Yo Mushwood so are you still going?
If yes than congratulations my dude! I'm really proud of you!
TL;DR about the HUGE wall of text below that took me some 2-3 hours to type:
Meditation is great and you should do it if you want an incredible tool to deal with depression/anxiety/cravings and many, many other benefits proven by science.
Do not read if you're not interested in meditation, but in my opinion everyone should.
I typed so much because I'm high as fuck on heroin, I don't normally do this lol!
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And by the way, do you know about meditation? That's one thing that can and WILL help you keep depression and anxiety at bay, I promise.
I've meditated on and off (mostly off lol, it's hard to make it stick as a habit for me and many people) for years and right now I'm on a 19 day streak of daily meditation and I'm telling ya, I already feel the benefits!!
Also this time I'm sure I'll manage to stick with it for the rest of my life, because right now I need it more than ever (I'm slowly becoming addicted to IV heroin... that's why I'm incorporating healthy habits like meditation and yoga because I know for a fact that they will help me manage my cravings etc, along with the dozens of other benefits).
Meditation takes DAILY practice to work, but it's relatively easy to learn (simple breathing meditation at least is, there are lots and lots of different types but a simple breathing meditation is a very good start, and is a good "base" to expand your practice into for example Vipassana, Transcendental, Zen, Metta.... whatever you wish to learn to further advance in the incredible journey of meditation with all its incredible benefits) and it DOES indeed work.
It is one of the best if not the absolute best habit you can take up and do daily.
Lots and lots of scientific research is being made that proves what has been know for thousands of years: meditation is an extremely good practice to pick up, and it will change your life in an incredible number of positive ways.
Here are just a few interesting articles:
20 benefits of meditation (with links to scientific research/articles for every benefit)
other 40 benefits with link for each and every one of them
7 ways meditation can CHANGE your brain (how cool is that??)
So yeah, you don't have to take my word for it, but you can trust science.
In any case even the Buddha said not to trust him nor anyone blindly, but to practice and see for yourself the truth.
As I said earlier, learning to meditate is fairly easy.
I strongly recommend the app
Calm (you can find it in the Google play store on your phone), they have a 7 day free introduction to meditation that is very well done in my opinion and will easily get you started to the basics of meditation: you just have to listen to the soothing woman voice and follow the instructions, like a guided meditation.
You can also put a timer to meditate let's say 10 minutes and after 10 minutes a gentle bell will ring to warn you that your practice is over, or start a timer for an "open ended" session and in this mode you can decide to set a bell that will ring every 2/5/10 etc. minutes (you can set how often the bell rings) to remind you to bring back your attention to the object of your meditation (almost always the breath) or to remain aware or whatever you're doing and you can decide when to stop without deciding before you start.
If you make an account (100% free, the app is also free with NO ads, there is some content that you need to pay for but it isn't necessary at all, you just need the timer imo and maybe the free 7 day introduction if you're just starting out) every time you use the app to meditate it will show up on the app calendar and it will tell you how many times you've meditated in total, how much time you spent meditating and the current streak.
I've only got 5 hours since I downloaded the app
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
but yeah right now I'm on a 19 day streak and I'm not stopping anytime soon!!
It's a very neat feature and very motivating, you know, to keep that streak going and rack up hundreds of hours on the cushion!
Another app I've heard of is called Headspace, but I've never tried it so I can't tell you how it is.
Another good source of information/discussion about meditation is the
Meditation Subreddit.
If you've decided that you want to give this meditation thing a go, I suggest you try the 7 day introduction on the Calm app and then use the timer to meditate 5 minutes a day, or even 10 if you've got no problems standing still with only you and your mind (if you do have problems don't worry, most people are like this) and remember to do it DAILY! That's the "secret" to reap the benefits: you need to make it a habit, and you should also increase the time you spend on the cushion, but for now 5 minutes are ok.
So here comes a warning: meditation is certainly not complicated, but it is in no way "easy".
It
will most likely be boring and even frustrating in the beginning, that's normal as we are not used to simply observe our minds without constant stimulation from the outside, and you're trying to undo decades of conditioning.
You need to power through this first phase and not give up.
It will 100% get easier over time.
Once you get the hang of it though it will become relaxing and someday you might (and probably will, if you keep up a good practice) reach states of bliss through complete absorption and extreme focus on the object of meditation.
I don't want to go too much into detail and I will later tell you a bunch of books to read if you want to learn more about meditation where you will find all the information you need, the only thing I'll say is that these states of bliss (some of them are referred to as certain stages of Jhana if you want to do a bit of research) aren't really the purpose of meditation and can be and hindrance if not managed correctly.
If for example once you experience this bliss you feel that you want to reach it every time you meditate and it kinda becomes the reason why you meditate, you will probably have a hard time reaching that state again and it will absolutely hurt your practice.
Why? Because meditation is all about complete acceptance of what is happening and of what you feel in the moment, without expectations or worries about the future or the past.
Of course I'm not saying not to expect anything from meditation, everyone has some kind of idea of benefits that he/she expects from his/her practice but you must not go into your session with a certain state in mind that you want to reach: you need to just sit and accept anything that comes up.
Anyway here are the books that I read to learn how to meditate, they are all good reads that I recommend if you want to learn more about meditation and related topics:
-The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret & Science of Happiness (this one kind of explains why meditation works with a scientific approach, and later into the book it explains you how to start your practice)
-What the Buddha Taught (this is more about Buddha and his teachings, very interesting read and it does teach you how to meditate if I recall correctly, but if you're strictly interested in learning how to meditate and not in learning about the 4 Noble Truths, the Middle Way and other teaching of the Buddha this is probably not for you. In my opinion it is a very good read because even if you're not Buddhist not interested in Buddhism you will probably find a lot of interesting and true stuff about life, the roots of suffering, how to end it, and many other ways to improve your life and help other people and much, MUCH more, or you could even become interested in Buddhism or become a Buddhist!
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-Mindfulness in Plain English (very good book that explains mindfulness meditation without complicated and specific terms, a must read in my opinion if you want to learn meditation)
-The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka (this one is about Vipassana meditation, also called Insight Meditation, which is the type of meditation I plan to practice once I reach a good level of concentration and awareness and is also said to be the type of meditation practiced by the Buddha. I suggest you do not try to practice this type of meditation right away, many teachers say that you need to cultivate your mind for at least some months before attempting this kind of meditation, but isalso in my opinion the best type of practice if your goal is true happiness from within. Goenka also says that you can't truly learn Vipassana without attending one of his 10 day retreats and I'm not sure I agree on this, I mean I'm sure a 10 day retreat is an extremely effective way to learn but I also think it can be pretty intimidating and maybe a bit too intense for a beginner. These retreats are completely free btw.
In any case the book is a good read in my opinion even though Goenka, his approach to meditation and his retreats are a bit controversial).
There are a many more good books about meditation, but these are the ones I read.
If I had to recommend only one book out of all of those it would probably be
Mindfulness in Plain English.
It is also a good idea to find a meditation teacher/group in your area but I'm also sure it isn't necessary, you can learn how to meditate by yourself for free, it would just be easier with a good teacher.
Well Holy shit! Sorry for the wall of text (I just had a fat shot of H and I always rant and type a lot when I'm high) but I really want you to try and meditate, because you're a cool person and I want the best for you and every single person in this beautiful community that is Bluelight, and in the whole world really lol
.
Anyway I really hope you give this a try, so that you can see for yourself how useful meditation is and how it can make your life a lot better and easier.
Have a good day/evening/night!!!
*** SUPER RANT ABOUT WHY I LIKE BUDDHISM, don't read if you're not interested in Buddhism and/or my opinion!
I myself am an atheist, and I do not consider myself a Buddhist yet because I have a lot more to learn about this "religion" (I consider Buddhism more of a philosophy and a way of life rather than a religion in the common sense of the word, at least at its core, and I'm referring to the Dharma as the Buddha taught it) but you know what? Someday I will probably become Buddhist! Maybe I won't choose a specific "sect" because there are some things I do not agree with that weren't part of Buddha's teachings anyway and are more due to traditions but surely I want to follow the word of Buddha because it just clicks with me, it absolutely makes sense from a logical, moral and even scientific point of view unlike many many other religions, and it also offers a practical path to the liberation from suffering.
Also wether I refer to myself as a Buddhist or Atheist or whatever isn't important, it's just semantics, and another thing that Buddhism teaches you is to view reality as it is, free from the man-made concepts of "good", "bad", "boring" etc... This of course doesn't mean that Buddhists cannot distinguish good from bad or whatever.
It's a bit of a complicated concept but if you read a bit about Buddhism you will certainly learn about Buddha's views on reality, the labels the human mind distorts the world with etc.
If you want to learn more about this I recommend the book
What the Buddha Taught.
Another thing I like about Buddhism is that there are no Gods really, Buddha was a man by his own word and didn't consider himself a prophet or whatever.
He was simply a mortal man who happened to discover, through years of his spiritual journey, HIS way out of suffering, and he didn't even consider his way the only one, just the one who worked for him and that he taught, and at the same time faith is absolutely NOT a requirement in Buddhism, the Buddha actually discouraged it and said not to blindly trust him but to EXPERIENCE and to SEE for yourself that the words he spoke were true.
While (most, I think) buddhists believe in rebirth in relation to the Karma accumulated during your lifetime(s), Buddha himself said that it's
not important what happens after you die, and that you should focus on the here and the now.
I very much like this line of thought because one aspect I absolute despise (with all the due respect to Christians of course) about Christianity and similar monotheistic religions is the heavy focus on the afterlife.
i dread the idea of dedicating your whole mortal life to "securing" your happiness
after you've died.
I want happiness in this life, not when I die lol.
Lastly, another thing I 100% agree with is that happiness doesn't come from the outside, it is already within you and clinging to external factors (money, relationships, material things... pretty much everything really) in any way will bring suffering because everything is impermanent, so clinging even to the "good" stuff like for example love and expecting ever-lasting happiness from these things will bring about suffering.
I extremely over-simplified this concept but that's the gist of it, read the book I mentioned above if you want to know more, especially about
the 4 Noble Truths which pretty much explain where suffering stems from (ignorance, "thirst" as in craving, clinging etc. and other stuff, I don't really recall the details of the Truths right now) and how to eliminate it.
....but I know no specifics are allowed.