meditation

[minxy]

Has anyone tried meditation in my flist? I have recently tried Headspace and found it... transformative. I got interested as a result of this article on LifeHacker and my husband telling me my sleeping habits have changed.

Am I the only one who's had this experience?

Comments

[sdani]

No you're not alone.. I don't do it regularly enough, but about an hour before bed I will turn all the lights off except maybe a candle or two, have some quiet instrumental music and maybe some essential oils in my diffuser and breath deeply. Sometimes I also take the time to say some prayers for people in my life. I find that every time I actually make the time to do it, even for just a half hour, I sleep way better. I've had sleeping issues for years now, so I am trying to make this part of my daily nighttime schedule. I've not ever seen the program you mentioned, but anything I think that helps you go in that direction more is a good thing.

[minxy]

This is a starter series of ten ten minute guided meditations, but I've felt stunningly different after, each day. Like the white noise changed and in the absence of low-grade anxiety I didn't recognize my own head any more. It's been really surprising, to say the least.

I've timed it for when I was reinitiating all the good things in my life for stress relief anyway, but the positive reinforcement is strong, I must say!

[sdani]

I have a couple of cd's of similar guided meditations, and use them for when I'm starting to get panic attacks from stress. Doesn't happen often, but sometimes things pile up on me and my crap-o-meter overflows. I think really it's kind of something we oughta be doing to maintain mental health anyway, dontcha think? I'm glad that you've discovered these, I'm sure you'll find yourself more able to relax, and more able to be creative in life.

[rydra_wong]

I can't do formal mindfulness-style meditation as my brain tends to use it as an opportunity to eat itself, but I dearly love this yoga nidra (basically a body scan meditation) mp3:

http://norah.dreamwidth.org/437364.html (free, fan-edited, yay)

ETA: Also -- yay, glad it's working for you! This stuff is fascinating, isn't it?

[feldman]

Thank you for pointing this out.

[minxy]

I like the body scan part of it best. The Headspace idea is much more practical than I expected, honestly. Everything about yoga or pilates or even martial arts that I have ever tried has had some component of new age lingo, and this has been refreshingly pragmatic.

full disclosure: new age lingo is a perfectly valid choice, it's just not for me.

I'm really excited to check out the link. This has bowled me over it's so interesting! I want to try everything now!

[princessofgeeks]

Yes, I've tried it. Not through that website, though. In real life.

Would love to talk more.

[minxy]

I loved the super pragmatic approach. I've warned E already that he might have to accommodate this, possibly permanently.

[feldman]

I have dabbled, and found it quite useful. I pretty much reprogrammed my stress response in a terrible job situation by doing guided relaxation on the break room sofa. I also have found chanting a mantra with mala beads gives the midwinter anxiety hamsters something to do that actually creates a physical calm after a while, even when I do it silently in my head.

It is hard to find resources if you're open to methods for brain hacking but get indigestion from too much woo. All hail Stupid Consciousness Tricks!

[minxy]

YES. THIS.

Rotten job now, but I got a new one and I want to go in happy and open and creative and awesome. But I need some brain hacks because I"m still here for several months now.

[stultiloquentia]

Oh, cool, I was just reading about that in this month's Scientific American. Here's a neat video.

I haven't done any kind of meditation in years, unless you count mindfully kneading bread, but this makes me want to investigate it a bit.

[minxy]

We are sciencey chicks, but it's not hard to have awe at how little we understand about the brain.

I was impressed. But my stress level is very high now, so the difference was noticable

[abyssinia]

Hmmmm, given my mental state and current shitty sleeping (things here are GODAWFUL - I got your email months ago and appreciated it muchly and was terrible about not responding - just distracted trying to get the fuck out of here), I may have to try this. I'm especially intrigued by your description of it being pragmatic since yoga-style meditation has never been for me.

Also, I'm so excited about your news of hopefully greener (ocean-er?) pastures!

[rydra_wong]

For pragmatic-ness and lack of woo, I especially rec:

http://norah.dreamwidth.org/437364.html