Do you meditate? TM or MF?

[Folk]

So, starting to go deep in the Mind/Body subject and I've been searching about Meditation, specially the differences between Transcendental Meditation and Mindfullness.
Basically the difference is that Transcendental Meditation uses a mantra, while Mindfullness you focus your attention on your breathing or something like it (counting numbers etc..). And, of course, Mindfullness is free, while Transcendental Meditation requires a qualified teacher and normally costs more than $1.000.

It's pretty hard to find out real differences between the benefits of them. TM organizations claim there are benefits that only apply to that kind of meditation and that there are much more studies done on TM than MF/others. I don't know if that's true but it certainly is hard to believe.

I'm starting on that journey now and I think we can benefit a lot from meditation, but I'm torn between those two and then, being worried about it makes it harder to start any of them hahaha.

I think I'm going with the Mindfullness specially cause it seems easier. But I would like to know your experiences with that subject. Thanks!

 

[madie]

IMHO meditation is mind-training. As we learn to hold ourselves in a silent space while our thoughts whirl around, we experience that we are not our thoughts. This is the beginning of profound changes.

You want to choose a form of meditation that you will actually do. You might experiment for a while before you find your path into stillness. I think it's helpful at the beginning to give your mind something to focus on other than random thoughts. But what works best - a mantra, counting breaths, soft focus on a candle, whatever - is individual.

 

[Remy]

Just my two cents, I wouldn't spend a fortune on TM until you know for sure if you like meditation in general and if it clicks for you. There are lots of free apps for meditating now and many of them are pretty good. Headspace is one that came to mind. You can get guided meditations on CDs too that are good for beginners.

I do my meditation every night after dinner and I do think it helps somewhat. I like the routine of it anyway. I think I've been doing it for a little more than a year now. I chant Kundalini mantras myself.

 

[tandrsc]

I don't find mindfulness helpful at all, and anything that asks me to focus on my breathing seems to make things worse; but I do find the following technique helpful:

1. Find the pulse in your wrist.
2. Focus on the pulse and count it, one... two... one... two...

The counting allows me to push all those nasty intrusive thoughts out of my head, but without too much concentration.

I do this for five minutes every hour.

If you like guided mediation, this site has lots on one minute mediation tracks:
http://www.just-a-minute.org/resource_centre/

 

[Wayne]

You want to choose a form of meditation that you will actually do.

Bingo!

Hi @Folk, fortunately, I've found that the most effective "meditative" technique for me is actually more of a relaxing "contemplative" technique. And it costs nothing. Here's a link to a 3-minute introductory video about "Singing HU".

I tried TM many years ago, and discovered it didn't work for me at all. Other techniques I explored never really resonated with me, with many of them feeling overly complex, which essentially made them prohibitive because of my health and cognitive issues.

Not only do I experience a deep, relaxing calm when doing the HU technique, but I feel the sound reverberates through my system in many profound ways. This includes opening my heart to love, and unwinding old karmic patterns that are holding me back spiritually.

Good luck finding something that works really well for you. I might suggest you consider keeping your hand on your wallet as you do your research!

Best, Wayne

 

[Veet]

Here's a different way of thinking about meditation. These days meditation for me is mostly about watching the extent to which my inner dialog crowds out whatever radio or music I'm listening to.

 

[Folk]

Yeah, for those wraning me about not buying into the TM expensive costs, no worries, I don't mean to do that at all.
I actually don't even think we have those "experienced $$$ teachers" here in my country.

I would just do the Mantra technique (TM) vs the Focus on breathing (Mindfulness)
I've been told by people who took the course that TM isn't more than meditating with mantra, the rest is reverencing some kinds of gods or "having a secret mantra" like it would work out better than any other.

 

[Cort]

IMHO meditation is mind-training. As we learn to hold ourselves in a silent space while our thoughts whirl around, we experience that we are not our thoughts. This is the beginning of profound changes.

You want to choose a form of meditation that you will actually do. You might experiment for a while before you find your path into stillness. I think it's helpful at the beginning to give your mind something to focus on other than random thoughts. But what works best - a mantra, counting breaths, soft focus on a candle, whatever - is individual.

I agree. I do mindfulness based "meditations". Basically I do practices taken from Landmark Education seminars. One of the goals is to get that our thoughts, ideas, etc. about just about anything are just thoughts, ideas, feelings about them; i.e. they're not set in stone and can be shifited.

It's pretty remarkable stuff really.

The problem with me with breathing meditations are that they put the focus back on my body which is in pretty bad shape. I realize that these meditations can take the edge off that but it seems to take quite a while to have a significant effect for me.

That said my breathing is pretty messed up!

 

[madie]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...rd-davidsons-life_us_571fcbc4e4b01a5ebde3c0a7

 

[Abrin]

A lot of people don't realize that there are a lot of different types of mediation techniques.

Here is an article on 23 of them.

The reason there is so many different techniques is because everyone's brain is different since we all perceive the world differently. It might take a little time to find something that you find works for you but as has been mentioned earlier in this thread the most important thing is to find something that you can keep consistent with since you are essentially slowly and painfully rewiring your brain and that can take a long time.