Practical Things Which Have Profoundly Helped Further Meditation Progress

[Heart of Space]

I think there's a tendency for people here to kind of be stuck in their head coming up with mental methods trying to figure out  how to increase progress, but there's some incredibly effective tools that lie outside of the mind using the body.  

1) Cardiovascular work

The health benefits of cardio work are significant.  It affects your brain and nervous system in a profound way, almost mimicking the positive effects that meditation produces.  Now imagine combining the two.  My experience is that a solid amount of cardio work really does just amplify the positive effects of meditation by a massive 150 to 200% depending how much work you do obviously.  The clearing of neurosis and emotional processing is a physical process in the brain and cardio speeds this process up massively.  You're more than welcome to research the utterly massive amounts of scientific literature that backs this up.  You can get an amazing cardio work out by just putting aside even just 15 minutes of your day (I do about 30).  I have friends who do marathon running and they aren't spiritual people at all, but they rave about the profound mental states of consciousness that are achieved after 10 miles of running.  I'm not a marathon runner yet , but I plan on achieving that level at some point.  

Recommendations:  You can do this work in the form of running, climbing, swimming, and so on.  It's ok to start small, even if you're just walking at first.  But you're going to want to push yourself a little more every day.  Listen to how your body feels, this doesn't have to be an extremely unpleasant experience.  Just push yourself a little bit and don't be too concerned about comparing yourself to others or even to yourself on the run the day before.  Just listen to the body and push to the point where it's uncomfortable and then slow down to a comfortable pace.  The idea is to not punish yourself and burn yourself out (to create a long term habit).  I run in intervals, because that's shown to be more effective than longer evenly sustained cardio.  So I run for approx. 30 minutes, but it's intervals of walking and running.  Because it's done in intervals, the intervals are more intense than they would be if sustained.  There's a million ways to do this, if you have questions just ask I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability.  

2) Cold submersion 

This one is pretty rough to do, I won't lie.  But the health benefits are undeniable.  The effects on the body, brain, and your meditation sessions are undeniable.  A lot of the benefits are also similar to doing cardio work with added extreme anti-inflammatory benefits.  

Recommendations:  Definitely, definitely start small on this one.  Like just turn your shower to the coldest setting at the end of a warm shower.  I started doing this one in winter here in Texas.  I got into my pool around 7 AM when it was about 35 to 40 degrees F outside.  I'd do about 10 to 15 minutes.  Again I'd listen to my body on this one.  Be very, VERY careful if you're going to do something similar to my aforementioned pool experiments.  Hypothermia sets in after about 30 minutes if the water is below 40 degrees F possibly even less if you're thin or a female.  Have a luke warm shower available immediately after.  You can also get a few ice bags from a gas station and do it in your bath.  

If you do both of these things consistently for a month, I guarantee you will feel like a 150% superior version of your normal self.  Way more mental and physical energy.  Alert and long meditation session where your mind is so quiet you'll see a tumble weed blow by in your consciousness.  

I wanted to talk about diet, but that's complex enough to where I wouldn't want to graze over it.  

Feel free to add any practical things you do to help yourself progress, I'm curious what people are doing in this regard.  There's lots of other things, but I'll save those for other threads.  

And if you want to do these things, but you're lacking the discipline and will power please ask questions, there is a way to tackle that too.  

Edited September 13, 2017 by Heart of Space

[cirkussmile]

I heard about the cold showers. And if you can have hot water after that makes it easier ?

[Heart of Space]

2 hours ago, cirkussmile said:

I heard about the cold showers. And if you can have hot water after that makes it easier ?

I'd recommend transitioning to full on cold submersion.  It's far more effective if you can have the discipline to endure the pain of the extreme cold.  It's not so bad when you get used to it.  Actually that's a lie, it only gets marginally less bad hahaha.  Worth it though.

[Visionary]

Tip: mindful jogging.

Can be extremely powerful. That is a true mental challenge. Besides that: trying to intrinsicly enjoy the jogging process as much as possible. Try becoming aware of how much you think about the finish and how this is a burden for the run. 

For me personally: i love sports with creativity and braindead running disgusted me. I eventually learned to love it. Very powerful exercise. It will reflect on all facets of life.

[Heart of Space]

1 hour ago, Visionary said:

Tip: mindful jogging.

Can be extremely powerful. That is a true mental challenge. Besides that: trying to intrinsicly enjoy the jogging process as much as possible. Try becoming aware of how much you think about the finish and how this is a burden for the run. 

For me personally: i love sports with creativity and braindead running disgusted me. I eventually learned to love it. Very powerful exercise. It will reflect on all facets of life.

I agree.  My advice to listen to the body while you run is essentially telling you to be mindful of how your body feels.  No need to torture yourself.  Just be mindful of the body and everything it's feeling during the run and push a little past the point of discomfort, but not too much as you will burn out and end up hating the exercise.  This is very important for a lot of people who may hate the idea of doing cardiovascular exercise. 

I also used to despise running and loved sports, but it's not so bad when you approach it with the correct mind set.  

[Arman]

3 hours ago, Heart of Space said:

I'd recommend transitioning to full on cold submersion.  It's far more effective if you can have the discipline to endure the pain of the extreme cold.  It's not so bad when you get used to it.  Actually that's a lie, it only gets marginally less bad hahaha.  Worth it though.

Nice, made me think of Shinzen Young's story of Zen initiation. I think you'll enjoy this.

 

Story starts at 5 minute mark

https://youtu.be/lq1IL_DnC98

[Heart of Space]

14 hours ago, Arman said:

Nice, made me think of Shinzen Young's story of Zen initiation. I think you'll enjoy this.

 

Story starts at 5 minute mark

https://youtu.be/lq1IL_DnC98

Wow, 100 days of that, huh?  I think I'd need a few years before I could think of attempting something like that.  Interesting that they found use in using a form of cold submersion as well.  Fascinating stuff though, I like Shinzen.  

[Joseph Maynor]

Instead of meditating once per day, meditate 4 or 5 times per day, spaced out, at 15 mins each.  No pun intended on 'spaced out'.

Edited September 14, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[AlwaysBeNice]

I too find cardio really helpful for this process. Make sure to run barefoot or on barefoot shoes though (and for walking as well).

40-70% of runners get an injury every year.

[Heart of Space]

18 hours ago, AlwaysBeNice said:

I too find cardio really helpful for this process. Make sure to run barefoot or on barefoot shoes though (and for walking as well).

40-70% of runners get an injury every year.

Yea, I almost brought the injury issue up.  I run on concrete with shoes, which is probably going to give me minor injuries at some point.  So, this is definitely something to consider.  Swimming on the other hand is incredible in this aspect, but you'll need an olympic sized pool which probably means paying for a gym membership and having to commute there.  Thanks for bringing that up.