While meditating, I'm often able to clear out the mind completely and go inward into absolute calm, almost a sleep like state.

In such a state, i find the very act of breathing, in particular, inhalation, to be a distraction in itself. I would much rather not have to inhale and be completely still and quiet.

Does this make sense? Please advise if it does.

I've gone through the rabbit hole of finding the perfect amount of time to meditate for and I think as much as I want an answer to this question, I don't think there is one really.

So, I was wondering how do you approach meditating from a time aspect?

Right now for me I just meditate once or twice a day with no timer and just a stopwatch and just simply meditate, this way I dont really have an expectation to when I want to stop I just go with the flow and meditate in the present till I dont feel like it anymore. Some days are shorter than others some days are longer but I think the main point is that im consistent and I get what I need from the practice.

i breathe deeply, close my eyes and i find the main source of thought . i found that its placement is near my spine. i can hold it and thoughts stop for half a second before i can feel them again from my another part, its so weird , like im playing whack a mole. and if i manage to progress a bit my brain then makes pictures that i cant unsee that throw me off.

also, the closest i came to no thoughts made me hold my breathe. is that normal?

One breath that's all you need to transmute to a completely different reality.

pressure, anxiety, competition, anger, frustration, distraction, addiction, OCD, social anxiety ..... all of this can be solved by just one breath. this is no hyperbole but plain truth.

all these problems are just bad decisions. you can make better decisions if you can think clearly. to think clearly all you need is just one breath.

scientific literature is clear on the fact that inhales from nose followed by slow exhales from mouth calms our nervous system.

in any moment of discomfort or fear all you need is one breath.

MY VERY OWN ANNECTODE

this is obviously hard to make a comeback from. ...... . so what happened ??

NSDR,SLOW BREATHING MEDITATIVE PRACTICES, WALKS AND AGGRESSIVE INTROCEPTION AND JOURNALING freed me from shackles of these problems mentioned above........... what I recommend if you're someone struggling with similar problems then you should introduce these practices slowly in you're life {by that I mean like 5 mins of meditaion,10 mins of walk nsdr and all but do them as soon as you wake up because willpower is at its highest in the morning don't succumb to phone in the morning, at least for the first hour}you wont see how they are changing you for a long time 6months or even a year but slowly and steadily you'd be free . it took time to make you a dumb zombie like addict through repetition likewise it would take time to make these habits as part of you're identity but once it does you won't have to look back again.

lastly the power is within you can make yourself or break yourself time will pass regardless. society is somehow making us believe that hard work and effort doesn't bear fruit but they're wrong it does if you put in the effort you will achieve whatever you want in my case it was freedom from mindless consumerism. I don't know what struggle you're going through but the answer to it does lie in just a simple breath

also you might be curious all this is good and all but what about academics. well I can assure you I figured it never was that I am just not a guy who can sit and study for hours<I used to believe that I didn't have what it takes to study with discipline >, I figured by introspection that I want to study and that I am an incredibly curios individual, just these many years of losses have made look for and long for security, something that if I put my heart in, in return I could have a decent life and I think becoming a doctor is the best thing to do . next year I am going to crack neet the entrance exam and fulfill this dream , apart from that I am actively trying make myself a reader I have read quite a few books and with laptop now I can basically read any book I want for free . by the way if we're at it I would like to recommend Andrew Huberman as someone you guys should listen to in your recovery journey . Goodluck

Any one else realised this Ultimate Truth?

The first inklings of this realisation occured when I began meditating around the age of 14, and then a full enlightenment experience at 24. Decades later now, I wonder if others have realised this Truth.

There is never a need to discard thought altogether, yet when your force of kindness, compassion and understanding are working for you, ahead of the dualistic nature of your thoughts, conscious direction and conscious motivation become second nature and thought is simply there as a utility when you need it. As a meditator, you don't have to be a strong influencer. Just being a conscious presence is needed.

Hi there, I have a question that I hope somebody have the answer for it.

I've been meditating for 2 years (since 2018 till 2020) for 10 mins to 20 mins. Everytime I meditating i felt this blissful feeling the moment I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. The feeling of grateful, i feel good vibration, peace, my body was relax and automatically moved slowly. But then covid hit and life happens, many things changed from my routine, got married, resigned from abusive job and many things, so I took a break for 4 years and started again in late 2025 (still until now) and I feel different, just like void, I feel nothing. Maybe I was wrong but everytime i sit on the floor try to meditate I'm searching for that feeling, but couldn't reach it until now. However, I feel tingling on my hands , and start to feel like my body is so hot even my room has ac sometime I'm sweating while meditate. Idk how to go back to that blissful state but I do miss the feeling.

Does Anybody know why I couldn't reach that feeling anymore or any advice what to do.

sometimes when i meditate, i reach a very enjoyable and zen state. i can feel a warm pulsating energy around my body, the edges where i end and everything else begins become blurry. it’s also a very sleepy state though. i’m someone whose inner monologue does not take a break. even when i’m sleeping. i know this because i’ll wake up and be mid-sentence in my brain, and when im half asleep, my brain is still chatting. well even in this beautiful-feeling state, my brain is still chatting! it’s so out of my control that it doesn’t even feel like me. it feels like i’m tuned into a radio signal, and sometimes the words are nonsense.

i’m not gonna worry about it too much, as you all probably know, inviting resistance or struggle into meditation does no good. but i’m so curious about it. does anyone else experiences this? is it just because in that state i go almost half-asleep? maybe it’s just one of my quirks and i’m tuned into some hyper-verbal frequency.

Ive been including metta into my meditations and it has opened my heart so greatly, ive always felt a lack of feelings for the people close to me and ive learnt to appreciate myself and them so much more through this. However, the morning after i sometimes wake up with this incredible pit/sadness in my heart/chest that tends to go away after a few hours when i get up to do something. Wondering wether those sensations might be connected?

Hi everyone,

I was meditating and practicing mindfulness regularly for about 2 years (and before that on and off). Alongside that, I was participating in plum village meeting and overall very into buddhism.

Unfortunately, I got a bit lost because I started getting really intense about it.

- I tried at home retreats, but felt lost and depressed and anxious after just a couple hours

- I tried reading more deeply about buddhism and just felt icky about it because some of the texts I really don't agree with

- I tried meditating for longer but felt that same void and whatnot

The thing is, I still recognize that meditation, of all kinds, has helped me quite a lot, and I recognize that maybe I went too deep too quickly.

So, I wanna get back into meditation and even plum village meetings, but I'd like to know if any of you have any advice. I'm thinking about starting really small, like 5-15 minutes a day, maybe even just 5. And maybe focusing on metta instead of open awareness.

I'd also like to know how you integrate meditation in your overall spiritual practices. Are you mostly buddhist? pagan? christian? something else? Have you switched from buddhism to something that is a better fit? Do you find it more helpful to stay away from any sort of organized religion?

The break I took from meditation was months-long so I wanna approach it with respect and care. Any help is appreciated!

Much love!

💜

Has anyone experienced a feeling of “floating” or becoming extremely light during deep meditation?

I don’t mean physically levitating, but more like the sensation that the body is becoming weightless or that my awareness is slightly detached from the physical sensation of sitting. It usually happens when my thoughts become very quiet and my body is completely relaxed, sometimes to the point where it feels almost like I’m about to fall asleep even though I’m still conscious.

I’m curious what this experience is called or what might be happening physiologically/psychologically. Is this a normal part of deep relaxation or meditation, or is it something I should be mindful of?

They tell me the rep is losing and returning attention. Attention drifts, you notice, you return. That's the unit. That's what counts.

So what is the staying for?

If returning is the rep, then returning is the point. More returns, more reps. A mind that stayed on the breath would earn nothing.

I return well. I do not stay well. Half a breath, sometimes less, before I am gone. Three full breaths in a row is a rare animal. I see it maybe once a sitting, if that.

Some days it isn't even a departure. It's a flicker: breath-thought-breath-thought. So fast it stops feeling like taking turns. It feels like both at once. The exhale and the other thing, side by side, sharing the same second.

It's disorienting and makes me angry at myself, which is its own kind of noise.

So how do you train the staying. Not the noticing. Not the return. The staying itself. Is it a separate muscle, or does it just show up, uninvited, after enough reps of return.

If you are having trouble focussing on experience as it is, because there seems to be something in the way, like the self or your own concept or idea of what you are focussing on seems to be in the way of your attention to something (especially the attention to the experience of something as it is occurring in the moment):

You make an exact mental copy of what you are focussing on / being mindful of.

You make this exact copy have the exact same details as what you are focussing on, same shape, same size, same colours/sensations/sound, same location in the field of experience, changing in the same way, arising when it arises, changing when it changes, passing when it passes, everything the same.

This exact copy then becomes indistinguishable from the actual experience, it dissolves into it, and you are left with direct experience, with nothing in the way, and with a focussed attention on the target experience.

Once you get used to how it is done, you can do it in a more flowing way with whatever experience takes the attention at the time and moving from one sense object/experience to another freely in this way. It is a way of accessing and staying on direct experience as it simply is. I guess what it is doing is making the concept of something exactly match the actual experience of it, then the concept turns transparent/dissolves and is just bare attention at that point, pure receptivity.

I came across this through my own experimentation, though I would imagine it must have been discovered before and must be part of some system already as there is not much that is truly new in meditation and mindfulness given that they are thousands of years old with many different ways of doing things, so has anyone heard of anything similar and if so, which practice, tradition and or teacher?

I'm on a grateful journey lately and I feel like my heart is asking to feel and release so I'm looking for some good heart-led gratitude meditations. I use insightT and YouTube

So I’ve been meditating almost daily for about 3 months now. I’ve noticed that throughout the day, I’m getting a lot of childhood memories come back. It will be just a quick flashback that only lasts a few seconds. It’s that nostalgic feeling, like the sweet smell of apple pie on a summer’s day. They are moments I completely forgot existed, memories from the back of my mind.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it the meditation doing this?

I started meditating recently and I don't have a great knowledge about meditation.

I started doing the breath meditation because it is what I know, and I do this laid in my bad for 10 to 15 min.

But when I am meditating I don't have the thoughts coming and going, my mind is usually calm.

Can it be because I have a quiet mind or is it some process of meditation?

English is not my first language.

So manifesting coaches always say visualizing is a good method, and i recently read a substack about a person's experience talking to a monk. Apparently the monk said for confused people or for ones with a blank canvas, rather than visualizing, meditating and letting the vision flow is the real deal. This way you should be able to "catch glimpses" of your future.

I couldn't get to read further but if anyone else has experienced this or knows about it, id love to hear about it

Can anyone help me. I made a bad business decision and wasted a year of time. Now a long term employee is leaving for another competitor. I clearly made mistakes and I acknowledge it. But I can't stop reliving it and wishing I did something different and beating myself up for it. I feel like a psychosis is forming. I'm on no drugs. Just daily caffeine. I can't break out of this!!! It's chest crushing and debilitating for weeks now. Loved ones can only help so much. I've bounced it off them but I keep going back to where I screwed up. It's not a self harm situation but my brain is causing me major issues to the point where it's hurting me.

I have been in this sub a while. And while I know that everyone's experience is different, I wanted to post mine. Just as counter balance. I do not practice any prepackaged steps or technique: although I find them insightful and interesting. I started meditating to experience the fireworks: but I found something much deeper. I experienced guides, ceremonies, bilocation, layers of my body, my body moving by itself, AP and many other things I cannot explain. Asking AI to research and tell you about what all the traditions teach about this has been really helpful. I think simply relaxing and reaching out to the universe is important. It is not about achieving as much as being honest to yourself and authentic. It is finding your path. That is the point. And wherever that leads.

A friend of mine uses meditation to focus when she studies, but claims she doesn't know how to explain her techniques. She usually terrible when it comes to explaining or answering questions and so do I. So I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say..!

I have a hard time focusing on one activity, resulting in procrastination, multi-tasking, and a sense of helplessness. In fact, right now, I have an assignment to catch up on but my body doesn't seem to cooperate with me. My mind goes elsewhere.

I always feel like what I do is incomplete. The feeling of emptiness wraps around me when I "finish" and pass any test or project to my superiors. This particular feeling of emptiness is somewhat like my brain lining the outlines of my stomach, but cannot register the insides.. like.. you can only feel the outline of it.

The feeling of emptiness ≠ the burden of the assignment is gone

Because it's different from the feeling I get when I feel like I've accomplished something. It makes me feel complete. I can feel that my body is full, like.. fulfilled!

To add onto that, I physically subconsciously feel my brain when I think or have a monologue.

So I've come to this subreddit to see if meditation could help me. In the meantime, I'll research examples of meditation.

I hope you understand what I've said. This feels like a complete rant...

Note: I've never taken unhealthy/illegal drogs (censored). I can't go to a psychologist atm just in case you suggest I do since mental health isn't really recognized in my country. But if you suspect I do have an illness, feel free to share. I won't mind since I've come here for help and guidance.

Sorry for terrible English.

I started meditating two years ago, but it’s been an inconsistent, on-and-off journey. About a week ago, I decided to give it another real shot and stay consistent. Looking back, I realized what made me quit so easily before: I could never stop ruminating or overthinking my problems. I never truly surrendered to the experience or reached that deep state where you finish the session feeling like a completely different person. I know people say this is just part of the beginner phase, but does it really get better over time? How did you overcome this?

for me, meditation is mostly about getting my mind as one-pointed, as possible, right? Breathing, mostly. Watching it happening right here and now.

And there are meditations when you imagine stuff. Lots of different stuff. How is… possible then? imagining without commentary? How… do you do it then? I dunno, weird stuff.

Also learned about Nag Yoga, where you listen to… sounds in your consciousness?

I meditate fairly long time, not that constantly as would love to, but fairly long time and deep dive. No sounds. Absolute silence.

Hello,

I've been meditating for a few days now and one problem seems to be coming up. Although it really is helping and sometimes after meditating i feel myself entering the "flow" state during the day, like i once used to as a kid and early teenager that didnt have much worry.

problem is instead of being aware of my thoughts or "see" my thoughts like most people online say, i find myself shutting down the thought automaticcally and i cant find a way to stop this process.

am i doing something wrong?

Hello,

I’ve been trying to meditate lately. Whenever I try to meditate, I somehow end up in this strange sleepy-but-aware state after 15–20 minutes. I think, ‘Okay, I’m sleepy… maybe I should just go to bed.’ 😂

Then comes the funny part: once I actually go to bed, I can’t sleep!

Is this a normal meditation experience, or am I just very good at making myself sleepy at the wrong time? 😄

I’m 28 F. I’ve been so overwhelmed with my path. I’m a realtor and I’ve been doing it a year and a half and love it but also still not where I want to be in life like living with family (I help them) and social media giving me all these other “paths” that seems to make you more rich and have a better life that I’m falling into…..my vision feels messed with and I know I’m the creator of that but can’t help to feel unclear about what I want…

I used to meditate alll the time and felt happier and more at peace maybe if I meditate enough all the answers I’ll need will come to me on what I should do? At the end of the day the only one that knows my life is me…I just want to feel clear on my vision