How do you meditate?

[loveregardless]

your opinions are valuable and you should hold on to them no matter what anybody says is true. Like Confucius said, "When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to acknowledge that you do not know it--this is knowledge." There is no absolute truth.

Absolutely! That's all I was ever trying to say!

don't worry too much about the way you are perceived by others. I'll tell you one secret, may be it will be disappointing, but the truth is - noone cares about you and what you think (apart from your relatives and friends). But that's a good thing too, because you are free to be yourself.

Oh believe me, I don't care what people think. haha, if you had read all of my posts in every other thread, you would know, I far from care what others think. That was never my problem. My problem was that most people DO care what others think and that this particular topic is something that others would be/are very sensitive about. I try to support others who are experiancing things that I myself have experianed, so that they do not have cause to feel alienated, strange or insecure. Can you not see how someone would already feel these things, and probably much more in terms of not being accepted by their peers and family, for admitting these things in the first place? I certainly can. And being that I am someone has has felt these things for the majority of my life and have only recently come to be comfortable with and accept them, I want to do everything I can to support and comfort others in the same situation. I should think that would be very obvious.

 

The last part that I found TRULY interesting was your link. May I take a moment to give a bit of my opinion on the matter?

 

The side effects listed in this paper were:

"relaxation-induced anxiety and panic; paradoxical increases in tension; less motivation in life; boredom; pain; impaired reality testing; confusion and disorientation; feeling 'spaced out'; depression; increased negativity; being more judgmental; and, ironically, feeling addicted to meditation...uncomfortable kinaesthetic sensations, mild dissociation, feelings of guilt and, via anxiety-provoking phenomena, psychosis-like symptoms, grandiosity, elation, destructive behaviour and suicidal feelings...fear, anger, apprehension and despair. Sobbing and hidden memories and themes from the past, such as incest, rejection, and abandonment appeared in intense, vivid forms and challenged the subject's previously constructed image of their past and themselves"

 

First of all, all of these "effects" completely support my statements about meditation, as well as further support the reality of the "experiance" in different forms. If anyone was entering into meditation with any of the goals I had mentioned, chances are that they would be aware that they would be exploring ALL aspects of their conscious and sub-conscious selves, as well as their pasts, and futures, possibly even past lives, and that not all of what they may experiance would be immediately perceived as "positive". This would come from a basic knowledge of yoga, meditation, and spiritual exploration. The people who don't understand these "symptoms" and why they are rather PROOF of the validity of the experiance, do not understand the complexity of either the human psychi or spiritual existance beyond the physical. If a person is not ready to explore in depth the REALITY of the world and of their own existence, then obviously they should not make it their goal. It is very obvious that it these people were not previously in denial or harboring such emotions and thoughts in the FIRST PLACE, that they would not have encountered them during their "meditation". People do not encounter or experiance things that are not already "hiding" within them and around them. Maybe you don't see complete honesty and realization of ones self and the world, positive and negative, as being helpful or therapuetic, but I do not see living in a false reality as living at all.

 

Now I will take some individual examples and demystify them to prove my point:

 

anxiety and panic, increases in tension, anxiety-provoking phenomena- obviously the person experiancing these things already harbored and was denying tension and anxiety in their lives or in reaction to some event in their lives. And all tension and anxiety needs to be dealt with, acknowledged, treated, and overcome.

 

less motivation in life; boredom, increased negativity; being more judgmental- obvously these people were experiancing these things as a result of having, again, already harbored and repressed these feelings. Perhaps they come to realize the insignificance and unfullfillingness of their current situation, or come to realize that what everyone else thinks is important, has never eally been important to them. Perhaps they realize the dispair, unhapiness and sadness of the world they live in, that they had been denying for some time. Again, all of these experiances are valid, need to be dealt with, need to be contemplated, and need to be overcome or have changes made in the persons life as a result of.

 

confusion and disorientation; feeling 'spaced out', uncomfortable kinaesthetic sensations, mild dissociation-

all of these feelings could be directly related to the fact that they're spirit was not in their body for some amount of time during the meditation. It's called astral travel. And they may not have been consiously aware they were doing so.

 

feelings of guilt; destructive behaviour and suicidal feelings...fear, anger, apprehension and despair. Sobbing and hidden memories and themes from the past, such as incest, rejection, and abandonment-

I should think that these experiances should be rather self explanatory. Obviously they felt guilt for a reason. Obviously they felt these things, for a reason. Are you not seeing the pattern here. It's called repression and denial people!

 

psychosis-like symptoms, grandiosity, elation, feeling addicted to meditation-

Ok so how are these negative? These fellings could be a direct result of having momentarily experianced enlightenment, having seen or experianced something brilliant and sensational...etc. And why wouldn't anyone WANT to get addicted to meditation. They should do it every day. They should WANT to uncover their absolute true selves and deal with all of what that means. You revel in the positive, and you learn how to deal with, release the pain from, and overcome the negative.

 

I should hope that my point is rather clear after this. And again, I really like you Lucia...you make great points for me.

[whichwayisup]

anxiety and panic, increases in tension, anxiety-provoking phenomena- obviously the person experiancing these things already harbored and was denying tension and anxiety in their lives or in reaction to some event in their lives. And all tension and anxiety needs to be dealt with, acknowledged, treated, and overcome.

 

Exactly! I am a current anxiety sufferer! I am doing CBT to better myself and along the way doing Yoga and Meditation which does help me feel better as it all comes down to the power of the mind, good and positive energy.

 

Unexplained things that happen, without sciencific (Spelling? I know! HA!) proof means nothing. I DO know from my own personal experiences that things DO happen for a reason. Our minds just have to be open to it and be ready to just accept those things as blessings, life altering moments, people who come in your life at a certain time and have a HUGE impact on you and your life. ( I am way off topic but who cares?! Interesting stuff!) All I know in the last 7 or 8 months things have happened to me that are really unexplainable. Did I question it? Yes, ofcourse...Am I crazy...Probably yes, but in a good normal way...I do know my mind energy and soul is connected with many others who also feel the same way I do. For instance afew weeks ago I woke up feeling like there was something not right. I just knew something was wrong with a friend of mine online. I FELT it. SO I jumped online at 6am...Guess what? They emailed me with what was going on and there was a huge problem. I can't explain that except that I am connected with that person's emotions and their energy level which affected me. What else could it be? I am no psychic here, but we do have lots of parts of the brain we don't use or understand. Does any of this make sense or is it just me??!!! LOL

[loveregardless]

thank you my darling! It makes perfect sense! And we are both "crazy" in a perfectly healthy, normal, wonderful, blessed way. As are many others who have the strength to share as we do. I also have clairsentient abilities (that's what you were describing with your friend online). Particularly with my bf, it is EXTREMELY strong.

But was it just me, or were these symptoms of meditation not like, hello...thats the whole POINT people. I never said intense psychological and spiritual exploration was going to be all sunshine and cupcakes, I said it was going to open you up to things you may not have been able to experiance or perceive with your physical senses. To REALITY. Understanding, acknowledging and working though these "symptoms" has to happen before you can ever be truly happy or succesful or reach your full potential. People spend their whole lives hiding, repressing, lying to themselves and others, being ashamed, harboring negative and harmful emotions, letting things fester, dwelling, stressing, worrying, and most of all, doubting themselves. It is abolutely NECESSARY that people realize and accept themselves WHOLE HEARTEDLY. ACCEPT you fears, ACCEPT your pain, ACCEPT your doubts, ACCEPT your worry, ACCEPT your anger, do not judge yourself for it! It is a part of who you are, you cannot understand and appreciate the positive if you are blind to the so called "negative"!

People, people, people...I love you all so much and want to help everyone so badly you have no idea! But I know that I cannot do it for you, I am not superman! I am not superman! I am not superman! I am not superman!

but I can keep telling you what I think, no matter how much you hate to hear it. Because some people understand, and I am helping some people, and thats enough to keep me coming back for more.

[whichwayisup]

You're so very welcome!! Just a shame that there are those who will never ever experience this because of a closed mind or not willing to believe! But I tell ya, situations change one's views. Especially and unfortunately death. When my father died 11 years ago, my eyes really opened up to alot of changing my ways of thinking, processing things as well. I think things like that HAVE to change you, otherwise what did you learn! Good and bad, we definately learn. Just up to each of us to stick with it and apply it into our lives!!