Meditation not feeling good

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

to be fair actually, in early days, it may be difficult for neophytes to visualise thought rested stillness, whilst remaining aware in no-thing ness.

Agreed. I practiced mindfulness of breath and sound for a good 5 or 6 years before I heard Jon Kabat-Zinn mention resting in awareness and decided to give it a try. I imagine effortless would be an exercise in frustration and perhaps futility without some amount of foundational concentration practice under one's belt.

[Unseeking Seeker]

@ JASG ~ yes, that’s why some preliminary work may be needed, as you say. The preparatory work is the main thing, in my view, which unfortunately people ignore, looking for a quick fix solution, instant nirvana or whatever.

The key, as I see it, is that our actual lived reality, moment to moment, breath by breath, needs to be refined in thought, word and deed. We must become what we seek. Unless we walk the talk, what avail is gym yoga or any practice as a part time activity?

Once we choose to shift from head (ego) to heart (love/God/Self) we automatically connect with universal consciousness. Then method of unfoldment any, as decided by the universe, all is enabled automatically. But first, we must choose to shift, to prioritise God. Nothing less will do, that should be the resolve. If this is not so, why not find another hobby? Of course, I concede it’s a slow process and we are looking at horizons beyond one life span.

[J_A_S_G]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

@ JASG ~ yes, that’s why some preliminary work may be needed, as you say. The preparatory work is the main thing, in my view, which unfortunately people ignore, looking for a quick fix solution, instant nirvana or whatever.

Some other points I think are important to keep in mind and especially at the early stage of practice to avoid forming bad habits. First is no expectations. Second is no fabrications as in trying to manifest this experience or that experience - let the practice be the goal and it will bear fruit. Third is follow the instructions for whatever technique one is practicing to the highest degree possible.

Also informal practice to compliment formal sitting. Mindfulness of walking, eating, driving or just about anything whenever one thinks about it during the day. From my experience it all adds up and get's one in the mindset it's not just something for formal sitting, and it builds on itself. After all, we do want the fruits of the practice to manifest outside of sitting and I believe this can be helpful.

I like both breath and sound as an anchor/object to attend for a basic foundational concentration technique. Both can be kept very, very simple, maybe sound even moreso than breath. I like Tibetan singing bowls for sound.

[OldChap]

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

The OP speaks of enlightenment and effort. Instead of enlightenment, if we use the word ‘recognition’, to re-cognise our true being, it may perhaps be more apt. Enlightenment, if there is such a thing, is simply the disappearance of ego-identity.

That’s a good explanation of enlightenment.

An enlightened person is one who has come to the realization and understanding that there is much much more beyond this 3d/4d part of reality we are living in which is just a tiny fraction of the vast grand whole multi-dimensional reality.

An enlightened person is one who has come to the realization that there are some things we know, will come to know, and which we will never know while in the human form. And the more greater knowledge that person comes across, the more that person will realize how little he or she knows.

We will however know all when we are not in the human form and our multi-dimensional quantum energies are all completely intertwined, connected, and entangled with everything.

It is true our ego often pushes us into psychological trauma and bad behaviour that pulls us away from having love and peace in heart and mind.

But the ego does serve the divine purpose of keeping us out of danger and to stay alive while we are in the human form here in this very unfamiliar low vibration and low consciousness part of reality, in which evil and malice are naturally prevalent and dominate, by instilling in us fear, envy, selfishness, hoarding, conquering, hierarchy, and supremacy.

It is why we can not completely do away with the ego at our collective state of awareness and consciousness. The best we can do for now is to push the ego to the background and to more bring forth front and center our true nature of love, compassion, benevolence, and joy.

The ego will still exist, just not as active. There are no human Saints, rather there are Saintly humans. Can’t do what we came here to do when we don’t react to harms and dangers all around and die.

All the best!

[Gem]

In Buddhist texts there is an essential quality called 'right effort', and having practiced with the philosophical guidance of Buddhism, I don't rule out effort, but a right effort necessarily implies there is 'wrong effort', too - though in Buddhism we tend to arrive at the conclusion that it's all wrong. For example, 'all views are wrong views'.

The characteristic of purification is impurities are removed while nothing is added, so the aspiration of meditation is an elimination that allows what is true of you to emerge into conscious awareness. What we call 'effort' is the open acceptance of that process, and this essentially implies that right effort is no effort at all, but that's not quite it. Right effort is best thought of as an endeavour to be willing to accept life, as you experience it, in this moment, just as it is.

On the first level, right effort is to abolish unwholesome thinking/speaking/acting and cultivate wholesome traits. Hence one can inquire, what causes me to generate my own anxiety and negativity, and then speak crassly and do bad things?

The second level of right effort is recognise such impure mind-states and take responsibility for replacing them with wholesome states of mind. That can be done superficially to a significant degree - just change what you're thinking - but resolving the deeper causes of these tendencies requires a more wholistic personal transformation.

I could think of an ending so I'll leave it there.

[Gem]

It is popular amongst spiritualists to say attending is doing, but that is an inaccurate misperception, and when Buddha advocated breath awareness in the 2 primary texts on meditation (Anapannasati and Satipathana Suttas), he wasn't misleading people into egocentricity or an observation trap. He was explaining the way in which you discover for yourself that there is suffering, and the way in which it is resolved.

Because people developed their own twists on the texts, just about all of which involve some doing like timing breaths, counting breaths, imagining prana breath, repeating words and so forth, people rightly say doership is involved as the volition is employed to fabricate these activities, but your mere awareness and the direct perception that your breathing 'feels like this' is not volitionally activated. That's just 'how it is'. Indeed, you have to look to discover and know what it's like.

When you read that and claim that rebuking the OP, discouragement and casting fear and doubt isn't your intention, I know it's not your intention, but intention is not the same as volition, and the intention to observe the breath and know what it really feels like is not the same thing as volitionally trying to make it be the way you want it to be.

IOW fabrication is volitionally generated, and much of that is not intentional. In short, doership is always volitional, but intention is not always pure.

This started with a discussion on feelings, discomfort in particular, and the aversion toward discomfort. With adverse reaction, the observer ceases to willingly accept it as it is, and starts trying to make it other than it is - not what I don't want, but what I want it to be. That is the volition called doership, or AKA, 'wrong effort'.

Such reactivity of the mind disturbs peace and contentment and breaks what otherwise would be the meditative state. In that the contentment is disturbed, reactivity is the cause of suffering. Hence Buddha defines meditation as 'ardent awareness with understanding impermanence, having removed aversion and craving toward the world'.

What the OP has discerned is for the best is 'right', so I affirm, support and encourage it. If I thought there was something wrong I would say so and explain why. Those who know me know how critical I am about meditation, but in this case my critique is completely positive.

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by thespiritual1

Today i was very depressed

i practiced keeping my mouth closed and breathing only through the nose, and using my belly to inhale, seems to have a good effect on health. The room was hot but i practiced accepting the heat and welcoming the summer. i feel much better now.

I used to be a mouth breather when I suffered some intense fight and flight responses to life. My fears were quite disturbing all round. Sometimes I’ve noticed just changing one thing to build towards a more whole body awareness can be a great step forward. I’m glad you had a better day considering what you’ve previously endured.

I’m now more conscious of my nose breathing and I’m able to create a better flow of breathing, that’s more natural, which in turn leads to better wellbeing. When everything slows and you’re more relaxed with what is, the breath and you can practice how it feels in the ways you’ve known previously and how it feels now. You start to see yourself becoming aware differently and that’s a good thing.