Useful Notes / Meditation

Meditation is a practice of training and disciplining your mind and awareness.

It's a certain type of mental exercise. You may not think of yourself as exercising physically all day, but as you use your muscles, you are, in principle, exercising all day long. Similarly, you are actually meditating all day long. You can do more disciplined and formal meditation, when you choose to do so.

Unlike commonly thought, meditation doesn't really stop thinking. A human being is always thinking on some level. Meditation helps a practicioner direct thoughts toward other things, a great example being compassion meditation. Some forms of meditation do, though, stave away distracting inner chatter. It accomplishes such by focusing on breathing or a mantra, for instance, or clear some space in a mind.

The common position known in media is the Yoga Lotus Position, although this is not necessary. You can't levitate, though, no matter what anyone says or thinks.

In fiction you can see characters meditate under a waterfall or powering up.

Laozi has been said to have created his legacy in Daodejing, a compilation of meditations on Tao. In a similar vein, Marcus Aurelius wrote Meditations, a series of personal insights.

Contemplative meditation can be one part of Character Development, both in real life and in fiction.

On tropes regarding meditation, see the Index of Prayer and Meditation.

Meditation links

• Wikipedia introduction
• Big Think; How does meditation work?
• Different types of meditation
• 23 types of meditation
• Your Skillful Means -site includes a briefing about meditation and separate descriptions of different practices.
• Psychology.today:s articles on meditation
• Time; You asked: Is meditation really worth it?
• Lifehacker's view
• Lifehacker debunks some myths
• Contemplative practices, among them meditation
• Enlightened spirituality.org -site; Meditation trends, styles and stages by Timothy Conway
• Articles on mindfulness meditation by Shinzen Young
• PsychCentral; What everybody should know about dangers of meditation
• Myths of meditation; Arthur Chappell's two part article for The Skeptic
• The Skeptic's Dictionary's look into transcendental meditation
• A critical view of Transcendental Meditation -movement by Joe Kellett, a former TM teacher; criticism on heavy psychological damage from "deep unstressing", chronic dissociation, brainwashing, withholding critical information and public spin doctoring to present a deceptively favorable image
• Thoughtbrick; Ten things to look for
• About cases of meditation being hazardous to health
• A zesty, multi-dimensional view to dangers and benefits of meditation
• Whispers from eternity by Paramahansa Yogananda is accessible online for free, readable for anyone interested in the path of Self-Realization Fellowship.
• INFORM; Meditation and mindfulness.pdf

What can be associated with meditation?

• Asleep, Not Meditating: When someone appears to be meditating, but is actually fast asleep.
• Badass Creed: Meditating on a mantra with personal significance can have a similar effect as opposed to a mind-numbing effect of meditating on meaningless sounds.
• Cult: Unfortunately dangerous groups have fronts to lure people in. Some present themselves as meditation groups. Such former member testimonies, much as doubt has been thrown on them, have nonetheless been heard about groups like Transcendental Meditation, Maum meditation and the Rajneesh movement back in the days its leader, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh(later renamed Osho), was still alive. Various so-called human potential seminars like EST, Landmark Forum, Lifespring and Insight have also been said to use meditation practices, along with hypnosis and other techniques, as a part of their brainwashing repertoire. Some participants have indeed gotten some benefits like releasing some old baggage and positive emotional experiences that are not just passing, but these movements nonetheless have faced controversy for some questionable or downright harmful results as well as questionable responsibility of some trainers.
• Epiphany Therapy: Insight meditation can be like this.
  • Ignored Epiphany: What you do with each and every insight is up to you, of course.
• Fridge Horror/Fridge Brilliance: You may realize even more long-after-the-fact things, whether they are meaningful or not. Could also be embarrassment, bewilderment, amusement or any other feeling.
• Koan: Used in Zen meditation to frustrate reasoning and throw aside intellectualizing.
• Lotus Position: A common meditative position
  • Levitating Lotus Position: A dangerous delusion enforced on unsuspecting, brainwashed TM students, except more like butt-hopping in a Lotus Position
• Meditation Powerup: Meditation can help you discipline your thinking, relax, defuse unpleasant emotions and concentrate as well as get you feeling more energized.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: You can do this, but it's not recommended. You could get pneumonia.

Literature

• What is meditation?; John Warren White
• Meditation for beginners; Jack Kornfield
• How to meditate; Pema Chodron
• The meditative mind: Varieties of meditative experience; Daniel Goleman
• Davidji:
  • Secrets of meditation
  • Destressifying
• Journey of awakening: A meditator's guidebook; Ram Dass and Daniel Goleman
• Osho
  • Meditation: The first and last freedom
  • The book of secrets: 112 meditations to discover the mystery within
  • Meditation for busy people: Stress-beating strategies for people with no time to meditate
• Active meditation: The Western tradition; Robert Leichtman and Carl Japikse
• Thomas Merton
  • Contemplative prayer
  • New seeds of contemplation
  • Thomas Merton - Spiritual direction and meditation
• Thomas Keating(Plenty more reading referenced in this Wikipedia -link):
  • Active meditations for contemplative prayer
  • The foundations for centering prayer and the Christian contemplative life
  • The divine indwelling: Centering prayer and its development
• Richard Rose:
  • Psychology of the observer
  • The direct mind experience
  • Meditation
• Louis Komjathy:
  • Daoism: A guide for the perplexed
  • The Daoist tradition: An introduction
  • Contemplative literature: A comparative sourcebook on meditation and contemplative prayer
• Vijnanabhairava or divine consciousness: A treasury of 112 types of yoga; Jaideva Singh
• Kriya secrets revealed: Complete lessons and techniques; J. C. Stevens
• Mike George:
  • In the light of meditation
  • Discover inner peace: A guide to spiritual well-being