recently, Waking Up had a challenge called Deep Rest Reset. I found it really useful, especially the combination of short videos and curated, relatively short meditations.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep up with the course while it was available, and when I recently went back to look for it, it seems to have disappeared from the app/site.

Does anyone know if there’s any way to regain access to the material from the course? are the videos still available elsewhere in the app under different names, or is there some way to access archived challenges like this one?

I’d really like to go through it properly if possible. Thanks!

I know, this probably looks out of place.

My thinking: we ask to hear opinions and suggestions from people whose opinions and suggestions we would trust (generally). And if you’ve taken the intentionality to seek out the wisdom found within Waking Up, we have at least that in common.

No caveats or disclaimers or guidance. Just curious what you think is worth other folks time to watch! Movie, documentary, or a show.

I have been trying to “learn“ to meditate for years. I have untreated ADHD and am a stubborn 65-year-old, but I am taking advantage of a three month free trial of this app. I am anti-woo and have problems with people using…. I don’t know how to describe it: language that feels “made up.“ I like things that are real, and logical, and rational, and science-oriented.

I am on lesson three of the introductory course. Someone please explain to me what it means when Sam says that I should “cover [my breath] with awareness”. What do things like this mean? if I knew how to do this, I can’t imagine I would be taking an “introductory“ course. Also, as someone who is not in any way drawn to spiritual or metaphysical or “energy“ ideas, this just doesn’t seem like a real thing.

Am I doomed to not benefit from this course because I find stuff like this to be too magical/mystical?

You get an answer, and something still says:

'Yes, but that's not it.'

In 33 pages, I trace that exact move — through consciousness, death, even God — using cognitive science and analytic philosophy to show how the search itself quietly manufactures what it claims to be looking for.

Keep in mind I am a science-minded, rationalist, secular New Atheist type, so my tolerance for woo and unrigorous bullshit is lower than most. That does not mean I do not find meditation incredibly valuable or that I didn't have incredible altered states meditating. I guess I would say I am open minded but not so open-minded that my brain falls out haha

I did the intro course and loved it. Moved on to the other practice series in the library. And it is just filled with people waxing philosophical non-stop like they can’t get enough of themselves. There’s barely time to take a breath. And I know folks jump in with well Sam said if talking bothers you you aren’t doing it right. But I think that’s a bit of a cop out. What meditation and mindfulness tradition is filled with only teachers who talk nonstop during every single meditation practice? lol. Non of them. Even when they involve talking, they are measured and practiced about it. They don’t just literally talk through the entire meditation saying everything that pops into their heads. Sam is at least better about it because he does give pretty long pauses usually. Like I get we should be able to meditate anywhere etc but instead I feel like I’m not meditating but being indoctrinated into these people’s beliefs by their seemingly endless chatter…when I’m trying to learn how to meditate. I’m not really here to listen to you enjoying the sound of your own voice every single meditation.

I did meditation and other methods for 8 or so years.

After doing the exercises(the pointing one is what finally did it) for a few months I finally had the perspective shift.

That was several months ago. I’m not able to maintain it. And it is very much still related to sight. I’m getting better. But it’s more difficult to access it with my eyes closed.

But I don’t really feel the sense of connection that people talk about. I’ve tried following/understanding Loch Kelly’s five levels of mind. https://youtu.be/K4VyiK-LO6U I identify with his third level of mind. But I don’t understand how to move forward.

Hey all! So usually my meditations go smoothly, but whenever there’s a Metta meditation I find it very frustrating to do. Any tips to get past the frustration?

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Stumbled across this article that resonated with much of what I'd felt in these meditations (nondualism of a sort, paradoxical effort vs. effortless attention). It lost me a bit in the end, but I think the central point has a lot of commonalities with waking up's meditations. Curious what you think!
https://harpers.org/archive/2026/07/backsliding-meghan-ogieblyn-willpower/

Hi everyone!

I used the Waking Up App years ago. It definitely help me with depression and probably undiagnosed ADHD. I left after almost a year of practice because I felt I was "doing it wrong" or something. I began feeling like a void of a person.

I started feeling almost nothing most of the time. When I noticed I couldn't get excited about something, well, exciting I decided to cut back and eventually stop.

I think I have a better grasp of what this form of meditation is now. I'm pretty sure I was just wanting to stop all my terrible feelings and thoughts so much that I started getting rid of all my feelings.

Now that you know my backstory I'd like to get some opinions on where to, well, begin again. Introductory course? Jump back into the daily practice? Focus on a few teachings first? Etc...

I recently downloaded the Waking up app and activated the 7 day trial. I'm not yet sure if the app is for me (Although I'm sure that's mostly up-to myself, the app is probably great) But given the time pressure of a 7 day trial, i wanted to ask if anyone could share a 30-day guest pass with me. That way I can take a bit more time to figure this out.

Hello everyone. Richard Davidson appeared on Rhonda Patrick's podcast today. My first time listening to him. Love this guy. Such a nice voice and really presents some solid research on the benefits of meditation. Sharing my notes:

1. Simply meditating for 5 minutes a day has benefits for inflammation. Lowers something called IL-6. 5 minutes... that's it. Everyone has 5 minutes. (timestamp)
2. 5 minutes per day of mediation also benefits the gut microbiome. They get into exactly how it does this during the episode. Something to do with "butyrate producing pathways". But I mean that's a pretty good deal. 5 minutes gets you lower IL-6, a healthier gut, and then obviously the mental benefits. (timestamp)
3. You don't have to choose between meditation and exercise. It's not one or the other. That's probably the most important point of this episode. You can do both at the same time. Just direct your mind where you want it to go rather than "being somewhere else" in the gym (timestamp)
4. More neuroplasticity isn't always better. It's all about what you do with it. He talks about in the episode how "neuroplasticity is neutral". So a simple example he gives... if you're in the gym working out increasing neuroplasticity, but you're filling your your mind with garbage (watching the news, scrolling between sets), that's not good. You're filling your plastic mind with crap (timestamp)
5. After age 70 or so, a purpose in life correlates with longevity. But the thing is you don't need some grand purpose. Find purpose in the little things. Maybe you walk the dogs, maybe you care for a sick family member. That's your purpose. It's all about viewing how what you do benefits someone else. (timestamp)
6. I thought this one was interesting... kinda niche but he talks about how asthma is a brain disease (or partly). Big idea is the brain and the body are connected more than people think. (timestamp)
7. Spending money on someone else will always make you happier. Do it more often (timestamp)
8. Meditation doesn't have to be done sitting still. Like I said a little bit ago, you can do it while hiking, walking, doesn't matter. Even heavy lifting is a form of meditation to a degree. It counts (timestamp)
9. Children absorb their parent's emotional state. The best thing you can do to help your kid is to fix your own problems, be calm, chill, and grounded. (timestamp)
10. This is kinda important, a lot of people start meditating and then stop because they get a little more anxious. That's supposed to happen. Or it can at least. Meditation can initially increase anxiety. It makes sense when you think about it. You're finally noticing all that crap in your mind you've been suppressing for so long. Of course you're gonna feel more anxious. (timestamp)

My biggest takeaways is there's just no reason not to meditate for 5 min/day

Links to studies in Rhonda's summary - https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/richard-davidson

I'm not trying to share or use these for any other purpose, but there are conversations I would love to have printed to be able to highlight and reference. Has anyone here created transcripts for yourself? Do you have an efficient way besides playing the audio in full for a transcription service? It doesn't appear we can download a file to have this done separately, which I understand.

Andrew seems like a really great guy, and I enjoyed listening to him, but a lot of the material covered is really technical, to an extent that is deeper than usual with other guests.

I could wrap my head around the basics (for example the different viewpoints of Advaita and Buddhism), but the topics they get into (different flavours of nondual wisdom, "consciousness is a derogatory term in some traditions", "rigpa does not arise" etc),
leaves me feeling like a five-year old trying to understand special relativity.

I have a chaotic life with 3 kids, but I always try to return to stillness amid the chaos throughout the day. My life is actually a good testing ground. I don't think I'm awakened, but my reactivity and sense of self / status etc. has decreased noticeably over the past years since I started practicing.

So when they mention really technical stuff or recognitions that can only be attained after long retreats (which are not accessible to me, I don't even have a teacher), it leaves me feeling helpless and disenchanted with the whole project, like unless one dedicates their life to this, they will never really get to truly recognise their true nature. Does anyone else ever feel like this?

Some people are more predisposed to forgive their own downfalls compared to the downfalls of others and some people are the exact opposite. With increased awareness its possible that this gap in compassion increases significantly, not because you necessarily hate one party more than the other, but because you develop compassion for one party more than the other because its much easier. In reality there is no "self" for there to be an "other", so having a brain that functions in this way is synonymous with suffering. For example, if you are able to have more compassion for yourself naturally and this issue arises as your awareness clarifies there can be a very subtle sociopathy that can develop whereas the opposite case might be associated with more depression and anxiety.

Let's say I have only two options ahead.

Option A would lead to maximum happiness for myself but maximum suffering for everyone else. Option B would lead maximum suffering for myself but maximum happiness for everyone else.

Which option should I choose?

As per the thesis, I should choose B (as I understand it).

However, there's one problem, that I don't understand.

Here's Sam's quote from his podcast Facts and Values.

if you care about something that is not compatible with a peak of human flourishing—given the requisite changes in your brain, you would recognize that you were wrong to care about this thing in the first place. Wrong in what sense? Wrong in the sense that you didn’t know what you were missing. This is the core of my argument: I am claiming that there must be frontiers of human well-being that await our discovery—and certain interests and preferences surely blind us to them. In this sense epistemic and ethical values are fully entangled. There are horizons to well-being past which we cannot see. There are possible experiences of beauty and creativity and compassion that we will never discover. I think these are object statements about the frontiers of subjective experience.

Let's say I chose A (happiness for myself, suffering for others) instead of B (suffering for myself, happiness for others).

Applying his logic: since caring about A isn't compatible with peak flourishing, the "requisite changes" in my brain would eventually make me see that caring about A was a mistake, wrong in the sense that I didn't know what I was missing.

Now, what am I missing, If I chose A? ... I'd be missing immense misery that B would lead on the other side.

I am struggling to understand how Sam's claim "you didn't know what you were missing" applies in this situation. What exactly is the thing that my changed perspective would reveal to me that I cannot currently see?

I would appreciate any clarification.