Mindfulness/meditation - do you do it?

[Cable]

This topic can border on P/R forum, but that is not the intent at all. This is meant to be secular, so please leave any religious talk out.

https://www.nytimes.com/column/meditation-for-real-life

So does anyone else practice it? Related practices are yoga and martial arts. I have been running a Mindfulness mental health group for awhile, it being part of a bigger whole. The more and more I keep my ears open, the more I hear about how widespread it is.
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/04/24/modern-meditation

[Adami]

I knew you'd be the one to start a mindfulness thread. Haha.

I use it a lot with my clients. Mostly as a means of heightening awareness and keeping them in the present. Pretty helpful for anxiety.


I try to use it too, but I could do a lot more.

[Cable]

I knew you'd be the one to start a mindfulness thread. Haha.

I use it a lot with my clients. Mostly as a means of heightening awareness and keeping them in the present. Pretty helpful for anxiety.


I try to use it too, but I could do a lot more.

Leave it to social work to bastardize psychological research. 

[Phoenix87x]

I don't know if I would formally call it meditation, but I definitely "Reflect" on almost a daily basis. And its not formal, its not planned. Just when I have an opportunity to be in a quiet place, all by myself, I just think about my day, think about my life, think about things that have happened to me in the past and what I learned from those situations, think about decisions I've made and think about the future. I turn it all over in my head.

This is a way I found to help me to keep my life in balance, and keeps me pretty chill.

And then there are times where I just find a beautiful and peaceful place, such as the state park which is close by and just sit there by the creek and let myself go. Just lost in the sound of the stream, the singing of the birds and the rustling of the summer's breeze. No thinking at all, just savoring the moment. Lost in it.

[rumborak]

I've been looking into it, but I have to say I never like those regimented ways of approaching things. For example, I like the idea behind yoga, I.e. meditative slow movement, but the whole "downward puking cow, sankanakabah" pulls me out of it. So, as a result I am rather just letting my body tell me what feels good and do that. At least to me, the simple act of doing something slow, pointless and good for me is great in its own right.

[Adami]

I've been looking into it, but I have to say I never like those regimented ways of approaching things. For example, I like the idea behind yoga, I.e. meditative slow movement, but the whole "downward puking cow, sankanakabah" pulls me out of it. So, as a result I am rather just letting my body tell me what feels good and do that. At least to me, the simple act of doing something slow, pointless and good for me is great in its own right.

Yea, I'd just ignore all that stuff.


Honestly, one of my issues with linking mindfulness to meditation is the skewed version of meditation most Westerners tend to have. You don't have to be sitting peacefully in quiet dark room with dim candles and incense burning to meditate or engage in mindfulness. It can be an active thing, and you can engage in meditation or mindfulness in your daily lives.

One of the things I'm a big fan of, and seems to really help my clients is mindful eating/drinking. It's pretty simple. You just eat/drink very slowly and really pay a lot of attention to all of the sensations involved. Really focus on the tastes, textures, smells etc. It's simple but really keeps you focused and present.

You can go on mindful walks, where you just pay a lot of attention to what your body is experiencing when you walk. Looking at all of the sites, hearing all the sounds, paying attention to what your feet feel like, legs, etc. What does the temperature feel like on you? Is there a breeze?

There's tons of ways to include mindfulness in your life.

[rumborak]

Interestingly, rock climbing is very meditative ("be one with the rock"). Sometimes I will scrape myself and have no recollection of it because my whole mind was totally zoned out and doing only rock climbing.

[Cable]

Exactly as Adami stated. And yup Rumborak, as a rock climber on hiatus myself it can totally be a mindful thing. The very nature of climbing is an elaborate, physically intense thing. Yet during some climbs, the draining aspect doesn't come until near the end of the days' climbing. Even the act of hiking to a rock face- as Adami said about noticing things as you walk. The more I think about it, the whole package of rock climbing can be mindful; camping, hiking, climbing & belaying, cleaning cams.

My group aide said it best once; many of us are kind of doing it already. We just do not draw attention to it, and are not fully aware of it. Despite me feeling the term mindfulness has cheapened more broad concepts, the term is used precisely for this, as in the traditional sense mindfulness is state of awareness. So just as what was already said, we can be mindful of pretty anything. Or mindfully do anything. I haven't seen any limits- so yeah, playing music. I analogize playing in the pocket, or maybe improvising, being in the moment and not caring about a mistake or anything.

That being said, traditional meditation is the more pure form of mindfulness IMO, and something that should be a goal for many. It simply focuses on breathing, which is the core thing that we to living vs. not.

[lonestar]

I practice in my own way, it's a part of the program I'm in (see step 11). In early recovery my outpatient program taught us a ton of different meditative techniques, and I have taken a few of my favorites to put into use, mainly the brief ones (just a few minutes) that really help me right the ship so to speak. For me it works the same as turning off and on a computer, just starts everything over on even ground.

[Phoenix87x]

This summer I want to go floating



Its a sensory deprivation chamber. The big egg closes so its totally dark and the water has salt in it so you float. Its totally quiet, so you are cut off from all eternal senses and 100% free to just think.

[Chino]

While I understand it's not yoga, hiking, or rock climbing, I feel like I'm meditating when I'm at my bench working on my RC cars. With all the crap that comes with owning a house and the mental anguish I face sitting in a cubicle day in and day out, it's one of the few things that allows me to just block out the rest of the world and be in my own head for a bit. I have all these responsibilities and deliverables that consume the majority of my life, yet something as simple building an RC truck can put a hard stop to all of that. My favorite part about Victoria being a late sleeper and me being an early bird is that every Saturday morning I get 2-4 hours of just me time in my hobby room. It's incredibly relaxing and a great way to start the weekend after a shitty week in the office.

[vtgrad]

Yoga and Tai Chi Chuan for me (tho not nearly enough); I focus on Scripture and my own breathing cadence.  I've noticed lately that I drop into my natural breathing cadence for Tai Chi during the work-day when it's quiet and I'm working on easier clients and scenarios.

Aside from the Spiritual benefits, I can also say that Yoga specifically has improved my athletic performance on the b-ball court, the golf course, and the rock (whenever I get a chance) or any other type of ascent I might embark on.

Cable's right... the whole of climbing (in any of it's forms) is meditative, and that feeling is addicting.  A good addiction. 

That sensory deprivation tank looks AWESOME... though I expect to see the Deacon burst out of that guy's chest at any second (watched Prometheus this weekend).

[Cable]

I actually use sensory deprivation for a small portion of the group I run. Considering their environment is chaotic, 5 minutes with white noise and no lights is a big deal. And makes focusing easier for most. That said, I want to try one of those tanks one day! Just cannot do them for too long I have heard.

[bosk1]

I do a bit of what Adami and rumborak described, and I find that it's benefit on mental and spiritual health is immeasurable.  It is essential, IMO.  Unfortunately, I find myself doing less and less in my latter years.  Part of it is just being busy rushing from one thing to the next.  Another part of it is that smart phones and the culture of multitasking, in my honest opinion, have created a form of almost ADD that kill any ability to meditate, and I am not kidding the least.  I need to get more focused again.

[rumborak]

bosk, truth on the smartphone right there. I have noticed that when I sit in a subway, I no longer just zone out and get lost in my own thoughts. These days, my immediate reaction is to grab my phone and stare at the screen. That stuff isn't good, and I'm really trying to work on that.

[King Postwhore]

My wife has her zenith working in her 10 gardens.  It's about finding your own "place."

[sylvan]

This is literally the story of my adult life. I can't imagine who I would be without the time I've spent with MYSELF. On a regular basis, it's more about reflection. I get closer to meditation with my running. It can vary between reflection and deeper meditation. And depending on my mood, if I go without music there's more mindfulness, being aware of all things as opposed to dissociation when I'm rocking the fuck out.

Are any of you familiar with Wim Hof?

[ReaperKK]

I used to practice meditation a lot a while back but since changing jobs and moving I haven't been keeping up with it. It does help me focus and I should really get back into it.