MetaFilter posts tagged with meditation

Gravity is the only glue

growabrain — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 11:57:22 -0800

"Rock balancing is an art, discipline, or hobby (depending upon the intent of the practitioner) in which rocks are balanced on top of one another in various positions". Here are a few practitioners:
Phillip A. Long
Renato Brancaleoni
Lila Higgins
Adrian Gray
Michael Grab
Terry Robison uses sticks beside stones
Dave Gorman
Peter Juhl shares basic principles
Team Sandtastic stacks rocks when they don’t build elaborate sand castles
Bill Dan has links to other balancers.
Extra: Balanced sand castles (Previously)

DOWNTIME for the BRAIN

2or3whiskeysodas — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 06:04:01 -0800

"Having felt what it’s like to have all the backlog of experiences cleared out of my head, I’m intolerant of letting it build up a backlog again. It feels too good when it’s all clean and clear. Another way of talking about this is to say that the frantic, amped up feeling of too much seeking clears away. When we are seeking all the time, we are intaking new material constantly without ever actually dealing with it."

Noble Silence

vidur — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:16:50 -0800

"I chose the meditation style known as Vipassana for several reasons. It's wholly nondenominational. No gods are prayed to, no mantras chanted, all religious iconography is prohibited. If you typically wear, say, a crucifix, you must remove it for the duration of the course. Also, there is no need for prior meditation experience – in fact, I was told, a neophyte is the ideal student because you won't have any bad habits to avoid – which suited me perfectly, as I'd never meditated before." [The Quiet Hell of Extreme Meditation]

The key to beginning a long journey toward understanding which, as we have learned, is something for which each human being cries out, cupping his hands over the mouth.

Rory Marinich — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:45:38 -0800

Strange and Unproductive Thinking, off David Lynch's fantastically weird album Crazy Clown Time, is a humorous, rambling, insightful essay disguised as a song in which the legendary director gives his thoughts on the purpose of evolution, the process that leads us to knowledge, and "the remarkable idea of a world free of tooth-decay".

6 Things I Learned about Myself through 100 Hours of Meditation

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:54:12 -0800

6 Things I Learned about Myself through 100 Hours of Meditation

Sukhi Barber

homunculus — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:22:37 -0800

Sukhi Barber: Beauty & Emptiness. [Via]

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

MetaMonkey — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:03:21 -0800

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book (pdf, html)

Eckhart Tolle Live Meditation

Houyhnhnm — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:16:10 -0800

“Life is fulfilling when you are rooted in the essential Beingness of ‘I Am.’ . . . Then you bring that state of consciousness—that spacious state of consciousness—you bring that into your interactions with other people of great importance. It’s only then that you will stop treating other people as possible sources of fulfillment or as a threat.” —Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and author, on his June 26 live meditation broadcast.

Tibetan Singing Bowls

homunculus — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:05:48 -0800

Tibetan singing bowls give up their chaotic secrets. [Via]

There is no "I"

Taft — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:48:11 -0800

Meditation, explained by Sam Harris. (slyt)

Labyrinthine

velvet winter — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:34:33 -0800

Labyrinths – not to be confused with mazes – are being rediscovered as tools for contemplation, meditation, reflection, and community well-being, as well as inspiration for architecture, music, dance, ritual, business, and visual art. More: • Water labyrinths • Finger labyrinths • Nordic stone labyrinths • Labyrinth landscape architecture • Caerdroia, an independent journal for the study of mazes and labyrinths • Download a labyrinth • Visit a hidden labyrinth • Read more about labyrinths • Consider building a labyrinth, even in your own backyard • Draw a Chartres labyrinth with the help of a cool animation • Get married in a labyrinth • Has the original labyrinth been found? • Find a labyrinth using the world-wide labyrinth locator or the directory of labyrinth locators (Previously: 1, 2).

The Art of Living

gman — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:57:14 -0800

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a powerful 52-minute documentary (1 2 3 4 5) in which Goenka's form of meditation is once again introduced in India's largest prison. Props to the amazing Kiran Bedi for making this happen. And here is a working link to Vipassana in U.S. prisons from the bottom of the intro article.

If you can meditate in NYC, you can meditate anywhere.

desjardins — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:46:57 -0800

How to Meditate in the NYC Subway System: The Interdependence Project brings a combination of "meditation, performance art, and activism" to the tunnel between Times Square/42nd Street and the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Last year's Sit Down, Rise Up event involved a 24 hour meditation marathon in display windows at 19th and Broadway. (via The Worst Horse)

"I thought it would be interesting to write music for public spaces..." - Brian Eno

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:08:31 -0800

Music For Real Airports is a multimedia art project collaboration between interactive artists Human and musicians The Black Dog. With the project set to launch April 24, 2010 at the Sensoria festival of music and film, the project recalls Brian Eno's 1978 work, Ambient 1: Music for Airports. Eno, who is often credited with coining the term "ambient music," discusses his original inspiration in the Koln airport: to provide music which didn't interfere with human communication, but could endure for long periods of time in public spaces and easily interrupted without causing suffering for the listener. This Music for Airports LP, long considered to be the first long-playing ambient record, has provided the soundtrack for many film meditations: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. Recordings of The Black Dog's Music For Real Airports will be available on some combination of vinyl and CD shortly after its debut at the Millenium Galleries, with a tour of gallery spaces and live performances to be announced shortly. Brian Eno: Previously. Previously. Previously.

Change Your Mind Change Your Brain

MetaMonkey — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:45:55 -0800

Change your mind, change your brain - Matthieu Ricard talks about creating the inner conditions for authentic happiness, and the effects of meditation on the brain. A little more in-depth meditation science: Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation. Want to learn how? Get started right now with a workshop by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Use the classic text, Mindfulness in Plain English. Or maybe learn from Alan Watts.

In Defense of Distraction

jcruelty — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:19:17 -0800

Thought-provoking NY Mag essay on the consequences of living in an age of perpetual distraction. Been thinking about this one a lot, in the context of MeFi and other addictions.

Enlightenment Therapy

homunculus — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:24:53 -0800

Enlightenment Therapy: How a Zen master found the light (again) on the analyst’s couch. [Via]

Mindfulness for Stress Reduction

RussHy — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:18:00 -0800

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s mindfulness presentation at Google. JON KABAT-ZINN, PH.D., is founding Executive Director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also the founding director of its renowned Stress Reduction Clinic and Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He teaches mindfulness and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in various venues around the world.

Cross-cultural psychiatry

homunculus — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:34:35 -0800

West treats East. "To help traumatized Tibetan monks, doctors in Boston turn to cross-cultural medicine." [Via]

Twenty-nine Tao te Chings.

Tufa — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:14:15 -0800

Twenty-nine Tao te Chings, a line at a time. For Sunday evening, a spare, meditative post. The Tao-te-Ching in 29 translations, line by line and side by side. I'll leave you to investigate the writings on your own; here alone are just the words to consider. Suggested: Mitchell. Previously: tao

I 've Told you,sit relax

homunculus — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 09:46:01 -0800

And now, a singing crocodile dressed as a cowboy teaches you to meditate. [SLYT, via]

Change Your Mind Day 2008

davar — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:47:36 -0800

Change Your Mind Day 2008

MettaFilter

homunculus — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:12:50 -0800

"Attention regulation and monitoring in meditation" (PDF). A recent article in Trends in Cognitive Sciences on the neuroscience of meditation, focusing on how meditation alters and sharpens the brain's attention systems. The research is being done at the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior (previously), who have also recently published research on the "Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation" (PDF), which describes how meditation can cultivate compassion by physically affecting brain regions that play a role in empathy. They shared this research with the Dalai Lama at the recent Seeds of Compassion forum.

Don't Panic

homunculus — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:30:43 -0800

Man buried alive saved by air trapped in his hat. [Via MoFi.]

All Across the Universe

Xurando — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:34:33 -0800

Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi: 1917-2008