Meditation

[compulsiverambler]

Shamatha (single-pointed concentration) and vipassana (non-judgmental awareness and observation of all thoughts and feelings - much easier when you've first used shamatha to quiet down your mind enough to notice each new thing and focus your attention on attention itself) are the two meditation forms I practise.

The opportunity cost for me is worth it. I get distracted easily and can get emotionally distraught easily. I plan to use it to help me with my focus and to facilitate calmness so that I can get things done. The things that distract me are a barrier to me getting things done. And I think you're only supposed to do it for like 20 mins at a time.

There is some evidence that practice involving shamatha and vipassana ("mindfulness") could help these problems:

(They don't use the words shamatha or vipassana but "mindfulness" is generally synonymous for vipassana, and shamatha precedes vipassana both traditionally and in the studies discussed below.)

This paper explains why there is ample theoretical reason to test the effects of mindfulness on ADHD given what is known about the brains and cognitive and affective profiles of ADHD patients and the effects of meditation on the brain, cognition and affect.
Meditation-Based Training

This lady is a psychiatrist who was involved in the study below and runs a programme of mindfulness training for ADHD.
Dr. Lidia Zylowska's website

This one, like most preliminary studies, has no control group, so really just serves as a suggestion that it would be worth looking at further with rigorous, more conclusive studies (which in this case would probably involve using both groups given non-meditative relaxation methods and groups given no method as controls).
Mindfulness Meditation Training in Adults and Adolescents With ADHD

A more indepth look at the findings of the above study by a clinical psychologist.
Mindfulness meditation for adults and teens with ADHD

"The current findings support that a large portion of variability in trait mindfulness can be explained by ADHD status and personality traits of self-directedness and self-transcendence. It further suggests that interventions that increase mindfulness might improve symptoms of ADHD and increase self-directedness and/or self-transcendence."
Mindfulness and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Small study of attention with non-ADHD group. Unlike the above study with people with ADHD, this study found that mindfulness meditation also improved working memory, not just sustained attention. The working memory deficit could be one aspect of ADHD that cannot be improved this way, or else the mindfulness programme used could have been in some way superior in the study of people without ADHD.
The Impact of Intensive Mindfulness Training on Attentional Control, Cognitive Style, and Affect

I recommend reading as much of the first paper as you can, but here are two paragraphs of interest:

The two types of meditation may be linked to different systems of attention. Concentrative meditation has been linked to the orienting and conflict monitoring system, proposed by Posner and Petersen as the dorsal attention system, which is described as a voluntary attention system activated by presentation of cues indicating perceptual and response features of stimuli to which participants should direct their attention. In contrast, mindfulness meditation can be linked with the alerting system, or the ventral attention system, which is described as an alerting system that is activated during abrupt changes in sensory stimuli and detection of salient targets, especially when they are unexpected, are outside of the focus of attention, and have low probability of occurrence.

That 'alerting system' is also problematic in ADHD:

Some of the sustained attention problems among ADHD individuals may also be linked with deficits in alerting mechanisms, which are critical for normal cognitive functioning. Earlier work using spatial-orienting tasks suggested that ADHD individuals show difficulty in maintaining the alert state (sustained attention) in the absence of a warning signal. More recent studies using the Attentional Network Task (ANT) have replicated problems with alerting in ADHD, again mostly due to the inability of the individual to maintain the alert state when no warning signal was used. Other studies using tasks similar to ANT have also shown some evidence of abnormalities in alerting and/or executive control in ADHD in terms of slowed response times to abrupt visual cues, especially when faced with conflicting spatial cues.

Anecdotally, I very much relate to what's described in that last paragraph. There's also evidence that people with ADHD (and the frequently comorbid borderline personality disorder - 60% of borderlines have a history of usually undiagnosed ADHD) have below average self-monitoring ability and subsequently inaccurate self-reporting (also suggested by that study of mindfulness levels found in ADHD adults linked to above). Teaching self-monitoring strategies improves attentiveness to task and productivity, according to a small study. Mindfulness is basically advanced self-monitoring, so it should be helpful too. This is what I've found. I'm getting better at noticing when my attention is moving or becoming split in the first place and noticing what triggered it (vipassana-related), and at peacefully acknowledging so, noting the task-irrelevance of the distraction, and returning focus with less fight-back from the distraction and discomfort (shamatha-related). The more quickly this all happens, the less I miss of what's going on around me in the process.

 

[compulsiverambler]

There are many books and websites offering instructions and tips for mindfulness meditation, but here's one I think is good for beginners:

An Aussie mindfulness site

 

[Asterion]

I overloaded my senses a little while ago... you may not believe it, but theres a limit to your absorbtion of information. My head felt crazy, then I discovered that meditation would help, and as victor mentioned earlier, I watched my thoughts until they slowed down. After that, I felt great... the idea is still with me now, and I can feel it's affect. a slower pace of thought has a much greater focus.

 

[wren]

I haven't found meditation to be useful. That's just me of course.

 

[KDude]

i never got anything out of meditating alone..mostly because i still need guidance, i think. that may sound like the opposite of meditation (which is usually associated with solitude), but i benefited from my martial arts teacher being around (he was knowledgeable with tai chi breathing exercises specifically). i always felt... what could best be described as... "electric jello" afterwards. it was a good feeling.

otherwise, i feel like life can be meditative at any moment, but that's a type of meditation with different benefits.

 

[Feops]

I've never really got meditation.

I can more or less mute my thoughts on a whim and simply be, is that not what meditation is? Clearing one's mind to perhaps focus on a sensation, creative output, or nothing at all?

 

[milkyway2]

I haven't really tried it other than in yoga class.

I feel like there's always a voice in my head thinking stuff and even when I try to quiet it down it never shuts up.

Maybe this is why I smoke pot, when I'm high feel like I can focus my mind on one thing at a time and my mind quiets down. And when I'm super baked I do almost feel like I'm thinking nothing at all..

I really want to start meditating.

 

[Mole]

The Mantra

I start my meditation by saying, "Intermingling the inner and the outer". And I keep on repeating this mantra.

I begin with this mantra because it gives me direction. It gives me a way in which to go. It is also the way I want to go.

So very soon I start to experience the intermingling of my inner and my outer. And very soon the words become unnecessary and a burden. So I let go the words. And there I am with my inner and outer mingling without any words - wordlessly.

At this point I know precisely what I want to do, so I do it without any hesitation or thought. It may be simple as a shower or complex as a dance. But whatever it is, I want to do it without any doubt. And I very much enjoy doing it.

So the two conditions for this kind of successful meditation are -

• Knowing what I want to do and saying it, and keep on saying it until I experience it.

• Being completely free to do what I want.

Of course the reason behind this meditation is to heal the rift between my introverted self and my extroverted self.

And so the purpose of typing is not to understand myself but to change myself.

 

[Kasper]

I don't like meditating, I relax and clear my mind better with external stimulation, my INFJ sister debated that I could do so with any external stimulation such as music claiming it couldn't really be a kind of meditation but for me that's what works, clearing my mind isn't a hard thing for me to do. Sitting down with the expressed purpose of meditating doesn't work for me, I believe the I/E preference plays a role here, meditating does not revitalise or energise me, quite the opposite, it saps me.

 

[Gerbah]

Does anyone here have experience with meditating for the the spiritual purpose of uniting with (the true nature of) Reality? I am considering making a serious effort at this but am not sure how to go about it. I have experienced this spontaneously but would like to work at it through will.

 

[Lady_X]

i have only really been able to quiet the noise a couple of times. it's really not easy.

 

[Antimony]

I meditate when

1.) I have negative emotions
2.) When I don't know what I am feeling
3.) When I need to make a decision
4.) When I need to tell my mind to stfu for a bit, because I have to consciously do that, otherwise, it won't

I find it very helpful, for any number of reasons.

/end opinion

 

[Mole]

Spontaneous Meditation

Sometimes I will spontaneously meditate, without my choosing to do so.

It is like a combination of pleasure and fear.

The pleasure comes as I spontaneously enter the meditative state - it is a bit like moving under water. And the fear comes from losing control.

The fear is quite intense and allows me to choose to go on or return to the waking state.

Normally I go on and the fear only lasts a minute or so, and then there I am in a deep meditative state, where I don't know what will happen next, and where time has disappeared and I am exquisitely attuned to beauty.

Fortunately this spontaneous meditation usually takes place in a park or the Bush, so I am surrounded by beauty and peace.

I almost always attend to my spontaneous meditation because I think it is my deeper self trying to tell me something.

Of course the deeper self is completely wordless so does not say anything, rather the deeper self shows me something. And the deeper self shows me beauty. And if my deeper self could speak, they would say to me, "You are beautiful".

 

[milkyway2]

Does anyone here have experience with meditating for the the spiritual purpose of uniting with (the true nature of) Reality? I am considering making a serious effort at this but am not sure how to go about it. I have experienced this spontaneously but would like to work at it through will.

No, but I thought I was close to finding out what it was when I was tripping on acid once. And from what I hear, reaching enlightenment is the same or close to the same thing. Drugs just take you straight there, unnaturally.. while meditating can get you to that point naturally.

 

[Gerbah]

But how?

i have only really been able to quiet the noise a couple of times. it's really not easy.

The thing is I don't know what I'm supposed to do when I want to “meditate” for this purpose. Do I concentrate on something, or do I try to become empty and then something will happen... is there a certain method?

It is like a combination of pleasure and fear.

The pleasure comes as I spontaneously enter the meditative state - it is a bit like moving under water. And the fear comes from losing control.

So Victor feels fear. I haven't tried yet to go intentionally very deeply (so little space and time these days) but when I think about trying it, I feel sad. I think because I feel alone.

No, but I thought I was close to finding out what it was when I was tripping on acid once. And from what I hear, reaching enlightenment is the same or close to the same thing. Drugs just take you straight there, unnaturally.. while meditating can get you to that point naturally.

Yes, I've heard of people using drugs to achieve it but I don't think it would be a reflection of real change in my self if I did it that way. One reason I would like to find out how to meditate for this is because I know that certain emotions and conflicts I have have no real basis, I know this with my mind. This helps a lot, so these emotions and conflicts don't disturb me too much but nevertheless, I experience things that I know are false, and I would like to be free of these so that my experience is (ideally only) that of what I know to be true. Hence, unifying with Reality.

But I don't know how to work on it. I don't think just sitting and thinking will do it because I already think about it but don't experience it apart from the spontaneous time it happened.

 

[Loxias]

I like to go cycling along the creek around sunrise, and meditate on one of the rocks there. I don't know much about the technical side :
I try to direct all my thinking to the simple motion of my diaphragm when breathing in and out, and chase away all other thoughts (without thinking about how I am chasing them away, this is so difficult).
Sometimes when I do it for a while, the feeling of detachment brings a bit of a nausea, so I stop. I might be doing something wrong there, but anyway, after, I still get interesting results :
greatly increased focus and perceptivity of everything as greater clarity of thoughts.

Although I don't know whether it is proper meditation or not, I often fall asleep for short times and enjoy the vivid portions of dreams, and try to remember them or keep a bit of their essence alive.

 

[Gerbah]

I like to go cycling along the creek around sunrise, and meditate on one of the rocks there.

That sounds nice. I live very urban though, although opposite a park with a big river but I'd be afraid of getting mugged going there alone so early, lol.

I don't know much about the technical side :
I try to direct all my thinking to the simple motion of my diaphragm when breathing in and out, and chase away all other thoughts (without thinking about how I am chasing them away, this is so difficult).
Sometimes when I do it for a while, the feeling of detachment brings a bit of a nausea, so I stop. I might be doing something wrong there, but anyway, after, I still get interesting results :
greatly increased focus and perceptivity of everything as greater clarity of thoughts.

Although I don't know whether it is proper meditation or not, I often fall asleep for short times and enjoy the vivid portions of dreams, and try to remember them or keep a bit of their essence alive.

I will try that. guess I should just experiment and see what happens.

 

[Mole]

Walking, Breathing, Dancing Meditation

So Victor feels fear. I haven't tried yet to go intentionally very deeply (so little space and time these days) but when I think about trying it, I feel sad. I think because I feel alone.

Any repetition will do.

Walking meditation is a good repetition. The repetition is one step then another, one step then another. And very soon you are into a rhythmic repetition.

Or breathing meditation is a good repetition. First you breathe in then you breathe out, then you breathe in then you breathe out. And before long you are into another rhythmic repetition.

Or perhaps you might introspect to find what you want, put it into three words or so and say them once, twice, three times and keep on saying them to yourself. Until the words carry you on their repetitive sound. This is called my mantra meditation.

It's summer here so I sit on the edge of the pond with my feet in the cool water and move my legs up and down, up and down in a rhythmic paddling. And very soon my attention is drawn to the gold fish and the rushes and the fountain. I call this my paddling meditation.

But my favourite meditation is dancing meditation. Sometimes I dance in front of the waterfall so slowly I hardly seem to be moving. And as I move so slowly, my mind slows down to the speed of the breeze playing on the waterfall.

Sometimes I put on some rock'n'roll and dance fast for five minutes, then I sit down for five minutes. I do this five times and it takes fifty minutes. I call this my interval meditation, or 5X5X5, or simply l'alternance meditation.

The only time I feel fear is in spontaneous meditation. But this is only to alert me to the meditative state to come and to ensure that I do it in a safe place.

And when you think about meditating, you feel sad because you feel alone.

And yes, it is sad to be alone.

But the very nicest meditation is to meditate with someone else. My favourite is to do my dancing 5X5X5 meditation with a partner.

First I dance fast for five minutes while they sit, watch and take care, then they dance fast for five minutes while I sit, watch and take care. We do this five times. And it takes fifty minutes.

Victor.

 

[Loxias]

That sounds nice. I live very urban though, although opposite a park with a big river but I'd be afraid of getting mugged going there alone so early, lol.

Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.
I usually do that because my home has too much stuff to attract my attention, I need somewhere a bit naturally empty like by the creek.
But I think any quiet place without too much distraction, a bit of breeze and natural sounds (river, birds...) would do.

I will try that. guess I should just experiment and see what happens.

Keep us up about how it worked for you. I'd be very interested in reading about different experiences with that technique.

 

[Scott N Denver]

The thing is I don't know what I'm supposed to do when I want to “meditate” for this purpose. Do I concentrate on something, or do I try to become empty and then something will happen... is there a certain method?

both can work. I've done both. quiet enough that you become focused, or focus enough that you become quiet, stuff can happen after that too