What's The Difference Between 30 Min, 1 Hour And 2 Hour Meditations?

[Viking]

is it an exponential growth of effectiveness with time from your own experience? is there a sweet spot?

[Raphael]

Meditation basically works like any other domain, the more you practice, the better you get. So, yes there is a difference between 30 min, 1 hour and 2 hours.

I personally never did more than 1 hour, but when you do it, you can clearly feel that it's not like 30 min. You will not necessarily see an "exponential growth". Growth is not exponential, I don't know if it is with psychedelics as I never try them, however, the learning curve has stages where sometimes you feel big progress, sometimes little progress, sometimes no progress at all, and even sometimes regress.

But it's really like anything else, practice and put theory into practice. Take a lot of time, and you will get better.

Edited September 2, 2017 by Raphael

[zazed]

It depends on why do you meditate? Just for relaxation like many people these days (which is fine), or for actual spiritual insights and enlightenment.

There is study in books and writing, or listening to masters. Learning about enlightenment by words, trying to understand concepts of many religions and the guidance of people who went before. This is not bad, but it can only get you to the doorstep. After a years of this you start to get frustrated and think : "this is just more of the same, i already know all of this conceptually for years and years". And you put down the book you are reading, realizing there are no more answers to be found in human knowledge for you. Having read it all.

Then there is study of existence itself, of what the fabric of reality is made up, of what enlightenment actually is. You cannot learn about this in books, nobody can teach this to you. So you meditate and you look for it in your own experience of life. Many things can be found by looking at "what is".
Once you have truly found it, time of meditation is irrelevant.
This is the actual work, we should have been doing from the start, instead of reading so much.

It's like asking. If i'm learning to play the piano, what is the difference between practicing 1hour, or 2hours.
There is no difference, but you experience more the more you do it.

Meditation is special in once aspect. If your mind is unusually troubled. The first hour of meditation may be "wasted" just calming the mind.
If that is the case, first go for a walk, or do something relaxing to quiet the mind, then meditate when you are already calm to go deeper.

[pluto]

Do what works for you. Some people don't need meditation at all because they live in a meditative state most of the time.

You can train yourself to do this but it takes a lot work.

[Joseph Maynor]

I meditate in 15 minute blocks 3 or 4 times per day, as needed.  I do not meditate on a fixed-routine except for the first 15 minute meditation which I do after I wake up in the morning.   My body-mind tells me when it is time to meditate -- there's a stress that builds as I work my day.  Then I meditate and afterwards I feel happy and rejuvenated.  I do these short meditations a couple of times per day, and it keeps me nice and balanced.    

I did 1 hour per day for like a year and a half before switching to my new system about a month ago.  I like the newer system, but I think I got a lot of gains by doing the longer meditations.  I guess it depends on where you are in your progress what approach to mediation is best.  

I only do do nothing meditation now, whereas I did 4 types of meditation before.  Also, before, I treated meditation more like a mindfulness or awareness exercise, whereas now I just focus on awareness of my body, integration of my body and mind, and allowing my mind to lie down and go to sleep for a bit.  I don't neurotically focus on awareness or control like I used to -- I just dissolve into Being.  I get strange jolts that bubble out of me sometimes too.  I think they are little bubbles of neurosis coming to the surface.  

Edited September 4, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Heart of Space]

The more you do it, the more you're unconditioning the minds thought and feeling patterns that it's addicted to.  I get anywhere from 2 to 5 hours a day of meditation and you can tell a big difference between 1 hour and 4.  If I could discipline myself to meditate more I would and will.

[Viking]

@Joseph Maynor did you have any no self experiences? do you experience joy or bliss on a daily basis and do negative emotions affect you at all?

[Nahm]

@Ilya Without meditation, what is in our vision, hearing, etc, appears to be what is and we experience it in that manor. With some meditation, we begin to see that much of what we see and hear is colored by our beliefs and assumptions about it. That our experience of it is not so seperate from our previous, or lessor expanded experience of it, and the mental constructs we've formed from our experiences. With more meditation, consistency and duration, we start to feel the space between the I and all that is seen and heard. With more meditation, more space. Eventually, that space reveals that there is indeed no separation. That we are connected to all of it, as all of it is not the physical locality it appeared previously to be. We are not the physical we appeared to be. Then we are free. 

[pluto]

A really effective method i have done in the past especially for those with busy, active lives is do multiple short sessions throughout the day/night, for me this worked much better than lesser long sessions.

Edited September 5, 2017 by pluto