So I have been practicing guided meditations for around 10 months now, daily for 20 minutes. What I've noticed is I am able to clearly see my own thoughts and what bothers me and notice my own pattern of the mind trying to latch onto some thoughts which trigger overthinking. I feel like I've improved at letting go but at the same time I notice everything too clearly, even other people and I don't know if it's progress but sometimes the hurtful stuff or ignorant stuff other people say sticks to me, like my mind needs a reason to be upset about that and I spiral. Even though I Want to be immune to all of this and what other people say, I feel like I notice every other thing they say and my mind chews onto the "offensive stuff" they say and spirals on it. Is this normal? How do I get past this stage?

For 9 minutes. Watched my breath come and go. During the last 30 seconds, my head started hurting a bit. Like a sore muscle after the first workout.

Is this normal or am I missing something?

Hi all i am very new to this sub and pretty new to meditation. Over the last couple years I have finally realized that people can actually picture things in their minds, whereas I just think about the describing details to gather information. I do not see any thoughts, if you say “picture a red apple” in my mind I will think about apples, how I know they are a small fruit roundish in shape with various colors from yellow to deep red. I know what colors are from references I remember learning. When I see it I am like that is clearly red, but I do not “picture” it “see” it in my mind but in now clearly what you are talking about. What are some meditation that can help me really connect ignoring “visualization” or “feeling an imaginary light” that no matter how hard I try I can’t feel and just feel bad and discouraged the whole time

While i was meditating i felt i was deep into ocean

i meditate for 20 mins daily..today i closed my eyes and started ovserving my breath and i went to a room where me and some people were inside a room and slowly the room felt with black water i don't know how just kinda flood type but the water was totally black and people there were unbothered by it but i was kinda panicking so i left the room and right aftwr i left i got swept away by the water...i could actually feel i am deep inside the water and i am conscious amd i m letting myself feel and was like let's see what happens...after a while i got into clear water ocean water and in oceam i was at the top i was floating...i was happy Then my alarm went off It never happened before What does this mean? How can i feel the sinkng???

I need encouragement. I started watching my thoughts and a bunch of trauma stuff came up. I'm doing fairly good at watching them from the outside and seeing their just thoughts and not me. but I miss the me that suppressed everything. I'm so anxious now.

It's like now that I opened it, it's all flowing out. I'm trying to focus on distraction and not focusing on it when I'm not meditating.

Hi there,

I would like to learn how to meditate from a ONLINE formal course program; preferably with some kind of certification. Could someone please recommend some good and popular ones?

Thanks!

So from what I understand one of main purposes of meditation is to cultivate mindfulness. Obviously there is a lot of new age pseudo spirituality surrounding it these days. Snake oil salesman selling programs to achieve astal projection and past life regression. Ect.

And obviously there can be some very profound spiritual experiences that can come from meditation. For example the monk who self burned. My father was a monk and when I heard about that story as a child I asked him about it. He told me the monk would have been in such a deep meditative state that it was similar to a coma or deep sleep. So it can be applied and seen in real practice.

So I ultimately know my goal shouldn't be to have a spiritual experience from meditation. It should be to cultivate mindfulness, detach from thought. But what about spiritual experiences? Can I expect to have one at some point in my journey or should I throw that idea out the window and continue to practice regardless?

For the record I am buddhist. Whenever I sit for an extended amount of time. Usually past the 35 minute mark I'm completely detached from my thoughts an existing in what feels like a void.

I start seeing these images flash behind my eyes and they are really random images sometimes it could be like an image of a photo of children together and I don't recognize the children or maybe I might see a couple holding each other or hugging each other. I will also see random images of landscapes of wooded areas or forests.

I keep telling myself it's not really anything besides maybe my body starting to drift into some sort of very light state between sleep fullness and waking. I have had the tendency to fall asleep before during meditation whenever I was running low on sleep or stressed.

I'm wondering if anyone has any explanation or experienced something similar and knows what this is?

I try not to dwell and focus too much on meditation being spiritual and achieving some type of supernatural state and try to just think about it being mindfulness practice. Although I have heard of people talking about experiencing spiritual phenomenon while practicing.

I used to think I was just “bad” at meditating. My mind would race, my legs would ache, and I kept getting frustrated with myself.

But over time especially after guiding others through meditation , I realized it wasn’t about forcing the mind to be still. It was about changing my relationship with the struggle.

Just wanted to share this in case anyone else is feeling stuck or thinks they’re “doing it wrong.” You’re not. Your path is valid.

What’s something that helped you get past your meditation struggles ?

I am meditating a lot recently and the ongoing pain in my feet can be unbearable at times. I try to watch the pain as it comes and goes but it can be extremely sharp. The only thing that keeps me going while I work is to constantly be moving my foot. Somehow that helps. With meditation it can be distracting. Does anyone have any tips or advice on working with the pain rather than reacting to it in meditation?

Hello everyone! I’m new to meditation. I know there are benefits to it and have decided to give it a try. Today was my second day meditating using the Peloton app and about 3 minutes into it I started crying. I’m not a really a cryer, I’m not one of those “macho” guys who thinks crying is stupid. I’ve just never been a big cryer. While it did feel like a little bit of a release it was a big surprise that that happened. I’m going to keep at it but I’m a little confused as to why that happened. Would someone be able to explain this to me? I know I’m not the only person to ever have this happen.

Thanks!

I’ve been hearing a lot about how meditation can help with stress, focus, and overall mental health, but I’ve never really tried it seriously. Every time I sit down, my mind just wanders and I get frustrated. For those who’ve made it a regular habit, how did you get started, and what actually worked for you in the beginning? Apps, techniques, time of day, any tips are welcome!

As I've been meditating more and more lately, I've noticed that my mind is sending me a lot of thoughts of anger (only some days). For example, these are old conflict situations in which I think of alternative outcomes - but which primarily trigger anger and fury. These thoughts come without any acute reason.

Now I'm wondering how I can deal with this. These are probably unprocessed emotions. It seems inappropriate to me to pursue and allow these hypothetical trains of thought. How can I deal with this? Will I ever put these thoughts behind me? Has anyone had similar experiences and found a solution? Thank you very much!

(Translated into English)

I’ve recently noticed my restless leg symptoms arising while meditating. It begins 15-20 min into a session and it’s made me unable to go past 30 min at a time.

I’ve had restless leg symptoms already, but the timing is new. And frustrating. I’m not able to let my body relax and end up focusing only on the need to move my legs.

I’m curious if anyone else has ever experienced it, and what may have helped you

Not sure if this can be asked here but what is the view on being in an antidepressant and practicing meditation? Will the benefits from meditation be clouded by antidepressant medication? I worry that by getting on an antidepressant that I will or benefit from meditation and/or will not be able to reach a truly peaceful state.

What are your views on this? Anyone with experience or had asked his before?

I got home from work this evening and I was so mentally drained, I walked over to my bed and just plopped my back onto it, and closed my eyes.

Which led to me having this weird meditative experience where I felt these rhythmic, wave typa sensations in my body. It was like gentle pulses or vibrations that came in waves, it felt kinda good I won’t lie, they werealmost like a ‘voom voom’ rumbling sound in my ears. (I usually get those in my ear if my mind is slightly aware right before I sleep) It happened as I focused on my breathing, bodily sensations like touch, hearing and also imagining myself in aless than physical way (like a blob). It was kinda calming ngl

Idk what I just did tbh and it’s my first time ever meditating maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer?

Hey guys, so i have two questions.
1. I was meditating once and suddenly tears started coming they didn't occur symmetrically but yes, first from the left and then from the right, at first I thought maybe it's happening bcs I'm blinking my eyes less ( I was trying zazen, so my eyes were half open half closed maybe) but then idk it kept happening and the tears fell only when i exhaled , there was no emotion but then even my nose got watery, it was a little different sensation idk what it was, if someone could explain me that.
2. When I meditate , the slower i and deeper i go in my breaths, i start feeling some weird thing in my head, idk what it is like a buzz or a wave but it feels really really good, it doesn't happen all the times i sit down for meditation but when it happens it's a lovely feeling what can this be ?
It will be a pleasure if you answer my questions, thank you !

Hi, i have quastion about meditation. Istarted few weeks ago doing ones or twice a day for 15 min. Mostly happens then my mind more or less quiet down im keep falling asleep for few second then wake up for some time then again falling asleep for few seconds. I never sleep all 15 minutes just in and and out of sleep. Is that normal for begginer? Should i change something. I tried siting in sofa,chair, on the floor in lotus position. In the morning day time evening, Most times are same

I listened to a guided meditation on YT while in a Refuge Recovery group. During it the Native American man spoke of a proverb that everything in nature tries to be a circle. Going on to talk about the shapes of things to the spirit and universe and onwards... Any idea where I can find this again? It was an amazing help to my recovery.

Or only the access concentration? Much merits!

I am 26 years old and feel incomplete and scared. Now I believe less in man-made gods. Before this, I tried hard and did jap (chanting) of many gods, like 51 and 101 times. I started chanting the Gayatri Mantra 101 times, but I never felt any strong connection. I heard Osho say that meditation can feel as intense as an orgasm, but I never felt anything like that. Maybe I don’t know how to meditate. Can someone please teach me meditation? I will follow your suggestion for 7 days, but I want to see results. People do masturbation because dopamine release and giving pleasure I don't know what pleasures meditation give

There’s two separate parts to this post. The overall summary is that I have a hard time focusing on one thing for too long and I think it’s been affecting my sleep.

Problem 1) I have trouble focusing on breathing or one single thought. When I forcefully try to think about my breathing, I start thinking about something else. It feels like a never ending goal trying to focus on one thing. For example, when I’m trying to fall asleep, I try to focus on one thing, say walking along a trail, but when I focus on that to naturally calm my body down and be in a state of flow, I get tense by the imaginative never ending path of that thought. What I mean is that I feel like that one thought is something that goes on forever and I must constantly think about that thought with no end in site. This no end in site feeling is where I start to have a thoughts about a million other things thus causing anxiety and sleep deprivation

Problem 2) I have lots of strong sexual desire thoughts. They can be about fantasies or just normal sexual experiences, but recently maybe on the fantasy side. However I notice that when I have these thoughts they cause my body to feel tense. With this tense feeling I have a mental focus on that thought and my assumption is because it’s satisfying, feels good. I noticed that when I don’t ejaculate for about a week, I feel more calmness, more clarity, and less stress. Is that me imagining something?

Hello, I have been practicing yoga and meditation for about a year now. I do a lot of Yoga Nidra and guided meditations as well as simple zen meditation without maybe light music in the background.

I have made a lot of progress in various mental health issues and stress management but still find myself with periods of intense facial tension due to stress and relieving the tension takes a long time and is very difficult.

Can someone help me further my practice with information that can help me learn to relax my face?

I know it doesn’t make sense, but I was wondering if we can meditate listening guided meditation, then what’s that difference if I fully focus listening to random podcast like mindfulness way?

Im at the start of my journey. Ive read about people meditating for hours, how do you achieve that? Do you actually sit still for hours being in the moment? Ive been doing mostly guided meditations or following sequences (travels, spirit animal, chakra), would you just repeat the practices over and over for hours? Or once, and then turn off your brain?

Sorry, I'm new to this, but I feel like a need a break from a couple of things, and it would do me good to take a longish (couple days) meditation break, but im unsure on how to go into it..