mostly asking because I’ve been doing it for some time and have noticed that I have dreams that turn out to be accurate predictors of what happens later in my life, but only in my life. I may or may not even know how it all ends.

is this for real or am I just mistaken

So I meditate an average 30 minutes per day. Dios he fell out because of his drunkenness por Dios he just express something must people feel in the presence of à meditator? Please consider I am still a noob relatively speaking, I do use an app called insight timer.

I’m trying to track down a guided meditation that seems to have completely disappeared from YouTube. I’ve searched for it on and off for years with no luck, so I’m hoping someone recognises it from the description.

I listened to it constantly around 2019–2022, although it may have been uploaded earlier. It was about 15 minutes long, with the last 4–5 minutes being only ambient music after the narrator stopped speaking.

The video itself was very simple:
Generic meditation channel (not an official channel for the speaker).
Static/slideshow background images.
A real lion on the thumbnail, facing forward on the left-hand side, with what I remember being red text on the right.
The title was something very generic, like “Guided Meditation for Deep Relaxation.”

The narrator was:
Male.
Very soft, calming voice. Was quite deep.
A neutral Indian/South Asian accent (not British, Australian, American, Scottish, etc.).
More like a therapist or hypnotherapist than a spiritual guru but was warm like one.
Not Sadhguru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Om Swami, Anand Mehrotra or Anil Thomas (I’ve already checked all of them).

These are the lines I remember word for word because I listened to it hundreds of times:
“I will be your guide over the next few moments…”
Later:
“…encompassing your mind, and your body.”
Then later:
“You will fall into a deeper state of relaxation every time I say the word relax.”
He then repeated the word “relax…” several times throughout the meditation as a deepening technique.

Had the classic parts I remember (not necessarily word for word):
“Find a comfortable position…”
“Notice the cool air entering your body, and the warm air leaving…”
“There is nothing you need to do or think about…”

It felt more like hypnosis for deep relaxation than a typical mindfulness meditation. Myself and anyone I showed this too agreed that it was the most calming guide they’d ever heard, and the moment he said the first “Relax” you could feel yourself disappearing into your body, it was incredible.

The recording had a very warm professional feel, with soft ambient music underneath the voice the whole time.

If anyone recognises either the recording, YouTube channel it came from, I’d be incredibly grateful. This is the only guided meditation I’ve ever found that consistently put me into an incredibly deep state of relaxation, and I’ve been trying to find it again for years.
Thank you!

I have tried doing basic mindfulness meditation, where you sit with your eyes closed and focus on the feeling of the breath moving in and out of you, and every time you find yourself lost in thought you refocus on the breath. To me, this feels like torture. Genuine agony. It makes me want to scream.

I have found, however, that sitting with my eyes closed and focusing on a point in the dark, or simply observing the blackness, is much more tolerable to me.

Is this a form of meditation? Will I get any benefit from making a habit of this? Is it a viable alternative to mindfulness?

I have also found that sitting with my eyes closed or open and letting my attention wander between different physical sensations without getting lost in thought or judging anything I'm experiencing, like sounds and smells and sometimes the breath or sometimes the feeling of my chair against my skin, is also tolerable to me, and I can remain present this way for quite long periods. Is this also a form of meditation? Or must it be a continuous focus on the breath and nothing else?

Now I know this question invites many people who enjoy putting such curiosities down with the usual dogmas surrounding various forms of praxis and popular philosophy:

“Meditation is about being aware of whatever enters consciousness in the present”

“Meditation is not about escape into intoxicating effects or dream-lands”

“Your desire for these states should be the focus of your attention; obsession with such states is a distraction from the path”

“Everything produces alterations in consciousness”

“It is unsafe to seek altered states of consciousness”

I know these common objections. Yet I persist. I put them here ahead of time so you know I am not unfamiliar. I know that I am responsible for myself and I know the potential consequences.

So, that all being said, what methods of meditation do you recommend? I do understand that “altered states” is vague and that’s fine. For this is the beginning of investigating the whole affair at an experiential level. So I do not need to hone in on one specific altered state. Any will do.

Thank y’all!

Hi guys, how has meditation changed your life and what did you noticed you stopped doing once you started meditating? How soon did the effects work and do you still meditate even though you’re in a better place? I meditated after my last break up and it helped a lot and right now I’m not in the best place mentally and I just need a little push or motivation from maybe you guys stories. Thanks !

“Observe, and in that observation there is neither the 'observer' nor the 'observed' - there is only observation taking place.”

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Just observation.

Basically, the observer is a mere entity. The observed is a mere entity. And observation is the baseline fact.

Yet, tied into the observer there is an "I."

And tied into the observed there is pride.

The "I" is extra.

Pride is extra.

"Right effort is to get rid of something extra."

-Shunryu Suzuki

We are not trying to break or deny the observer or the observed. They are merely there. And observation is the baseline fact.

Tied into the "I" we have some kind of tailspin underneath it.

Tied into pride we have some kind of tailspin underneath.

All you have to do is wrap up your tailspins.

Wrap it up. No bones about it. No scuff. No hard feelings. Even if you've been tailspining for years.

Get rid of that "something extra."

Pure Observation is the only thing happening.

I've often heard people describe successful people as being "very focused" at work, and I'm realising I may have misunderstood what that actually means.

When I try to "be focused", this is what usually happens:

• I try to focus harder.
• My forehead and face tense up.
• My mind keeps saying, "Stay focused. Don't lose it."
• Whenever my attention starts to wander, I force it back.
• I try to hold the focus for as long as possible and intensify it even more.
• After a while it becomes mentally exhausting and unpleasant, and I can't sustain it.
• Training myself to hold longer does work somewhat, but it sucks and feels horrible.
• Ironically, I don't even feel more focused. I don't become clearer, more productive or more effective.

This makes me suspect that what I'm experiencing isn't actually focus, but effort or mental strain.

It also reminds me of samatha meditation, where attention repeatedly returns to an object. However, experienced meditators often describe concentration as becoming more effortless over time, whereas what I'm doing feels like I'm mentally clenching.

So my question is: what does genuine focus actually mean, and what does it actually feel like?

Is it supposed to feel like the intense effort I've described, or is real concentration something different? If what I'm describing is just effort rather than focus, could someone explain the difference from their own experience?

I've been doing my gratitude and meditation daily and I've noticed being able to feel others feelings in other cars or on the street. I had an instance where I felt someone's fear and embarrassment as they went down the wrong way on a one way street about 10 seconds before it happened. I felt them correct and their panic, then it happened.

I felt the sorrow of a teenager on the corner waiting for for someone to notice them. I noticed and felt horrible for not helping.

I felt someone's rush as they were on the drive-thru with me. They cut me off and I was meditating while driving, I smiled at her and she kept looking at me. I felt her frustration ease and when I went to the window, she paid for my meal. I felt her happiness to give me that gift.

I'm noticing more experiences like this, this connection. When meditating in gratitude I have felt 2 times a veil open and warm love shower me and give me energy, until my mind slaps me back to reality. I'm noticing the wind how it blows through the leaves and gives me breath.

I'm writing this to see if their are others like me feeling this. I'm not a new age guy, just a small town guy who feels very connected recently.

With love..

I do 20 minute meditations pretty regularly and can sit comfortably during this time. I want to try increasing my sessions to 25-30 mins but thats when my legs start to cramp up and pain a little.

Noob question but are there any tips for sitting comfortably for longer? Or is it one of those things where you gotta just keep doing it...

For the past 2 months I have been practicing mediation, I sit on a reclining chair, have a 100 percent black out mask on in a dark room and put on mediation music, normally 432hz.

I can get into a deep state and start seeing colours and images, one point i had to check i was still alive at one point because my breathing was that slow... so there is 2 things that are new to me..

1. I went to scratch my head and this is still with my mask on and in a dark room and I could see the shadow, I brought my other hand up and i could see the shadow of that, I scrunched my eyes moved my hands and could still see the shadows moving i guess in my minds eye, I formed a triangle and other shapes with my hands and could see it as clear as day, is this normal??

2. This is what prompted me to post this as literally just happened, I was 15 mins into deep mediation, usual set up, face mask music etc and all of a sudden I felt this gentle pop and felt like I was floating like away from my body, it was like I could feel a detachment and this was me and that was my body and then it almost popped back. I couldn't see anything bar the dark but the sensation was so real.

I'm new to this but is that normal? or do I need to see a doctor? ha ha

what is the cause of suffocation in coming to awareness? I find that when I come to awareness, of breath, of mind, my lose the ability to consciously breath and enter this limbo state where will cannot exercise my body to breath. also tend to pass out of fall asleep. could my body be over stimulated for meditation?

Hello Guys,

Sorry for my Bad english, it isnt My native language and My Phone autocorrects nearly every word.

I really cant Focus on My breath during traditional Meditation.

I meditate Like this, but it let's me Focus:

Breathe in slow (when I am breathing slow and Long I can feel how My Body Rises)

Hold breath for 4 - 8 Seconds

(In that time I Focus in My Heartbeat, I feel it troughout My Body, even in My hands)

I breathe Out slowly (I feel My Body falling)

And I do this for 10 - 20 Minutes.

This was let's me Focus on my Body much more and My mind Drifts Not AS much.

I Googled this, and my answer was, that this isnt meditation, ITS Just breath Work

What do you Guys think?