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Comment by lilSebastian | Hacker News Reader

Genuinely interested, how did you get started with meditation?

Don’t know about that guy but I did it with Headspace. It’s guided meditation - he coaches you through it. I found it pretty helpful.

Nowadays I do guided yoga with YouTube videos but I try to keep the lessons from Headspace in mind while doing them - clear my mind, focus on my breathing, if my mind wanders gently bring it back, think about how my body feels etc.

another vote for headspace for a simple reason: it has very little (none?) metaphysical/new age/faux-buddhist BS.

Things "feel the energy of the earth getting in through your soles" kind of things, which I find deeply annoying and distracting.

I am sure such things _are_ useful for some people though, so YMMV.

Headspace and Youtube were also my experience. I think a large part of getting into meditation is finding a meditation guide(?) with a voice you enjoy listening to.

It sounds really silly, but certain accents (particularly ones close to my own) were quite uncomfortable to listen to, and similarly certain scripts (like you, the "energy mumbo-jumbo") were really distracting.

After trying out a bunch of youtubers I eventually found some with a voice and script that helped me feel at ease, but I'm sure it's a very personal endeavour

Thanks, headspace looks like a decent starting point.

I did an Art of living course back in 2009. It was a 5 day session held in evenings with an Art of living teacher.

I have been very infrequent in my practice and I might have become an absolutely fantastic human being if I was more regular in my practice. But I am easily satisfied and I am happy with where I am. There might be other avenues better than Art of living courses but I have not tried them.

I can vouch for Art of Living as well. There are many groups in most countries and is both rooted in tradition and seek scientific research/validation. It's about betterment of self and stress release.

Not OP, but for me what made it work, initially, was the Headspace app. Some people aren't a fan of the voice, but for me it was so much more pleasant than the usual breathy deep-oice I find in other apps/audio.

I'd say more than anything what matters is that it's a kind of program or has some schedule or structure. Perhaps ideally with a shared commitment (so, planned sessions with a 'host' and other participants). Doing this physically is difficult right now, obviously, but I imagine there's tons of 'online meditation groups' these days...

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