Ask HN: Do you meditate? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you meditate?

4 pointshrayr8 comments

After listening to a lot of podcasts that interview high performers (specifically Tim Ferriss' podcast) it seems like a high percentage of high performers do have some sort of meditation practice built into their day.

I was just curious about the typically younger crowed here on HN. Do you meditate? How? How long? Does it help you?

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Yes, from 5min to 50min a day, depending on my schedule.

I don't use apps, just follow my personal practice.

If someone ask me advice on this here's what I say: Start small, like 5 minutes. Although "serious" meditation is a different matter, a small meditation about mindfulness will surely change a lot of things :)

Keep it small if you don't have enough time and don't judge yourself if you can't make it through 20min easily, it's fine even if you do 1 min.

In the beginning I used an iOS app called InsightTimer, nice app.

Headspace is another great start.

A nice complement to meditation is the "4-7-8 Breathing Technique". I use it to help me sleep, calm me down after a close call on my bike, or just generally keep patient when waiting for something.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/VDR00160/Dr-Weils-Breathing-Exer...

I try to do just 10-15min each morning, though more often than not I don't even achieve that. I think the act of just forcing yourself to sit still and not do anything puts a lot in perspective, and if it's just 10 minutes you can't use the excuse that you don't have time. I've tried a few apps, the only one that I've found to really help is Headspace, has good no-nonsense advice.

Meditation is not necessarily an act of sitting in a serene place with your eyes closed.

Meditation is anything that helps to quiet your mind.

Brief breaks and mindless staring through the office window counts too!

So the broader question is - what helps to quiet the mind?

For me it's brief "diving out" of a rat race and enjoying something. That something could be vastly different from day to day.

Does mindlessly staring through the office window really calm your mind? I would imagine that's when day dreaming and other thoughts creep in.

I try to practice mindfulness on a daily basis. I do find that it's very useful when you want to separate your emotions from your self, like during periods of anger or anxiety. I haven't done it long enough to be able to talk about long term results, but it's proving to be integral to my goal of heavily increasing productivity throughout the day.

Do you use any particular app? There are a few out there.. headspace, calm, etc.

I tried calm and it was okay. I actually read the book 'Mindfulness in Plain English' and worked from there. I use no technology in my sessions - I feel like it helps when I'm completely disconnected. As a tip, remember this: Most of the time the greatest benefit from meditation is the act of trying to meditate. You can fail miserably and it still can work wonders on your mental health.

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