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Comment by bad_user | Hacker News Reader

Here's a good book on the subject: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Mindfulness-...

It's very wordy and you can almost sum it up with the following exercise:

"Lie on your back, place your hand on your stomach, focus on your breathing ensuring that you expand your stomach on inhalation and contract it on exhalation. Do not concentrate on any specific thought(s). If your mind starts to wander, acknowledge the thought(s) and then let it go. Do this for 30 - 60 mins a day.".

Discipline is required to do this, something I am terrible at. Either I feel like I am wasting time or I fall asleep. :D

Uhm you sure about that posture? (didn't read the book though)

As far as I've learned & experienced, meditation is always practiced sitting upright - it's actually a quite important part about it. Like that: http://www.google.at/images?q=mindfulness+meditation+posture...

He does go into other postures, but from what I recollect the first one he mentions is lying on your back. I got from the book that the posture isn't as important as being comfortable, clearing your mind and having something stable to focus your mind on initially. Breathing is three fold because it is always with you, you will never stop breathing* & when people are anxious or in the midst of panic usually their breathing becomes irregular, which is something you can take back and control, empowering the person in that situation to realize they are still breathing and OK.

Much of the book is has him discussing his pain & wellness center, patients & his own life. Which is why I said it's wordy. I have read reviews that suggest his follow-up book has more meat & potatoes on meditation techniques:

http://www.amazon.com/Wherever-You-There-Are-ROUGH/dp/140130...

*Yes there are exception to this which my logical mind started going down, such as paralysis, death, drowning, choking... etc...

you can meditate in any position you like. lotus like or seisa positions are recommended after thousands of years of practise and probably for good reasons (helps you stop falling asleep, spine orientation etc).

however personally i've experienced meditative state most deeply lying flat. YMMV and i haven't read that book.

Yes, it's wordy because it also talks about the experiments did / results achieved in the author's clinic, i.e. how people with diverse illnesses (even terminal ones, like cancer) managed to cope with their condition.

It can be summed up even shorter than you're describing ... but it's fucking hard to do, unless you have strong motives to do it and belief that this practice will have a good ROI on your mind / body.

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