| StoreTags: cult, Transcendental, hippies
Author: Analog on December 04 2007 Viewed 1617 times. 18 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: Roshi, Danji, celibacyclub, papergoose, flies, owl, sclr, opulentaudio, sAMsKi, everamzah, Tridact, utofbu, thehydrax, bodo, daswesen, atum, DrexonField, bbwax
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A couple of weeks ago me and Lou went on a Transcendental Meditation course.
It's basically a way of meditating that's really easy to do: doesn't involve any concentration, sitting in funny positions, religious mumbo-jumbo, or, indeed effort. You just repeat a simple mantra for 20mins with your eyes closed and let your brain do what it wants.
To be honest I was sceptical at first. I just went cos I knew Lou really wanted to do it. But it has made me feel better, to meditate twice a day. I'm naturally quite a stressed out, anxious and socially anxious person. I repress a lot of negativity normally. Meditating lets out this stress and i can deal with day to day shite better.
As an extreme example, we went to Primark in Manchester on Sunday. It was absolutely packed from wall to wall with frantic bargain graspers. Grufty men barging into you, buggies bashing your legs, screaming kids, doddering biddies. Normally i'd be tearing my hair out. but i coped with that ok.
So anyway, TM is pretty good. David Lynch does it, apparently. I wouldn't say it's totally put me at peace with myself, but i can deffo get on with shit stuff day to day better, and i'm more positive about writing tunes etc now too.
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12/04/07
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Danji
Ouch. Manchester. Primark. December...
I'm claustrophobic so it's always fun: especially when girlfriend insists on getting lots of clothes to try them all on to then decide she wants none of them.
Then again I suppose thats better than having to queue in there...
I might try that meditation lark...sounds interesting.
BTW I really like the song you just put up - really ace!
12/04/07
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flies
the only thing to be wary of with TM is that there's a lot of money changing hands. I mean, there are some bogus, paranormal claims coming from there as well, but that doesn't undermine the basic effectiveness of the method.
what's unclear to me with TM is how exactly you get your mantra? is it very long? just a few words/one word? I had always assumed that you would pay and receive a mantra specific to you, but i don't konw of that's true...
i've been using a mantra for the last couple of months, not so much for meditation as for calming myself down. If i'm getting anxious or something i repeat to myself 'I am my act of consciousness', and I try to decouple the rhythm of the words from the rhythm of my breath. I bought a book called
"Meditation: A Simple Eight-Point Program for Translating Spiritual Ideals ..." link the book isn't actually so great, but it does have some good advice, which i've been using. when i do meditate, which is rare, i repeat the prayer of st francis of assisi ( link ) to myself (i am an atheist, but this prayer makes some sense to me after some mis/reinterpretation).
12/04/07
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owl
The only time i've ever meditated is in a religious education class at school (I still have gripes with the name and content of that course, and never missed an opportunity to complain about it.)
Anyway.
It was amazing, the meditation wasn't religious at all and it made me feel so at peace with myself, it gave me a cheerful boost too. I should really do it again. Mine wasn't transcendental meditation, it was just breathing control, imagining yourself in a situation and a comfortable position.
12/04/07
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Analog
The teacher we went with has split from the official TM organisation: he charges a lot less and on a sliding scale so that it's relative to what you earn.
The mantra is only based on your age. It's a Sanscrit word, one or two syllables long. I think the reason you keep it secret is so that it's special to you. even if you know it's the same as anyone else's it's personal.
With TM you sort of let the mantra keep running by itself and let your brain do what it wants. you don't need to concentrate on the mantra. If you realise you've lost it, you just easily start repeating it again.It's ll about no effort. take it easy, take it as it comes. No expectations (that's quite hard if you're stressed).
I've done a bit of yoga, a bit of other meditation before and never got into it as deep as i can with TM. I think there's probably a lot of bullshit claims associated with it, but it does work in some ways.
12/04/07
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opulentaudio
Meditation can't hurt...
That's some fine investigative work there, Lou
12/04/07
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sAMsKi
sounds cool analog...
quite apart from the hoards of people, I avoid Primark : link
12/04/07
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yghartsyrt
cool it helps you with dealing with all the day shit and stuff.
but seriously, what i read about transcendental meditation and david lynch in the last couple of weeks really pisses me off.
the idea of building the university of invinceable germany on devils-mountain in berlin is so plain wrong.
but whatever. when it does good to you. go on.
12/04/07
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flies
Analog said: "I've done a bit of yoga, a bit of other meditation before and never got into it as deep as i can with TM. I think there's probably a lot of bullshit claims associated with it, but it does work in some ways."
totally. the BS is not coming from the core practice, but from hippy-dippy dummies.
12/04/07
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bla
does lying in bed thinking of techno noises count as meditation?
12/04/07
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everamzah
good for you.
like bread. in my tummy. sitting and feeling ur thoughts and "meditating" over ur own conscious energy is very beneficial. helps gain insight into problems (re: challenges), etc, and i should do more of it. lol
12/04/07
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everamzah
i may repeat something, but usually no more than 5 minutes. especially if it's a very specific verbal communication to myself.* otherwise, i may stay on the same line of thought for extended durations, but allow my thoughts to transform into sound, or other imagery, etc. but yea, definitely, when u change ur beliefs u change ur reality, it just happens. so so-called meditation can be extremely beneficial. but... we hypnotize and "medatate" all the time, giving ourselves mental suggestions all day. THOSE are just as valid and vital ("with energy") and influential. okay, i'll stop.
* "power of suggestion," basically
12/04/07
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Tridact
Meditation is something I've always meant to get around to doing, like working out. I've been working out since summer, so maybe now I can move on to meditation. It's gotta be good for you, just to schedule time to relax at least.
12/04/07
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tommytom
get them chakras flowing!
12/04/07
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tommytom
Fleetwoodmac albotross,the best short meditation ever.
12/04/07
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thehydrax
Meditation can really improve your life. If it didn't work people wouldn't have been persisting with it for thousands of years I guess
.I practise Metta Meditation every day for as long as I need. Meditation teaches you to be present. most of us aren't really here, we don't pay attention to ourselves. The other day when I got anxious over something I just stopped at looked at what the anxiety was doing to my mind and body, mind racing, heart racing sweating etc. I became aware of it and just let the anxiety go. It was very easy and meditation makes doing that simple.
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