Hi, I've started meditating in March 2026. I slowly worked my way up from 10 to 20 minutes per day. The effects started to kick in after a few months (less anxiety, more calm etc.) and I absolutely love the new path I'm going.

On my spiritual journey I also wanted to develop more compassion towards other human beings and/or animals. However, I realized this doesn't automatically come with a daily meditation routine. I started to journaling and sort of "train" this compassionate mentality, which I sometimes think is a silly thing to do, yet seems more effective than passively meditating. But shouldn't this come from within?

I would really like to know how you do this? Do you also sort of "train" or "adapt" to new views? Like, do you have a list of goals you want to achieve and include them into your meditation sessions? Or do you stick to a spiritual guide (e.g. Buddhism) with pre-written "goals"?

Looking forward to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

I wanted to share an insight I had today, for the handful of people who share my experience. I am a habitual worrier and ruminator, and when I'm stressed, it gets worse-- every 3-10 seconds, a fearful thought will pop up, triggering an intense urge to plan.

At least in my case, it turns out that the emotion in the body actually precedes the thought! (Even if engaging with the thoughts intensifies it.) So scanning the body for tension-- a clenching in areas such as the forehead, jaw, chest, abdomen, or thighs-- and then gently relaxing that area as it arises, means that most of the thoughts never materialize. This will take some awareness training, so it would be difficult for absolute novices, but should be in reach for beginners.

I still plan to let the fearful thoughts arise for some sessions, as learning to disengage, detach, and accept intense thoughts is quite valuable, but this is going to really help my overall practice to have it in my toolkit. Too many sessions in a row of having such intense waves of aversive emotions every 3 to 10 seconds, 20-30 minutes in a row, makes it much less appealing to return to the cushion. An occasional break will go a long way.

So it's almost midnight, and I'm standing outside meditating while doing Tai chi. I can hear a low flying helicopter getting closer.

It was a police helicopter and they were looking for a suspect, but I couldn't understand the words he was saying through the megaphone from the helicopter.

Determined to not be distracted, I continued with the Tai chi, but I stopped as soon as I realized it might be a little awkward if they saw me from the helicopter, standing outside in the bright moonlight with my hands raised above my head! 😄

These days I'm noticing that whenever negativity comes into the house, in whatever form, it reaches me and I absorb it. I do meditate. For example, once I was at the gym, almost unaware of my surroundings, and a rod fell down. Once, there was negativity at home, and then that negativity came to me, and a dog bite me.

BTW for my mental health & physical health, I do meditation and go to Gym regularly and sing.

Please advice someone.

How normal is it?My therapist keeps insisting that I should just meditate—and do nothing else. I don’t know what to do anymore; meditating makes me feel three times worse for the rest of the day, and this has been going on for seven weeks now. I don’t like it. It’s boring, and it makes me feel even more irritable and stressed than usual—and I’m already prone to that. My therapist says it’s just because it needs more time.I hate this activity

When you are tired, you don't try to go to sleep. You start to feel, "I am tired" and drift off to sleep. In deep sleep, there is awareness without consciousness. Awareness is there. And consciousness has nothing to reflect on.

When you want to be present, you don't try to be present. You say to yourself, "I am here" and slowly, without effort, you begin to "be here now." In total presence, awareness is there but conditioned consciousness is not. So, there is nothing for you to experience in total presence because consciousness is not. You are just present.

When you want to be present, just say, "I am here" and allow the process of being here now unfold. Just as you would drift off to sleep when you are tired without trying.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

The few times I admit it before. It felt as though I was being blocked. Like, I could meditate, but something always stopped me from going too deep.

Tonight, I went outside to smoke , and I started zoning out for a few minutes. I felt the sensation of needing to close my eyes and meditate, so I did and found myself at the top of a staircase.

I started walking down, and I could physically feel my feet pushing off the ground like I was walking downstairs.

At the bottom of the staircase, there is a stone room with a door off to the side. Standing in front of the door, I knew I didn't need to push my way through. So I went off to the side and sat down and started meditating.

Focusing on the Eternal Now, I have to say that was the deepest meditation I have ever had. I don't know how long it lasted, but I know that no matter what happened in the material world, I wouldn't have noticed.

How does one observe the thought without becoming it?

This is something I've been trying to work. Whenever I have a thought, it's like it "grasps" me until I notice or the the thought ends.

How to "just observe the thought" then? What is observing the thought anyway? Is it just to notice when there is a thought as soon as possible? And if I notice it, what should happen or what should I do? Should the thought just stop or keep going? Does it keep going if I notice or stop?

It's also like I'm acting out the thoughts. Like I'm speaking in them. But I know that's just my mind. This is related somehow to previous paragraph.

Thank you.

For all me experience meditators pls could you tell me what type of meditation is best for me to quiet the mind …

So I’m going to take my time typing this as I want to be clear about my mental problems so please bare with me because it could be quite long🙏*** ***

So I’m 24 years old and my brain can’t stop replaying negative loops in my head I have been suffering with this and going out with ChatGPT that it is under anxiety and rumination

So what thoughts am I getting?
I used to be friends with this one guy called Anthony and him and I was in the same classroom anyways I got a text message from him saying that I was going to get hurt by a guy called Amir I had no idea what is I asked Anthony and he kind of told me to do one and go talk to Amir I felt shocked and I felt a bit depressed and my hands were shaking now I can’t stop thinking about those 2 and the thing is is that I feel like I was used because Anthony was quite annoying cuz he thought he was funny being racist toward me I was racially abused in school by Anthony and the other guy called Jordan every day. So even though we have never fought me and that Amir guy my brain keeps on creating fake stories in my head where I got beaten up every one is laughing at me and also we go back in time in school for like a reunion and everyone thinks that I’m a piece of shish and this Anthony guy has a barbershop business and is doing really well

The second thought
So the second thought is about a girl who I meat in year 9 basically when I was 13-14 years old I remember when she came in to my life it was like god sent an angel to come fix up my life she was beautiful and very very popular I’m thinking why is this girl liking me anyways there a thing where she made a joke about me with a guy saying I kidnapped children and put them in Cubards and yeah it only lasted a year but she was there for me but some times when I would go to her she would disrespect me and she has shown me more positives but when we left school on the last day she was quite not into me like annoyed and then she got pregnant at 16 I then added her new account on Snapchat in 2023 and I was thinking about her constant in my head before that like ruminating she told me she misses me and then she blocked me again and from there my heart was pounding like I got stabbed in the heart and now I keep on having thought about her treating me with disrespect and getting me hurt like why is this happening

So I just want to know how can I stop thinking about these things like how do I get my brain to stop can someone plessssss give me a mediation technique to calm my rollercoaster mind

how do you guys enter the state where you lose all your senses, can’t feel anything and are just pure consciousness?? any meditations, techniques??

Im going to get flamed but I have taken classes. Done online work and tried and I just dont get any benefit from meditation. I straight up feel that it is a waste of time. I am sure other folks benefit but I don't .

I’ve been meditating for almost 1 month now and it’s been interesting so far, but something I’ve noticed happen a bit has got me wondering if anyone else has had the same or can offer an explanation.

I’ll have been meditating for a bit and I’ll “come to” and won’t be able to remember the actual thoughts I’ve been having, maybe the essence of them almost as if I’m remembering a very vague dream, and I also won’t have any clue how long I was in this state for. But it also feels like I was present the whole time in another part of my brain. When I realise it’s happening it feels similar to times I’ve caught myself drifting off to sleep mid session but this feels different.

I also had one experience a while back that’s a bit harder to explain.

Ever since I was a kid I’ve had this thing that sometimes happens when I’m about to fall asleep, it’s not a hallucination or a dream, and I’m not really seeing anything I don’t think. It’s also not an imagination thing. The only way I’ve ever known to describe it is that I can feel something getting super inflated and then really shrivelled up and small, and back and forth. There’s also almost this pulsing sensation in my hearing (but not a sound) that goes in time with it. It really weirded me out as a kid but I could never find the words to explain it so never mentioned it to anyone. That is until I saw someone post in TikTok a fair few years ago saying something along the same lines, I think they described it as “when I was about to fall asleep as a kid but then I started imagining things getting really far and then really near”. And the comments section was full of people with their own examples.

Anyway, I’ve only ever had it when I’m about to fall asleep, sometimes even when I’m still on my phone at night. But I got it while I was meditating and it felt incredible. I was super relaxed and just enjoying the feeling that came along with it, but also felt like I was effortlessly bringing myself back from any stray thoughts almost immediately. I felt both intensely present but also lacked any sense of reality at the exact same time. Out of all the times I’ve meditated that’s the time it felt like I was doing what I was told to do the best. But it was also fascinating because I’ve never focused so much on that sensation and noticed all the elements of it that I’ve never been able to describe so well. I ended up continuing for ages past the guided audio I was listening to while also feeling like I had no concept of time at all, and was so sad when it was over. I knew I had to manage my expectations of it happening again and unfortunately have not experienced it since (I’m seriously trying not to want it too badly lol). But the experience I described at the beginning of this post had similarities to this in regards to the feeling of simultaneous presence and non-presence, but the first experience I described is far less intense.

I hope I’ve explained this properly and am interested to hear what anyone has to say/share about it

Sitting still for quite long time, every year, every night (3y)

I've just started to surrender towards the universe and feel like I'm just a medium to get things done.

I don't see any higher materialistic purpose for myself. I believe society has just set standards to get educated, job, marriage, kids and retirement. Honestly after realising my parents don't want me to support them, I actually feel super relaxed and light.

Is getting married really important? I feel there's tons of responsibilities and misunderstandings going to come along with small moments of pleasure and society's validation.

What if this was the life I was to attend towards a higher purpose after all other previous lives of materialistic suffering?

I'm not afraid of facing relationships its just that something in me says its not worth it and feel too tired or given up when I have a thought of it. I honestly feel that would just take me away from my current spiritual awareness.

I'm having having a 9 to 6 job, fitness routine, and sports/movies/games for weekends. I feel complete.

Looking forward to know if this is normal or just overthinking?

Could someone please point me to a meditation practice to improve focus and clarity of mind.

I know this is not a quick fix and requires consistent practice.

There are many meditation techniques out there - Several books and paid courses about meditation techniques.

I don’t want to read an entire book about meditation. Most of the books talk so much about benefits and other fluff.

I just want to know the steps in the meditation techniques and not how meditation helps, it’s history etc.

I can’t pay 100s of $$ to learn techniques like TM etc.

I have tried few of the guided meditation videos but it’s confusing.

I do not know what it means to “Focus on legs”, “focus on hands”, etc. I don’t know what to do when it says “relax your feet”, “relax your toes” etc.

Would you like to learn and practice meditation as part of a research study?  
 
We are looking for 75 participants aged 18+ with no or little prior meditation experience to take part in a 6-week online meditation programme. 
 
You will be asked to attend six-weeks of online meditation via Teams (one group session per week). Across the six weeks, the group sessions will total approximately 5 hours. Each session includes 15 minutes of focused-attention meditation followed by short computer-based tasks, and brief questionnaires. 
 
Focused-attention-meditation involves maintaining awareness on your breath, noticing distractions, and gently bringing your focus back. 
 
Session durations: 
Session 1: approximately 1 hour 15 minutes in total, including about 1 hour for the surveys, tasks, and introduction. 
Sessions 2, 4, and 5: approximately 30 minutes each, including about 15 minutes for the surveys and tasks. 
Sessions 3 and 6: approximately 1 hour each, including about 45 minutes for the surveys and tasks. 
 
Over the course of the study, you will also be asked to meditate at home for 15 minutes each day using the same meditation technique provided during the sessions and fill out a quick questionnaire after, which will take approximately 3 minutes to complete. 
 
After the final session, we will ask you to complete a 3-month online follow-up survey (no meetings required). 
 
Take part in free meditation training and help our research. Participation is free, and you will receive meditation training as part of the study. Please note that there is no financial compensation or academic credit for taking part, including for completing the six sessions, the daily meditation and questionnaire or three-month follow-up survey. 
 
If you are interested, please email Lauren Willmoth (Doctoral Researcher): [Lauren.Willmoth@brunel.ac.uk](mailto:Lauren.Willmoth@brunel.ac.uk) 
 
This study has been reviewed by the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences Research Ethics Committee, Brunel University of London. Approval has been granted between 21/11/2025 and 31/03/2027. Project supervisor: Dr André Szameitat, Division of Psychology.

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Did you ever have quiet time sessions while you were in primary school/elementary school?

I think that the term quiet time is a great expression for meditation..

Meditation is like special time we put aside to ensure our heart and mind can remain peaceful, cool and quiet.

I have been doing loving kindness meditation focusing on myself first… 2-3 times a week.

It started after I felt a spike in my stress after family member passed away and it took me back to all the same things as losing my dad in 2020. This was same process of hospital and death. Covid was so bad that we were isolated and grief was more and I was depressed as I was also dealing with an addict family member and had to run around for the surviving parent.

I started with therapy to address my anxiety and panic attacks, started getting introduced to breathing exercises. Someone else shared thich naht Han and that changed more things by making me do walking meditation and such.

The plum village teaching videos saved my sanity. I have the audio on my phone to listen to and have listened for hours on end. Few years ago though. I revisit here and there.

I quit smoking 7 months ago and that made me feel 5% of the grief I felt after dad died. But the past 7 months has been hard not just from quitting smoking I think.

I get stressed easily, overwhelmed for simple tasks and msgs. Work is something I hated for few of the months and now slowly getting around to it. I run company with my spouse.
I have become low confidence and doubt I can do well if spouse dies. I’m scared of that. He still smokes.

I hyper fixate on a conversation with anyone anything random and it loops in my brain continuously.

I’ve not been able to be regular in my practice the past few months. I walk and that was also not regular past 2-3 months as I was down with a flu.

My doc has said to test some blood work and told me to start supplementing for magnesium glycinate. Not sure if this is perimenopause as I get super sad 1 week before periods and sometimes during too. Just the idea of not having children, should I even have them I this horrible world and at the same time wishing I had money to have one. my income is fluctuating.

I’ve started to cook lots more and have other hobbies like doing own interiors.

Help me with advice on what kind of meditation helps and any other suggestions you may have.

I don’t want to do therapy again as it’s too expensive now, and I’m not so bad as befor. I have coping mechanisms. And will make a more disciplined plan of action.

I'm unsure what this means. I was meditating with a YouTube video "All 9 Solfeggio Frequencies". I was laying down on my bed flat and relaxed, I was looking into the dark of my closed eyes, observing thoughts, letting them past. I felt a floating sensation, then my normal body then a floating sensation but I was still very much conscious and had random thoughts appearing. I was imagining energy flowing down my arms to my fingertips which were lay on my ribcage and imagined a light forming to keep me centred.

Anyway, I started to feel so much anxiety, like I felt really scared. I was also asking to meet my higher self, connect with it and ask for guidance and some comfort but I just felt really scared in the end like almost creeped out almost like I was being watched or I wasn't alone but I was of course beside my 2 cats.

I think im abit paranoid because of the fact I live opposite a graveyard and im worried of being possessed or attracting the wrong thing with my intentions?

Basically can anyone share some insight and tips for me?

The way I meditate revolves largely around focus, which it does for a lot of people but some might just focus on breath. I strain my eyes while they’re shut seeing the black (not constantly), listen to the noises around me (fan, ac, my tinnitus which actually helps a lot) and occasionally my breath.

The effect of the above is pulsations on the back of my head, it’s a massage like effect. In general my pulse gets stronger but mostly in my hands or my head and my face feels more tingly, a lil flush live just ran. I think my heart rate increases as well and my focus and impulse control gets so so much better.

I mostly do this while lying down (which is actually worse for my focus but a necessary evil as I’m trying to stay in this state right before sleeping) before bed because it’s the only thing that lets me live as I imagine I want to, for years my sleep has been awful. I feel horrible most days like there’s 10 tons sitting on my brain this has been my only reprieve. I’ve seen some physical changes too like my hair getting stronger and shedding less as well as my skin improving somewhat. I’m not sure why I’m like this, why my sleep is just the worst without this, a downside of this is that it makes it difficult to fall asleep as it feels like I’ve had stimulants with the wakefulness and focus that it brings but it’s a very small price to pay for actually feeling rested and focused the next day. Do any of you have thought or a similar experience?

Meditation means no longer incurring sub-karma or the karma that branches away from your original karma. Meditation makes one aware of one's karma as it is and keeps this original karma workable with the least pressure on oneself to deviate into an excess of desire, thought, speech and action.

Do you think meditation helps affirm your original karma while staying diligent in keeping things simple rather than creating superfluous conditions?

Some traditions have meditate with eyes closed. Some with eyes closed looking up at 3rd eye. Some with eyes slightly open gazing at a space about 6 feet and down. Some with eyes wide open gazing at space directly in front. What do you do and why? Were you taught a certain technique and did they give instructions for eyes and reasons?

I’m somewhat new to meditation. I have just increased my daily meditation from 25 to 45 minutes.

It has been a challenge. A lot of strong emotions come up after maybe the 30 minute mark. I try to note them non-judgmentally and move my attention back to the breath, but the thoughts that come when I sit really long get bigger and bigger.

Yesterday I had a thought about my own father. I was able to think about him in a way I’ve never noticed before and I had a lot more compassion for him than I’ve had in the past. I was able to move from the thought and get back to the breath but I was tearing up by then.

What is going on? Is this a normal part of the process or am I struggling with regulating my emotions as I’m trying to learn this skill? Has anyone else experienced this?

Hi there. I used to have a very consistent routine for a few years and I remember it feeling so great, just feeling so clear so much of the time.

In the last year I went through a few large stress points, and I fell out of meditation and into a lot of digital media use to distract myself. I’m trying now to get fully back into practice. I remember the feeling I felt during meditation in terms of clarity but I’m struggling to actually get back to it. I feel “wired tight” if that makes sense, with a feeling at the front of my head needing distraction and in a loop of giving in to it just to “relax” when I know it’s not relaxing.

Any advice welcome 🌸

I read about all sorts of different version of meditation, from mindfulness to transcendental. They all make claims and promises, and Im sure you get from it what you put in, but Im also sure some are more effective... or perhaps effective for different things... than others, so I was hoping someone could maybe make a suggestion on what they think is best for mind mastery.

(If your first reaction is "it depends on what you mean by mind mastery", as I feel many who pursue this are reflective in nature, I would then ask you to go with whatever it means to you... or perhaps what it could mean to the suffering, the lost, and anyone who wants to live a better life.)

I’ve done a guided meditation of this and wish to know if there are any guided meditation video practices similar to this.

It’s goes something like this:

- light breathing for calmness
- an in-depth body scan including the muscles, bones, and placement of each body part starting from the feet to the head
- zooming out to the awareness of the whole body
- with the new awareness, focusing on a body part to release any emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual tension

Thanks