How do you guys meditate without going crazy?

[lmfao]

Serious and very pertinent question here. I mean this genuinely and sincerely. 

How do you meditate without going crazy? In the "altered state of consciousness" my beliefs and conceptions of reality are stripped away. In the face of the radical truth of the present moment, my gaseous existence, it's all too much. How do you guys manage not going crazy or feeling like you're going crazy? Did you just push through with conviction, faith and determination and it was all good? Is this some sort of metaphysical "suicide" process you have to go through? Does the crazy never go away? What is your advice/thoughts/experiences? 

2018-2019 I had a fairly regular routine of meditate. But now I repeat the same pattern over and over. I meditate once or twice over a one or 2 days, get scared by what I experience, and then go back to living my life for a month or some weeks before I decide to meditate again. 

I've decided I'm going to push through this time. Well I hope I do, lets see 

Edited February 4, 2021 by lmfao

[Consilience]

12 minutes ago, lmfao said:

2018-2019 I had a fairly regular routine of meditate. But now I repeat the same pattern over and over. I meditate once or twice over a one or 2 days, get scared by what I experience, and then go back to living my life for a month or some weeks before I decide to meditate again. 

I've decided I'm going to push through this time. Well I hope I do, lets see 

You'll be spinning your wheels without consistency. Stick to something so easy you can't fail, even if that means 5 minutes. Always dedicate at least some ridiculously small amount of time to being with yourself, aka meditating formally. 

I would recommend building a foundation of concentration first. This will help you learn how to not only settle the mind, but also how to *enjoy* sitting. Jumping into techniques like self inquiry, vipassana, or even do nothing without a solid foundation of concentration is a recipe for ego backlash. This is assuming you're wanting to use meditation as a vehicle for awakening, not just for surface level benefits. If you just want surface level benefits, working up to 10 minutes per day should be fine. If you're wanting to awaken, always have a daily minimum you fall back on like 5 minutes. Once the backlash has subsided, go back to your hardcore amount like 60 minutes. 

To be honest though, at some point you're just going to have to face the void, the lack of stimulation withdrawal symptoms, the boredom, the dis-ease of mind that comes from being with yourself. The good news is as you face this fear over and over and over, it eventually transmutes into some of the highest joy and happiness available to the human mind and heart. 

[lmfao]

27 minutes ago, Consilience said:

You'll be spinning your wheels without consistency. Stick to something so easy you can't fail, even if that means 5 minutes. Always dedicate at least some ridiculously small amount of time to being with yourself, aka meditating formally. 

Yeah, I plan to make it formal again, otherwise it's pointless 

27 minutes ago, Consilience said:

I would recommend building a foundation of concentration first. This will help you learn how to not only settle the mind, but also how to *enjoy* sitting. Jumping into techniques like self inquiry, vipassana, or even do nothing without a solid foundation of concentration is a recipe for ego backlash. 

Alright, interesting advice I'll probably apply. Concentration meditation and concentration to be the main focus.

When I used to be regular with meditation, I didn't have a method other than just trying to pay attention to my experience in totality. But this is a long time ago and I have no such inclinations necessarily now.

Whenever I meditate nowadays it's always with the intention of concentration meditation through Kriya Yoga. I find the concentration method in Kriya Yoga very hard to do, but very rewarding. However I should try zen shit of counting breaths more.

Because since I find (third eye, or any type of meditative) concentration hard to do, my mind wanders from that objective very often and my mind goes into some tangent or gets lost and obsessed with different energies and etc coming up. But I'm sure it's just a matter of practice. 

27 minutes ago, Consilience said:

This is assuming you're wanting to use meditation as a vehicle for awakening, not just for surface level benefits. 

I couldn't turn meditation into some superficial thing even if I wanted to, I've seen too much

27 minutes ago, Consilience said:

Once the backlash has subsided, go back to your hardcore amount like 60 minutes. 

To be honest though, at some point you're just going to have to face the void, the lack of stimulation withdrawal symptoms, the boredom, the dis-ease of mind that comes from being with yourself. The good news is as you face this fear over and over and over, it eventually transmutes into some of the highest joy and happiness available to the human mind and heart. 

Okay, sounds good. I'm nervous but that's fine. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by lmfao

[Consilience]

@lmfao Have you heard of, or looked into "The Mind Illuminated"? 

I reference it a lot on like I'm trying to sell some sort of pyramid scheme lmao. But that book's system took my meditation to a whole new level, better than Kriya. I would say look into it if you've never heard of it. Reading the Introduction and Overview of the 10 Stages will tell you whether you want to explore it further. 

[Nahm]

1 hour ago, lmfao said:

Serious and very pertinent question here. I mean this genuinely and sincerely. 

How do you meditate without going crazy? In the "altered state of consciousness" my beliefs and conceptions of reality are stripped away. In the face of the radical truth of the present moment, my gaseous existence, it's all too much. How do you guys manage not going crazy or feeling like you're going crazy? Did you just push through with conviction, faith and determination and it was all good? Is this some sort of metaphysical "suicide" process you have to go through? Does the crazy never go away? What is your advice/thoughts/experiences? 

2018-2019 I had a fairly regular routine of meditate. But now I repeat the same pattern over and over. I meditate once or twice over a one or 2 days, get scared by what I experience, and then go back to living my life for a month or some weeks before I decide to meditate again. 

I've decided I'm going to push through this time. Well I hope I do, lets see 

It’s not about the thoughts, it’s about the body releasing conditioning. “Pushing through” is a conditioned mindset to let go of. Relaxation is meditative. Meditation is relaxing. Letting go is effortless, not effortful.  When emotional misunderstanding releases, have a good cry and let it out. If you can’t, write about how you feel, and let it out. If you can’t, talk to someone and express how you feel, and let it out. 

There is no “facing radical truth”, “metaphysical suicide”, etc. It can seem like it from years of conditioning & suppressing. We adapt and don’t notice this, so it can be a lot to let go of. But that’s the point, and the more you let go of, the better you feel, and the less you fear.  The radical truth is love, loving you, flushing the conditioning out. A mindset of ‘facing it’ is making an opposition of it.  The ‘scared’ is emotional suppressing. The emotional scale is a great way to understand. It’s empowering to be able to move up the scale, to know how and do it anytime. Like riding a bike, it becomes second nature with some practice & understanding. The body mind eventually does it automatically as needed in subtle ways. It’s most worthwhile. 

It’s also not about faith, determination or conviction. It’s about beginning to feel, remaining present, or returning to being present again & again. The more you feel and understand yourself, with tools like the emotional scale, the clearer it is that there is no problem or anything to be scared of. It’s good that it’s coming up...notice the mind’s narrative, which essentially is the habit of suppressing the feeling, and let it out. Try a variety of meditations, one will ‘click’ with you. Don’t try to ‘force’ one style or practice into place. One of those meditations will ‘click’ ‘subconsciously’ with a specific suppressed emotion. This kind of does the work ‘behind the scenes’ for you in a big way. 

[Dancer]

It's not you that are going crazy. It's the false you.

It will feel like you are going crazy, but it's just all tricks.

Allow every sensation, thought or feelings to come up.

See that they are actually harmless. They have been waiting for you to finally meet and greet them.

See that they are not you, they just want your allowance to pass through you.

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Dancer

[Air]

It's the other way around for God's sake! Meditation is the only sane thing in a world of absolute insanity.

[Carl-Richard]

You have to let go of your fear of insanity, unreality, death, non-existence.

[PureRogueQ]

Who said you don't go insane, after you have cut yourself to pieces, doubted, believed , experienced so much different stuff you will hardly remember what you were about when you started.

Most people are used to live with their personality for all of their life, even changes is characteristic is big deal for them, now comes mediation and first state of bliss, insights  and their are big deal for you, then comes many different states from flow, to observer and so on and again it is a big deal, at certain point constant new stuff and changes are nothing special , I mean they are just that, something different. 

It is probably wiser to keep to one teaching if you want to be more sane. 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by PureRogueQ

[WelcometoReality]

10 hours ago, lmfao said:

Serious and very pertinent question here. I mean this genuinely and sincerely. 

How do you meditate without going crazy? In the "altered state of consciousness" my beliefs and conceptions of reality are stripped away. In the face of the radical truth of the present moment, my gaseous existence, it's all too much. How do you guys manage not going crazy or feeling like you're going crazy? Did you just push through with conviction, faith and determination and it was all good? Is this some sort of metaphysical "suicide" process you have to go through? Does the crazy never go away? What is your advice/thoughts/experiences? 

2018-2019 I had a fairly regular routine of meditate. But now I repeat the same pattern over and over. I meditate once or twice over a one or 2 days, get scared by what I experience, and then go back to living my life for a month or some weeks before I decide to meditate again. 

I've decided I'm going to push through this time. Well I hope I do, lets see 

It's not as much a "metaphysical suicide" as much as it is a stripping away of untruth.

Pushing through to what? ? Pushing would imply that there is something to move away from.

 

[blackchair]

ground yourself in reality.

[Epikur]

I give you some practical advice that worked for me. 

First of all meditation is a life saver. It is the key habit.

For most of the time I meditated by focusing on a visual
point and didn't force myself to think anything. 

After many years I had the feeling this type of meditation made
it too difficult for me to reconnect to reality.

So I made a very small change. I count silently till 10 again and again. 
That's it.

Another very important method is starting with one minute. 
You put another minute to it when you feel ok with it. You can even 
go down to 30 seconds if it is too much.

Only if you feel ready you can put 2 minutes on top of it than 3 minutes.
But you should never go let's  straight to 2 minutes. Allways start with
one minute so you build a confidence and you will never freak because 
you know you are in your competence zone.


 

[Vibroverse]

I think we must be meditating 24/7. 

[calibrate]

My prevailing thought is this, if you keep going, any change in your consciousness will be basically permanent. You need to make a serious decision here in my opinion. Push through and you will never be the same again. You might eventually feel the same, but under the radar you will behave differently.

Of course, there are pros and cons with pushing through. There are pros and cons of staying where you are. It's all about what you want for yourself 

It seems like you've never experimented with psychedelics if this kind of thing is astounding to you. If you are ready to break through, perhaps the trick is to just break through with a good psychedelic. Like a band-aid, tear the limiting mindsets off. That is, of course, if your intuition thinks its a good idea.

Think very carefully, I broke through at a time in my life which perhaps was not the best for me. Assess your own situation.

You wouldn't make this topic if you didn't have the potential to break through.

[krazzer]

18 hours ago, lmfao said:

How do you meditate without going crazy? In the "altered state of consciousness" my beliefs and conceptions of reality are stripped away. In the face of the radical truth of the present moment, my gaseous existence, it's all too much. How do you guys manage not going crazy or feeling like you're going crazy? Did you just push through with conviction, faith and determination and it was all good? Is this some sort of metaphysical "suicide" process you have to go through? Does the crazy never go away? What is your advice/thoughts/experiences? 

It sounds to me you are close to a breakthrough but are resistant. Keep going.

[gettoefl]

meditation is bringing balance to life

the world wants you million miles an hour chasing dopamine 24 -7

meditation is self love, i am my priority in this life, i will spend time with the most important treasure that i will ever know

[lmfao]

@Consilience Thanks, I'll give that book a look if I want to read some meditation literature

@Nahm I have this conditioning and habit of forcing a lot. Also an aversion to not feeling things. And it's good you talked about that.

@calibrate I'm deliberately avoiding psychedelics for now lol, I don't have access, + I have fluctuating depersonalisation/derealisation that might be made worse. With my DPDR it feels like there's a disconnect between "me" now and the "me" of the past, give or take my memories within several months (and very faint connection to things within a few years). More poetically, like a "black wall" between me and my past. 

Overall I have a lot of negativity that is released from meditation. And that is intensified by "digging deeper" and insights during meditation. And as all the replies have been saying here, the focus is on feeling that. 

Edited February 5, 2021 by lmfao

[traveler]

On 4.2.2021 at 7:34 PM, lmfao said:

Does the crazy never go away?

Yes it does. The crazy part is just a symptom of resistance, you can't stop it or do anything about it. Stop resisting resistance! But you can't, because you're resisting resitance by trying to stop resisting it. The "crazy" seeker experience is this loop trying to untangle itself from itself. The illusory self is the knot, the knot is trying to untangle the knot, the harder it tries the more entangled it gets in itself. Awakening is realizing that the knot is illusory, it is not actually there, so there is nothing that needs to be done for it to disappear. Trying to make it disappear gives it the illusion of something being there, that shouldn't. There is no answer on the other side of the illusion, there is no other side, this is it. It is not "known" what this is afterwards, that is the goal for "me" but that is what is ultimately so disappointing for it, because that goal is never fullfilled. Life is not known, life just is, TOTALLY unknowable. To the point where the concept of infinity has no more meaning than the word potatosalad. 

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by traveler

[VeganAwake]

Like shouting for silence or fighting for peace ?

[Craigxt22]

I was going to start a new thread,

 

I've been meditating for upto 3 hours, but usually around 2 hour for the last 2 weeks, and I feel like I am going crazy now. I am having panic attacks occur out of no where (when I am not meditating), racing heart rate which lasts for hours. I feel really scared and I don't even know why. I keep feeling as is if I'm about to die, or that I have coronavirus but have no symptoms.

 

Has anyone else gone through this? It feels as if I am typing towards myself, and that if anyone writes back that it is just text generated by another part of me. I wish this would stop it's really scaring me, I wish I never started this. I was having good progress from meditation a few months back, but ever since I ramped upto 2 hours I have random episodes of mania and can't sleep properly. I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago with my heart pumping out my chest, I thought I was having a heart attack, then I calmed back down.