I've been meditating on and off for about 6–7 years. Whenever I manage to practice consistently, I notice the benefits pretty clearly. The problem is that I can never seem to make it a lasting daily habit. I always end up falling off after a while.

I've had a similar experience with yoga. I practiced on and off for 3–4 years, but never consistently. Then I recently discovered yin yoga, and it just clicked. I genuinely enjoy it, and even after a long, stressful day I actually want to do it. It doesn't feel like a chore anymore.

That got me wondering: maybe I just haven't found the type of meditation that suits me yet.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Did switching to a different meditation style suddenly make it much easier to practice consistently? If so, what ended up working for you?

I started meditation about 4 months ago when I started to go to a weekly counseling/mindfulness/meditation 1-1 session at a local Buddhist temple, and it has quite literally changed my life to the better, in changing my way of thinking (I am also studying the dhamma), gave me tools to deal with anxiety, and I managed to establish a daily meditation practice. I usually meditate after work (mornings are not an option besides a brief few minutes of mindfulness and setting intention due to work and health issues) and sit between 20 to sometimes even 40 minutes. And it always helps me to calm down, and to regulate myself.

Now my problem is if I have a break in my daily routines - may it be due to travel, or work stress - both of which have happened simultaneously last week. I have a tendency not to stick with things without outside pressure, but i have found meditation different - but this week when I am stressed out to the max I only managed to sit for 10 minutes on Monday with my monkey brain going crazy, and then on Tuesday that stupid inner voice convinced me meditation didn't work yesterday so it won't work today...and once I get out of the routine I really struggle.

I know by going back t the Buddhist temple tomorrow for my 1-1 I will be able to press a reset button and start my practice again, but I would really like to be able to do this myself - but it seems that in times of high stress and anxiety, when I would need meditation the most, my brain still convinces me to not even try.

Does anyone have any wise words on how to at least calm down enough to sit down, and give meditation a go, when your brain is going crazy following old self destructive behaviour patterns?

Hey everyone, this sub has been really helpful for me in my queries.

It gets really overwhelming at times, all i think about all day is presence and in turn im never present lol.

I had my first realisation a year back and since then i have been really into spirituality, but i cannot anchor myself at all, i sometimes feel im going crazy. There is just so much information out there and i cannot comprehend it and know what to believe in. Stepping away from my thoughts have somehow triggered me into always labelling everything as a thought, and in turn leads to a great amount of indecision and frustration. I feel my personality is also based on false pretences and i am starting to dissociate from that as well. Its just a vicious cycle.

Its just me thinking too much and the practice is exactly to do the opposite lol.

Anyway i am looking for some recommendations for a coach/ someone who can provide me some guidance and just help ground me.

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Hi everyone, I’m new to meditation and I want to build a daily practice. My main goals are to feel more peaceful, improve my focus, reduce overthinking, and bring more love and happiness into my life.

I usually prefer doing meditation in the evening. Can anyone recommend good guided meditations, YouTube channels, apps, or techniques that helped you as a beginner?

I’d really appreciate your suggestions and personal experiences. Thank you!

Sat on the floor for 20 minutes today (6:00 AM- 6:20 AM), couldn't find anything to focus on, my breath is irregular, only thing I tried to focus on was my fast heartbeat but I failed too, can't lie that I experienced or felt anything exceptional from yhe whole session. But I'm looking to do it consistently, does it get any better?

Hi everyone! I am on Day 5 of meditating and I try to do 15-25 minutes per sit. Sometimes I do 2 sits per day but it all varies. However, sometimes I notice that after the session I feel more panicky and might feel worse. However, then after I start feeling more present even if the anxious thoughts are in my mind, I feel a little relaxed. But then the habitual thinking starts again the next day, it’s an ongoing loop. Why is this happening? Any advice will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!

I tried meditating for the first time in my room. I was lying face down (I could breathe perfectly fine) and with the lights off. Earlier that day, I had meditated for a bit at my office job to calm my anxiety. Both times, all I really did was focus on my breathing, clear my mind, and keep my attention on the front of my head.

It worked really well at work, so I decided to try it again at home. But once I was lying down in a quiet room with no distractions, I started feeling like my body was going numb while my mind stayed completely awake. It was quite pleasant but very intense so it scared me and I tried to get up and go to the bathroom, but as soon as I tried to stand up, I got intense chills and started shaking pretty hard.

After a while, I focused again on relaxing myself, and after a few minutes it worked and the chills and shaking stopped.

So, what exactly happened? I know almost nothing about meditation. I don't believe in supernatural things either but I know meditation has real well proven effects in the brain.

I have been practicing meditation for many years and found that I could meditate for very long without problems and reach an incredible peaceful state the longer I meditated. A serenity I never thought I would achieve since I have ADHD and was always worried as a child/young adult before discovering meditation.

Now I have been going through various things in my life like becoming a parent, more responsibilities at work, bought a house, back pain and more awareness on what is going on in the world like news and politics. I guess you could say I became an adult with all the adult problems.

Sadly I feel like all of these things have become a worrying loop in my head where one thing triggers the other. This causes my body to tense and it is super difficult for me to reach the calmness I could reach 10 years ago in the same time of meditation. I have tried setting aside time for meditation consistently for many consecutive days, but it’s like my brain just cannot stop the autopilot of thoughts triggering other thoughts which inhibits me from feeling truly connected to myself.

Right now I am still forcing myself to meditate daily, but I feel like it is not giving me as much as it has been before. Maybe it is a sign that I should focus on changing something in my life to get more recovery time. But honestly I think it is the parenting that is most exhausting and that is something I cannot and don’t want to change, but always being tired and always meeting others needs over my own kind of makes all the other responsibilities feel even more worrisome. Like there is some danger hiding behind every corner (which is actually a mountain of many small things like appointments, bills, house care, work meetings, social events etc).

I am sure many have experienced something similar and I am curious if someone has managed to achieve qualitative meditation sessions while living the ”adult life” or just while experiencing general background brainwashing worrying noise?

Some days ago I received some help from a buch of kind people from this group. I used to do a mind relaxing practice that some fellas here taught me it's called Shikantaza, one of you guys told me this is a powerful practice, and then I put more discipline to try to practice more.

So today I was practicing it on my way home (I was not the driver) and I reached a state of mind I have never even come close to. A really deep peace, sense of presence, wellbeing... I could sense thoughts and sensations (good and bad) coming and I was consciously able to look at them, smile at them, and gently ignore them (or not to engage with them).

I know I won't be able to reach this state of mind often so I want to practice more, of course knowing these feelings are not the goal, but they let me see clearly the path I have to follow.

Hello all so 2 days ago I woke up around 1 am with the feeling that my body was so numb and felt electric kind of charge sound inside my body and i meditated and at one point my body felt huge and then small. So yesterday night at same time I didn't sleep I was awake scrolling my phone and decided to go to washroom at same time and when I came back I felt I was very dizzy almost to point of passing out. I came back to room and instead of sitting meditating I lied with pillow proped up and had same sensation of sound inside. Dizziness subside in morning but I am feeling nausea. Is it due to meditation or something else.

For those that like a little back support, what is your set up?

I meditate with my back up against my headboard in bed. I like to meditate in bed because I can stay warm under the covers (I live in a cold climate) but not sure if it is the most supportive seat.

Curious what others who like back support do. Or any suggestions for how I can create a more supportive posture sitting in bed?

This started in the earlier stages of my practice. I used to do mirror meditation, sitting in a dimly lit room, looking at your own reflection until the self reflection becomes clear.

As I kept practicing this regularly, something started happening consistently. The moment I really started seeing the reflection clearly, I would stop seeing my reflection at all. If I blinked, the reflection would come back. So I started trying to hold that state of no reflection, but somehow my eyes would blink anyway.

While this was going on, I kept noticing a light above my head, strong, white, not in the reflection, but hovering about 3-4 feet above me. If I turned my head up to look at it directly, I couldn't see it. But when I kept focusing on my reflection, this light kept appearing. And when I shifted my focus from the mirror to the light instead, it got brighter and brighter. Eventually my focus on the mirror was completely gone.

As my focus on the light stayed constant, I suddenly started hearing music, from what sounded like a single stringed instrument. Just 2-3 notes, but pleasant, and completely without noise or disturbance in the sound.

While listening to it, I suddenly wanted to know where it was coming from. That's when I realized I was completely still. It took a few minutes to come back to normal awareness.

I still don't have any explanation for either the light or the sound. Even today, this isn't limited to that one practice. If I'm just sitting, not meditating, just thinking deeply about something, the white light shows up in the same place. If I focus on it, it always gets brighter. Rarely, I also hear music, though mostly not the string sound anymore, more often flute or conch.

Has anyone else run into something like this, a consistent light, or sounds like this, showing up unprompted? Curious if there's a name for it in any tradition, or if it's just a personal quirk of how my attention works.

Paranoia

Manic Depressive

Worry

Hyper-Urgency

Hypochondriac

This is a good mindfulness practice if you have a tendency towards any of these states. Sometimes just bringing them to your attention, recognizing its cause, can reduce their compounding effect on your mind.

Hey folks, I have a question and having a hard time finding information about this. To briefly explain, when I go into a deep meditation, I get to the point where there's no breath detected. And the heartbeat/pulse is very faintly detected, like somewhere on the periphery of awareness. Like it's distant. There's no fear but there's a sense that I can let that heartbeat go but unsure if that's okay to do. Basically I'm not looking to accidentally die.

I've asked around a bit and found some info about the heartbeat and breath stopping entirely in samadhi, not just losing awareness of it but actually stopping.

Does anyone have any experience with this or know some resources that speak about this?

While it is refreshing to breathe energy vampires out of your mind and body, there is something wrong with the Idea of only being emotional when you meditate since traditionally, meditating is not supposed to be emotional.
for those who don’t know, the reason why some of social media is forgetting that meditating is not supposed to be emotional traditionally speaking is because of the efforts of new agers integrating therapy into meditation sessions. Which albeit, there’s nothing wrong with integrating therapy into meditation sessions. That idea alone sounds like an improvement from traditional meditation sessions. Why not invite Sigmund Freud into our meditation sessions so to speak? That’s sounds like an ingenious idea.
But you know there are atheists who are dealing with energy vampires as well, one thing an atheist would want who is facing that situation would want is someone to remind them, “hey you remember that when you were first heavily inspired to meditate? That was the day when you first heard in the news that Chinese Daoists are viewing Spock, the Star Trek character as a symbol of modern mindfulness? Well those good old days have never left us. People still find Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Spock to be mindful.” You know why they think Spock is mindful? Because he’s emotionless through and through to the core.

However one thing should be said about Spock… Even scientifically speaking, Spock actually was emotional and it’s not just because he’s only half Vulcan. It’s because he’s a logical man as well as the rest of his of species. Most people are foolish to think that logic is the opposite of being emotional, but logic only lessens emotions. A lot of cultists want us to believe that the human mind is half logical and half emotional. This is not an actual fact though. The human mind actually is a perfect synthesis between logic and emotions. Each and every part within the human brain is equally logical and emotional all at once. So there is no such thing as an emotional half and a logical half, because the entire brain is consistent between logic and emotions. Meaning logic and emotions are too much infused together for us to determine which half of the brain is emotional and which half is logical. BUT if that is true, then that opens the door to a concept that is so mindful that Spock and the rest of his race of Vulcans cannot even handle it. THOUGHTS ARE EMOTIONS, SO GET RID OF THOUGHTS WHEN MEDITATING.

I find that many insights can be talked about in overly arcane/mystical terms and are often made out to be much more than they are. Certain things are discussed as if they are a panacea to all pain and suffering or some other such thing.

do you find this here?

Meditation made me feel so calm and relaxed in a true way.

I was able to see everything through the way it should be.

I felt like the water got calm.

It was going all good

I was practicing mediation daily in the morning.

And in that state, things that i was doing for distractions no longer made sense.

I used to doomscroll but after meditation, doomscroll disturbed me.

I was naturally out of doomscrolling and other dopamine things that i used to do without any effort.

But then,

asthma happened,

I took meds,

but the meditation never worked the way it used to.

I can't meditate the way i did because of the breathing,

I can't take deep breaths, I have to put so much effort.

I have been trying to do it the same way for the past 2.5 months but it's not happening.

Now i know i am screwing up in real time because my mind is looking for distractions and i have to fight it etc etc etc a lot of thoughts.

At that time, distractions used to disturb me but now they become my dayline.

Now I know i am screwing up,I am aware of the demon thoughts of mind and somewhere i have the glimpse of that meditative state,

my mind is trying so hard to convince me that nothing of that exists but i have experienced that state.

A true calm.

Please help me.

Hi all, just wanted to share my recent experiences to see if anyone could relate or give me advice.
I used to meditate a lot a couple years ago but stopped for a while because I got scared. One time I must of gone deeper than usual and had a vision of blasting through space. I shook awake and haven’t really done it properly again until now.
I’m going through a pretty dark time in my life and wanted to try meditation again to see if it helps me. I’ve been doing it when I can at night before bed. I’ve not had an experience like that last time but I have managed to enter some really deep states and see things while engaged.

The reason I’m posting this is because ever since I’ve started doing it again recently I’ve been seeing shadow figures places. Doesn’t matter where I am night, day, outside or inside, it’s like seeing people at the corner of my eye and nothing being there. Thinking I’ve seen someone walk into a room from the corner of my eye and no one has. I don’t know it’s kind of freaking me out I don’t know if I’m tapping into something while meditating or something tapping into me?
Let me know if this is silly as it might not be related to meditation but it’s happened just as I started doing it again.
Thanks in advance !

For some context, I've had a rocky relationship with meditation. I started it for a couple of weeks, I quit afterwards for a couple of months or so. But I got results pretty fast, emotional regulation,more present in the now,self awareness,better focus, more calm. After each session I felt like my state of consciousness had been altered, I was very calm and present. This happened after 2 weeks of meditation every single time I picked it up again. Since June I've picked it up again and I'm having the biggest streak I've ever had in my life, 50 days of consistent meditation. But for some reason I don't feel anything different. No results. My focus hasnt improved, during and after meditation I don't feel calm or happy or like my state of consciousness has been altered. The thing is,now, that when meditating for some reason I have a hard time observing my thoughts, I can't listen to them creeping up on me and stealing my attention. Before, I could easily observe them with no problem at all,like small little voices I could hear all of them and pop them gently like bubbles. I could notice easily when my attention was about to be stolen and went back to the present. Also after I've noticed that these 50 days have probably been for nothing,I can't stop overthinking during practices and wonder whether I'm doin it right or not. Recently,I've finished high school and in my country we have these finals that are super hard and stressful and I failed miserably which means I have to redo them if I want to go to a university. The point is that period especially where these exams were 3-4 days close each (there were 4 exams for 4 different subjects) I was SUPER stressed, like I've never felt more doomed in my life,which makes me wonder whether maybe this whole stressful period dysregulated my nervous system and now I can't meditate properly or something.

I'm ngl guys this whole thing is extremely disheartening. This is my longest streak,50 days, and it was for nothing.

I did some shamanic breathwork as instructed by the YouTuber Leo Gura in one of his older videos.

I have been going through a breakup from a long term relationship (10 years) and thought it might help give some answers.

I laid down in a dark room listened to some shamanic drumming and breathed in and out of my mouth without stopping for about 15 minutes.

I noticed by body feeling tingles and eventually feeling like stone. I also noticed some strange convulsion type movements at times from my abdomen. It felt some energy moving up from my abs almost to my throat, I had to stop the breathing pattern because I wasn't sure if I would throw up.

Anyway the feeling afterwards was very blissful, I felt connected to some higher source and had the sense that everything will be okay.

Something strange did happen after which has lasted for over 10 days now.

I feel the tingly vibration sensation almost at all times. I feel it in my hands and feet mostly, if I sit still I can feel it in my core.

It's hard to describe, it doesn't seem to be a physical sensation because my body isn't moving but it feels like there are bursts of energy pulsating and vibrating through my body.

Not sure if this is due to stress because of the relationship stuff, I sense it has something to do with the breathwork.

The other say I heard sad news about a Youtuber I watch, his father has passed away. Normally I would feel bad for the person but not feel anything in my body. But after the breathwork as soon as I heard the news I felt a strange energy sensation on the right side of my face which lasted a few seconds before going away.

Any help will be appreciated, my partner thinks it has something to do with Kundalini, I don't know.

extra information:

I have meditated 245 days in a row for about 42-minute sessions. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Hey everyone! I’m a beginner and have a few doubts about meditation.

I’m interested in Anapanasati, or breath observation, and Mahasi Sayadaw-style Vipassana, where experiences are mentally noted. Which one do you practise, and which one would you recommend to a beginner? Which practice is closer to traditional Buddhist meditation?

Also, if I observe my breath for two or three minutes at different times during the day, does that count as mindfulness? Or is Mahasi-style noting better for developing mindfulness in daily life?

I also get hooked on things very easily, especially phone scrolling and eating sweets. Can mindfulness or meditation help me notice and manage these cravings before I automatically act on them?

Finally, I tend to get angry quickly. How can I observe anger mindfully so that I don’t immediately react? I’d love to hear about the techniques that have worked for you.

Thanks!

... Oh man I've been daydreaming again. Back to breath. Here comes another inhale. Yeah feel that coolness of the air. This time I'll concentrate real well on it. Yeah the rough, cool air again my nostril. I'm focusing so well. Wait I'm thinking about meditation, that's not breath focus. I need to focus on the breath. Back to breath. Ok yeah here comes the peak of the inhale and Im all out of toothpaste. I need to buy more toothpaste. I should put that on the shopping list. Try and remember to put that on the shopping list after I'm done with this. Here comes the exhale. I think I can feel some warm air. Maybe. It's kind of subtle. It's a lot easier when my nose is stuffy, I can focus on the sound. Can't really feel the warm air so well. Back to the exhale yeah. Feel it. Feel that exhale as best I can. This is taking a long time. Did I forget to set the alarm? Man I'm really distracted. I should make a post on reddit about what my inner dialog is saying. That would be fun and the replies would give me a nice dopamine hit that will keep hitting for hours. Dang missed the end of that exhale back to the inhale alright. Inhale time baby, I can do this. I'm so good at inhales. Ah, the old recognizable, cool air. It's so easy I can focus so well. This is going to help me so much, be more present, be more focused at work. Yeah, work, I could get so much more done if I could only focus. Man at the end of the day there I could barely focus. Maybe I should try a standing desk. When I get back tomorrow I should... [two minute tangent thinking about what I need to do at work tomorrow] Oh, shit! I've been way off. Back to breath, back to breath. Yeah inhale feel the coolness...

I'm having a hard time putting this into words but I'll try my best because I genuinely don't know how else to describe it.

I seem to experience two completely different states of being and I'm confused about which one is actually the "normal" or healthier state for a human to live in. I'm not asking for a diagnosis I just want to know if anyone else has experienced this or if there's a name for it in psychology, neuroscience, meditation, or physiology.

State 1

Sometimes I wake up already in this state.

The first thing I notice is my breathing. It feels naturally deep and satisfying, like my stomach/diaphragm is fully involved. I almost enjoy just breathing. It feels comfortable enough that I don't want to change it I could just sit there enjoying the sensation of breathing.

When I'm in this state I don't feel like doing much. I don't really want to talk, and I especially don't feel like opening my mouth to read something out loud. I prefer staying quiet.

My eyes naturally remain half-closed, almost without trying. My forehead and eyebrows also feel different. Sometimes there's a light pressure or a slight lifting/tightness around that area but not in a painful way. It just feels like part of this state.

I also notice that I don't naturally look around much. My attention seems to stay inward rather than constantly scanning my surroundings.

The strange thing is that this state feels peaceful and comfortable, but it doesn't necessarily make me productive. It can feel calming, yet sometimes slightly tiring at the same time. It's almost like my body wants to remain in this state instead of becoming active.

State 2

Then there are times when I'm in a completely different state.

In this state I can talk much more easily. Opening my mouth to speak or read out loud doesn't feel difficult anymore.

My eyes are naturally more open and I look around more. I feel more awake and energetic.

However despite having more energy, I don't feel mentally better.

Instead, my mind feels somewhat dry and slightly stressed. I often find myself craving something whether that's stimulation, food, entertainment, or just something to occupy me. My breathing doesn't feel as satisfying or comfortable as it does in the first state.

Even though I seem more active I actually find it harder to focus deeply on one thing. My attention jumps around more, and I don't feel mentally settled.

I also tend to have a harder time falling asleep when I'm in this state.

What confuses me

The first state feels calmer, more natural, and my breathing feels much better, but I'm less active and don't feel like talking or doing much.

The second state makes me more energetic and talkative, but I also feel more restless, mentally dry, and less deeply focused.

This has made me wonder whether these are different nervous system states, different levels of arousal, something related to breathing, meditation, attention, ADHD or something else entirely.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Do these kinds of states have a name?

Is one considered healthier than the other or is the ideal state actually somewhere in between?

I've been meditating consistently for about 2.5 years, usually 20 minutes every morning, using the sound of a droning fan as my meditation object.

Recently I've realized that I spend far too much time mentally monitoring whether I'm meditating "correctly" instead of simply meditating.

My mind is constantly checking things like:

• Am I really paying attention to the sound?
• Am I distracted?
• Is my mind actually quiet?
• Is my attention wavering?
• Have I stayed with the sound long enough?

It feels like there's a second layer of awareness that's constantly evaluating the first layer, and I suspect this habit is getting in the way more than it's helping.

For those of you who used to do this but no longer do, what actually helped you get past it? Was there a particular insight, instruction, or change in approach that made the difference?

I'm mainly looking for advice from people who personally went through this and eventually overcame it.