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Comment by borg16 | Hacker News Reader

can you provide some resources to understand this "advanced" meditation? my attempts with calm/headspace etc always stop at the same theme of 'concentrate on breathing, distractions are fine'.

I wanted to understand what is out there, especially outside of these apps and folks who pursue meditation seriously.

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I’ve tried Calm and Headspace, and they never really worked for me.

The “Waking Up” app has been a complete game changer. The core introductory course helped me get it for the first time, and the library of content and meditation approaches from various teachers in the app gives you a rabbit hole to explore as deeply as you want.

It’s been truly transformative, starting with the gradual realization that my thoughts are not me. If they were, who is aware of them? This isn’t just an idea, it’s something that I began to feel/understand directly, which then led to a lot less entanglement and rumination. This was just the beginning.

I definitely credit the approach in this app with making this make sense. Not affiliated, just a happy user.

Strong +1 for the Waking Up app. (I also ready the Waking Up book, and found it to be quite hit-or-miss for me. But the app is just wonderful.)

Based on these recommendations I tried it out. Content seems fine but in 2023 it’s hard to escape the connection between Sam Harris and so-called “effective altruism” which soured the experience in for me.

I like and recommend Smiling Mind from a company out of Australia. It feels like what would happen if PBS released a version of Waking Up.

I would suggest reading the book The Mind Illuminated.

http://leighb.com/jhanas.htm

My favourite is Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond by Ajahn Brahm.

Sam Harris’ ‘Waking up’ app is good. Starts from fundamentals and teaches you about the practice.

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