I’m taking a break on extreme practices of meditation at least for now but still might meditate every once in a while. It seems when I silence my own thoughts I feel peace after a while but voices or emotions pop up that are symptoms within the silence of me not thinking and trying to be mindful or meditate the way I do. I’d rather have a thinking mind because I can practice my cbt plus have something to think about and counter symptoms constantly with thoughts and give my mind and neural pathways a workout all day. So thinking till I’m tired and it’s time to sleep is the way to go atleast for now. I will see how it goes and I will also be posting less because my work and other stuff but I will still come by to check up on everyone and maybe see what helpful tips I can find from any of you on here.
Thanks man! 151515
Indeed. There are two basic types of meditation. One is aimed at distracting the mind from “intrusive” thoughts and uncomfortable emotions. The other is aimed at accepting the thoughts and emotions as what they are so that the nervous system “digests” or “processes” them.
The former does “work” – and often more quickly – but only for a while. The latter tends to work more slowly, but the results are often permanent over time.
Transcendental Meditation or TM, as taught in the '60s and '70s by the famed Maharishi Mahesh Yogi to the likes of The Beatles and The Beach Boys, is an example of the first type, as are many of the meditations used by the Hare Krishna and other cults. True Mindfulness Meditation is of the latter type and is almost never taught by the gurus of the mind-control cults.
I learned to use both of these meditation styles many years ago. They produced results for me so long as I practiced them sufficiently (and not obsessively), but as was the case for meditation researchers and investigators like those listed below in the references, I began to suffer a lot less anxiety and “inner vocal noise” with the latter method. I will suggest a look at what I posted on the thread entitled “ACT Psychotherapy for Voices,” as well as the excellent references on this topic below. (TK)
More advanced material:
Good luck kenny