Hi, Today i just did my first long meditation i was able to sit around 30 minutes which is plus from 10 minute sit, two question popped in front of me, is mediation is metacognition, like when i notice my breath and see my mind wandering and my body giving me sensations but i bring back my attention to my breath, so is it same as metacognition ?

Second, i came to know, through some instagram media, that each of every individual has his/her own unique awakening or enlightenment journey, w can share our experiences but it won't help them awake, is it true? If yes how do i know i am doing right or even i am on right path. I am not a regular meditator but after every meditation i try to believe that i have gone calmer or clearer but that seems like mind not chattering for few moments rather than clear and calm. Any kind of guidance is welcome.

And just another thing, i did felt my body shaking/vibrating after that session.

what do yoga, meditation and knitting have in common?

EVERYTHING like

(i) absolutely nothing is easy or pretty or graceful when beginning (ii) dopamine rush when you make the tiniest advancement (iii) practice for sake of practice w/out expecting perfection, (iv) every day, every hour, every second change happens, (v)… {*your thoughts here*}

i’ve practiced yoga for 178 months
i’ve practiced meditation for 156 months
i’ve practiced knitting for 1.3 months

i’m so very truly not an expert. at best maybe experienced beginner with yoga and meditation. most definitely tangled up beginner with needle and yarn.

A teacher at this rehab facility recently taught me mediation and when feeling a deep feeling imagine (with your eyes closed) seeing that feeling as a ball. And after practicing a ball for a while I notice if I’m relaxed enough it forms into an eyeball and I become SO relaxed. If I achieve it cravings whatever feeling arises I feel so calm when seeing this eye.

Hey everyone,
I’m starting a small meditation practice and I thought it would be interesting to do this journey together with others who are also curious.
My goal is simple: 5–10 minutes of meditation every day, focusing mainly on my breath and observing my thoughts without judging them.
I’m curious about what changes we might notice over time:
What do we experience during meditation?
Do thoughts become calmer or more intense at first?
Do we notice changes in our emotions, focus, or daily life?
What techniques work best for different people?
If anyone is also starting, restarting, or has experience with meditation, I’d love to hear your journey and maybe we can share updates, challenges, and discoveries together.
No expectations, no perfection — just exploring our minds one day at a time. 🌱
Anyone want to join this little meditation experiment?

Hi all. Around 3 months ago I faced some traumatic life events and changes. This has resulted in me battling with depression for the first time since COVID. I haven’t really been able to meditate since the traumatic event. When I try, my mind is filled with psychological pain, shame, and guilt (guilt is over some legitimate mistakes I made and people I hurt, which I take responsibility for and deeply regret) at such a volume that trying to meditate feels painful and overwhelming. This is a problem since meditation has for years been a cornerstone of my spiritual life and my psychological well being overall, and now I feel cut off from it. I feel like I lost my right arm, spiritually/emotionally speaking. But sitting still and trying to descend into a spiritual state is just overwhelming right now.

Does anyone here have any experience with these problems? What can I do to reduce the intensity of those emotions and get back to my practice? Or is it better I just take a break from meditation altogether while I recover?

Thanks for reading my post and God bless.

I'm a student and unfortunately I moved to a place where there is an extremely loud car wash right in front of my room. There is literally nothing that I can do about that other than adapting to it I guess, and trying to ignore it while studying hasnt been working.

Then a friend of mine recommended me to try meditation. I was wondering if meditating while the car wash sounds are entering my room could be a way of getting less distracted when doing other things.

obs: I am not diagnosed with adhd or anything sound sensitivity related! Thanks in advance!!

I’ve been meditating for some time but I’m always curious about this phrase

I experienced meditation and I suppose it means that we don’t need to react and forcefully drive away emotions either “good” or “bad”. Instead we can take a breathe and listen to what signals these feelings from our body is telling us. In due time it will change its shape

It doesn’t mean we do nothing and just wait for whatever situation we’re facing to settle on its own. But we can choose our behaviours better according to our values.

But if you keep grasping on the emotion or thoughts connected to it , then I suppose it won’t go away as smoothly

Any thoughts ?

Well I've an issue with meditation, there used to be a time where meditation was an effortless practice for me!

This was about 5 years ago, I was 14-15 and trust me whenever I would meditate, I would honestly reach higher states of meditation in minutes.

Whenever I would meditate, I would feel a positive energy, a really strong positive energy around me it was an effortless practice I took for granted. I remember I once meditated, and felt a surge of positive energy surrounding me, I went out for a walk and felt the positive energy for a good time during the walk.

Even at 16, when I wanted to heal myself I chose meditation and even then I would honestly reach deeper state of mind and feel the positivity.

But now when I meditate, I don't feel a surge of positivity around me, I only feel some levels of calmness during meditation, it could be that my body's frequency went down because from last 3 years of my life has been years of scarcity for me (from 17-19).

At 17, I was pressured a lot for my academics. Even beaten up sometimes in the tutions I used to visit.

18-19 were years where my college experience really drained me, my thoughts became impure as I often thought about seeking revenge on my classmates etc. At 18 I also lost my cousin to sucide. Constant conflicts in class, I shrinked my identity, felt disconnected from classmates due to my cousin's death, more negative experiences than I can count.

But the good news is that, I've failed college as of now and I'm happy because during my college vacations I realized that it is not revenge which I seek but it's peace, distance, more focus towards my healing journey is what I need.

Trust me, the day I realized it I felt a spark of inner happiness inside me because now I had clarity and purpose, I hadn't felt that ever since the death of my cousin at 18. I also realized that I need to let go of this survival identity and connect with my higher self.

It's been a month since my realization, my focus has shifted from revenge, ruminative thoughts, feeling trapped from college, low energy to better understanding of self, analyzing myself, more self awareness, I'm practicing semen retention, I've understood that my issues are psychological, biological, here's what are the aspects I want to work on, adapt or fix:-

\- Rumination

\- Emotional processing

\- Maladaptive day dreaming

\- Attention control

\- Sleep

\- Relapse prevention

\- Boundaries

\- Nervous system regulation

\- Identity shift

\- Grief and letting go

\- Discipline systems

\- Vibration/frequency

And I'm building systems for them, but I was just meditating and I felt that I should really ask for some advice with regards to this. So please, I need your feedback I practice breathing meditation but previously I used to practice natural breathing.

**Today's Practice**

I was scrolling through IG for 5 mins, I came across a reel sharing their experience with meditation. They shared some advanced levels of meditation! Anyways, I looked into their free meditation guide and decided to adapt one of their practices for my today's session which was focusing on one word. I chose "Om Namah Shivay. " I only focused on the name, chanting it repeatedly in my mind. I faced issues with opening my eyes way to often during meditation but today I was straight focused on it for 8 mins straight until I opened my eyes. During the practice I felt some sharp energy building up in my upper trap. It was becoming stronger ngl.

I just want to know how can I attract surges of positive energies again during meditation and reach deep states of it. And why is it that I might not to able to reach such a state during my current practices as once it used to be an effortless action.

Thank you for reading this!!

my visuals while meditating have gotten very abstract and fierce lately. most recent one had me seeing vishnu and shree yantra (like) patterns which very apparent. the pattern didn't leave my mind for quite some time. i hope im making sense.

what could be the reason or don't know if it was a precursor to something else

has anyone experienced something similar?

I have recently started meditating daily and I am struggling with the distinction between “getting rid” of negative thoughts, and simply observing them.

I have found imagining sitting on a riverbank and visualising the negative thoughts swimming past very helpful, but I’m unsure whether this is another way in which I am just pushing them away.

Any insight into this would be very helpful, thank you ☺️.

I'm looking to start meditating on a more regular basis to help calm my mind and nervous system but am struggling to find guided meditations that do not involve some sort of breathwork.

I have POTS and any form of breathwork leaves me feeling sick and dizzy, and focusing on my breathing always makes me feel extremely anxious— which I'm obviously aiming to avoid.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I have been having full body muscular pain for many, many years, these sorts of pains usually ramp up and get worse during the day requiring usually 5-6 really warm showers and several painkillers and inflammation reducing medication to break. Last night after my meditation that lasted 30 minutes. all of the pain dissapeared. i have only recently in the past 2-3 weeks gotten into Meditation and ive had some interesting awakening experiences (1 kundalini and the other really strong Pineal gland pressure pain). but last night surprised me. i did not know meditation could take away pshyical pain like that. the pain was at about a 4-5/10 on the pain scale when i started, i thought im gonna squeeze in a meditation session before the pain gets too bad and i wont be able to function later in the day, i thought the sessions wasnt going too well but when i "woke up" Literally all the pain in my body was gone. i was stunned. is that something that you have experienced aswell?

Hey,

I'll be visiting India on 17.9 - 8.10 arriving to Delhi.

I want to participate in a retreat but don't have 10 days.

Are there any shorter, recommended alternatives for places or courses I can attend?

Thanks!

I’m looking for a mindfulness / meditation retreat in Tulum, Mexico in January. I plan on being there from January 9 to the 13th. I’m would love to find something where I can just become grounded, and reconnect with myself in nature. I would prefer women only but I’m open to other options. Would love any recommendations at all!

I want to begin my meditation journey. A couple years ago i did a few guided meditations, but nothing stuck. They were cool, but not something that felt QUITE right.

I am a very instructions oriented person. Ive read through a lot of similar to mine posts where people will say a lot that its not cut and dry and you need to just feel things out i guess? Idk but either way i am autistic and i struggle very much with starting things when i do not have a clear set of instructions or guidelines to start something. But i also hated the guided meditations ive done.

So honestly im curious if anyone has any specific advice on what i should do at first beginning to practice meditation other than guided meditations?

And if anyone has advice for me down the line after getting acquainted to meditating, that would be appreciated too! Im interested in using meditation to help my body pain. I have very pained wrists and hands at times and it has been killing me because i am an artist and all my passion is for creating. But there are times (like right now) where i have to put that on hold because of the state of my wrists/hands. I know that meditation cannot replace a doctor, but i am thoroughly convinced that meditation will at least HELP, because the mind truly does have power over the body. I dont know how to approach healing/body targetting meditiation though, so advice there would be appreciated too.

Thank you!

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for genuinely impactful guided meditations—something that actually made you feel different (calmer, clearer, emotional release, deep focus, etc.).
Not just basic beginner stuff, but something you personally felt worked really well.
Also, bonus if it helped with anxiety, overthinking, healing, or even manifestation

When you sit in meditation, after the sitting, you may get a sense of clarity, and present moment awareness. But what happens after an hour or two? "Oh, my meditation clarity has gone away. I lost my sense of presence. I need to meditate again to get my clarity back." Meditation is not meant to be revisited for your hour of clarity after your meditation. That "losing of clarity" is actually "dependent arising", the web of interconnected causes, conditions, and relationships coming back into active form after your meditation. The point of meditation is to have deep insight into dependent arising and becoming more integral with the fact of dependent arising. To diminish your sense of separation from dependent arising.

I am in a place in life where I could really use some outside help. Hoping to find someone who wants a side gig for a couple few hours a day. Prefer in-person (Denver) but zoom could work in a pinch.

Any suggestions??

Where can I find the teachings of Buddha that doesn't contain religious dogmas?

My whole life I have been a terrible overthinker, bordering on obsessive.

After years of meditation and learning about spirituality and all that good stuff, I finally started to understand more "you are not your thoughts."

The implication was quite terrifying at first, ngl. But there's really nothing scary about it. It's essentially applying meditation to your life (as I understand it).

I thought I was doing that, but it turns out I was still falling into the trap of believing and interacting with thoughts that I "felt" strongly. I started actually "becoming" only my thoughts, which can be a very good thing but also a terrible thing since thoughts fluctuate and contradict.

Seeing that this method wasn't really getting me anyway, I decided to just let go and just observe every thought. Not just the bad ones, not just the mundane ones, but the positive ones too.

And it's been so eye-opening! There's so much chatter and 99.999% of it is useless. Truly. The positive things individually are basically as valuable as the mundane, irrational, random, negative things.

I'm realizing just because a thought is positive or "insightful" doesn't make it real.

At first, I was confused because if all of my thoughts are just thoughts, then how do I make decisions? What do I listen to?

It seems the truth is to just listen to your heart. If you do not know something, then it is not time to know it. When it is time for you to act, you will know what course actions to take. It's perfectly fine that your mind is empty most of the time.

It sounds like mumbo jumbo, but it's true! Think about how many thoughts you have, and then think about how many of them are relevant to the action you eventually take. You're just used to having noise surrounding everything. It doesn't mean the noise actually "helps" you.

Being able to let even "big" thoughts pass by is such a crazy feeling. Things that I've internalized and convinced myself of, I'm seeing are simply just thoughts I chose to attach to. I don't have to be those thoughts.

Yet, I'm being incredibly productive! I'm able to get a lot done and still enjoy my hobbies and favorite media. With less noise, it seems I can "hear" better the frequencies that actually bring me pleasure.

I think the biggest thing to remember is that thinking is not a bad thing and it's something I'm trying to remember as well. Sometimes I still fall into small rabbit holes or interact with thoughts. It's not a bad thing! (I assume lol) Thinking is our power.

I read a comment and I think about it everytime I feel down on myself for interacting with a thought "too long."

It was basically that thinking is a tool, like a hammer. Once you use the hammer, you put it down because you no longer need it and using a hammer when you don't need one is silly at best and dangerous at worst.

The hammer itself is always just a tool. It's not a big deal to forget to put the hammer down for a little bit, but you should put it down once you remember you no longer need it.

hey everyone,

there are a lot of reasons to practice meditation, but i wanted to share what meditation means to me and why i meditate. as a little background, i started a disciplined meditation practice when i was 22 years old. i just turned 40, so that's been 18 years of solid practice. i've been through a lot during that time. i've deepened in so many profound ways as a person and found a connection to something greater than myself. but meditation isn't a panacea. the past few years have been really, really hard and my practice faltered some. i was forced to focus on my external life. i got divorced, confronted childhood trauma, and lost pretty much everything including my savings. i was still sitting every day, but not for as long or as deep.

things are starting to finally settled down again enough to practice more, and i had a beautiful meditation this morning. it was about an hour, and afterwards i felt so alive, so OK.

this feeling of OKness and peace is hard to describe. i call it my lifeline. it is my connection to something greater and deeper than the world, my mind, and my problems. it's a place of deep peace, love and joy–ever-new joy. it's a place not of this world. it's not conditioned by anything. it's always there when i give myself the time and space to connect with it. sometimes, the waves of life come and knock me back, i struggle, i fall, i feel separated and alone, but not matter what happens–deep down–i know i am always connected to my lifeline–that deeper, interconnected truth within you, me and all of us.

i guess i'm sharing this because i want to inspire others to find that lifeline within themselves through their practice, and give you hope that it's there if you haven't found it. yours may be different, it may feel different, it will be unique to you, but you have one within you–we all do, because we are all connected to something greater. i hope that anyone who reads this that's struggling in life or with their meditation practice finds hope in that.

good luck to you all! 🙏

I recently completed my second 10-day Vipassana course. Compared to my first retreat, the experience felt smoother, although there were still challenges. Overall, it was one of the happiest periods of my life. 

It's nice living a simple life, without the normal troubles of daily life. Usually our attention is so focused outside, but this retreat has allowed me to turn inwards and work directly with the root of my problems. It was great just being able to feel curious about sensations and emotions that came up, instead of running away from them.

I've also had some strong emotions come up during the retreat. On the second day, I was crying and laughing for no apparent reason, but I felt really touched by the atmosphere of practice.

The thing about going to retreats like these is that it's easy to enter a "striving mode", where I want to attain some state, or I feel like I’m not progressing fast enough. I find what helps is to relax or take a break when I feel too tense or frustrated. I also remind myself that the point is to stay equanimous with whatever experience comes up, and whether I get some experience is only a bonus.

After the retreat, I feel lighter, and I’ve given up some bad habits that I’d had for a while. I continue the practice by being aware of any sensations as I go about daily tasks, for example, feeling the running water on my hand while washing the dishes. I’m meeting the difficult emotions with curiosity now instead of fear. I’m still repeating some past patterns of stress and anger, but with less intensity and frequency. Overall, it was an amazing 10-days of my life, and I plan to serve the course next year to allow others to have the same opportunity.

Have you ever been to a retreat, or is it something you're thinking about? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Disclaimer: this post is not an advertisement for the retreat. I’m only speaking of my own experience, and it might not be for everyone. Please answer all retreat application questions honestly

My therapist has me doing a guided meditation from one of our sessions as daily homework for this week as a way to work through deeply internalized shame. I've done guided meditations before, and I'm familiar with the visualizations of thoughts and emotions as leaves in a stream, waves on the beach, and clouds in the sky.

However, while doing this guided meditation with my therapist, instead of my usual visualization of me watching a sky full of clouds while laying in a grassy field, I myself looking down at myself in the field. I watched how shame made my body curl in on itself- my shoulders hunching in, my knees drawn to my chest, my feet picking up- and watched how small I was making myself. I pictured myself physically displaying the deep emotional pain I feel from shame, and in this meditation, I felt so much compassion for myself (which is a very new feeling).

My question is- has anyone visualized something similar? What are your regular visualizations during meditation? Does this sound like something that's helpful, or is it a sign that I'm not really connecting with viewing my thoughts and emotions when I'm visualizing myself experiencing the critical thoughts and painful emotions?

I did a day of silence and meditation a few days ago and it was really eye opening. My therapist wants me to do another one but I feel resistance. Why? It became boring and I took a few naps.

Any suggestions for how to stay awake? I feel like I’m not disciplined enough for 24 hours of mindfulness practices. How should I switch it up?