>Dieting is a meme focused on short-term results
step 1, stop taking advice from fat niggas
yeah dieting isnt a miracle and extreme diets will bounce back, but combined with moderate exercise (or literally anything other than sitting in your room all day) they work

meditating works depending on how self-aware you are
if youre not extremely self aware then yes, its a good method to relax and trick your body into calming down
if you are, youll only find it frustrating, but from the looks of it id say you give it a go

>>34295422
Meditation is about directing attention.

>>34295427
I already eat quite healthy as it is. And I do get moderate exercise in the form of cardio and calisthenics.
>>34295447
More than just that, isn't it also about regulating emotions?

>>34295422
How about reading a book about meditation so you don't have to ask us?

>>34295521
You're funny.

>>34295500
yeah, but emotional regulation wont work either if youre too self-aware, since in any case its redirecting your train of thought to whatever

>>34295540
Then it's basically useless for emotional regulation? So it is just about focus?

>>34295422
it's very jeet coded and I don't trust anything made by people who still don't practice toilet etiquette

>>34295549
yeah, meditation in itself doesnt do anything if done without purpose, its not magic nigga
people who find it useful have done it for enough time that they get used to it, so when they get, idk, an anger outburst their first idea is to meditate before blowing up or sum

desu it looks to me like youre searching for some kind of instant help or improvement of some kind, seeing what you said about diets too
>I am interested in working on myself some more
what exactly are you trying to "work on" nigga, what do you want from meditation?

>>34295593
Ok buddy
>>34295609
Trying to fix my attention span.

File: 1751543606942383.jpg (24.6 KB)

24.6 KB JPG

>>34295722
just pay attention

>>34295722
then definetly try meditation
or skip to amphetamines, you choose

>>34295422
meditation is about returning to the one. so in whatever activity you do (not just sitting but walking, talking, swimming,dancing, etc), dont split yourself into two (mind and body). just be the one.

>>34295732
It's not that simple, you're funny.
>>34295740
You're funny
>>34295758
Interesting.

>>34295422
>>You don't need an elaborate workout routine
>>Dieting is a meme focused on short-term results
These statements are only true on a surface level. You do need both a healthy diet and exercise to be stay healthy.

Meditation is the practice of controlling your mind. Not letting your thoughts wander all over the place. Keeping your concentration where you want it focus. And it's kind of important in your current media landscape, where we are bombarded by infinite distractions, manipulating our animal brain for others' profit.

File: Stupid is difficult.jpg (40.9 KB)

40.9 KB JPG

>>34295593

>>34295868
What I'm referring to is how some are obsessed with dieting: Following these restrictive diets(Ex: Ketogenic,Vegan) with the hopes of achieving a short-term goal (i.e. weight loss) instead of long-term sustenance. Believing that they shouldn't eat certain foods because they're allegedly bad for you ("fruit bad because it contains sugar" or "egg bad because cholesterol") even when they have the potential to be healthy. I eat quite healthy & balanced my macronutrients aswell as managing to significantly cutback on processed foods over the years.


As for exercise i'm frequently active. My concern is being told that I need to invest a good portion of time & money for strength-training when it could be done with simpler methods & more emphasis on functional strength(Calisthenics is better than weights for my situation).

I agree w/ what you said about meditation is supposed to do. The problem is that there's no universal definition of meditation, there are so many forms of meditation that I don't know which is right for me. Do you have an idea?

>>34296092
OK, fair enough.

As to which form is best, I can't help you. As you point out, there's so many. But the goal is still the same : control of your mental state.

Even prayer is meditation. Reciting 10 Hail Marys will do the same as reciting a mantra. Even the more personal prayers, where you thank the Lord for things specific to your life, can be called a form of mindfulness.

My way of keeping my thoughts in check is telling myself stories.

>>34296200
I'm not a spiritual person anon. Yet at the same time i'm not a materialist.
Don't know if God exists or not(agnostic).

>>34296222
Although I was raised Catholic, I've never really picked it up.

The jhanas are definitely real and worth it. Mindfulness also helps but I think that should be a secondary thing. Jhanas themselves can be pretty life changing.

>>34298012
Could you tell my your experience with jhana?

>>34298038
It took me a couple of months of meditation, i started with not even being able to meditate for 5 minutes. My main topic was metta instead of breath meditation, however a friend of mine (who convinced me to try in the first place) got to regular 4th jhanas with the breath meditation.

When I first hit the jhana I experienced more happiness than i ever have, and in all parts of my body intensely. Plus the effects of the first time you hit a new jhana lasts for days. It protects you from sadness and the third/fourth jhana protects you from irritation and anger and things like that, it really makes you equanimous.

The only downside is that you forget how to achieve it again and again. I haven't entered a jhana since December unfortunately.

>>34298873
In particular I should say I haven't been able to enter it, I'm trying though and I'll hopefully have some success soon enough.

>>34298873
>>34298897
That is interesting Anon, the jhana is a way of maintaining tranquility for days on end.
Although the downside could be a good thing: Because in a way it's teaching you to treat it with high regard instead of some quick-fix

>>34295882
yeah okay streetshitter.

>>34295422
Depends on what you want to achieve with meditation. Most people somehow seem to use it as a form of relaxation. I personally use it as a tool for ascesis. I have only finished to book that talked about it a few weeks ago, so I haven't done it for long. But I do the Satipatthana as described by Evola. "The aim of the discipline is to begin to disengage the central principle of ones own being by means of an objective and detached consideration, both of what makes up ones own personality and also of the general content of ones own experience."
It basically consists of 4 contemplations: body, feelings, mind, dhamma. The contemplation of the body consists of normal anapana-sati, contemplation of the parts of the body (becoming aware that it is made of feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, articular fluid, urine, etc), contemplation of the 4 great elements (that our body is part of them, influenced by them and subject to the laws of change and dissolution of them) and Marananussati. Until now I have only done the contemplation of the body and it definitely helped me.

A few years ago when I had the typical self help phase I tried the modern form of meditation. Never seen a real benefit. For an actual transcendence you need samatha and vipassana. Sitting there and "observing your thoughts" might help with samatha, but not with vipassana.

>>34299238
OP here
With relaxation I can achieve that either by:
>Listening to music
>Reading a book
>Taking a hike
My interest in meditation stems from how it's supposedly a great tool for enhancing cognitive functions, particularly attention span/concentration/focus.
>A few years ago when I had the typical self help phase I tried the modern form of meditation. Never seen a real benefit
Is it because it's been butchered down to simply closing your eyes & breathing? (not to mention how corporations are promoting it alot)
I never really had a "self-help phase" , didn't buy into that quick-fix nonsense, i've only read 1 self-help book, it was on diet but I just used it to gather nutrition facts instead of following a diet.

File: 1764684654968334.jpg (489.9 KB)

489.9 KB JPG

>>34299083
>yeah okay streetshitter
Pic related is you.

>>34299672
I did like 20 to 30 minutes of meditation each morning for a few months. Focused on breathing. Every time I noticed my mind wandering somewhere, I refocused on my breathing again. Each time I did notice that and refocused, it was like one "mental push up" for the mind. It is obvious how that can help with being concentrated on a certain task without your mind wandering. Being more aware of your thoughts.
Maybe there was a benefit, but it would have been so small that I didn't really notice it. If it was actually so insane for cognitive functions as many people make it seem to be, I would still be doing it.
The basic cycle of meditation is focus, mind wandering, awareness, refocus. If you do that simply for sitting and focusing and the breath, you will get better at that. You might get better cognitive functions, but as said above, there were not/barely noticeable for me. That might translate on other parts of cognitive work like reading, actual working at the job, etc. But what you are also capable to do, is just do the actual work (reading, working, etc) and do the same cycle of focus, mind wandering, awareness, refocus. When you reading a difficult book and become aware of your mind wandering, refocus on the book. That is pretty much what I am doing. I don't have time to meditate for half an hour every day and don't want to become better at sitting in a quite room and focusing on my breath. Learning to be focused on actual work did have its benefits for me. Maybe that counts as meditation I am wondering.
Other important stuff for concentration are: sleep, coffee, environmental triggers. Sleep and coffee are obvious. Environmental triggers are interesting though. You might look into that. I noticed that I am more concentrated, when I have a cigarette in my mouth (doesn't have to be lighted). I did that most of the time when I had to do mental work and now every time I stick a cigarette in my mouth, I subconsciously go into a state of concentration.

>>34300868
>did like 20 to 30 minutes of meditation each morning for a few months. Focused on breathing. Every time I noticed my mind wandering somewhere, I refocused on my breathing again. Each time I did notice that and refocused, it was like one "mental push up" for the mind. It is obvious how that can help with being concentrated on a certain task without your mind wandering. Being more aware of your thoughts.

So a repetition? How many repetitions did you do?
>Maybe there was a benefit, but it would have been so small that I didn't really notice it. If it was actually so insane for cognitive functions as many people make it seem to be, I would still be doing it.
The basic cycle of meditation is focus, mind wandering, awareness, refocus. If you do that simply for sitting and focusing and the breath, you will get better at that. You might get better cognitive functions, but as said above, there were not/barely noticeable for me. That might translate on other parts of cognitive work like reading, actual working at the job, etc. But what you are also capable to do, is just do the actual work (reading, working, etc) and do the same cycle of focus, mind wandering, awareness, refocus. When you reading a difficult book and become aware of your mind wandering, refocus on the book. That is pretty much what I am doing. I don't have time to meditate for half an hour every day and don't want to become better at sitting in a quite room and focusing on my breath

Fair point Anon.
>Learning to be focused on actual work did have its benefits for me. Maybe that counts as meditation I am wondering.

The interesting thing is that there's no universal definition for meditation.

>>34295422
It's a meme bit a good meme. It won't achieve anything but that's the point.its about doing nothing and not doing anything. It's about rebelling against our existence.

>>34295422
all I've noticed is I see the colors brighter after a couple of days of doing it, I started dreaming half awake a lot more often and when I'm done I come back very well rested but maybe it's just me falling asleep

OP here
>>34301062
Meditation is not about escapism. It's about enhancing our functions
>>34301076
Hm weird. could you elaborate more on that?

>>34301080
the colors? it's just like needing glasses and wearing them for the first time, you vision turns into 4k, for colors everything looks so new, clean and shiny

for the dream thing you know how you see things while you are meditating? now that happens a lot when I'm trying to fall asleep, usually involves mixing something I'm listening to IRL and a random activity I've been doing lately like playing a game and it just stops making sense like regular dreams but it has't been even 5 minutes

>>34301159
>the colors? it's just like needing glasses and wearing them for the first time, you vision turns into 4k, for colors everything looks so new, clean and shiny

Mk
>for the dream thing you know how you see things while you are meditating? now that happens a lot when I'm trying to fall asleep, usually involves mixing something I'm listening to IRL and a random activity I've been doing lately like playing a game and it just stops making sense like regular dreams but it has't been even 5 minutes

I never meditated yet.

>>34295593
It's literally just closing your eyes, holding your breath deeply a few times and then you end up thinking about nothing and clearing your mind. If the Indians hadn't got to it first someone else would have.

Different things work for different people.
George Harrison found meditation to be very spiritual and powerful. It influenced his music composition for tracks that have come to be known as some of the greatest ever made such as My Guitar Gently Weeps or his album All Things Must Pass.
John Lennon was with Harrison on their meditation trip to India and found it lousy. Later, on his track "God" on his first solo album, John repudiated Hindu/Buddhist religious concepts more than any other thing, having included "I don't believe in" lines for I-Ching, Buddha, Mantra, Gita, and Yoga. His "signature song" as it has come to be known, Imagine, one of the most played songs of all time, asks the listener to imagine a world without religion.
You'll only know if it helps you if you try it.