Coffee And Meditation

[Sibila Gubanc]

I'm new to meditation and I want to ask those of you who have more experience what are your thoughts on consuming caffeine before meditation? Do you see any benefits in that? I often get sleepy when meditating and i feel like this would help..? I just want to make sure it is not counter productive. So, what do you think? Share your thoughts please, thanks!

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

I am aformer coffe drinker and a former caffeine tea drinker and I have been meditating for over a year. I only drink caffeine free tea nowadays and some green tea of I've had a rough night and need to meditate about 30 minutes after I wake up. I would recomend getting rid of it but thats just my personal preference.

[Progress]

Try quality tea, it has more or less a potent effect. Relatively positive. Btw Oolong tea can be used to negate the effects of eating before meditating

[Leo Gura]

You should eliminate caffeine (and all stimulants) from your diet. Especially if you're doing serious meditation. Even tea isn't recommended.

Your mind has to be running pure.

[Steven]

10 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

You should eliminate caffeine (and all stimulants) from your diet. Especially if you're doing serious meditation. Even tea isn't recommended.

Having said that what do you think is best way to wean off of coffee and stimulants?

[Grasshopper]

@Sibila Gubanc Coffee keeps my heartbeat from dropping below a certain rate, so I can't get into deeper states of meditation. I'd recommend improving your diet (if possible) and getting adequate rest instead of seeking stimulants.

 

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

4 hours ago, Steven said:

Having said that what do you think is best way to wean off of coffee and stimulants?

I moved from coffee to tea. Then I had one cup of regular tea for a while and then eventually I just started drinking caffeine free tea.

[Lyn]

Oh man ... that's gonna be tough for me... I've been addicted to caffeine since I was around 10 years old. I'd drink 2 cups of coffee a day and now I drink at least 1 energy drink a day... and tea as well. I'll build up to quitting I guess!

[Neo]

Quote

I'd drink 2 cups of coffee a day

What? I've just hit my second coffee within the first hour... and it continues through the day...

[Lyn]

@Neo I was talking about when I was a 10 year old haha. Not so okay when it starts that young.

[Leo Gura]

On 4/1/2016 at 8:22 PM, Steven said:

Having said that what do you think is best way to wean off of coffee and stimulants?

Cold turkey is good.

Or gradually reduce dose if you can't handle cold turkey.

[ZenDog]

On 01/04/2016 at 5:08 AM, Leo Gura said:

You should eliminate caffeine (and all stimulants) from your diet. Especially if you're doing serious meditation. Even tea isn't recommended.

Your mind has to be running pure.

Why especially if you do meditation?

[Leo Gura]

2 hours ago, ZenDog said:

Why especially if you do meditation?

You shouldn't even be eating stimulating or exciting foods if you really want to optimize your meditation.

The aim of meditation is to silence the mind to get at reality directly. How you gonna do that while filling your body with poisons and stimulants that have the same effect on your mind as sticking a chili pepper up your butthole?

I've radically changed my diet for the sake of optimizing my meditation practice. It's too important not to.

[Eye]

Ye, I always drink coffee before my morning meditation. Helps me to focus on my breathing and I feel vibrating higher. I have tried couple of times without it and it's definetely not the same.

At some point though I feel like I should give up on drinking it. As Leo said, it's a rather fake boost and meditation should be more natural, not dependent on any stimulants. 

[Steven]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

You shouldn't even be eating stimulating or exciting foods if you really want to optimize your meditation.

The aim of meditation is to silence the mind to get at reality directly. How you gonna do that while filling your body with poisons and stimulants that have the same effect on your mind as sticking a chili pepper up your butthole?

I've radically changed my diet for the sake of optimizing my meditation practice. It's too important not to.

I need to quit smoking too...

I quit drinking completely five years ago... thought it would be hard and it actually wasn't ... but my friends couldn't do it.

I've been meditating close to 2 hours every morning in the past month without a miss. (start at 5 am)...

...It does feel like smoking has to go.

[eTorro]

On 4/1/2016 at 6:08 AM, Leo Gura said:

You should eliminate caffeine (and all stimulants) from your diet. Especially if you're doing serious meditation. Even tea isn't recommended.

Your mind has to be running pure.

Do you still hold the same views, @Leo Gura? I'm planning on giving up coffee.

What are your thoughts on this? As a daily meditation, should I eliminate all stimulants?

[JuliusCaesar]

53 minutes ago, eTorro said:

Do you still hold the same views, @Leo Gura? I'm planning on giving up coffee.

What are your thoughts on this? As a daily meditation, should I eliminate all stimulants?

LSD is a stimulant, and LSD is most certainly beneficial with respect to essentially any purely mental activity. 

 

Coffee can be useful with respect to spiritual practices, for much the same reason that cocaine can be useful. But like cocaine, albeit to a much lesser degree, there are/can be adverse effects. You would need to do something else to counteract them.

 

Coffee may not be as potent as crack, but at least it's legal, eh?

[Shawn Philips]

I recommend coffe for all the beginners of meditation, simply because caffeine makes you more focus and alert which means more awareness.

The goal for beginners is not to be in meta states of consciousness, but to learn to focus on the present feeling it with all the senses.

[King Merk]

Coffee creates a lot of anxiety in my body and is quite distracting when I meditate.

I find my life is better when I minimize caffeine intake to when it’s absolutely essential (which obviously isn’t often) 

[JuliusCaesar]

@King Merk @Shawn Philips  It just goes to show that everyone is different.