benefits of sitting still and attempting to quiet the mind?

Hi everyone. I've just started a daily practice of yoga and attempting to meditate every morning. I'm definitely not reaching a state of meditation at this point and I know that being in that state of "knowing God" is what truly brings about health and happiness. But for now, I was wondering what the benefits of sitting still and simply attempting to quiet the mind. I have depression and anxiety. I am very sad the majority of the day. If I'm not feeling sad, I'm feeling angry or resentful or beating myself up mentally. I wake up, not feeling light and fresh, but with a tight heart and shallow breath. I know that real meditation (and practicing it on a regular basis) gradually brings about changes in one's health - physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I guess I would just like some immediate relief from feeling so sad all the time.

Thank you

 

Change is created in every moment lived mindfully. Hold on to your meditation. Let your entire day be geared towards making that hour of meditation more effective. You are peace itself.

 

I have meditated for 25 years and I still get depressed and sad and all the rest. Meditation for me has become something of an end in itself as a reward for having some free time to be at peace. An experience I can't get just anywhere else. So I would caution against expecting any sort of influence from meditation which will have a specifically formulated reward for practice. Just as playing racquetball is not for feeling better sitting at ones desk job. In fact ones sore legs can make sitting even more difficult.

At this later point of my life I am feeling that meditation is its own reward, and you might come to relate to that too after some time.

Well, all that said, meditation can dissolve afflictive emotions, but to get the benefit of that you need the whole shebang as far as a whole system including mind training, because one needs a more overwhelming reason to be nice, to yearn to benefit others, to get over ones own petty problems. This road is one of ultimately bettering ones circumstances through the path of service. It's very hard to transcend ones unhappy limitations without having some sort of wish to better the world at the base. One needs some way to resonate some positivity and that takes the wish to benefit.

So to that end I would advise finding a key in service towards others. that can quickly reverse negative thinking. I remember doing even small chores for others and even though I still had the pompous arrogance to think it was below me, at least I then had that instead of the self damning isolation and self pity.

 

Meditation is more than just sitting w/ an empty mind. It is more about being open to what is. If you are sad, experience the sadness. Feel the sadness, relax into it. Do not judge the sadness, just be with it. This is meditation.

Peace and love

 

Perhaps a great deal of life's activities could be considered meditation. As long as you let go and surrender to the flow.

 

^^^
Exactly.

Peace and love

 

We are born into this life with feet flying. Survival requires work, you know. But once survival is ensured, we can turn our attention to other things.

What you know as normal waking life is but a dream to your true self. If you wake up, the mind thinks it's world will end, but in reality, it's world will become greatly enriched.

It can take a long time for the mind to become comfortable with the fact it's not alone. It won't open up till then.

A good exercise is just to be aware. Not thinking, just aware.



x

 

Breathe, into your tightness.
Breathe, into your looseness.
Breathe, into your breathness.
The primal breath resides within you as your anxiety,
and also as you release. Know this and be free.

 

I'm so sorry you are feeling the way you are. I just recently started reading "A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle, and he speaks of dealing with feelings like you are having. I'm only on the second chapter, but I think it's a phenomenal book. You can learn more about it on Oprah's website, and she is having a virtual classroom to discuss the book, starting this coming Monday, March 3rd. I hope this helps you.

 

My practice has been an experience of learning discipline, and learning not to be overly interested in whatever thoughts or feelings are running through me at any given moment.
When I meditate, my inner critic is still with me, harping away as he does. I let him ramble on, like a speaker at some seminar I'm forced to attend and can't possibly benefit from. I let my mind wander away from him, and then it comes back. Sometimes he says things that are hurtful or brings up memories that are provocative in some way or another. He's not the only one in there, either. There's also the libido, the dreamer, the teacher...They all think they've got important stuff they need to talk to me about.
But they're all me. And I already know everything they've got to say. So I just let it pass. It takes discipline, sometimes, to let it go. But I let it go. It comes back, and I let it go again.
Over time, it's become something that I do constantly. Thoughts and feelings just happen, and I look at them and let them go.
So far, it's helped.

 

Oh this is great!
I'm in the right path, I just do what my mood tells me.
If I"m sad, I really mourn and after that take a rest and let the sadness and depression envelope me. After some time you'll fell that the phase is done. You on't feel anything after that.

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the way you think.......it's just the way you are
cool Pranayama and yoga for your daily exercise.

 

Reductio ad absurdum is so much more satisfying to the one who trots it out than it is convincing to those who read it. There are many better rhetorical devices. I think a logical argument is always the best way to respond to something you disagree with.

There's a kind of conversational game where you pick on others' weaknesses while doing your best not to reveal any of your own. I don't enjoy it, and won't play it. I prefer open and honest discussion, without all the drama of contest.

 

I've read it a few times, extreme...and I just don't see how I could respond to what you wrote without restating myself.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this, as I'm sure you understood precisely what I meant in my posts. For me, this is working well enough for now. I hope what you're doing is working well for you, too.

 

standingseated and extreme me, you both might like reading Ekhart Tolle's book as well, he really gets into awareness and facing different emotions and may give you some new insights into your journey.

 

I love hearing him speak. His voice is so soft and gentle, yet alive. And it is so easy to slip into meditation.