I think the hardest part of meditation isn’t dealing with intrusive thoughts or struggling to sit still. It’s simply being consistent.
Life inevitably gets in the way. Some days you’re exhausted from work. Some mornings start too early. Some nights you stay out too late. Sometimes your mental health is in a rough place, or you’re just unbearably sleepy. And on days like that, instead of thinking, “I should meditate,” it’s easy to think, “What’s even the point of meditation?”
But I believe there are things you can only understand through consistency.
For me, journaling taught me that.
When I look back over time, I notice that things I used to brush off easily can feel much heavier to me now. On the other hand, things I once took very seriously—things I thought would bother me forever—can eventually become things I barely care about at all. And through all those changes, I’ve also started to notice parts of myself that remain the same. Certain patterns, values, and aspects of my personality that seem to be at the core of who I am.
I don’t think you can really see those things without sticking with something long enough.
That’s why I think consistency can sometimes have a deeper meaning than we realize. I believe meditation has a lot of potential, and right now, my biggest challenge isn’t meditating perfectly—it’s simply continuing to do it.
Journaling has already become a habit for me. I genuinely enjoy it, and it helps me feel grounded. I think one of the core parts of who I am is that I’m naturally introspective, so reflecting on my thoughts feels comforting rather than like a chore.
So I’ve decided to connect meditation to that existing habit. After I journal, I’ll meditate. No matter what kind of day I’ve had, I usually write something. And even if I skip a day, I always come back to it the next day.
Thinking of meditation as just something I add after journaling makes it feel much easier to sustain.
That’s my goal right now.
Learning how to deal with distractions, racing thoughts, or the discomfort of sitting still can come later. First, I just want to learn how to keep showing up.

I dont know exactly how to put this in words, so apologies if this sounds like waffle

But during my walking meditation, my mind was wandering to a past friendship which ended badly and my mind was winning arguments in my head, but I was focused on the sound of the pavement under my feet.

Then I sort of realised, this overthinking of this past friendship, im not doing it. My mind is. Then I realised this applies to so much. I used to have a porn addiction, for example. It wasnt me who was actively craving it, I knew it was bad, it was my mind.

All these bad habits and overthinking that I have, its not me? Its my mind

Idk it just sort of came as a realization to me during this meditation that I can exist from out of my mind. My mind can tell me one thing and I can just...let it be? I dont have to act or listen to it.

Also walking meditation is amazing lol

I’d like some recommendations for a type of meditation that can help me break compulsions and addictions. I have habits that I really, truly need to quit, but I think they stem from emotional or traumatic addictions—something I don’t even remember clearly, but that’s related to my childhood

Please, if you could share what you know about mantras and meditations that can help me deal with this, I’d really appreciate it!

The five human desires are:

- Sleep

- Hunger

- Sex

- Money

- Fame or The Need For Attention

Nowadays, when the schedules got so involved, 8 classes a day for school, 40+ hour work weeks, great demands on families etc. sleep has suffered.

Noting our food crisis, terrible chemicals in our food, mineral depleted soils, all around bad practices with animals and crops etc.

Sex, everyone seems to have their own sexuality these days. Terrible practices regarding sex across the board.

Money. You could go on and on about the crisis of money.

Attention or fame. They stuck a hand computer in our faces. Now instead of embracing our need for attention we just look at our screens.

Generally, meditation can be about bringing our desires back to a whole and healthy state, for yourself, your family and your community.

Hey people,

I’m looking for some advice on meditation.

I used to meditate consistently and definitely noticed some improvements, but looking back, I feel like I may have been doing it wrong.

My method was basically to clear my mind and get rid of thoughts whenever they appeared. I would focus on my mind itself, almost like focusing on the darkness you see when your eyes are closed, and that seemed to stop thoughts from coming up.

I would do this for around 20 minutes twice a day. I never really read up on meditation or learned a specific technique, I just started doing what felt right.

Later, I learned that you’re apparently supposed to observe your thoughts rather than try to stop them, but I’m not sure I ever understood how to do that properly. I would either let my thoughts run and run, or I’d try to shut them down and focus on having no thoughts at all.

The main problem was that sometimes I would feel a lot of pressure building up in my head, and occasionally I’d experience some pretty dark or negative thoughts.

Despite that, I did notice positive changes from meditating and I’d like to get back into it. I’m just not sure what the best approach would be for starting again, and I don’t want to fall back into my old method if I was doing it incorrectly.

Are there any particular techniques that are good for someone restarting, such as focusing on the breath, body scanning, mindfulness, noting thoughts, guided meditation, etc.? And what meditation technique would you recommend for someone starting again?

Hi,
I’m looking for a genuine spiritual guru or meditation teacher who can guide me.

For the past several years, I’ve been struggling with constant, unnecessary and unrealistic negative thoughts. I haven’t been able to sleep peacefully for quite a long time.

I tried meditation on my own for about a week, mainly focusing on my breath. Surprisingly, I felt a deep sense of calm and peace during that period. But after a few days, that peaceful feeling gradually disappeared, and my mind went back to its old pattern.

These days, it sometimes feels like dozens of thoughts are running through my mind simultaneously. I’ve discussed this with a couple of psychiatrists, and they told me that everything is normal. Still, I feel that I need proper guidance to understand my mind and develop a deeper, consistent meditation practice.

_________________________

A bit about me: I’m in my 30s, a working professional from India, currently living alone in a metropolitan city. I’m physically fit and don’t have any other major health concerns. I’m simply looking for a deeper understanding of my mind and a way to develop lasting inner peace.

So I’m looking for a genuine spiritual guru, meditation teacher, or experienced practitioner who can guide me personally, not just through a few meditation techniques, but in understanding how to work with the mind and develop a consistent spiritual practice.

If you’ve personally had a meaningful experience with a teacher or guru who genuinely helped you, I would be very grateful if you could share their name or recommend someone.

I’m looking for genuine guidance, not commercial courses or quick-fix promises.

Thank you. 🙏

I've wanted to do this 10 day Vipassana retreat for the longest time, and now I finally have life sorted enough to go for it. It will be 7-10 hours of meditation every day.

The only catch is that I'm prone to lower back pain because of a degenerated spine and the ache worsens on sitting or not moving - be it sitting on a chair or on the floor. I've been practicing sitting on the floor for an hour every day but can already feel the lower back being tighter afterwards during the day. And this is after just an hour of practice! I'm really worried about managing the full course.

Please give me ideas on how to manage the physical aspect of sitting down at the retreat, and what i can do to prepare. I have 20 days to go and willing to work hard.

My hips are somewhat tight so kneeling down works better when on the floor for short durations. But I've been practicing in the Siddhasana (aka burmese pose) with a yoga block under the butt and a cushion under one knee.

The center will provide a chair (also causes pain after a while) and 'chowki' (guess a low flat bench). I will stretch and walk and exercise during the breaks.

There is nothing more dangerous for the subconscious than the mind itself altering the nervous system. Poison, as such, could be included in diseases, in the destruction of health and likewise, the somatization of the most negative emotions of the human mind. Then the question arises. How many of the conditions that indicate the application of certain diseases are indirect consequences of decisions produced by a human mind? We as humans and as physical bodies, send back, retreat and rust exactly like the strongest metals on Earth.
There is nothing more harmful than an impulsive nervous system, with the inability to heal, regenerate and continue promoting the Universe itself. The organic health of the being only worsens when the use of mental free will is misused. Tobacco is a very clear example, it seems the need for relief or reward, among it seems the creation and expansion of industrial tobacco, generating consumption and exposure to carcinogens. It also appears in a very clear example with ultra-processed food. The bag of instant pleasure of the unconscious being, coexistence and the economy appears, hence the generation of certain food systems and erroneous exposure to new hosts, generating metabolic and cardiovascular effects. Creativity and the fortuitous impulse of Being is only a method of expansion. When it is not used correctly, at the right time, it becomes the wrong substance for the same organism. Hence the birth of diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and the degradation of tissue in the body. I am not saying that the mind directly creates cancer, but rather, the activity of the human mind can create environmental, behavioral and technological conditions that tell the probability of certain diseases.

A polarized mind seeks a crazy solution, relief from damage, and this creates immediate relief, thus generating a different consequence. Emergencies cannot have been inherited by humanity, but some modern forms of them have been exaggeratedly amplified with what we have created. At what point has a new species remained, if radically modified now environment when now we are not chapters of integrating new modified properties? So ask yourself this question, has consciousness really presented itself or only its capacity? A consumer needs to live, a company needs to sell, the State needs to recover and the worker needs money. The industry believes and the individual belongs, none of these are actors in the prison that we have created for human beings, but they are the fundamental structure and framework that strongly conditions the individual to live locked up. When the herration ceases to be subordinated to the original purpose of the being, this use of organizer around the herration and the relationship becomes invisible. There is no need for a conspiracy because the chain of relationships that they do not know how to completely control already exists.

It is not about cleaning up what we have done, but about being able to transpolate energy to something positive, so that the same human experience of the game of reality is much more rewarding for us. Our actions leave traces on our own being. Some bring us closer and others distance us from what we want to be. When we live by our values, our mind and body integrate much better. The communion between the body and the mind will make the cognitive fusion of feelings. For the first idea, we could think that the currency of the Universe is energy. But we must still give space to doubt, chance and time so that things happen and gain meaning and with consequence, coherence and wisdom. We can work our energy, but not take it away. It is not about changing the past, but changing the direction of it, where the energy simply does not continue to recede. It is not taking away our past, since without it, we would not be able to write what we read today. I do not deny what I was, to be able to define what I am now.

Hello Reddit,

I've been trying to meditate for a few months now, however, I've come face to face with a problem when I do it: I normally end up sleeping accidentally. My mind wanders and I simply end up asleep for a bit

I don't do it in the lotus position, I admit. I do it after work, I lay down, put my headphones on, play some meditation music for five minutes, and the ten minutes left I generally listen to ambient sounds such as birds chipping or rain, all of this while I try to think of a peaceful image and repeat a daoist mantra (Xin, Ping, Qi, He), yet I normally end up taking a quick nap. How do I stop this? Any advice will be appreciated

Thank you in advance

Has anyone else ever heard somebody else's voice during their meditation ?.

Today I was questioning my own sanity after my practise..... Not only do I distinctively remember a foreign voice pronouncing a phase I can only guess is spelt like this.....Aranya gana...... But from a small bit of research it lightly connects to a translation of practising contemplation in a forest, or a chant/ritual within seclusion.

I'm certain of what I experienced, and I've had other questionable experiences with my practise. But none that have distinctly fed me foreign language I don't understand. Has anyone else ever had something like this ? Or can this just possibly be my mind's interpretation of something else while I'm deep in mediation.

I have had very un restorative sleep for the past 8 years of my life give or take. For the past year I have been seeing various specialists that specialize in sleep, done various different blood tests, and have done 3 sleep studies that don’t indicate anything wrong or out of the ordinary.

At this point I’m not sure what I could do but I have come to the realization that this is something I have to tackle on my own.

Recently, I have been researching meditation and even practicing occasionally and I’m wondering what people’s experiences or potential improvements have been since really making meditation a daily practice.

Genuine question I’ve been sitting with. I can be calm and generous with a rude client at 4pm and then snap at a family member over nothing at 7pm. Same day, same person, wildly different behavior.
The explanation I keep coming back to is that politeness at work isn’t free — managing the gap between what you feel and what you display is effortful (researchers call it surface acting), and by evening the capacity is spent. The people who get the leftover version are precisely the ones who can’t fire you.
What bothers me is the incentive structure: my best behavior goes to people who will never remember my name. Has anyone actually found something that works here, beyond “be more mindful”? I’m interested in mechanisms, not affirmations.

I have very very bad anger and rage issues and also I have an extremely short attention span and discipline problem to the point where I hardly ever do things like brushing my teeth each day and I’m 23 and still don’t how to drive because I can’t pay attention and focus enough to do so and I constantly forget everything I do learn after a week and this is for everything like last week I tried to learn how to use a wrench and after 20 minutes of it being explained to me I still didn’t get it. I also have never had a job and can’t ever do any research on things I actually need to know. What types of meditation can I use to improve my mental stability and attention span?

I’ve been meditating for 20 minutes to 1 hour per session for about 2 years now and over the last few months it feels like my overall ability to recognize when I’m drifting in thought and not being aware has really diminished. My object has been either breath, body scans or this kind of open awareness that focuses on whatever arises. In some of my sits, I would say, that I return to my breath or object only a handful of times. Sometimes I can remain there for longer than I used to, maybe a half a minute, but it still feels like I don’t recognize the absence of awareness like I used to. Has anyone experienced this? Have you been able to push through it?

I am really confused of being present. Whenever i practice non judgemental observation i forget about urgent schedules in my daily life. Also somedays i practice yoga nidra vipassana and painting. During those days i feels like i am simply observing like i forget to say hi to my friends even they are walking nearby me and after few seconds i remember about and recently i lost a good friendship due to this. why am I like this? Is this because I am deviating from the actual method? Also I forget to say attendance if I am in college and it is because if i get absorbed into a gentle breeze i will forget the fact that I am in my classroom. During exam season I cant be like this I need to complete a lot i cant be with a delayed brain signal. How its being with an actual meditative mind? does it forget daily duties?

This sounds weird but early in my meditation practice I had vision like I was entering a cavern. I looked down and saw a large gaping cavern- like a clearing beneath me in this cave- with shapes like a group of people but indistinct. It was sort of like out of Indiana Jones. It was not at all scary- it was like I had entered a realm. Ive meditated fo lr yrs since and never shared this experience but wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience or has heard what this could signify?

I’ve been meditating for around 10 years nd over time i’ve noticed a lot of things that people rarely talk about when they first start.

I’m curious — if you meditate regularly, what’s something you experienced or understood that genuinely changed the way you see yourself or life?

Could be anything like a realization, a mistake, a strange experience or something you completely misunderstood at first.

What did meditation teach you that you couldn’t learn from books or other people ?

I do different styles of meditation like watching the breath which could be more useful for Samadhi or Jhanas but I am looking to try mantra meditation so could you recommend me mantra, for samadhi but it could be other mantra too if you see it would fit or be good.

Thx and bless you.

Let me share some exciting early results of my Christian mysticism practices that I just started. The first few times I did centering prayer (basically meditating on a word that reminds you of God), I felt a peace afterwards that I don't think could've been biologically caused, although it was a light peace, because of how little practice it took to get it.

The first time it tried practicing the presence of God (in my interpretation staying mindful all day of the feeling that God is present, although I'm not done with the book about it), 20 minutes in I started to feel intense joy, love, and gratitude overflowing for 5 seconds. Again, I don't think it was biologically caused because of how little practice it took to happen.

In both these cases, I think God was giving me a foretaste of the fruits of the practice to motivate me. Also, the practice of the presence of God reliably gives me a slight high that other techniques never gave me, and not practicing feels dreary by comparison. This morning, that practice made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning.

I'm sharing because I want you to know how good Jesus is, even if you don't believe in heaven or hell. He melts my heart so much when I come back to Christianity after straying. Maybe you can just pray to him about your meditation practice. I heard of someone having a very successful meditation retreat after praying to Jesus for help.

One of the kindest things Jesus has done for me (it's so hard to count them) is sending a no-self realized person into my life who had converted to Christianity.

Hey everyone, I recently suffered a major loss and have been dealing with persistent anxiety, with my mind constantly spiraling into the past or worrying about the future. I practice Anapana meditation, and while focusing on my natural breath helps keep me calm during the sit, the anxiety creeps right back in as soon as I get up. I am trying hard to live in the present moment throughout the day rather than just on the cushion. If you have navigated something similar, what practical mindfulness or grounding techniques helped you bridge that gap and stay anchored during your daily routine? Any advice or personal experiences would mean a lot.

Hello,

I got into meditation to treat my insomnia as a recommendation from my psychiatrist because I really don't want to get into ''sleeping pills'', but I do currently take meds for anxiety.

She recommended me a youtube playlist, and once I exhausted its content but realized it was helping me, I decided to do more research on the subject.

I, then, learned that what I was doing is called ''mindfulness of the breath'' and decided to try and master it by focusing on the first step of the instructions I found here:

1. In the first stage you use counting to stay focused on the breath. After the out-breath you count one, then you breathe in and out and count two, and so on up to ten, and then you start again at one.

It worked well for a few months and I was just about considering to move on to the second step when it suddenly stopped working.

Now, instead of dozing off mid meditation, I am getting more hypered and anxious with restless legs. My mind is going everywhere even though I am still counting, like my brain learned how to keep the number counting mechanically without having to really focus in it, so I am unable to calm down my mind.

I thought that maybe moving to the next step of the method would add a layer of difficulty and force my mind to focus on the meditation but it did nothing.

It has been a week now that this is happening and I don't know what to do or if I was doing something wrong to start with, maybe?

I've been trying for years to develop a meditation practice that I'm comfortable with. I've completely stopped for about a year because I haven't found a method that I don't feel reluctant about doing. Every time I focus on my breathing I start to get anxious. My breathing becomes very mechanical and awkward. I don't enjoy sitting so rigid and honestly, the formality of it all is a complete turn off.

My "dancing around meditation" is because I read about the benefits and on paper, it all sounds so advantageous and doable... that is until I try to do it. I've tried apps, guided work, etc but it all feels so contrived. What's interesting is that is not my personality... to not push through hard things that I encounter. This, however, has me stymied. I'm good just doing 5-10 minutes a day and if possible, building from there. I know there are a lot of disciplines and the formality is what I think bumps me off track. I like the idea of just sitting and noticing with no structure, but a part of me feels that's not meditating....

Anyway, thoughts/recommendations are welcome.

Thanks

so i just had my first grounding experience sat in a lawn chair barefoot i started off just staring at the clouds and doing a little breathing work and i started seeing these insanely clear air bubbles like floaters then i closed my eyes and did some more breath work and it felt like my mind had went to a different place for a while i didnt time it so i dont really know how long it was but i remember trying to imagine me and my shadow coming together and kinda working like a team and eventually my eyes just opened and my mouth was in this kinda wide open awe type state but like the trees were expanding like they were breathing and the grass looked like it was moving like ocean waves then a cricket started chirping and i swear it was like it was trying to communicate i could pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from just looking for advice on where to go next

Am I doing something wrong even after months of meditation ?

I still feel like venting eg thinking in my head of the injustice creating a story when receiving criticism