30 day challenge: meditation | Hacker News Reader

30 day challenge: meditation

mattcutts.com

33 pointsniyazpk22 comments

Too bad Matt didn't get some actual meditation instruction-- I think it would have been more interesting (and beneficial) for him had he done so. Unfortunately, his description makes it clear that he didn't really know what he was doing:

First, it was difficult (impossible?) to turn my brain off. I’m accustomed to using my brain all the time, every day. I don’t like to turn my brain off. I definitely struggled with that all month.

Meditation is not about "turning your brain off."

Someone recommended counting, for example counting leaves on a tree, as a way to help. That worked very well, but it also felt like counting was keeping my mind busy rather than clearing it out.

Some meditation traditions use counting-- but not like that. Counting the leaves on a tree might be a nice thing to do, but it's not meditation (at least according to any tradition I've ever heard of-- and I'm reasonably well schooled on the subject.)

Absolutely agree with you. This seems like an excuse for a blog post rather than something that he was actively seeking to truly learn. I'm sure if he'd even read a decent book on it that he would have benefited much more. For anyone reading these comments who is interested in meditation, check out these two free books:

Happy To Burn - http://www.sankhara.com.au/shop/products/displayFree.html

Mindfulness in Plain English - http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

I found these to be very useful as I started exploring meditation. I also found a yoga teacher that also taught meditation - enough to make a difference in my life, both working and outside of work.

I don't know "Happy to Burn", but Bhante G's "Meditation in Plain English" is an excellent book.

However, I think that learning to meditate from a book is a bit like learning to swim from a book-- I'm sure it is possible, but it's definitely not the easiest (or most efficient) way to learn.

I'd recommend that anyone who is interested try to find a center to visit, and take some in-person instruction.

There are also audio guided meditations available online from established teachers.

eg, http://www.dharma.org/ims/mr_audio.php

I am not familiar with either of those books, but a great book on practical meditation is the Silva Mind Control Method.

He comes at it from a completely practical place, no spirituality at all involved. It is very powerful and easy to use his methods.

I also came here to say that this guy obviously had no instruction on meditation before he started.

Meditation is hard especially if you have a noisy mind. However, meditation is not about turning off your mind, necessarily, though there is something to that as well.

I think most people on HN however would prefer/benefit from what I would call 'active' meditation which basically involved 'getting control' of your mind (being able to hold a specific thought for a dozen or so seconds at a time is near impossible for anyone not trained) and using that control to fast-forward learning processes, shedding bad habits, etc.

The description lacks a bit of detail on his experience and methods, but he seems to refer to the mindlessness of meditation, i'm not an expert, i've read only something about Vipassana and watched some video e.g. some Rinpoche lectures at Google for the sake of it but this seems a common/recurring concept. Care to explain what he is missing?

Generally, the key term in most types of meditation is "mindfulness", not "mindlessness"-- the object is not at all to "shut off the mind", but rather, to watch the mind.

Like in "watch the thought an let it go", ok.

Re: counting

The Korean Zen meditation instructor I once had suggested counting breaths, but only from 1 to 7, then start at 1 again. If you lose track, start back at one.

Alternately, just mentally labeling your breaths as 'in', and 'out', also is effective.

A while back I made one of the calming and relaxing decisions I ever made: I decided to not meditate.

Before that, every time I saw an article like this I would feel pressured and hounded into meditating. But now I'm totally relaxed about it, because I know I'm never going to start meditating, and this detachment from the nonstop you-must-meditate-to-be-happy pressure fills me with a feeling of bliss.

I highly recommend not-meditating to everybody.

I guess you're eating it for the humor here, but I pretty much agree with you at this point in my life.

I've tried meditating several times, once every day for a month or so, and I feel like it's hype. Probably because I never fully "got it" but at the same time I wonder why successful figures in history aren't known for meditating.

I feel like like such a beneficial and simple practice would have developed in parallel throughout many cultures and we'd have our own analog- if it was actually beneficial.

I'm certainly not going to push meditation on anyone, but I don't think the "it wasn't developed in parallel" argument is a poor one-- meditation practices are pretty much ubiquitous throughout all of Asia. That's not nothing. Furthermore, besides the obvious Buddhist and Hindu traditions, there are meditative traditions (albeit minor ones) within Christianity.

I'm quite surprised to hear that you tried meditating every day for a month or so, without "getting it"-- to me, that sounds like you had a terrible meditation instructor.

Anyway: feel free to not meditate, if that's working for you, but the "not invented here" argument seems pretty weak to me.

Prayer itself is a form of meditation, it's not at all just minor traditions.

Not all forms of prayer can be construed as meditation (as it is generally considered.) Some can, but these are not the dominant form in most Christian traditions.

Ah, I didn't have a meditation instructor. Tried to go it alone with instructions from the internet.

"... at the same time I wonder why successful figures in history aren't known for meditating."

Successful in what way? Meditation is not about making you more efficient in pursuing power, wealth or publicity.

Although it may help you a bit in these areas, it's traditionally a tool for actually seeing (as opposed to theoretical understanding) that the true unconditional happiness lies elsewhere.

Successful in any way, really.

From Theodore Roosevelt to Ben Franklin to Feynman to SI Hayakawa or Chomsky. It seems to me like a technique that helped someone to think more clearly, be happier, or judge their goals more accurately would aid success regardless of what direction they were moving in or what situation they were coping with.

However, this thread did convince me to give it another try.

Steve Jobs might be the meditating type. Or probably did in his youth, if he doesn't now. He went backpacking in India in the 70s.

Taking a nap works fine for relaxing. It takes some practice, though.

I have been doing Transcendental Meditation (TM) twice a day for 38 years. I am not suggesting that you do TM. But I have some practical guidelines:

Be regular. Absolutely do not miss sessions. Regularity establishes a base line to your day.

Find some group or guru who can help you discuss your experiences. Over time you will need to talk about what occurs during your meditations.

Meditation is a different way of thinking not non-thinking.

Meditation is the high point of my day. If you are not enjoying it or fulfilled by it, you are doing something else.

One of the best books I have read on meditation is: "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path"

I am helping a serial entrepreneur who has the exact same problem of "turning his brain off". The best thing we have found is the pranayama iPhone app by saagara.com.

Try it for 15 minutes, everyday, either in the morning, or before bed.

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