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Meditation
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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So there have been threads on this but I'm in need of help.
I've been struggling to focus at work and home and it's having very real consequences.
A friend suggested I try meditation (alongside popping into a Counseling session to rediscover CBT).
She said she practices mediation once a day and it helps calm and focus her, both of which I need.
So im wondering, does can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm? I can't really afford subscription costs either.
There is another issue, I'm very objective based, and I don't feel comfortable doing things if I'm not sure whether I'm doing it correctly, or if I don't know what I should feel.
Please help. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm?"
 Sorry dude but that tickled me.
Maybe I'm old school but for me meditation starts with turning everything off. Sit cross legged, back straight, eyes closed but relaxed, breathe, then, the way I do it, bring your mental attention to a point in your body, say perhaps the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Then try to keep your focus solely on that point. In the beginning you'll find your mind wandering off onto all sorts of things. Don't get upset by this or defeatist. Simply bring your focus back to your breath every time you notice it has wandered.
The first few sittings of this will likely be short (5-10 mins) due to impatience, discomfort with sitting, and annoyance at the mind having wandered a million times. But persistence will pay off and slowly the position will get more comfortable and the wandering less. When you start lasting longer like 40 mins you'll go to some truly cosmic places. So hold out for it. It's going to blow your mind
Good luck  |
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Well it would very much depend on the job! Personally i find a nice balance of trance music (trance around the world, 2.5 hours per episode), red bull and alcohol helps me achieve peak performance, not too much alcohol obviously. But that's not really an option if you are a teacher...? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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"Well it would very much depend on the job! Personally i find a nice balance of trance music (trance around the world, 2.5 hours per episode), red bull and alcohol helps me achieve peak performance, not too much alcohol obviously. But that's not really an option if you are a teacher...? "
Not a teacher but I'd rather not use alcohol for anything other than social celebrations. |
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"Well it would very much depend on the job! Personally i find a nice balance of trance music (trance around the world, 2.5 hours per episode), red bull and alcohol helps me achieve peak performance, not too much alcohol obviously. But that's not really an option if you are a teacher...?
Not a teacher but I'd rather not use alcohol for anything other than social celebrations."
Can you listen to music while you work? Trance music is awesome for helping me focus. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm?
Sorry dude but that tickled me.
Maybe I'm old school but for me meditation starts with turning everything off. Sit cross legged, back straight, eyes closed but relaxed, breathe, then, the way I do it, bring your mental attention to a point in your body, say perhaps the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Then try to keep your focus solely on that point. In the beginning you'll find your mind wandering off onto all sorts of things. Don't get upset by this or defeatist. Simply bring your focus back to your breath every time you notice it has wandered.
The first few sittings of this will likely be short (5-10 mins) due to impatience, discomfort with sitting, and annoyance at the mind having wandered a million times. But persistence will pay off and slowly the position will get more comfortable and the wandering less. When you start lasting longer like 40 mins you'll go to some truly cosmic places. So hold out for it. It's going to blow your mind
Good luck "
Do you find it helps you keep focused at work/in day to day life? Or am I looking for the wrong thing? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"If you use soundcloud there are some meditation channels on there.
Not sure if i'm allowed to post links but mine are more about body mindfulness anyway so may not be useful to you."
I'll take a gander at sound cloud regardless |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Well it would very much depend on the job! Personally i find a nice balance of trance music (trance around the world, 2.5 hours per episode), red bull and alcohol helps me achieve peak performance, not too much alcohol obviously. But that's not really an option if you are a teacher...?
Not a teacher but I'd rather not use alcohol for anything other than social celebrations.
Can you listen to music while you work? Trance music is awesome for helping me focus. "
I'm one of those annoying people who can't really listen to music whilst working.
If I'm sorting stuff out at home or just tidying it's fine, but anything that requires thought I find I need either silence or quiet background noise e.g, coffee shop without kids in it, sometimes I can get away with 'chill hop' which is basically just a YouTube stream.
But the issue right now is my mind just feels 'loud and noisy' like I can't even think straight and clearly for 30 mins unless I'm walking in a park or at the gym. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Apps like Headspace, Calm and Buddhify can be helpful to get started. "
Beat me to it.
Another one is Bee Zone.
I like Headspace because the guy's voice is very soothing.
Also look at Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided Visualisation. Loads on YouTube. Just a case of finding one that works for you. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"Apps like Headspace, Calm and Buddhify can be helpful to get started.
Beat me to it.
Another one is Bee Zone.
I like Headspace because the guy's voice is very soothing.
Also look at Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Guided Visualisation. Loads on YouTube. Just a case of finding one that works for you. "
Bee Zone is free. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm?
Sorry dude but that tickled me.
Maybe I'm old school but for me meditation starts with turning everything off. Sit cross legged, back straight, eyes closed but relaxed, breathe, then, the way I do it, bring your mental attention to a point in your body, say perhaps the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Then try to keep your focus solely on that point. In the beginning you'll find your mind wandering off onto all sorts of things. Don't get upset by this or defeatist. Simply bring your focus back to your breath every time you notice it has wandered.
The first few sittings of this will likely be short (5-10 mins) due to impatience, discomfort with sitting, and annoyance at the mind having wandered a million times. But persistence will pay off and slowly the position will get more comfortable and the wandering less. When you start lasting longer like 40 mins you'll go to some truly cosmic places. So hold out for it. It's going to blow your mind
Good luck
Do you find it helps you keep focused at work/in day to day life? Or am I looking for the wrong thing?"
As I said, I may be out of the loop. But for me meditation refers to something quite specific. People sit and quietly think about life and call that meditation. To me that isn't. People are maybe using apps here or listening to electronica to help them get into a good headspace for work. Again that isn't meditation to me.
Meditation is quite a specific practice that involves learning to quiet the mind and letting go of your analytical judgemental brain and just being in the moment in a way that is different from just sitting and enjoying a little break. It's like taking a big brain bath, lying back, and exiting reality for a while in quite a literal radical way. You don't do it at work or during the day. You do it perhaps in the morning to get you ready for the day and at night to wipe the day off you. This has a massive accumulative effect similar to the difference not ever washing would make versus washing daily. It ends up making a big difference, giving you more clarity, energy, and time.
It is also a powerful way to connect with the universe beyond you. Revealing things to even the most stubborn disbelievers. In short... it works |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm?
Sorry dude but that tickled me.
Maybe I'm old school but for me meditation starts with turning everything off. Sit cross legged, back straight, eyes closed but relaxed, breathe, then, the way I do it, bring your mental attention to a point in your body, say perhaps the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Then try to keep your focus solely on that point. In the beginning you'll find your mind wandering off onto all sorts of things. Don't get upset by this or defeatist. Simply bring your focus back to your breath every time you notice it has wandered.
The first few sittings of this will likely be short (5-10 mins) due to impatience, discomfort with sitting, and annoyance at the mind having wandered a million times. But persistence will pay off and slowly the position will get more comfortable and the wandering less. When you start lasting longer like 40 mins you'll go to some truly cosmic places. So hold out for it. It's going to blow your mind
Good luck
Do you find it helps you keep focused at work/in day to day life? Or am I looking for the wrong thing?
As I said, I may be out of the loop. But for me meditation refers to something quite specific. People sit and quietly think about life and call that meditation. To me that isn't. People are maybe using apps here or listening to electronica to help them get into a good headspace for work. Again that isn't meditation to me.
Meditation is quite a specific practice that involves learning to quiet the mind and letting go of your analytical judgemental brain and just being in the moment in a way that is different from just sitting and enjoying a little break. It's like taking a big brain bath, lying back, and exiting reality for a while in quite a literal radical way. You don't do it at work or during the day. You do it perhaps in the morning to get you ready for the day and at night to wipe the day off you. This has a massive accumulative effect similar to the difference not ever washing would make versus washing daily. It ends up making a big difference, giving you more clarity, energy, and time.
It is also a powerful way to connect with the universe beyond you. Revealing things to even the most stubborn disbelievers. In short... it works "
In your opinion is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"In your opinion is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation?"
I've only had limited contact with mindfulness. But what I've come across is very different from what meditation means to me. As I said some people may describe someone as "meditating upon the complexity of a leaf". I would use the word "ponder" to describe that. Similarly, I'd describe prayer and such things as pondering on god or reaching out to god. But others might call them meditations upon the divine. For me that's where the confusion lies about what meditation is and how you do it. But that may be purely because I was taught a particular form of meditation.
When someone talks about meditating. For me that's quite a specific activity. If we ponder upon a raisin (I've heard that's one of the classic mindfulness exercises) or if we walk slowly through nature in an Eckhart Tolle type of mindset we aren't truly calming our minds and exiting the narrative of the analytical judgemental mind. Indeed, we may be being even more analytical and judgemental in how we're appreciating every little thing in that moment. That's not meditation imo.
Instead, through meditation, we train the brain to take a break from thinking. We were sitting in a room meditating, aware of the world around us, its smells sounds touch, our bodies uncomfortable, our minds noisy. Then all that goes. As if dead, we sail away from reality entirely and enter the realm of the spirit. The world melts and we become awareness of a oneness underlying all things. This doesn't require any belief or openness to the idea. Even the most hardened cynic can experience it for themselves... *if only they bothered to try*
It's an experience that, I would suggest, is to mindfulness what holidaying in the Maldives is to spending a night at the local Butlins. I only say this because mindfulness, to my knowledge, doesn't provide you with a genuine break from reality and the analytical judgemental mind as meditation does. But I may be mistaken |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"I can recommend a book... How to be Human by Ruby Wax is excellent and teaches mindfulness and meditation
Buddhify and headspace are great too"
Ooooooh I'll see if I can pick up the book or audiobook |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Really good sex over the course of many hours can get me into a trancelike state OP, but I guess that’s not possible for you at work?"
Sadly no, it's fine at home, but might not help with distractions and productivity. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
I have tried lots of things over the years (cbt, 121 counselling, group work) but for an everyday easy way of achieving some calm I have used headspace for the past couple of years and have found it quite useful. I agree that it is maybe not quite the same as pure meditation in the classic sense but how it works is that you listen to a few minutes of talk and then you are left to meditate for 10-20minutes and then you have a shorter talk to close the session. Try the free version and see how you get on. I pay for the full version but only because I have some more specific areas that I want to work on and the full version has so many more topics. |
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I use an app called ‘CALM’ where you can chose various options for meditate, music or sleep.
It’s important to switch your mind off and there are some good YouTube ones where you have softly spoken voices instructing your breathing also.
Good luck OP, please let us know if you achieve a level of peace.. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"In your opinion is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation?
I've only had limited contact with mindfulness. But what I've come across is very different from what meditation means to me. As I said some people may describe someone as "meditating upon the complexity of a leaf". I would use the word "ponder" to describe that. Similarly, I'd describe prayer and such things as pondering on god or reaching out to god. But others might call them meditations upon the divine. For me that's where the confusion lies about what meditation is and how you do it. But that may be purely because I was taught a particular form of meditation.
When someone talks about meditating. For me that's quite a specific activity. If we ponder upon a raisin (I've heard that's one of the classic mindfulness exercises) or if we walk slowly through nature in an Eckhart Tolle type of mindset we aren't truly calming our minds and exiting the narrative of the analytical judgemental mind. Indeed, we may be being even more analytical and judgemental in how we're appreciating every little thing in that moment. That's not meditation imo.
Instead, through meditation, we train the brain to take a break from thinking. We were sitting in a room meditating, aware of the world around us, its smells sounds touch, our bodies uncomfortable, our minds noisy. Then all that goes. As if dead, we sail away from reality entirely and enter the realm of the spirit. The world melts and we become awareness of a oneness underlying all things. This doesn't require any belief or openness to the idea. Even the most hardened cynic can experience it for themselves... *if only they bothered to try*
It's an experience that, I would suggest, is to mindfulness what holidaying in the Maldives is to spending a night at the local Butlins. I only say this because mindfulness, to my knowledge, doesn't provide you with a genuine break from reality and the analytical judgemental mind as meditation does. But I may be mistaken "
That's interesting. So far the guides available for free via mindfulness apps have been guiding on breathing and 'switching off'.
For example there one I listened to this morning focused on setting your breathing rhythm correctly, then 'scanning down' through the body, acknowledging but not dwelling on how different parts of the body feel, then just moving on an accepting.
It then proceeded to tr and guide you through just focusing on the pattern of breathing, and how this felt in the bod and air flowed in and out, in order to spot the mind from wandering - which is hard.
There would then be a break, in which you can let your mind wander for a bit, but ultimately after a minute or so, you needed to try to let those thoughts go, and any sounds or stimuli you encountered were required to just 'roll over'. Kind of like you know they are there but you do not focus in on them.
I'm lost with all this mindfulness and meditation discrepancies, I just want a quiet mind and to even have 50% more focus than I currently do. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"can anyone recommend an app or a YouTube channel which can help me find focus and calm?
Sorry dude but that tickled me.
Maybe I'm old school but for me meditation starts with turning everything off. Sit cross legged, back straight, eyes closed but relaxed, breathe, then, the way I do it, bring your mental attention to a point in your body, say perhaps the feeling of your breath entering and leaving your nostrils. Then try to keep your focus solely on that point. In the beginning you'll find your mind wandering off onto all sorts of things. Don't get upset by this or defeatist. Simply bring your focus back to your breath every time you notice it has wandered.
The first few sittings of this will likely be short (5-10 mins) due to impatience, discomfort with sitting, and annoyance at the mind having wandered a million times. But persistence will pay off and slowly the position will get more comfortable and the wandering less. When you start lasting longer like 40 mins you'll go to some truly cosmic places. So hold out for it. It's going to blow your mind
Good luck
Do you find it helps you keep focused at work/in day to day life? Or am I looking for the wrong thing?
As I said, I may be out of the loop. But for me meditation refers to something quite specific. People sit and quietly think about life and call that meditation. To me that isn't. People are maybe using apps here or listening to electronica to help them get into a good headspace for work. Again that isn't meditation to me.
Meditation is quite a specific practice that involves learning to quiet the mind and letting go of your analytical judgemental brain and just being in the moment in a way that is different from just sitting and enjoying a little break. It's like taking a big brain bath, lying back, and exiting reality for a while in quite a literal radical way. You don't do it at work or during the day. You do it perhaps in the morning to get you ready for the day and at night to wipe the day off you. This has a massive accumulative effect similar to the difference not ever washing would make versus washing daily. It ends up making a big difference, giving you more clarity, energy, and time.
It is also a powerful way to connect with the universe beyond you. Revealing things to even the most stubborn disbelievers. In short... it works "
This |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Make sure to try and do it at the same time each day - if you can wake yourself up 20 minutes earlier and do it in the morning before the rest of the day that should help as you need to make it habitual for it to really work for you |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Try this it's a book
Mindfulness a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world .
The book comes with a CD of guided meditations or you can get the audio book.
It's good to have guided meditations and when you feel confident you can do it with out guidance.
It's really worked for me  |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"I have tried lots of things over the years (cbt, 121 counselling, group work) but for an everyday easy way of achieving some calm I have used headspace for the past couple of years and have found it quite useful. I agree that it is maybe not quite the same as pure meditation in the classic sense but how it works is that you listen to a few minutes of talk and then you are left to meditate for 10-20minutes and then you have a shorter talk to close the session. Try the free version and see how you get on. I pay for the full version but only because I have some more specific areas that I want to work on and the full version has so many more topics."
I noticed they have specific sessions for things such as 'focus' and 'distractions; when it comes to the paid subscription. Have you used these?
Has anyone used buddhify? I notice that you have to pay straight away, is a monthly charge? |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
|
"Try this it's a book
Mindfulness a practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world .
The book comes with a CD of guided meditations or you can get the audio book.
It's good to have guided meditations and when you feel confident you can do it with out guidance.
It's really worked for me "
I'll look next time I'm in Waterstones |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
|
"In your opinion is there a difference between mindfulness and meditation?
I've only had limited contact with mindfulness. But what I've come across is very different from what meditation means to me. As I said some people may describe someone as "meditating upon the complexity of a leaf". I would use the word "ponder" to describe that. Similarly, I'd describe prayer and such things as pondering on god or reaching out to god. But others might call them meditations upon the divine. For me that's where the confusion lies about what meditation is and how you do it. But that may be purely because I was taught a particular form of meditation.
When someone talks about meditating. For me that's quite a specific activity. If we ponder upon a raisin (I've heard that's one of the classic mindfulness exercises) or if we walk slowly through nature in an Eckhart Tolle type of mindset we aren't truly calming our minds and exiting the narrative of the analytical judgemental mind. Indeed, we may be being even more analytical and judgemental in how we're appreciating every little thing in that moment. That's not meditation imo.
Instead, through meditation, we train the brain to take a break from thinking. We were sitting in a room meditating, aware of the world around us, its smells sounds touch, our bodies uncomfortable, our minds noisy. Then all that goes. As if dead, we sail away from reality entirely and enter the realm of the spirit. The world melts and we become awareness of a oneness underlying all things. This doesn't require any belief or openness to the idea. Even the most hardened cynic can experience it for themselves... *if only they bothered to try*
It's an experience that, I would suggest, is to mindfulness what holidaying in the Maldives is to spending a night at the local Butlins. I only say this because mindfulness, to my knowledge, doesn't provide you with a genuine break from reality and the analytical judgemental mind as meditation does. But I may be mistaken
That's interesting. So far the guides available for free via mindfulness apps have been guiding on breathing and 'switching off'.
For example there one I listened to this morning focused on setting your breathing rhythm correctly, then 'scanning down' through the body, acknowledging but not dwelling on how different parts of the body feel, then just moving on an accepting.
It then proceeded to tr and guide you through just focusing on the pattern of breathing, and how this felt in the bod and air flowed in and out, in order to spot the mind from wandering - which is hard.
There would then be a break, in which you can let your mind wander for a bit, but ultimately after a minute or so, you needed to try to let those thoughts go, and any sounds or stimuli you encountered were required to just 'roll over'. Kind of like you know they are there but you do not focus in on them.
I'm lost with all this mindfulness and meditation discrepancies, I just want a quiet mind and to even have 50% more focus than I currently do."
I'm a bit concerned that you've described stopping the mind from wandering as hard and that your practice incorporates taking a break. This infers that you may be being taught wrong. There's no effort in stopping your mind from wandering. Merely that whenever you notice it has wandered you just bring it back to what you're meant to be focusing on. That's not a strenuous activity whatsoever. And taking a break from it sounds entirely fruitless. Like you may as well stop and go and make a cup of tea.
The thing is that you'll find your mind wanders a lot when you start doing it. Then over several weeks or months you'll find it wanders less and less. There's no trying involved. Just patience. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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In my mind there are many many forms of "meditation" that are either mild replicas or entirely suspicious. Some people spend the whole time chanting in a language they don't understand in the hope of receiving material possessions. Some just sit in silence, with very little benefit, until they decide to put the kettle on and watch a harrowing TV soap.
So much snake oil... and all the more frustrating because the technique is so simple and with patience gives massive rewards. I'm half tempted to teach it |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I also meditate and I concentrate on the shakra, the 3rd eye and deep lungs breading in one session. I can inhale and breathe out for 15 sec, it is a special technique. |
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By *opinovMan
over a year ago
Point Nemo, Cumbria |
"I've been struggling to focus at work and home and it's having very real consequences.
A friend suggested I try meditation (alongside popping into a Counseling session to rediscover CBT)."
Not sure Cock and Ball Torture will be conducive to meditation... just sayin'.  |
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