Feeling worse off with a lower mood after meditation sessions.

[lmfao]

Besides trying to be mindful and non-judgmental of thoughts/feelings, is there any "special" advice I could use for when I feel depressed and unmotivated after meditating? My mood today got worse after meditating today, and its not the first time. As well as feeling depressed I feel really irritable and pissed off for reasons I don't know. Am I unconsciously getting lost in thought which is "ruining" my mood?

Edited June 15, 2018 by lmfao

[Prabhaker]

@lmfao  You may not be ready to be aware of all the insanity that is inside you, you must be allowed to get to know certain things gradually.

Instead of forced sitting, begin with something active, like walking meditation. Walk slowly in a relaxed way with awareness.

[Sahil Pandit]

@Prabhaker @lmfao If your mood is getting worse like that be prepared for an ego backlash or some purging soon.

Its going to suck and feel never ending, but there's gold on the other side.

Good luck and stick with it!

[astrokeen]

During meditation, your brain activity will slow down, i.e, you are likely to be at least in Alpha - 

"THETA WAVES (3 TO 8 HZ)

Theta brainwaves occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in deep meditation. Theta is our gateway to learning, memory, and intuition. In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within. It is that twilight state which we normally only experience fleetingly as we wake or drift off to sleep. In theta we are in a dream; vivid imagery, intuition and information beyond our normal conscious awareness. It’s where we hold our ‘stuff’, our fears, troubled history, and nightmares.

ALPHA WAVES (8 TO 12 HZ)

Alpha brainwaves are dominant during quietly flowing thoughts, and in some meditative states. Alpha is ‘the power of now’, being here, in the present. Alpha is the resting state for the brain. Alpha waves aid overall mental coordination, calmness, alertness, mind/body integration and learning."

The feeling of depression can be got rid of by by positive thinking in these states. For example by repeating with conviction at the start and end of the meditation: 

I am at a deep healthy level of the mind. I am feeling better than ever before. I am happy, at peace etc. etc..

I will now count to 5. At the count of 5, I will wake up feeling better than ever before." 

This, incidentally, is positive thinking or some people will refer this to self-hypnosis.

Edited June 16, 2018 by astrokeen

[Jamie Universe]

Maybe try do-nothing meditation as a supplement. For me with do-nothing I manage through the bad sessions because apart of the technique is to 'accept everything' and I accept the pain in my body or whatever resistance.

Otherwise try and just change your mental state with stimuli or some form of distraction. Maybe punch a pillow, dance really fucking hard. engage in a conversation, eat a banana. Notice when and how you get out of those depressing states, what's happening in your mind? 

If your just feeling bad, you could also try and write your thoughts out, or just complain to yourself. I have over a 100-300 page journal of me just complaining, and it works like 98% of the time or something.

[Faceless]

48 minutes ago, astrokeen said:

The feeling of depression can be got rid of by by positive thinking in these states. For example by repeating with conviction at the start and end of the meditation: 

 

 

49 minutes ago, astrokeen said:

This, incidentally, is positive thinking or some people will refer this to self-hypnosis.

Yes indeed. 

Could this be the very reason for negative thinking? 

Doesn’t seeking security in thought create further insecurity?

Thought causes insecurity and then tries to use thought to bring about security to that insecurity. Like a dog chasing its tail. 

As long as we create an opposite to negative thinking, that opposite “postive thinking”, still has its root in the negative movement of thought itself. Thought/the self will escape the fact of “the negative”, and abstract an idea of its opposite “positve”, as means to conform to that idea and bring about psychological security. In this there is always the inevitable conflict because division between ‘what is and what should be’ has taken place. As long as there is this division there must be conflict, as that is a movement of contradiction. 

This is related to how thought creates an opposite of violence and invents the idea of nonviolence, which still is a movement of violence. 

As long as the negative, “violence” is in movement, there can be no postive,  “nonviolence.” 

Where one exsist the other does not. One can not create the positve from the negative. The negative being (seeking psychological security in thought) must end.

In this one has then broken the pattern of seeking security in time/thought. Broken the pattern of choosing between the opposites. 

This is a way the dualistic nature of thought works. 

 

 

[Faceless]

21 minutes ago, Jamie Universe said:

Maybe try do-nothing meditation as a supplement. For me with do-nothing I manage through the bad sessions because apart of the technique is to 'accept everything' and I accept the pain in my body or whatever resistance.

Otherwise try and just change your mental state with stimuli or some form of distraction. Maybe punch a pillow, dance really fucking hard. engage in a conversation, eat a banana. Notice when and how you get out of those depressing states, what's happening in your mind? 

If your just feeling bad, you could also try and write your thoughts out, or just complain to yourself. I have over a 100-300 page journal of me just complaining, and it works like 98% of the time or something.

If one is going to get get into do nothing meditation, it’s important that one can identify when the doer is in fact doing something. 

I notice that a lot of people attempt this without being aware that they are still participating in a doing. 

Understanding the nature of thought is essential if one is going correctly get involved with do nothing meditation. 

But yes do nothing meditation or (choicless passivity) implies holistic insight, (insight that is whole and not fragmented)...In that one does not get caught in the contradiction of time attempting to use time to end time. 

 

Just in case...

Time=thought. 

Edited June 16, 2018 by Faceless

[Faceless]

Also do nothing implies no technique at all. 

If it did, that would be a doing. 

Edited June 16, 2018 by Faceless

[Matt8800]

22 hours ago, lmfao said:

Besides trying to be mindful and non-judgmental of thoughts/feelings, is there any "special" advice I could use for when I feel depressed and unmotivated after meditating? My mood today got worse after meditating today, and its not the first time. As well as feeling depressed I feel really irritable and pissed off for reasons I don't know. Am I unconsciously getting lost in thought which is "ruining" my mood?

@lmfao According to Daniel Ingram's book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, it sounds like you are in the Dark Night stage. I would recommend getting his book as he explains how to navigate through this stage. If not handled right, it can last many years and detract from one's life.

[Recursoinominado]

It might be a kundalini awakening and if it is the case, almost any form of meditation (or energy manipulation) its going to make the symptoms worse. Look up for the book about kundalini in Leo's book list. Also: 

 

[kateaa]

@lmfao maybe best to try to do exercises like breathing techniques, running, walking, yoga etc. That would help to calm the nerves. Also grounding, by walking barefeet, even playing with a pet!  

[Guest Quanty]

Try out wearing a piece of jewelry or ingot of 24k Gold. In its pure form, this metal really helps to ease the pain and feeling incomplete. 

[Buba]

Meditation, surrendering to now and etc give me fear, depression, depersonalization, derealization, panic attacks and etc.