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Positive Post Your Best Mindfulness Resources and Experiences

never heard of it. this all sounds great though, i am definitely very susceptible to such techniques. maybe this will get me somewhere near baseline if olanazapine cant lol.
 
I read the study on dyer meditation and hope they may be on to something. For sure it is something that I feel warrants more research.

Just as a precaution though; from the abstract:
 
spork said:
herby, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that you posted something from This Emotional Life. It's such a wonderful, insightful series. I'm going to have to watch it again soon. :)

Has anyone tried half-smiling? It's basically just having a slight smile as you go throughout your day. It took a lot of practice, but I've found that I do it more and more out of habit now and it helps to ground me and to focus more on mindfulness when I need it.

Here are a few links on half-smiling:
http://www.srds.co.uk/begin/half_smile.htm
http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/html/half-smile_and_serenity.html
http://chippit.tripod.com/inner_smile.html
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wow that is cool!

ill do a similar thing where i repeat a mantra in my head all day/night, sometimes several days with out interruption. what has always worked best for me is repeating -Sri Ananda Ma - Sri Anadamayi Ma Bohdi- but more of singing in thought, not just repeating in a monotone way.

i still imagine a series of three numbers or shapes, slowly moving in a circle around my head, while keeping focus and remembering the numbers/shapes the entire time. it sounds really silly, but, is effective.

<3
=D

sepher, yeah, i agree, pranayama is essential, and pranayama is a technique that can be sustained through out the day with out much disturbance.
 
Meditation classes, yoga classes (theres something about rolling around on the floor with a room full of girls that did it for me, plus theres meditation at the end), grounding exercise (like taking off your shoes and walking along the beach). I used to go to the uni buddhist society because it was just relaxing. I didn't necessarily share the same beliefs but i really liked what the special guest monks talked about - very chilling and gets you in a good frame of mind.

Breathing exercises also work well for me, theres heaps of them on youtube...
 
I listened to an interview with Dr. Richie Davidson (founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and one of the leading scientists exploring and publicizing mindfulness at this time) this morning on the effects of mindfulness practice with children. I thought it was really interesting and that some of the techniques he discusses can be used by any body (not just children). One that I'm going to try that was suggested was to lay down and put something (he said a rock or teddy bear but it could be anything) on your belly and watch the item as you breathe and your stomach goes up and down.

If anyone wants to listen here is the link. The interview is on 2/22/13 at 9:00 am. There are some lengthy commercials, but just bear with them cause the interview is really worth a listen.
 
I've been looking into mindfulness over the last few days at the recommendation of people here. Some of what I come across is a bit wanky and new-agey for my tastes (imagining your thoughts/anxieties etc as colours and feelings etc) but so far the best resource I have found is the Oxford Mindfulness Clinic. They seem to strip meditation of a lot of the bells and whistles and just encourage you to focus on your breathing as an anchor and to be aware of your body. I really like the professor who runs the clinic and his whole approach and found some good short meditations on their YouTube channel for anyone else who feels similarly put off by the whole new-age sort of feel you get from some other sources:

http://www.youtube.com/user/OxfordMindfulness/videos?view=0
 
^yeah I was skeptical at first and just want to say that I can't do formal meditation. When I looked at it more as a way of living rather than something that I need to do in a lotus position daily for a certain amount of time it became a lot easier for me. Thanks for your contribution. I've heard of the Oxford Mindulness Clinic and have great respect for what they're doing. :)
 
Thanks very much for posting this and sharing your findings and experience. I have suffered with chronic anxiety all my life and have relied on drugs and alcohol..but I think meditation offers a way out and it's worth trying.

I have experienced the benefits of meditation in the past and at times its been quite profound and made a big difference...brought a real sense of peace and inner contentment.

The difficult thing for me is to keep it up and have the will power and discipline to follow a daily meditation practice.. I think I have ADD or something as I just can't stay focused for long on anything..I'm like a butterfly that jumps from one thing to another and just seem to need constant stimulation..

The only time I feel relaxed and able to focus for any length of time without distraction..is in the bath!! Maybe I should meditate there until the water gets cold and I have wrinkly skin ;-)

Don't you guys think we live in extraordinarily stressful times? There's just so much going on, so many things to do and buy/see, the internet is more addictive than any drug for sure.
 
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randomness said:
Don't you guys think we live in extraordinarily stressful times? There's just so much going on, so many things to do and buy/see, the internet is more addictive than any drug for sure.
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I think that any time in history has different stressors but I think what is different now is probably the degree to which we willingly invite self-imposed stress into our lives. Living under a brutal regime, living in a famine, living in a war zone (or all three combined) has happened throughout history and the stress of that is inescapable. We, on the other hand, live in relative peace and comfort compared to these situations and yet our intense stress stems often from outrageous expectations of how we should live within such prosperity. Worrying about how we relate to other people, self-worth, self-esteem that is tied to money, material possessions and cultural status, our looks, our personalities, we create layers and layers of hells to live in. Don't get me wrong; this isn't a response meant to blame or shame anyone for these hells. I'm as guilty of it as anyone. We are bottle-fed these views before we even acquire language! The most hopeful thing that I have found over my lifetime is developing a true and meaningful, and personal, connection to nature. Whether it is a rooftop in the city and a few potted plants, an urban park or the wilds of undeveloped lands, connecting with non-human life is essential to a more balanced perspective of one's own human existence<3.
 
Today is a 'giving up' day for me, three weeks after my son Where Wolf?'s death. This post from Herbivore about mindfulness and the ones that follow remind me that I sent for two books on the subject some months ago, while he and I were struggling - he was struggling, I was trying to support and accompany him as much as he would allow - and we were both interested in the ideas, and fastened onto them. One of the books is still in his room, at the bottom of a pile - he didn't have a chance to really use it, as the fog was slowly, slowly clearing from his head - and he had requested Cognitive Behavior Therapy several times, but there is a long waiting list. How I wish we had found a way, just done it. But that is only one of many, many wishes on a long list, and the point here is - you have reminded me of this resource and this practice we began to share, and I can carry on as I work on the books be left behind and listen for his voice, which he said and thought was his soul. Thank you more than I can say. This will help me to be able to do that work for him.
 
I get anxiety and racing thoughts sometimes and mindfulness has really helped me cope. I do my best to remember that I am not my thoughts, that thoughts are only a small part of who I essentially am. Thoughts don't make up a human being. I also like to think of the bigger picture, I picture the whole universe as one and we humans are just a tiny microscopic part of it. In dealing with people I try to remember that everybody sees the world differently and thinks differently therefore it is easier to be accepting rather than judgmental. A trick I use to calm my anxiety is putting my hands over my ears to hear my heartbeat, take a deep breath, and as I exhale I listen to how much my heartbeat slows down.
 
I'm going to try this. It's time for me to get clean guys. Anxiety is the major reason why I use, I think this will be beneficial to me.
 
I can recommend the Thomas Cleary translation of "The Secret of the Golden Flower."
It is pretty esoteric compared to a lot of the generic stuff out there, but once I ran across it...

Two other excellent references are "Zen Mind, Beginner Mind," by Shunryu Suzuki, and "Everdayday Zen, Love & Work," by Charlotte Joko Beck.

AFAIC, Shiikantaza is an excellent and vital way to get focused enough to find one's way out of this mess.
 
rx_prn said:
I'm going to try this. It's time for me to get clean guys. Anxiety is terhe major reason why I use, I think this will be beneficial to me.
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I'm a week in (I suffer depression) and it's been up and down but overall very positive. What worked for me was just trying to centre my awareness on my body, that really worked a treat, since then I've just been doing simple three minute meditations. Sitting in a chair, no special positions and breathing normally, eyes shut and just constantly and very gently taking my attention back to my breath as the mind wanders. This guy I think is great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVW_IE1nsKE

And a longer clip, a lecture on mindfulness and the work they've done on the subject, it kind of got me excited about the potential of the practice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAy_3Ssyqqg

I try to anchor my awareness on my body wherever possible, when walking, typing, brushing my teeth or whatever... it's something to focus on so I find the negative thoughts just don't arise as much and, I'm noticing now, when they do arise they're just not as traumatic as they otherwise would be.
 
Today I was in panic for a short while and to alleviate this without the use of drugs, I closed my eyes and focused just on my breathing, and I forced myself to breathe very slowly, which eventually slowed down my heart beating.

After I began feeling my heart rate going down, I then focused on the future and other things still meditating with my eyes closed, so as to think about brighter and happier subjects.

After just 15 minutes of this I was feeling so much better about everything, and didn't feel the need to use an anti-anxiety medication. :)
 
Captain.Heroin said:
Today I was in panic for a short while and to alleviate this without the use of drugs, I closed my eyes and focused just on my breathing, and I forced myself to breathe very slowly, which eventually slowed down my heart beating.

After I began feeling my heart rate going down, I then focused on the future and other things still meditating with my eyes closed, so as to think about brighter and happier subjects.

After just 15 minutes of this I was feeling so much better about everything, and didn't feel the need to use an anti-anxiety medication. :)
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This isn't as easy to perform as these mindfulness exercises, but biofeedback is extremely efficient when you are trying to learn how to better control various body functions like heart rate, blood pressure, perfusion, muscle tonicity and the like.
While biofeedback just gives you the visual/auditory feedback about said functions, mindfulness exercises could be quite complementary to this. It basically allows you to quantify your progress.

Glad to hear this worked for you Capt'n! :)
 
if anyone is strongly interested in mindfulness meditation but feel stuck in terms of getting past the first couple of walls in practicing

i highly recommend doing a 10 day dhamma retreat, im sure many cities in the world have one, and for me it has been a turning point/life changing experience

being in a situation when you have to meditate 5+ hours a day for that long makes you learn SO much about yourself

also this amazing podcast series has been helping me get through the days recently, idk if anyones mentioned it..

http://www.audiodharma.org/, its in the app store under audio dharma im pretty sure
 
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