Who here has tangible results from meditation?

[sausagehead]

I'd like to commit to a regular meditation practice but I struggle to find the motivation because I have some doubt that I will achieve any noticeable improvements in my mental health and well being. I'm curious about other peoples experience who have committed to a daily meditation practice for over a year. I'd like to know if they found it worthwhile and what kind of results they got out of it. This would greatly help me believe in it and commit to it long term. Hopefully this post will also help others who struggle to meditate regularly to become more committed as well

[The0Self]

Such incredible results from meditation that attempting to discuss it wholly debases it.

[Tristan12]

Personally I don't think meditation is overly helpful for emotional issues, and I don't have that expectation when I meditate. It can definitely even out some lighter issues but if you have something significant like depression or anxiety or something, don't expect meditation to resolve that unless you've gone very deep with meditation. Emotional issues need to be resolved in their own ways and in my opinion meditation won't do that unless you're doing it at a very deep and rigorous level.

I've been meditating for just over 2 years now, an hour a day, and I have noticed a good improvement in my baseline level of consciousness. Awakenings come more easily, my concentration is better, my memory is better, and I feel like my meditation goes quite a bit deeper than when I started. I have noticed a mild amount of relief from emotional issues but really not much.

I don't think the results are usually too significant in the first few years, usually down the road the results of meditation will compound and begin to build up rapidly. For me I started my meditation habit not expecting much in the first few years but more just making a long term investment to achieve crazy results 10+ years later. I think if you go into it with this mindset it would be helpful for you.  

Overall I'd say meditation has definitely been worthwhile for me, and I know I am still in the early stages of it and I can feel that it will get a whole lot deeper in the future.

[Cathal]

meditation is not going to bypass your mental issues but it will definitely help you see more clearly. a person who doesn't meditate will just go on being trapped by identifying with there thoughts and emotions but being able to be grounded in observing will help you take the right action - but it will not bypass at all any of your unresolved shit 

maybe try to reframe what you value so meditating even 30 minutes a day makes a lot more sense that what you actually do

[RickyFitts]

I was suffering with severe, debilitating anxiety for most of 2017, and meditation was instrumental in helping me to overcome that. It's also helping me to dissolve energetic blockages and release a variety of emotions, so it's been hugely, hugely beneficial for me personally, yeah. 

How you go about it is obviously crucial, I'd been meditating (or attempting to meditate, at least) for four years prior to that with rather limited results - I like Adyashanti's simple instruction to 'allow everything to be as it is', I think people often go into it attempting to control their experience in some way (by actively trying to silence their mind, for example) but approaching it in that way is to misunderstand the whole point of meditation, it seems to me.

What worked for me personally was to approach it more as a body-oriented practice rather than a mental activity, with a simple emphasis on allowing my body to relax and breathe; it's in the body, after all, that our unresolved emotions and energetic blockages are stored, and this emphasis on physical relaxation helps the body to gradually release those things. I think a big part of it is just being willing to allow the arising of discomfort and pain when you do feel it, and persevering with the practice even when you're feeling frustrated/bored/restless, etc. You truly do get out of it what you put into it.

Edited February 2, 2022 by RickyFitts

[Ulax]

I feel a big change from one session of it.

Its not main my main source of healing though.

[BipolarGrowth]

14 hours ago, The0Self said:

Such incredible results from meditation that attempting to discuss it wholly debases it.

This. Also, I’m too lazy to discuss it right now in the detail it deserves. You can go watch my recent videos on my YouTube channel if you want an idea of what it’s done for me. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by BipolarGrowth

[Carl-Richard]

My brain is permanently changed.

[gettoefl]

mentation is the angst of time, meditation is the conquest of time, this is my experience

now whatever happens is fine and dandy while before i was a chicken without a head

i meditate early each day and then i can forget about meditation, no idea what happens or does not happen, next day rise rinse repeat

no goals no expectation no agenda

[Nadosa]

There is no one practising it. Meditation becomes a joy and effortless allowing and happiness will reveal itself as discordant thoughts about "someone" other than yourself in this moment are released into pure emptiness. It falls back into you after some time. First you seem to be caught up in thoughts. Then you see the happening is happening in you. Then you see all is you. And then you laugh and cry

 

[Ulax]

@BipolarGrowth I'm gonna check out your channel

[Nadosa]

6 hours ago, catcat69123 said:

meditation is not going to bypass your mental issues but it will definitely help you see more clearly. a person who doesn't meditate will just go on being trapped by identifying with there thoughts and emotions but being able to be grounded in observing will help you take the right action - but it will not bypass at all any of your unresolved shit 

maybe try to reframe what you value so meditating even 30 minutes a day makes a lot more sense that what you actually do

What do you mean by bypassing? 

[softlyblossoming]

On 02/02/2022 at 4:13 AM, Tristan12 said:

Personally I don't think meditation is overly helpful for emotional issues, and I don't have that expectation when I meditate. It can definitely even out some lighter issues but if you have something significant like depression or anxiety or something, don't expect meditation to resolve that unless you've gone very deep with meditation. Emotional issues need to be resolved in their own ways and in my opinion meditation won't do that unless you're doing it at a very deep and rigorous level.

I've been meditating for just over 2 years now, an hour a day, and I have noticed a good improvement in my baseline level of consciousness. Awakenings come more easily, my concentration is better, my memory is better, and I feel like my meditation goes quite a bit deeper than when I started. I have noticed a mild amount of relief from emotional issues but really not much.

I don't think the results are usually too significant in the first few years, usually down the road the results of meditation will compound and begin to build up rapidly. For me I started my meditation habit not expecting much in the first few years but more just making a long term investment to achieve crazy results 10+ years later. I think if you go into it with this mindset it would be helpful for you.  

Overall I'd say meditation has definitely been worthwhile for me, and I know I am still in the early stages of it and I can feel that it will get a whole lot deeper in the future.

@Tristan12 Thank you for sharing, this is relatable. 

[Mason Riggle]

I have only tried meditation once as an adult, and it was perhaps one of the most profound experiences of my life.. I feel like it stuck. I haven't felt the urge to meditate since. 

It was a sensation not unlike waking from sleep.  I was finally really awake. Like, more awake than I've ever felt before. Perfect clarity. It's difficult to put into words.

[Onny_dott]

I have been meditating for a year and a half consistently. I agree with what someone else said along the lines of how meditation is more subjective and you'll find your own practice tendency. I'll go back and forth between quieting the mind and embracing the absence, and focusing on a candle and zoning out. What I find extremely beneficial is how the things that creep into mind, that interfere with the depth of my meditation, are typically the things that I need to take action on and resolve somehow. When my life is well balanced and my needs are being met, my meditations are deep, and I lose self. When I'm stress about the past or future, I find it difficult to settle in. My practice allows me to separate, recenter, and redirect my actions. 

[ardacigin]

I've been meditating for about 6-7 years. I have tangible and significant benefits from it.

I suggest reading Culadasa's book 'The Mind Illuminated'. 

I also suggest cultivating happiness and joy at every opportunity. After getting some proficiency in TMI book, try to practice jhanas.

I understand how hopelessness can arise when no perceptible change happens when you are years into meditation. Instead of thinking meditation as another chore you have to do, think of it as a practice that will enhance ALL aspects of your life and hobbies and reduce your resistance to external events.

If that is not occuring in the big picture, go back to the drawing board and modify your techniques. Then continue practicing with resolve every day!

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by ardacigin

[softlyblossoming]

11 hours ago, Mason Riggle said:

I have only tried meditation once as an adult, and it was perhaps one of the most profound experiences of my life.. I feel like it stuck. I haven't felt the urge to meditate since. 

It was a sensation not unlike waking from sleep.  I was finally really awake. Like, more awake than I've ever felt before. Perfect clarity. It's difficult to put into words.

@Mason Riggle That's crazy!! Like an Eckhart Tolle sudden awakening? I've been pushing myself hard to silence all thoughts (false answers — every answer — to my question "Who am I?"). Fortunately, I'm finally just starting to get the hang of taking breaks whilst some of the inquiry fire is kept alight, so I don't have to go back and re-experience the more difficult starting part of the process every time I return to formally practicing with everything I have. Would you say that you need to be, to at least some degree, 'dead inside'/'emotionally numb' to see this thing through to full enlightenment?

[roopepa]

Come and see.

Sit down for 15 minutes, focus on breathing, count the out-breaths, and let go these thoughts about motivation, commitment and "my mental health". One breath at a time.

If daily meditation is too uncomfortable, begin the well being with a dreamboard. If you're not familiar with it, ask Nahm. When the dreamboard is up, get a crystal and wear it around your neck. Take time every now and then, bring in mind all that you really want in life, write it down on a paper and place the crystal necklace on top of the paper for a moment. You'll see.

[peanutspathtotruth]

Have been meditating for ~8 years, mostly quite rigorously. These last 1-2 years I've had regular periods of 2-4 hours a day. It's unspeakable how everything changes. Just stopping to interfere with life suddenly puts you into the natural magic that is life. There is awesomeness without end, silence so deep it's unfathomable, and healing so deep that no sense of self could bear it.

But the most telling sign of how amazing meditation is, is my momentary situation. I have prioritized worldly matters and have stopped meditating seriously and regularly for only a few weeks. And I feel like shit - more so than I can remember. I've taken a dive into the incessant thinking of the mind I have once known already, before I had come onto the journey. I cling to pleasure, am scared to FEEL things as they really are. I'm constantly thinking, am holding onto the persona and all its worries and fears. In short, my heart has closed down and I went lost. This mostly happened gradually and slowly, more so subconsciously than consciously. And this happened after I had been in the most conscious and surrendered state ever.

You don't get to hold onto anything ever, no state of consciousness. And that's why meditation is life. I took all my honesty and love for myself and reflected upon why I'm suffering so much after all these years of being quite aloof internally. And the answer is I stopped valuing truth and practice over everything else. I sold myself short. One hour of silent meditation and bam - the whole world is looking different. Doing that daily, and quickly the magic starts happening again. Also shows how strong the illusion of ego is. I've had plenty awakenings - but I'm nowhere near freedom from my self-made, non-existent prison which still feels true as long as it's believed in.

When in doubt, sit down for 1-2 hours and meditate. It's truly the best medicine for most things. Everything else will fall into place. Love. Trust. And just give up doing this all by yourself. You can't. You don't exist. Let yourself go.

Edited February 4, 2022 by peanutspathtotruth

[Cireeric]

Ive been meditating regularly since almost 4 years now. Its hard to track all the results down, but my overall feeling of life really transformed over the years. I am much more grounded and aware in my body in every moment. There is much more joy in every experience, just by being in the moment, feeling my body and seeing the beauty in everything. I can almost enjoy every moment. Ive done psychedelic trips and read many good books too that helped me, but I think most of the benefits are coming from my meditation. The book The Mind Illuminated helped me really well in really understanding where im at in my meditation and what I need to do and to track and understand my progress in meditation.