How do you meditate ?

[Someone here]

@Phil how do you personally practice mediation?  You mentioned in the first video in your channel that you've been meditating for +20 years ! That's jaw dropping!  

How do you do it ? Because I know mediation is supposed to be simple but when I researched I found various techniques like watching the breath ..that's one method . Watching the thoughts..that's another method . Abiding in the gap between thoughts ..that's another method. Or let the mind go crazy and just surrender completely to whatever is arising which is known as the "do nothing techniques ".

So I'm curious as to what specific technique you practice mediation. 

These days I'm getting the anxiety attacks on me again.  Even though I'm on medication since late April..I felt slightly better as the months passed by .but it's coming at me again.  So I need a grounding technique to help me with surrendering and letting ago /accepting reality ..or however you wanna call it .

 

Of course the question is not just for Phil ..anyone please share your meditation technique as well 

 

Thanks 🙏

[Blessed2]

14 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Because I know mediation is supposed to be simple

 

Just some thoughts from a "10 minutes every now and then" meditator... Meditation is simple. What makes it seem complicated is mistaking thoughts about meditation and a meditator for meditation.

 

19 minutes ago, Someone here said:

These days I'm getting the anxiety attacks on me again.  Even though I'm on medication since late April..I felt slightly better as the months passed by .but it's coming at me again.  So I need a grounding technique to help me with surrendering and letting ago /accepting reality ..or however you wanna call it .

 

Hear you on the anxiety. It's something I've struggled with too. From depression to anxiety/panic to drug abuse to literally psychotic delusions etc. Really hear ya. It sucks, and I hope & actually believe that eventually you will be alright. It just takes letting go and learning new ways of doing things.

 

I've found that during anxiety or panic, focusing on the big muscle groups in legs and feet is helpful. Keep focus on the legs. It sucks but it will pass. Breathe deeply, feel the breath. Notice you don't need to believe thoughts. I've found that at times anxiety and panic is due to believing and paying attention to shit that's impossible to accept, impossible to be fine with, because you're not even supposed to. It's just that we've grown to believe we need to be better, less afraid, less biased, to be a man, ir something like that.

[Blessed2]

Just curious... What kind of medication are you having if I may ask?

 

Is it something you take every day like an SSRI/SNRI or something you take when anxiety hits?

[Someone here]

8 minutes ago, Blessed2 said:

I've found that during anxiety or panic, focusing on the big muscle groups in legs and feet is helpful. Keep focus on the legs. It sucks but it will pass. Breathe deeply, feel the breath. Notice you don't need to believe thoughts. I've found that at times anxiety and panic is due to believing and paying attention to shit that's impossible to accept, impossible to be fine with, because you're not even supposed to. It's just that we've grown to believe we need to be better, less afraid, less biased, to be a man, ir something like that.

Thanks .I will try this out a let you in about how that went . Though tbh i suspect that its gonna relinquish my anxiety. Because it's  very severe. 

Meditation was another thing I tried when my anxiety was at its peak. Trust me.for someone who thinks a lot, it is no joke to shut your mind down and focus on your breathing. I could concentrate for very few minutes in the beginning but my thoughts kept spiraling back. So listening to some meditation music while i meditate helped me increase concentration. It helped me analyse my recurring thoughts and gave me more clarity about them.

Mostly during such times I don’t feel like interacting with anyone..thinking that nobody will really understand how i feel. It’s great if i can talk it out and rant everything going on in my mind to someone who cares to listen. Taking it all out really helps. 

[Someone here]

13 minutes ago, Blessed2 said:

Just curious... What kind of medication are you having if I may ask?

 

Is it something you take every day like an SSRI/SNRI or something you take when anxiety hits?

Invega and Prozac

[Alexander]

 

[Phil]

@Someone here

It was quite literally this… 

https://www.actualityofbeing.com/basic-meditation-posture-balance-relaxation-body-scan

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

These days I'm getting the anxiety attacks on me again.  Even though I'm on medication since late April..I felt slightly better as the months passed by .but it's coming at me again. 

So I need a grounding technique to help me with surrendering and letting ago /accepting reality ..or however you wanna call it .

Sorry to hear that. Here’s a basic Grounding method too, very similar to the basic meditation. 

[Someone here]

@Alexander @Phil thank you guys 🙏

[Blessed2]

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

Though tbh i suspect that its gonna relinquish my anxiety. Because it's  very severe. 

 

It more like just helps to get through the worst parts 😊 just like week ago I had anxiety and it was most helpful to focus in lower body and breath.

 

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

Trust me.for someone who thinks a lot, it is no joke to shut your mind down and focus on your breathing. I could concentrate for very few minutes in the beginning but my thoughts kept spiraling back.

 

The 'problem' here is probably the "my mind" and "my thoughts". There is not a you, or 'your mind'. I know you're probably heard that a thousand times, but hear it once again. There is not a you going through time, having a mind or thinking thoughts. This is more like a story you're telling yourself. Feel the relief of noticing this. You are not lesser than anyone else. We are always with you.

 

You don't need years of meditation to see this. Just take a walk an listen to some music. Notice it feels like shit to think you're a separate thinker / experiencer.

 

[Someone here]

6 minutes ago, Blessed2 said:

The 'problem' here is probably the "my mind" and "my thoughts". There is not a you, or 'your mind'. I know you're probably heard that a thousand times, but hear it once again. There is not a you going through time, having a mind or thinking thoughts. This is more like a story you're telling yourself. Feel the relief of noticing this. You are not lesser than anyone else. We are always with you.

 

You don't need years of meditation to see this. Just take a walk an listen to some music. Notice it feels like shit to think you're a separate thinker / experiencer.

Yeah I will let you go  with the apparent boundaries that separate us and every  object from another object ,just because that's not the right time for a philosophical debate (if you do wanna argue about it tho ,let me know lol😅).

 

Although it seems as though there’s a central self which looks out into the world and hears sounds which exist outside your body and smells odors floating around in the air, none of that is true.

 

One note  is ..these thoughts and feelings are not "mine " in the sense that they arise automatically and spontaneously without any input from "me". But they are still attached to me . It's not like you are experiencing them or anybody else in the world. It's ME who is experiencing them .and that's as simple as I can put it .I accept that there is no separate self inside the body that owns or does stuff but I don't deny that there is an apparent self that has a life. 

Anyways like I said..it's not Time for philosophy now ..I appreciate your advice.

And yeah it does lift a rock from my shoulders to know that I'm not the doer of these interruptions.

[Phil]

16 hours ago, Someone here said:

I'm not the doer of these interruptions.

Didn’t know you were a Neo-Advaita teacher. 

Interesting. 

[Someone here]

@Phil its true though . Isn't it? 

what do you think..am I responsible for creating the anxiety or is it completely out of my control? Because to me it seems obvious that its the latter. 

[Phil]

@Someone here

Yes of course. I was joking. When ego hears there’s no doer, thinker, intellectual etc because there aren’t separate selves, ‘it’ says ‘you’re a Neo-Advaita teacher’. 😂 

Adorable. 

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

what do you think..am I responsible for creating the anxiety or is it completely out of my control? Because to me it seems obvious that its the latter. 

The anxiety is exactly the same. You’re definitely not responsible for creating anxiety. It’s not out of your control at all, you’re creating it innocently via ignore-ance. 

[Someone here]

30 minutes ago, Phil said:

@Someone here

Yes of course. I was joking. When ego hears there’s no doer, thinker, intellectual etc because there aren’t separate selves, ‘it’ says ‘you’re a Neo-Advaita teacher’. 😂 

Adorable. 

I'm curious to understand how do you reconcile lack of free will with taking 100% responsibility for creating the kind of life that we desire. 

It seems like a contradiction in your "worldview ". On one hand you claim that there is no separate self or no doer ,no thinker etc and everything including our personal choices just magically pop into existence as if out of nowhere....and then you claim that WE ARE creating our own reality ..whether willingly or unwillingly..so how do you explain that ?

I know this issue of free will is a  gnarly one but I try with you again to understand it. Even though we had a 10 pages thread about and still we didn't flesh it out .

[Someone here]

36 minutes ago, Phil said:

The anxiety is exactly the same. You’re definitely not responsible for creating anxiety. It’s not out of your control at all, you’re creating it innocently via ignore-ance. 

How ? 

Its a cycle that I can't seem to break... only recently the panic attacks have gotten much worse and seem to happen all the time, when I speak in front of a class, when I try to sleep etc...  My entire body is completely consumed by physical symptoms of panic attacks like racing heart beat, feelings of dread, nausea, feeling like I am going to pass out.  I don't know how to stop this, I feel like I am breaking down and going insane.  I can't ask anyone for help or talk to anyone about it because its so embarrassing.  I don't have insurance that covers mental health.  

[Phil]

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

I'm curious to understand how do you reconcile lack of free will with taking 100% responsibility for creating the kind of life that we desire. 

Reconciliation is the natural result of inspecting  beliefs in lack, free will & responsibility, in conjunction with respectful proper understanding of emotions (like doubt).

 

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

It seems like a contradiction in your "worldview ".

And understanding emotional deflection & projection. That’s not meant personally, which is really the whole point. 

 

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

On one hand you claim that there is no separate self or no doer ,no thinker etc and everything including our personal choices just magically pop into existence as if out of nowhere....and then you claim that WE ARE creating our own reality ..whether willingly or unwillingly

Yes, that’s exactly correct. The truth isn’t the claim though. The claims are that there is a separate self, a doer, a thinker and personal choices. None of those have ever been experienced, only the claims are experienced. 

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

..so how do you explain that ?

Mostly through awakening / enlightenment sessions, but also with more limited mediums like videos, comments on a forum & answering emails.

 

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

I know this issue of free will is a  gnarly one but I try with you again to understand it. Even though we had a 10 pages thread about and still we didn't flesh it out .

The issue is gnarly but the issue isn’t free will. It’s two fold; thought attachment, and the influence of conjecture from thought attachment. All entirely ignorant & absolutely innocent. 

 

6 hours ago, Someone here said:

How ? 

Its a cycle that I can't seem to break... only recently the panic attacks have gotten much worse and seem to happen all the time, when I speak in front of a class, when I try to sleep etc...  My entire body is completely consumed by physical symptoms of panic attacks like racing heart beat, feelings of dread, nausea, feeling like I am going to pass out.  I don't know how to stop this, I feel like I am breaking down and going insane.  I can't ask anyone for help or talk to anyone about it because its so embarrassing.  I don't have insurance that covers mental health.  

Been going on way too long and I am truly sorry to hear it’s intensifying. Garbage in, garbage out. Gotta open your eyes at some point. Change what you’re putting in front of you. Be willing to let go of what isn’t resonating with you.  You can definitely ask people for help, and talk to anyone. Don’t be embarrassed. Expressing is emptying. Make a private journal. Just use a word file or whatever’s simplest. Be aware no one will ever see it, and say whatever you want. Also definitely take advantage of all help and resources. Don’t limit yourself & your well being. I’d take a vaca from existential thinking into nature if I were in your shoes. 

[Someone here]

12 hours ago, Phil said:

Yes, that’s exactly correct. The truth isn’t the claim though. The claims are that there is a separate self, a doer, a thinker and personal choices. None of those have ever been experienced, only the claims are experienced. 

I've yet to have anyone convince me  Schopenhauer's(famous German philosopher )aren't the final words on the matter: 'You can do what you want, but you can't want what you want.' That is to say, what ever you do, you have to want it first. Even the phrase 'free will' is an oxymoron..if it's free, then it can't be bound, and if it's willed, then it's bound by will.

12 hours ago, Phil said:

The issue is gnarly but the issue isn’t free will. It’s two fold; thought attachment, and the influence of conjecture from thought attachment. All entirely ignorant & absolutely innocent. 

Attachment is something that comes by its own you just can't even figure out when this sort of attachment had happened it is something like a long process but yet a stable one.

12 hours ago, Phil said:

Been going on way too long and I am truly sorry to hear it’s intensifying. Garbage in, garbage out. Gotta open your eyes at some point. Change what you’re putting in front of you. Be willing to let go of what isn’t resonating with you.  You can definitely ask people for help, and talk to anyone. Don’t be embarrassed. Expressing is emptying. Make a private journal. Just use a word file or whatever’s simplest. Be aware no one will ever see it, and say whatever you want. Also definitely take advantage of all help and resources. Don’t limit yourself & your well being. I’d take a vaca from existential thinking into nature if I were in your shoes. 

I'm actually seeing a therapist.  He prescribed to me various kinds of medications . They worked temporarily at the beginning. But it seems like I have built tolerance to them (they don't affect me anymore ) and so I might need to increase the dose . But that comes with its own risks .these medications have nasty side effects .one of which is  being lethargic constantly, also dry mouth and needing to  pee constantly and finally erectile dysfunction and lack of sexual interest. 

I'm thinking of quitting the meds .as they should've been able to completely heal me by this point .but they didn't.  So I'm searching what else is out there...

[Phil]

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

I've yet to have anyone convince me  Schopenhauer's(famous German philosopher )aren't the final words on the matter: 'You can do what you want, but you can't want what you want.' That is to say, what ever you do, you have to want it first. Even the phrase 'free will' is an oxymoron..if it's free, then it can't be bound, and if it's willed, then it's bound by will.

 

Schopenhauer also didn’t inspect beliefs. He firmly believed that something is fundamentally wrong with human existence & that suffering comes from the world.  Thus, his life was that of pessimism & misery, insomnia, headaches, heartaches, mental disorders and intense depression. If only someone had told him early on that pessimism is an emotion which is guidance with respect to his beliefs. 

 

Not quite convinced you get what ‘garbage in, garbage out’ means. 

 

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

Attachment is something that comes by its own you just can't even figure out when this sort of attachment had happened it is something like a long process but yet a stable one.

Sure you can. Go to a past or future now, and see how it’s coming by it’s own.

 

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

I'm actually seeing a therapist.  He prescribed to me various kinds of medications . They worked temporarily at the beginning. But it seems like I have built tolerance to them (they don't affect me anymore ) and so I might need to increase the dose . But that comes with its own risks .these medications have nasty side effects .one of which is  being lethargic constantly, also dry mouth and needing to  pee constantly and finally erectile dysfunction and lack of sexual interest. 

I'm thinking of quitting the meds .as they should've been able to completely heal me by this point .but they didn't.  So I'm searching what else is out there...

Again, sorry to hear. If you’re ever interested there’s always emotion guiding you to what you want. 

 

What‘s your therapist & therapist’s life like? Sincerely happy, connected, loving, etc? Healthy?

 

 

[Someone here]

47 minutes ago, Phil said:

Schopenhauer also didn’t inspect beliefs. He firmly believed that something is fundamentally wrong with human existence & that suffering comes from the world.  Thus, his life was that of pessimism & misery, insomnia, headaches, heartaches, mental disorders and intense depression. If only someone had told him early on that pessimism is an emotion which is guidance with respect to his beliefs. 

He was a nihilist.  And like every nihilist he believed that human existence is a mistake or something that is not ought to be. And it's like he is not  pulling this stuff out of his ass ...he basically dealed with the problem of suffering. Why there is so much suffering in the world ? Even Buddha's first noble truth is "life is suffering ". Tbh I have a barrier that is preventing me from seeing existence or god as an inherently good and benevolent thing. And that obstacle is what  is preventing from total awakening. 

What do you mean by "garbage in,garbage out "? I don't get it 🤔 

I am a pessimistic person tbh if that's what you mean . 

I'm not nesscary a nihilist.  But I do get into depressive phases in my life when I think that nothing matters . We are just like little ants moving around on this blue rock (earth )in a vast infinite dark universe which doesn't give a shit about us . That's what I think about existence.  Not very bright, I know 😅

54 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

 

Again, sorry to hear. If you’re ever interested there’s always emotion guiding you to what you want. 

 

What‘s your therapist & therapist’s life like? Sincerely happy, connected, loving, etc? Healthy?

 

 

I don't know much about him . Usually in our sessions we talk about me and my life ,not his . But he seems like a wise guy and knowledgeable in psychology. There are a lot of certificates in his office. So I trust him and follow his instructions.