo Gura my daily 30 minutes in the morning is not a waste. It’s very important for me. 
 

I admit I haven’t done a super long retreat though. I will plan one.

But, as a centering practice my sit helps out a lot. 
 

Sitting in silence for 30 minutes at least a day does have a usefulness for mindful, peaceful living… 

He's referring to it in the context of insight, which is what I am referring to as "a waste of time" in this thread.

There is no denying that meditating can give me peacefulness, but truth and bliss aren't the same thing.

[Thought Art]

@r0ckyreed I see what you mean

Actually though, objective observation practiced daily, as well as relaxing, breathing, letting thoughts come and go… that’s more truthful and insightful than not doing it daily. 
 

But, I’m out of context 

[StarStruck]

There are two kinds of meditation. Concentration meditation and insight meditation. For insight you definitely need hours. But for concentration meditation every day some portion of time is definitely worth it. 

[Juan]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

To the contrary. Daily meditation is a waste of time.

With all due respect, this is a bad take hehe. I watched ALL your how to meditate videos so see you say this is news to me. Sure you can skip some days if you want to, but it’s def not a waste of time, maybe for you it is. 

[puporing]

Depends on you I guess, I didn't reach the highest consciousness via meditation..

[Juan]

6 minutes ago, puporing said:

I didn't reach the highest consciousness via meditation..

 

P.S.: the reason I send this meme is because no matter how many times we ask you how you reach it, you won’t tell us cuz you said we won’t believe you.

[Yimpa]

The key takeaway is don’t make meditation a chore.

[Hojo]

I have seen a couple meditation retreat videos and they say they do it for 10 days then on day 10 they have to sit without moving at all for 1 hour and a couple of them have say they trance out into their spine and they can feel all the antennae in their nervous system and they are that. This is how they mapped out the human body and spiritual energy spots. You have a special energy field in you.

Edited February 18 by Hojo

[James123]

@r0ckyreed I lived in darkness and silence for 3 months and recognize what enlightenment is. Daily Meditation is never bad for you however, retreats are completely another level.

[EdgeGod900]

4 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

It seems like I gain more contemplating something for 10 minutes than I ever could from a 2 hour sit.

I think a good 10 minute meditation session a day is good, but anything longer than that seems like a waste of time, and one is better off approaching women to see if their meditation practice can hold to the test. I agree with Owen Cook that sitting down and meditating is a waste of time. I can meditate while I am thinking, making a business, and socializing with women. 

Long sessions might be a waste of time FOR YOU, but NOT FOR ME. Its cool that you, Owen, and Leo seem to have the same genetics when it comes to handling meditation.

I remember I used meditate around 2h of meditation daily; 1 hour of Do Nothing meditation in the morning, 20 min (Do Nothing or Mindfulness Meditation) before lunch, 10-15 mins of mindful eating lunch, 20 min (Do Nothing) after my afternoon studies, and then another 20 mins of Do Nothing when I get home. I did this conistently, and by the 4th or 5th day, my body just started to do it. Literally after doing my chores and responsibilities, my mind would just start to Do-Nothing subconsciously.

It also did have practical benefits. I was able to articulate myself better, learn the subjects in school better and with focus, my programming productivity increased, etc..

I had to stop because of two things. First, it freaked me the fuck out. I started to feel the state of not knowing. I was extremely perceptive of everything but it freaked me the fuck out because I felt like i didn't know what/why things in my consciousness are the way they are.  Second, my family and everyone around me start to notice that I'm literally Doing Nothing, so they started to think that I was wierd and that I should occupy myself(And I didn't want to look wierd or make them think I was on drugs or something).

Key Takeaway:

- You personally might not benefit from it. But don't assume that its like that for everyone

-Maybe try other types of meditation.  I personally find that breathing shit kinda wierd. But to be fair I've unconsciouly/naturally been doing the "Do Nothing" mediation since I was a little kid.

-Some people can find the true nature of reality by meditating; leaving them in a state of not knowing, which scared the fuck out of me in my case.

Edited February 18 by EdgeGod900

[Thought Art]

I enjoy méditation because i built the muscle. Now I can enjoy it. It’s harder at the beginning. 30 minutes meditation is very enjoyable for me.

I want to do a long retreat 

Edited February 18 by Thought Art

[Ayham]

I used to meditate everyday for 2 years or so?

My practice was about 30 minutes long, mainly noting/vipassana style, and sometimes do nothing

For the first 6 months, it was great progress and a lot of desires for the daily mundane stuff was gone

I do admit my time was too short for anything else, but I also had trouble increasing the time since I always experienced dullness/ sleepiness

Though I did a few strong determination sits of an hour

I switched to Kriya yoga lately, I am still a beginner so I can't say much, but it's definitely better

I do the kriya routine (gamana's book) then at the end just staying in a self awareness/ self abidance state

So in meditation, you try to meditate without being ready, in kriya, you use breathing techniques and other things to still the mind and raise kundalini energy, then you can meditate from that state, which will be 10x more effective

 

[Girzo]

For daily meditation I would do neurofeedback instead. If I wouldn't have had an access to that, I would just do hatha yoga instead, as body needs daily maintenance.

[Harikrishnan]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

To the contrary. Daily meditation is a waste of time. Retreats is where results happen.

Meditating for 4 hrs does nothing. Meditating for 100 hrs does something.

@Leo Gura did you miss the snowball effect. The problem with what you are saying is that someone would read this and skip the daily meditation and goes for a 10 day meditation will fail miserably to sit. If I sit regularly for 1hr daily, it would be easier for me to sit 10hrs daily on retreat, wheras if I am not regular on my daily sit, then its hard for me to sit 10hr daily for 10 days. 

[Ayham]

Daily meditation might not bring you awakening

But it's very important to be able to sit with yourself for a good amount of time in today's fast paced culture that is full of distractions