Negative effects of meditation

[BioSattva]

There are many paths to becoming more conscious, meditation being just one of them. Sufis whirl.

Agreed. And yet there are as yet no long-term negative side-effects reported with regards to MBSR as far as I am aware.

One must be careful with various other methods since one's physical health can apparently be affected. Zen monks experimented with LSD quite a bit in the 70's. What they found was that their expanded consciousness resulting from LSD faded and they needed more LSD to regain the feeling of Oneness they experienced (at the cost of potential flashbacks, bad trips, etc.) and the time they had spent exploring LSD could have been more safely and efficiently directed towards mindfulness practice - something which could be practiced and maintained 24/7 life-long; unlike LSD tripping.

There are no apparent shortcuts to the health benefits resulting from formal mindfulness practice.

Thanks for bringing the whirling sufis to my attention, though - I have been intrigued by their discipline before and I found some wonderful music downloadable for free from this website. There are 10 mp3's on there. This is the stuff dervishes listen to while spinning - it has a wonderful grounded ambience to it. No doubt something for the fans of using music as an anchor .

[JonW]

Thank you for the music, Bio. Every one a toe-tapper.

[Cheesus]

Someone pointed me in the direction of this thread and I thought you all might find it to be an interesting discussion:

http://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/d ... ge/4048734

[BioSattva]

Someone pointed me in the direction of this thread and I thought you all might find it to be an interesting discussion:

http://dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/d ... ge/4048734

That meditation site says: "The Dharma Overground is a resource for the support of hardcore meditation practice. [...] There are lots of ways up the mountain, and many interesting skills and insights to develop using many traditions and paths. "

Their home page doesn't use the world mindful or any variation of it even once. That is a big indicator for me - that the members there will very likely be using different meditation methods, which will inevitably produce different results, and so opinions will clash and differ - the guy wearing shades will see stuff darker than the guy wearing green tinted specs .

I often found on those kinds of forums that everyone is agreeing that they are wearing glasses, but the difference in tint only becomes apparent after a lot of frustrating discussion ("It's a dark shade" , "No, have another look; it's green" , etc.). Even though on that thread they seem to be saying similar things to this thread. Is there any specific point they make which you think is valuable here?

[Emmi]

I'm early on in my practice and have experienced lower motivation - any advice appreciated. Thanks

[JonW]

Hi Emmi.
Lower motivation in what sense?
Jon

[Sarahem]

An interesting question and one I've occasionally pondered on. I have sometimes felt that I have become less sociable as a result of practicing mindfulness - I'm far more content to be on my own and to be quiet and although this can also be seen as a positive in some respects I also miss the more sociable me if that makes sense. Who knows though, perhaps it's not a result of meditation perhaps it's just me getting older. However, conversely the fact that I am less sociable has resulted in anxious thoughts about social situations e.g. "what if I don't enjoy myself", "what if I feel anxious in this setting" which I am then using mindfulness to develop my awareness of these thoughts.
So yes I'm not really sure what I'm saying except that I have wondered about this too!
Great topic!
x

[schumangel]

For me, I only have experienced positive feelings. Whenever I feel confused, unfocussed or the like, I slightly increase the time dedicated to meditation, or try to change times and places. I dedicate about 30 minutes a day (20 minutes as soon as I wake up, 10 minutes walking home from work)

[Jesy_par]

"I was wondering if anyone here had experienced any negative effects as a result of practicing mindfulness meditation?"