advice for meditation

[Yoremo]

Hey, so I am meditating atleast 30 min a day, and 2 hours on saturday and sunday. I just did this meditation: 

And I am a bit cautious about going for enlightenment or anything since I am only 17 and I don´t want that. And during this meditation and other sessions done by myself I usually start up with not feeling my body (hands, feet, arms etc.) But a few times I have lost identification with my head and it felt like my head whooshed through space. 

The thing is that I haven´t gotten much results from meditation (what I am mainly "seeking" is more control of my mind and being able to choose where to focus instead of getting stuck, aswell as the effortless focus along with some other things). I am wondering if I am doing this wrong if I am only wanting more "self help results" with meditation rather than enlightenment. I don´t know but I have felt repellent from enlightenment as I have heard of how it can go wrong. But with the goal of becoming more developed is this approach (doing meditation) the right way to go?

Btw, feel free to send me any resources that can maybe help me to atleast understand a bit more what people mean when they talk about enlightenment.

Also, maybe I have done meditation wrong in the past? When I did the one above today I actually felt loving and more aware and all of these positive things just instantaneously after the session, whereas I usually just feel a bit numb in my body if I do it on my own. What do ya think?

 

[Jakuchu]

7 hours ago, Yoremo said:

feel free to send me any resources that can maybe help me to atleast understand a bit more what people mean when they talk about enlightenment

It's like a windmill. Right now you think you are just a windmill moving itself, but actually the movement is done by the wind. You are the wind and it's one universal wind moving every mill 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Jakuchu

[Yoremo]

well, but is it worth it to do meditation now then? since I am not wanting to get enlightened and I am confused whether meditation will help me achieve the goals I want.

[Nahm]

9 hours ago, Yoremo said:

Hey, so I am meditating atleast 30 min a day, and 2 hours on saturday and sunday. I just did this meditation: 

And I am a bit cautious about going for enlightenment or anything since I am only 17 and I don´t want that. And during this meditation and other sessions done by myself I usually start up with not feeling my body (hands, feet, arms etc.) But a few times I have lost identification with my head and it felt like my head whooshed through space. 

The thing is that I haven´t gotten much results from meditation (what I am mainly "seeking" is more control of my mind and being able to choose where to focus instead of getting stuck, aswell as the effortless focus along with some other things). I am wondering if I am doing this wrong if I am only wanting more "self help results" with meditation rather than enlightenment. I don´t know but I have felt repellent from enlightenment as I have heard of how it can go wrong. But with the goal of becoming more developed is this approach (doing meditation) the right way to go?

Btw, feel free to send me any resources that can maybe help me to atleast understand a bit more what people mean when they talk about enlightenment.

Also, maybe I have done meditation wrong in the past? When I did the one above today I actually felt loving and more aware and all of these positive things just instantaneously after the session, whereas I usually just feel a bit numb in my body if I do it on my own. What do ya think?

 

This is the activity of thought. ‘It’s’ that sneaky. 

Great video btw. 

[Yoremo]

@NahmSo the activity of thought is me getting scared and doubtful about continuing meditation?

42 minutes ago, Nahm said:

This is the activity of thought. ‘It’s’ that sneaky. 

Great video btw. 

and yes, the video is really good. Michael is one of the best I have encountered doing guided meditations. I got really deep on this one

Edited February 12, 2022 by Yoremo

[Jakuchu]

4 hours ago, Yoremo said:

well, but is it worth it to do meditation now then? since I am not wanting to get enlightened and I am confused whether meditation will help me achieve the goals I want.

How can you not want enlightenment if you don't know what it is? Of course you want enlightenment, and enlightenment wants you

You are not meditating, researching, watching people like Michael, hanging around on this forum to get minor improvements here and there. Don't kid yourself, you want more and deep down you know it. Your mind says "I don't want enlightenment". That is you not having control over your mind

What are the other goals? 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Jakuchu

[Yoremo]

@Jakuchuwell then, what is enlightenment?

My other goals are to not feel miserable in essence. I might just be all out wrong here, but what I am saying is that I wish to get myself to be able to socialize, to move again, to accomplish something I am really passionate about. 

I am not against enlightenment but I am just saying that I won´t even think about it until I can function as a human again. And if that is what I want then I am just unsure whether meditation is neccesary right now as up until this point I have not gotten anything valuable from meditation except for the good feelings during and for some time after the meditation. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Yoremo

[Yoremo]

Honestly hearing about enlightenment freaks me the fuck out, not up to that shit in atleast 10 years or so

[Nahm]

@Yoremo

The activity of thought is the activity of thought. 

[Jakuchu]

@Yoremo Ok, fair. Do whatever feels right to you ?

[Jakuchu]

43 minutes ago, Yoremo said:

@Jakuchuwell then, what is enlightenment?

You

[Loving Radiance]

@Yoremo Just continue with meditation and trust that there will come a time where you will get interested in enlightenment. It's totally legit to do meditation for self-development. Just make sure to make the practice consistent and focus on what you want to experience, have, do and be. Everything else will develop naturally.

1 hour ago, Yoremo said:

My other goals are to not feel miserable in essence. I might just be all out wrong here, but what I am saying is that I wish to get myself to be able to socialize, to move again, to accomplish something I am really passionate about. 

Learn letting go of thoughts by returning to a point of focus during meditation. Then you'll notice immediately how you feel in response to a thought and you can choose to believe it. Only ever accept those thoughts that are aligned with your heart's desire, your passion. And lovingly let go of those that are not aligned. Visualization is great for your passion because you already feel it being the case right now.

Also begin a journaling practice. Your introspection, emotional and intellectual intelligence and overall growth will skyrocket with journaling and meditation.

Not feeling misable is feeling your already present goodness. What you want is already here. Ground yourself in your presence and you'll feel a knowing arising about how to go about moving from one emotion to another.

[Jakuchu]

The buddha symbol is not representing a guy that lived multiple decades ago. It is representing Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuujuhuuuuu

[Kksd74628]

@Yoremo

I see why you are caution, but actually there is nothing to be scared of. There is no need to look what enlightenment means, if you don't have any passion or curiosity towards it. To be honest best way to develop yourself is just by continuing doing whatever you think you should do NOW. Enlightenment or spiritual "experiences" are just bonuses and therefore one actually shouldn't just aim itself to have these, because that slows progress and makes it less enjoyable.

Point of meditation is to feel good where you are and to let go of negative feelings that you carry within you. Your mind becomes more silent and thoughts affect your mood less and that leads to happiness. There are lot of different meditations out there and actually you should test what works for you and only that way you can be more optimal with your practises. It's like you need indstuctions in language you undestand.

Don't get confused with concepts and things people tell you about spirituality and no-self, because actually thinking these things won't help you at all. You could easily get overwhelmed and scary about these things if you understand them wrongly and that is why I suggest you to only believe your own direct experience you have right NOW.

As you are more experienced and you want to know more about meditation and other cool things that it may give to you only then you should think these things seriously. It's like you don't want to know all weird mathematical concepts if you just want to calculate how much money you have to use in a month. Thinking about it won't lead anywhere unless you want to use that knowledge for something. Buying map without intention to go anywhere is pretty much wasted money at least if you ask me.

Know what you are interested about and only after that you can start to build strategy about how you get there. Also learn to appreciate your work that leads to somewhere you want to BE, because otherwise you waste so much time doing things you don't want just to have one thing you want. (1) And guess where people who don't know where they're going to end up, end up? Some place they don't want to be. That does not have to be you.

Also if one of your goals is to become super focused to the thing you are doing then I would suggest you basic "concentrate to breathing" meditation. Reading almost anything for longer period of time helps also, because it forces you to stay focussed or otherwise you will jump from one line to another and passively read without even recognizing that you are reading right NOW.

On the other hand if you want to become extremely organized and have clear thinking you should start writing and that will help you to see broader perspective of things and your own deceptions and biases. (2) The primary reason to write an essay is so that the writer can formulate and
organize an informed, coherent and sophisticated set of ideas about something important.

If you just want to be happy then I would suggest you to do "do nothing" meditation or as I would call it "non-acting". Point of this is not to want anything and kingly appreciate every sensation that come on goes. If you catch yourself thinking just regocnize thought's existence and soon it goes away and maybe next thought appears, but at the end of the day there will come time where thoughts stop coming, because there is so much concentration in present moment that there is no room for a thoughts.

Lastly meditation cannot be done "wrongly" per sē, because every obstacle, misunderstanding and mistake is worth thousands of euros and that is way to live rich life. If you want to have very fulfilling life you should try many different things and find new insights about things that work and things that don't, because that's the only valid way. If you avoid every mistake that is possible you end up too scared to even live, because you think failing is somehow bad thing, but actually it is best thing that can happen as long as you don't repeate same thing many times. That is called stupidity and avoiding of the teachings.

Be grateful that I used over hour to help you and that is reason that I hope that there was something for you to learn : )

-joNi-

(1) "Who Am I and What Do I Want For My Life?" Powerful Speech Featuring Oprah and link is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL2cp7sLq0w&t=3s&ab_channel=FearlessSoul

(2) Essay writing guide by Jordan Peterson and link is here https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjordanbpeterson.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2FEssay_Writing_Guide.docx

 

[Kksd74628]

@Jakuchu

4 hours ago, Jakuchu said:

The buddha symbol is not representing a guy that lived multiple decades ago. It is representing Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuujuhuuuuu

Also somebody may have watched Frank Yang : )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMQZ4_o2kI&list=PLjbOF2M2cXV-uvju0DQtuQRQi3HUHhhNQ&index=3

TIME: 37:50 - 38:30

[Jakuchu]

@Kksd74628 I did but also I killed the buddha ?

Edited February 13, 2022 by Jakuchu

[Kksd74628]

@Jakuchu

I am proud of you my bunny  

[Breakingthewall]

17 hours ago, Yoremo said:

My other goals are to not feel miserable in essence. I might just be all out wrong here, but what I am saying is that I wish to get myself to be able to socialize, to move again, to accomplish something I am really passionate about. 

Of course meditation will help you, and more than you imagine. meditation will make you focus on the present, see that you don't need anything outside to feel good, know yourself, have control over your thoughts and emotions. You will be a much more balanced, solid, insightful guy. your chances of succeeding in any field will multiply.

[Ulax]

@Yoremo Hey dude, I'm curious, what type of meditation are you referring to when you say you have done 'meditation'?

Here are the meditation techniques I've tried, and have found have significantly different results:

1. Breath Meditation

2. Do-nothing meditation

3. Mantra meditation

4. Body awareness meditation

5. See, hear, feel meditation

And, I find that if I keep my eyes open and say fix my gaze on a point in the room I have different effects than if I keep my eyes closed. Perhaps, its worth exploring different meditations, and experimenting on different postures, and different ways of doing each type of meditation, so you can find what works for you, and what you like doing.

[Yoremo]

@Loving Radiance thank you for that message. I will look into what you said more as I am already starting some other stuff so I need to take it a bit chill.

@Kksd74628 thank you

@Breakingthewallyeah I recognize that now, the meditations by michael is superior, I feel so loving and caring and good after his sessions and so centered. I have never felt that before.

@Ulax I have mainly done breath meditation. But the last couple o´ months or so I started doing some weird "meditation" where I basically just sat and felt good and allowed myself to think whatever thoughts came up. But now I see that wasn´t really helping me as that didn´t increase awareness or anything, that was just a "daydreaming meditation". But you live and you learn right? I have started to keep my eyes open thanks to you and I think that I will continue doing so because that just feels better.

And I guess only because michael names his meditations "nondual meditation" maybe I don´t need to worry about that either. I don´t even know what nondual is, and I don´t really know what all this worry is all about. Probably a fear of being suicidal as I have never been suicidal but it scares me a bit that you can come to a place where suicide feels like a right thing to do and I have kind of associated that with going deep spiritually. I guess the increasing connectedness and centerdness and clarity I feel with meditation is basically what it´s all about, atleast in this stage. Thinking about it scares me though, so I guess no intellectual spirituality for me. Embodying meditation feels a hell of a lot better than thinking about the possible changes meditation can bring, that´s my thesis atleast and you can confirm it or change my mind if you wish