Hello, I will begin this by noting that I have been meditating for more than 15 years semi-regularly and I do not use any sort of recreational drinks or substances.

One morning a few months ago I was having a simple meditation, I was listening to one of Jeffrey Thompsons meditation songs. Very vividly, I saw myself in a dark space and I stood up, then I saw what I can describe as a small "window" appear and I went to it, suddenly I was pulled into what looked like the galaxy/space and in front of me was God. I was "lifted up" and my entire being became alive with white light. I then noticed that I was crying and came out of the meditation.

For some context, I had recently ended a long-time unhealthy relationship, and had been letting go of a ton of stress, for the first time in years felt peaceful overall.

I'd love to hear what this may mean?

Excuse me if this doesn’t make sense/ comes off as very novice. 
I have been interested in meditation for about a year now. I re-read a diary entry from May of this year where I was trying to work through this issue. It’s now October and I’m still thinking it through

It seems to be the case that when we want to concentrate, the mind wanders to distracting thoughts/memories/scenarios. I have also noticed that when I just sit or lay down (without the goal of meditating) on my bed or on public transport, my mind is pretty empty. I am sort of waiting for my mind to come up with something interesting and it normally doesn’t. This has led me to feel like my mind is very defiant because when I want it to be quiet, it doesn’t and when I want it to do something, it normally doesn’t want to. 

This led me to experiment with actively ‘watching’ my mind for thoughts when I am meditating rather than just focussing on the sensation below my nostrils. I think this might help to trick my ‘defiant’ brain. I am waiting to have a thought and so my mind doesn’t produce one as readily. Does this make sense? 
I was wondering if this is what people are referring to when they talk about having an alert (not dull) mind when meditating?

I tried doing this and I do think I had less thoughts/images. I did it this morning and it was okay at first and then I started to get flashing images and then I had an upsetting memory of something that I really latched onto. Oh well. 

I think the next step would be to accept and allow these thoughts/memories to arise and then return to watching for the next thought. 

What do you think? 

Hello! I'm new to meditation and I want to work on fixing my addiction to dopamine. More specifically to help cut back on doomscrolling, youtube, porn, and eating foods that are really bad for me like chips, candy, and stuff really processed stuff.

I want to cut out the addiction out because I'm a musician and these things make it very hard to enjoy creating. I will binge a bad habit and then in comparison the music creating becomes less enjoyable and I do it less, and this isn't good because making music is how I make money.

I guess the main question I have is, where do I start? I don't know how long I should meditate for or if there's a pose i should be in, if my eyes should be open or closed, I feel pretty clueless. And is there a way to meditate that helps me fix my relationship with dopamine? And maybe can it help me be more creative with music? anything helps! I want to learn.

I’m harboring a lot of resentment and bad feelings towards a few people. I’m gonna try to meditate on it but never meditated on my own or seriously. Also I can only hear my thoughts if I smoke beforehand. Anyone have tips or esoteric information on meditation for insight or spiritual connection? Im a very nihilistic person so this is my last resort at spirituality

I was wondering if anybody could offer some perspective of where to go from here.

My practice is in the dumps. I do informal practice only or try to apply mindfulness during the day as it's the only thing I'm still confident in. Two short weekend retreats last year kind of sapped all my motivation despite both being incredibly experiences. The years before, I was moderately consistent but got a lot of benefit from it.

But now, I just started a short guided love and compassion meditation in a new attempt to get back into it. When confronted with the introduction to take myself as the recipient I'm fine, glad even. Then a loved one is fine but getting a little wobbly, but at the mention of expanding it further I just get filled with feelings of sadness and anxiety.

Does it just mean compassion based practices are limited? It takes so much effort to get the wheel going again.. I'm getting help but it's taking very long. Thanks r/meditation!

Is there any difference between Shikantaza and Savasana? Both are just doing nothing in different postures

The last days i started doing vagus nerve meditation.
The first days i had anxiety but now i feel the positive effects ;)
In this meditation you are supposed to breath in with your nose and breathing out longer with the mouth.

After a few minutes i felt my sexual energy i was sexual aroused.

Suddenly i felt a wonderful feeling in my whole body it started in my pelvis area, a bit like an orgasm but 1000x better. After that i felt such a strong happiness and i was so calm.

What i also noticed some blockades have cleared. The day after i felt even more confident and i wanted to go out from my comfort zone more.

Now the question is am i losing sexual energy doing this or not?

Im on Semen Retention since one year so its important to not lose any sexual energy.

For the past 16 days, I’ve been chanting Maa Durga’s mantra regularly.

Last night, I poured my heart out to Maa Durga, asking when my struggles would end and praying for a sign by morning.

Today, during Brahma Muhurta, while completing my 1,000 chants with my eyes closed, I felt someone approach me, stand before me, and place a hand on my head. I was frightened, yet deeply emotional and overwhelmed by a sense of bliss.

I don’t know if it was my mind or something beyond my understanding, but the experience felt incredibly real.

Has anyone experienced something similar during meditation or chanting? 🙏 Jai Maa Durga.

Hi. As mentioned in the title, I am looking for meditation retreats for Thanksgiving in the U.S. I'm based on western NY, so prefer something driving distance, but happy to travel.

I'm looking for group retreats not self-directed as I'm currently struggling to do this on my own.

Self love is the name of the game, as I grow I realise that unconditionally loving yourself makes away for conscious awakening.

As we’re dealing with words, it can get muddy when trying to implement it in your life and soul. It seems when I am able understand how to love to myself beyond the world of ideas, the need to control disappears.

I’d really appreciate any things people could share about how they’ve deepened their understanding and ability to unconditionally love themselves.

Practices, books, meditations, anything, please share!

Meditation is a movement from the collective unconscious to conscious awareness. And the purpose of meditation practice is to expand your range of skills in the present moment.

On my workdays I don't have any time to spare to meditate so I just focus on my thoughts and awareness inbetween customer interactions. I'm never high at work but when I point my awareness in a certain direction it feels like I'm buzzing. I've talked to a couple of friends about it and I still really don't know how normal this is. It feels like hacking happiness, like I literally don't have to do anything or be anyone in order to feel okay.

Hi everybody. I'm a beginner and i need help.

I have been meditating off and on since I was 13, earlier it was extremely easy for me to meditate- let my thoughts flow and there have been instances where I burst out crying. I had a terrible experience earlier- one in which i was in deep and i kept repeating to myself "I'm scared im scared" because I felt like im in a deep pit falling somewhere losing myself. This happened when I was 14-15.

I'm 19 now. I've been trying to meditate because truly, everything else feels pointless. Deep down, I know and feel I'm not my transitory thoughts and I've developed an identity in my mind- my mind or thoughts are basically like tools helping me to survive and exist in the world out there. No? This is what I feel myself. I feel extremely detached and purposeless in the outside world. With people, friends, etc and etc. It's not like I don't feel emotions. I feel them in the most vast expressive way possible. But there is this under current of me feeling like this is all purposeless and fleeting.

I try to meditate but there's this constant critic in me telling me I'm doing this to run away from the real world or socialization? I inherently don't feel any need to socialize and I feel detached when I'm around people, I just crave and long to be in this state of mind-less-ness which comes to me sometimes. How do I deal with this voice? It's too overpowering. I can let thoughts come and go. But i feel like this part of my ego is too overpowering. Is it because I feel like there is some truth to it? I actually feel like how i feel is wrong. Like me feeling detached and purposeless is wrong. For the outside world. I think it's cause I've been around people too much who would think of this as useless and would ask me to focus on studying and making friends instead..which i do, but there's no satisfaction.

Please, I need help. I just want to be able to let my thoughts pass. Why do i cling so much?

I’m 3 weeks into meditating. First two weeks I would miss the weekend and hop back on Mondays. Not the best but I’ve already noticed a difference. Yesterday was the first day I noticed that I don’t have just baring amount of anxiety that just comes at random times, my job has become less stressful for me. Just overall relaxed.

I do a 7 minute session from Lavendair in the and just started doing a 5 minute session around lunch time from her as well. Shorter sessions keep me consistent. I want to eventually hit 10-15 minute session and weekends do a 30.

But I want to know everyone progression and how it’s changed their lives? And how soon you noticed that meditation is powerful.

Just an open question for anyone who wishes to share and discuss:

What changes in your perception and the way you view and live your life have resulted from your practice of meditation.

I had a 100 day streak and felt super proud of myself since I’ve never been able to maintain a streak so lengthy in my 5 years of meditation experience.

Then summer came and I was abroad for 6 weeks and fell out the routine around 3 weeks into being abroad. The last 3 weeks of my vacation until now (+2 weeks) I’ve been having trouble sleeping again. This was one of the benefits I appreciated the most as I had sleeping issues for the last 1-2 years due to university stress.

I started meditating 2 days ago again, and last night had the best sleep of my life, uninterrupted and I fell asleep quite quickly, without overthinking all night. Meditation requires a lot of discipline and it’s so easy for me to fall out of the habit but once I start experiencing suffering again, it just reminds me why it’s so worth investing time in this small but high reward habit.

I have begun chanting Om and really feeling like more energy and less anxiety. What other chants should I use or stick with Om? New to this so not sure where to start

I have found two scenarios that when i imagine cause profuse unrelenting physical crying almost like a purely physical manifestation of grief but no emotional side to it, and the two scenarios are unrelated and have no history attached to them or anything, one i discovered in childhood and the next i discovered about 15 years later in my 20s during meditation

the childhood scenario i discovered is if i imagine myself having powers, which i believe stemmed from my interest in superman etc but the imagined scenario involves more of an omnipotence side, which when i imagine myself there for whatever reason causes involuntary constant crying that borderline blurs my ability to even think about it properly so i have mostly ignored it

the second scenario i noticed during meditation one day randomly, i was using visual imagery and wanted to imagine myself underneath a tree which sparked instantaneously the exact same experience, and i cried relentlessly and unstoppably for 30 minutes straight trying to understand it and i just couldn't with so much physical effect clouding me from doing so

because of such severe physical sensation i have never fully been able to think or understand about either situation, i cannot imagine the specifics of the powers, or in the tree secenario i cannot place a specific tree or area, but if i imagine something like laying by a tree its perfectly fine and extremely vivid, the effect also happens whether i imagine myself in 1st or 3rd person in respective scenarios

As a beginner, I notice these two things, and as such, I ask if there is anything that is being done wrong: First off, whenever I sit down, I try to focus on my breathing and have also been told to focus on an object. Despite that, my vision usually seems to blur after a while, so I have to re-concentrate, though if I do not focus onto an object I feel more relaxed. I also do not get how people who close their eyes during meditation can focus on an object.

The other thing is that I do not understand the concept of "watching your thoughts". Throughout meditation, I may have thoughts, but they are passive, randomly appearing whenever I meditate. Is meditation supposed to be just focusing on your breathing and on an object, and any thoughts, even passive, are to be removed to get back on track?

Before I learned meditation, breathwork and daily devotional practice, I was extremely anxious, impulsive and insecure. I was always focused on what others were doing in their lives and never gaining insight on my own. After continuously practicing meditation, I feel more calm and confident, however I feel detachment. It's like I dont care about superficial desires anymore. I dont care about social status, most of the desires I once had have come to a halt. Please enlighten me if this is normal.

i’m pretty new to meditation and it’s something i’ve wanted to do for a long time.

I’m a very stressful person and i tend to overthink a lot, i already journal everyday and that helps but i really need help calming down. I’m constantly alert and i get so strsssed that my heart races and i panic.

My first attempts of meditation were short as I heard that’s how your start, just a few minutes and only focus on your breathing. I listen to ambient noises in the background as they help me calm down.

Idk if people meditate in order to pray or anything, i’m not religious and i have my own beliefs.

I just want advice on the overall benefits people have felt from meditation, what’s the best and most effective way to do it, and how often and how long most do it for. I’m open to all constructive criticism!

I just started meditating for 5-6 days.. I noticed 2 things while meditating, first that I don't have any thoughts when I close my eyes and start meditating and 2nd I get thoughts but they are so senseless close to dreams..even dreams seem real but my thoughts while meditating are so childlike...I observe it at that moment but when I open my eyes I forget everything that I observed.

Am I doing it the right way?

I am very new to meditation, and today was my first day ever truly attempting to open my mind spiritually. I just sat alone in my room, with all sound off except an LED light, and sat up in my bed with my eyes closed for an hour straight. I slowly started thinking about a light in my head and i started receiving closed eyes visuals lining up with my breathing. I could only describe it as a purple light that would become a tiny circle as i breathed in, and would expand far into my whole sight as i breathed out. This continued for about 20 minutes until i felt like i couldn’t breathe anymore and the light looked as if it bursted. I then opened my eyes to feel a heavy head feeling and almost the urge to break until tomorrow. Has this happened to anyone before?

This morning, after a Monroe audio session and meditation practice, one line landed with total clarity: never speak ill of anyone. It felt like a full awakening, and then the reasons came flooding in.

**1. Everyone is already doing their best.**

Whoever a person is right now is the sum of all their causes, maybe across many lifetimes. "Karma" isn't quite the right word; it's closer to the output of a system running its structure. Given who they are, where they are, and what they can do, their best is exactly what you're seeing.

We're each running our own script, and when scripts meet, there's friction. Two hard objects don't merge on their own; you need heat or something in between. That's when "the highest good is like water" finally clicked for me. Water nourishes everything and holds everything. It isn't just a substance. It's a state: fluid.

**2. Negative words don't get you what you want.**

Speaking ill of someone spreads negative energy. It hurts them and rarely brings anything good back. That's very different from self-reflection: when I criticize myself, at least I know it's to grow. When I criticize someone else, they can't see my intent. Make it a habit and it gets worse, because even people who know you mean well start to push back.

**3. Words manifest.**

I believe we're all manifesters, and I know I am. So what we say matters enormously. One key to manifesting: only the keywords in a sentence really carry. Speak ill of others, and it can turn back on you.

**4. The deeper layer: we are one.**

I've long believed we're one with the universe, all part of a single whole. Look closer and each of us has a higher-dimensional self; anyone can reach the Dao or awaken to buddha-nature. Buddhism even says all things have it. Negative judgment comes from our lower-level thinking. From the higher self we all share, those words aren't just small. They're wrong.

And from oneness: speaking about others is speaking about yourself. Label someone, and you label yourself. If there's any chance it manifests back on you, that's reason enough to be careful. That's cause and effect too.

From today, I'm practicing this line and tuning myself to this frequency.

**P.S.** The moment the urge to speak ill arises, or the words slip out, that's the best feedback I can get. It means something in my practice isn't complete yet, and in that moment I'm thinking about it wrong.

**P.P.S.** I now feel more deeply what the phrase "see your mind, see your true nature" means.

I have long been interested in closed eye visuals/hallucinations ever since inadvertently experiencing them (level 2 + 3) when following a “how to lucid dream” tutorial. Upon researching them I realized you can achieve them through meditation.

As an artist I would absolutely love to be able to access a richer and more vivid plethora of visuals in my mind’s eye, but Im honestly rather afraid of them. Many people describe them as scary or even seeing them while their eyes are open, or being unable to stop them from coming to them when trying to sleep on a regular night. Is this a healthy practice? Does this happen with certain meditations (like just concentrating on lower levels of closed eye visuals when they occur) or does it happen naturally in your meditation journey? I am afraid of ‘turning on’ that part of my brain and experiencing it anytime I want to rest, having hallucinations appear with my eyes open, and/or causing myself sleep paralysis. But it seems like such an interesting thing to explore.