What are people who meditate called? How different types of meditation change the human brain. Reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke

I hovered, looking at the Buddhist nuns bustling about in the kitchen. We had just arrived, got our duffel bag (blanket, mosquito net and water bottle) and were loitering around our new territory. At that moment, Kirill approached me (then he was still working as a volunteer here) and said a brilliant thing: "Don't expect anything from these six days, just be."

The retreat at the Buddhist meditation center Dipabhāvan on Koh Samui lasts 6 days. A wooden bed with a mat, a wooden pillow, getting up at 4.30, no books, no computer, phone, camera, no connection with the world, complete silence and meditation for five hours a day - these are just everyday external attributes of meditation centers. Much more important is this phrase: "Do not expect anything from these 6 days, just be."

The center has been open to farangs (foreign tourists) since 2005. The founder of the center Achan (teacher) Po, abbot of the forest monastery Suan Mokkh (Suan Mokkh), which is located near Dipabhavan, on the mainland. He, along with other monks of this monastery, comes to Deepabhwawan every month to teach retreat participants. The Deepabhwan program is similar to a retreat in a forest monastery. "Dipabhāvan" in translation from the Pali language means "the place of the development of light." "Light" is the light of Dhamma (all that exists).

Retreats in Buddhist monasteries in Thailand are usually free. But visitors are encouraged to leave donations. In Thai culture, it is considered an honor to donate to monasteries and take care of monks, and Thais do not skimp on such things. For a European or an American to donate $100 is nothing to do. Russians usually leave less.

Day two: perhaps I’ll go home, there are so many things that have not been redone ...

I have never had such a thought. A schedule with getting up at 4 am and sitting on the floor - you can get used to all this. It's just that someone needs a lot of time for this, but someone doesn't need it at all. At the second retreat, I realized that lazy people and freeloaders are becoming monks. And people who leave retreats on the second or third day simply have their own reasons for this, or they simply did not understand why they came.

I told Tan Hubert (a monk from Poland who lectures in Deepabhavan in excellent Russian) about the idea of ​​lazy people and freeloaders.

- This is true. - He said. — Monks do not leave a good life.

In Thailand, I don't see homeless people and alcoholics at all. In Russia, just before I left, I photographed people living in a landfill. They are happy there, they simply did not find themselves in a "normal society" and because of this they drink and live outside of it. In Thailand, this problem is solved absolutely ingeniously! If a person does not find himself in ordinary life, then he can become a monk. But unlike Russia, they automatically fall into the upper strata of society. Monks in Thailand are the most respected people. To take care of them is an honor for the laity. Monks cannot cook their own food, but only take it from ordinary people once a day, early in the morning.

In fact, the monks do nothing, but only meditate on their own and other people's suffering until they reach nirvana (no more than 1% of the monks achieve it).

It takes almost nothing to become a monk (the most important thing is to be a man). You can become a monk certain time. For example, three months. After this practice, it is easier for Thais to get a job.

Illusions and reality

There are a few things that have stuck in my mind during the retreat. Fortunately, I honestly didn’t take a notebook and a pen with me, and now it’s hard for me to write about it “in a normal way” ...
Buddhism It's not a religion, but rather a philosophy. You are not asked to believe in anything. Buddha was a completely real person, and his insight was that, sitting under a tree, he realized the truth: there is only currently. The past is no more, the future has not yet arrived. There can be no thoughts in the present moment, only total awareness. Accordingly, there can be nothing but happiness. Since we are usually tormented by either thoughts about the past or concern for the future.

I am an illusion because the ego is just a bamboo that is empty inside. Inside us is not a person, but the whole essence of being. Agree that the power of all being is much steeper than the power of some one person, which in general is actually just an illusion.

Strangely, the monks at the retreat talked a lot about suffering. I always thought Buddha was a fun dude who doesn't care about suffering. But the monks talked about them and that happiness does not exist. But then what about these amazing dinners that we were fed, what about this incredible beauty and life of everything around ... What about that incredible happiness that you experience when you go to bed in the evening after all the meditations! In any case, monks are happy people!

A lot of things are forbidden on the retreat. For example, smoking and drug use. But for me - with such a practice of concentration, no substances are needed - the consciousness is already expanded.

First I saw a three-legged cat. Then she came to me purring at night, but I did not let her in on my wooden bed, fenced mosquito net. The next day I saw a mother-of-pearl ant. He was an ordinary big ant, but completely mother-of-pearl. I looked at him without taking my eyes off him for about three minutes, then left.

Then I went down the path and saw HIM. He was completely red. We met eyes and looked with curiosity silently at each other (you can’t talk) for almost a minute. Then I saw two of his friends. They clung to the beetle and with stony faces tried to keep it on concrete wall. Another redhead went to a whole crowd of other redheads and spoke to them about something with his mustache, after which the other redheads went to the beetle and helped to drag it down the wall. They were such small red ants, and the beetle is very large ...

The three-legged cat was licking the four-legged cat as usual. Therefore, the four-legged cat in Dipabhavan constantly walks with a clean face, and the three-legged one with a dirty face. The three-legged cat was once hit by a car, and before it was an ordinary cat.

I saw a snail crawling on a leaf, eating droplets of dirt on its way. Through the transparent skin, you could see how the lumps of her food pass through her esophagus and dissolve over her body ... because I don't have my camera with me. I didn't even think about anything during those moments.

About karma and toilets

When you arrive for a retreat, you must choose a job to do every day for about 20 minutes after breakfast. I arrived among the last and all the "normal" work (like wiping dishes) was already taken. Cyril stood nearby and advised me to choose cleaning the toilet. It seems like in this way I will definitely clean not only the toilets, but also my karma.

I never thought about cleansing karma, especially in this way, but it seems that my karma decided everything for me and the next day it began to clear. True, it turned out that this is one of the simplest jobs, because the women's toilet under the meditation hall is not at all like the public toilet in Russia. It's almost like your home toilet.

One of the most difficult moments at the retreat it was not to kill any spiders and ants while washing the toilet. It was impossible to kill anyone, even your neighbor screaming at night, but when washing the toilet it was somehow very difficult to control.

Well, of course, it’s also difficult to calm down your mind while washing the toilet, which is constantly cracking, or thinking about how you will be thanked for the cleanest toilets at the end ...

I will never forget this incredible feeling when after breakfast we went to "work". You go full and satisfied that you don’t have to sit and meditate, you go to “work”, which will last no more than 20 minutes, and everyone around also starts their work, even men sweep the leaves from the paths and wash their toilets ... Isn’t that happiness:)

This is real socialism - everyone has their own duties and everyone is happy)). We have been meditating here for six days and are already ready to consider ourselves heroes, and the workers in some factories - they live like this every day: getting up early and many hours of meditation at the machine, i.e. full concentration on your work is also the present moment, almost like breathing. Only the worker must not make mistakes, otherwise the planes will begin to fall and the trains will derail.

Vipasana Meditation at Deepabhavan

5-6 hours a day are allotted for meditation. About 2 hours a day - to communicate with Buddhist monks, or rather, this is a monologue, because. no one but the monk and your rebellious mind inside your head is allowed to speak.

Almost an hour is allotted for morning yoga, about 20 minutes for "work", 2 hours for food and about 2 hours for rest, during which you can take a shower.

Officially, the center practices three types of meditation. Anapanasati- observation of breathing. In the schedule in English, it is called Sitting meditation. This is my favorite meditation, which is not at all clear when it starts to work out)). And this is my most suffering meditation. Why - you can easily understand by trying to sit on the floor for at least half an hour. Sitting meditation helps me most of all to see my thoughts from the outside. This is one of the main meditations of Buddhist monks.

The second meditation Walking meditation- walking meditation If you want to understand what it is, stand up and try to focus on the sensation in your feet. Be aware of them, be aware of every movement of your legs, and thus take a few steps. In Dipabhavan, “three-stage walking meditation” is practiced - this means that you need to be aware of how the leg leaves the ground, how it sweeps above the ground and how it is placed on the entire foot. The monks also practice the five step and more detailed walking meditations.

Try doing this meditation right now with someone next to you. After taking a few fully conscious steps, look at each other out of the corner of your eye and you will see what “zombies” we looked like when we walked through the Deepabhavan clearing)). But really, it's a really cool thing.

The third type of meditation is love meditation. For half an hour we think about everything good in relation to our close and distant people, etc.

I would single out two more types of meditation that are used in Deepabhavan. These are eating meditation and slipping meditation. While more could be highlighted, I'll stop for now.

Food in Deepabhavan

Eating is meditation on eating. It's just incredibly my favorite meditation. The morning starts with me waiting for lights out, then I start waiting for breakfast, which is practiced at 7.30, and then I start waiting for dinner. Lunch happens at 11.30. I don’t quite know what they are fed here ... it can be leaves or flowers fried in batter, some strange balls, always rice and various gravy additives to it ... but all this is so tasty that it’s just horror. And most importantly, dessert!

In general, this meditation gave me a full awareness of the happiness contained in the present moment - true satchidananda. If such dinners were fed in the Russian army, then there would be much more people who wanted to serve in it).

After dinner, most of the newbies seemed to have a sleeping meditation by default. It was a very happy time of day. But in last days the afternoon nap was no longer needed.

When we spoke again on the last day, it was very strange. I still sometimes can't find Russian words and I'm constantly trying to say a phrase in English.

There are a couple more important things. Retreats at meditation centers in Thailand are free, but everyone leaves a donation. On average, this is $100 for a weekly retreat.

Six days is very little. True, those who come to the monastery as an attraction cannot stand this small one, "with enthusiasm, not with wisdom" (quoted by Tan Hubert). In this case, these two or three days can become a real torture for a person and a clearly negative experience.

Well, if you do this seriously, then you can probably arrange a weekly meditation for yourself every month or once a year, go to a Buddhist monastery for 21 days. This practice exists in the North of Thailand. Well, I’ll also meditate every day on my own (I’ll definitely start on Monday).

Schedule of the day at the meditation center:

04.30 Rise
05.00 Morning reading
05.15 Sitting meditation
05.45 Yoga/Morning exercises
07.00 Sitting meditation
07.30 Breakfast
09.30 Talk about Dhamma
10.30 Walking or standing meditation
11.00 Sitting meditation
11.30 Lunch
14.00 Meditation instructions and sitting meditation
15.00 Meditation while walking or standing
15.30 Sitting meditation
16.00 Walking or standing meditation
16.30 Recitation of Buddhist sutras and “loving-kindness” meditation
17.30 Tea/coffee
19.30 Sitting meditation
20.00 Group walking meditation
20.30 Sitting meditation
21.00 Time to get ready for bed
21.30 End \ Lights off

For 7 years now, I have known that there is a retreat on Koh Samui, where we spend the winter. It was visited by many of my friends and many highly recommended it, but I did not dare to go there, but there was simply no need.

So what is the need, and what is a retreat, you ask.

The last year was one of the most difficult in my life, it took all my energy and I started to lose myself.

Upon arrival this year for the next wintering, the decision to “go” came by itself. Dima and Nastya, our old Samui friends, came to visit us and were stunned by the news that they are now working as volunteers in this retreat center. One conversation, a couple of arguments and I already ran to leave a request on the site.

There was a picture in my head of what a retreat is: a bunch of people gather, go to the mountains and are silent for 7 days, delving into themselves, sweeping the jungle, but everything turned out to be exactly the opposite, but let's go in order.

The long-awaited day X came. Having filled the refrigerator to the eyeballs, and tightly hugging my wife and son, I got on the bike and rushed off.

The first day was the day of registration, which began at 12 and ended at 16. At registration, everyone was interviewed by volunteers and a Buddhist monk, the spiritual mentor of our group. They asked why we are here and what we expect from the retreat, did briefings and assigned you the type of work that you will do during this week. Since I arrived almost last, I got to clean the toilets))) Karma is like that)

I was ready for the maximum austerity of the place, I was ready to sleep in the jungle on a mat with a wooden pillow, but for some it was a shock and after the first night one retreat participant already went home.

In the evening, the start was announced, the week-long silence took effect and I fell into a sweet dream, dispersing huge lizards over my bed, tucking a maskite net under a thin mat and fluffing up a wooden pillow. You sleep well in the jungle, for me the sounds of nature are close, but for many it may seem that you are sleeping at some kind of sawmill. Cicadas, frogs, birds and other unseen things create just a symphony of strange sounds.

4-30 am get up. A very loud gong right above your head just dumbfounds you and makes you immediately jump out of bed. You have 30 minutes to clean up, brush your teeth and get to the place where you will have your morning meditation. I really don’t feel like taking a shower, because most likely the water is taken directly from the waterfall, which is noisy nearby, and whose water temperature I know firsthand.

At 5 am in the meditation hall, we dismantled the mats, sat on the floor, and they began to tell us what meditation is and, in general, to bring it up to date. This is where the dissonance began. I thought that I was getting into a place where I would think and dig into myself for days on end, I would work through some thoughts and put them in alphabetical order.

But the purpose of meditation is not to think

not to chew the gum of thoughts, but to concentrate and live the one and only moment of the present. And this for me, and not only for me, turned out to be an almost impossible task. There were two types of practice: sitting and walking. On the first one, we tried to focus on the breath, on the second, on the steps.

In words, everything is simple, what is there, exhale, inhale, step or two. But when it comes down to it, the brain just bombards your head with all sorts of thoughts: past, present, future, 10 seconds pass and you no longer remember steps or breathing. After 5 days, when you have already learned to brush aside thoughts, it dawns on you that most of the time we live either with thoughts about the past or thoughts about the future, which are not always pleasant and positive, but we don’t live in the present, we have almost atrophied the feeling here and Now. At the very beginning of the retreat, we were taken away from the tool of escape from reality, a tool that for most of us is a lifeline from the ideal world of likes and reposts.

The meditation lasts 30 minutes. Thank God, last year one of our friends told us how to sit properly in order to unload the spine, and only thanks to this, sitting meditation did not cause me back pain and nothing was numb. For 30 minutes, the brain was simply exhausted ... He throws thoughts on your fan, but you cannot turn it on.

We had breaks and free time. Almost everyone sleeps during these breaks, the brain simply turns off from overload and falls asleep. You no longer care what temperature the water in the shower is and how soft your pillow is.

I have never done yoga, but warming up at dawn was very invigorating and energizing.

We ate fully only 2 times a day, plus there was an afternoon snack with tea and bananas. I was sure that I would go hungry. Breakfast and lunch, and even without meat, is too little for a man, I thought. But the first day made me understand that this is exactly as much as the body needs. I began to feel hungry an hour before breakfast, exactly after yoga. They fed tasty and with a margin, there was enough food for everyone, it was possible to take a supplement. The only thing that didn’t go down was a Thai dessert, a pumpkin in some kind of condensed milk diluted with water.

Were there thoughts to spit and leave? All beginners have them. But they end on the 3rd, 4th, 5th day of meditation. You begin to understand what's what, you understand how your brain works, you understand what things make you unhappy, but in fact it's just a game of your mind, and you can control the randomizer that decides whether you smile or be sad. When you have learned to throw thoughts out of your head and for the first time felt a pure state here and now, calmness and peace come. And in the middle of the retreat, the 3rd practice already appears - Metta, which fills you with kindness and love. After that, I felt like myself again. A smile returned to my face. I got back what I lost, I got back the feeling of myself.

There is no price for the retreat, the donation system works there. You decide how much is what you got ...

Only the laziest of my virtual (and not only virtual) acquaintances did not visit this meditation center (at the end of the article I will provide some links to the reports). My turn came too. Moreover, since recently Russian-language retreats have been held in Dipabhāvan (link to the official website of the center).

First, about what a retreat is:

Retreat, also Retreat (eng. retreat - “solitude”, “removal from society”, Russian lit. “shutter”)- an English word that entered the Russian language as international designation pastime devoted to spiritual practice. Retreats are solitary and collective; at the collective, meditation practice is most often taught.

So, on the island of Koh Samui in the mountains of Lamai, Buddhist retreats are held. The name "Dipabhāvan" in translation from the Pali language means the place of the development of light. "Light" is the light of Dhamma. Dhamma or Dharma is the teaching of the Buddha, aimed at comforting the restless mind.

Not that my mind was too restless, but when I signed up for a retreat (while still), my goal was to be alone, to figure out what was going on inside of me. The fact is that after I started practicing meditation on my own, very unusual things began to happen to me. For example, I began to see my past lives, as well as communicate with my spirit guide. I began to practice channeling (communication with spirits, collective beings of light, God). About these metamorphoses in my perception of reality I .

I realized that God is not a being separate from me. That God is all that ever was, is, and will be. That I am not the body. And I don't mind. The body and mind are the tools that I can use to have physical experience in order to know Who I Am. This is what God is doing (along with all of us) - He is experiencing Who He Is. I don't need to cultivate or do anything specific to earn God's love. He and I are already love (unconditional, pure love), it's just that now we're learning it in practice. 🙂

The essence of the retreat and a little about the schedule

I'll tell you a little about what the essence of the retreat is. If I'm not mistaken, there were about 50 people at the retreat, and there were 2 times more girls than men. The retreat lasts for 7 days - I arrived on April 29 in the afternoon and left on May 7 in the morning. On the evening of arrival, all participants take a vow of silence (as well as some other vows). All week it is forbidden to talk with anyone, you can not even exchange notes. You can’t read, write, listen to music - that is, it is necessary to completely limit the flow of information from the outside world.

Before starting, you need to deposit all valuables, especially mobile phone(they are strictly prohibited). Everyone chose an easy job to do after breakfast for 15-20 minutes, while maintaining full awareness. I chose to clean the women's restrooms, but two other girls actually cleaned them, while I had to become the head of the garbage, sweeping and washing the floors at the entrance to the showers and toilets. 🙂 The work is not dusty, but I often lost awareness. Mainly due to the fact that I decided to starve all 7 days and I was sick of the local water ...

Collected in the center rain water, clean it and use it for domestic needs - drinking, cooking, bathing. Hot water in the soul is not, just as the soul itself is not. Just a container cold water and ladles - you collect water and water it. Actually, it's cool. I am now a fan of cold douches.

But for some reason I could not drink rain water (rather warm). I am a supporter of fasting on the water, but it turned out that I was starving dry. I was terribly sick, my heart was pounding. I'll drink water - my heart is lighter, and I'm even more sick. But still, I understood that such an opportunity to starve in nature (the center is in the mountains, the air is very pleasant) without talking in such an energetically pleasant place would not fall for me soon. One-day fasting can be practiced anywhere, but long-term fasting is better in nature. I had the last long fast (2 weeks) and it was unforgettable - I flew! I wanted to fly here too, but no, the water let me down. More precisely, sometimes while everyone was at breakfast or lunch, I went down to the showers and “flyed” on a broomstick. 🙂

Yes, other participants were fed. Breakfast at 7:30 and lunch at 11:30. Before the arrival, everyone made a vow not to eat after noon, only at 17-30 it was possible to drink tea. The girls said that the food was very tasty. Those who love Thai food especially liked it. The food is vegetarian but with eggs. I hope that soon Dipabhāvan will solve the problem with raw foodists and vegans and provide more fruits and vegetables. Now, as I understand, they give a little fruit ...

Watches are not needed on the retreat, the ringing of the gong helps to navigate:

IN 4-30 am he calls for the first time - it means it's time to get up, bathe, brush your teeth and go up to the meditation hall. He calls loudly and for a long time, so it's almost impossible to oversleep. At 5 am a short lecture, then sitting meditation (anapanasati), yoga and sitting meditation again. Until 7-30. Yoga was led by an amazing host - Roman. I didn’t do yoga, it was quite difficult, especially on the 5th day of fasting, when I felt sick especially gracefully and constantly, but my restless mind entertained me with the fact that I imagined that my beloved Hercule Poirot was doing yoga next to me and grumbling that with his belly, such asanas are incompatible. Then I found another fun - I imagined what a cool series of photos it would turn out a la “What the world looks like when you freeze for a few seconds in one or another asana.” Maybe even someone will do this? 🙂

At 7-30 breakfast, then work after breakfast and personal time - you can wash, lie down. I was knitting at the time. I chose the simplest crochet pattern to meditate while knitting. A ginger cat came to me, laid down at my feet and watched how the thread twitched from the ball. Such an idyll. 🙂

IN 9-15 am the gong rings a second time - this means you need to go to the meditation hall. And then the most interesting began - the lectures of Tan Hubert (monk). It was something. He himself comes from Poland, lived in Russia for several years, then came to Thailand and became a monk. Very charismatic, smart and funny person. Listening to him is a pleasure. I liked it so much that after his lecture, it took only 5 minutes to meditate while sitting. 🙂

And then an interesting thing also began - half an hour of walking meditation. How I love to walk, to feel the ground, floor, sand under my bare feet ... I had to concentrate on every step. It's such a thrill! Not like the sitting meditation that came after. :)))

At 11:30 - lunch. After lunch, you can relax right up to 14-00. Tan Hubert said that at this time it is better to sleep in order to save strength for the evening. It was hot to sleep, I knitted a little, but then I still fell asleep.

IN 13-45 days the gong rings for the third time and this means that ... yes, yes, it's time to go to the meditation hall. And again interesting - another lecture by Tan Hubert. Then 3 times for half an hour of meditation. And again interesting - the recitation of Buddhist sutras and the meditation of "loving kindness".

Reciting the sutras is almost singing, but not quite. I perceived it as something ancient, shamanic and inspiring. We paid homage to the Buddha and studied monastic vows, kama (karma), dhamma. Thane Kirril conducted all this business - he recently cut his hair as a monk. It was an opportunity to break the vow of silence for a while and recite. I liked it very much!

Loving-kindness meditation was led by Roman (who taught yoga). I modified it a bit for myself. I believe that to wish your loved ones happiness and kindness with the words: yes will your mind is calm, yeah you will you are happy... it's a bit different. It's better to meditate on what's close already happy and already calm. And represent them accordingly. When I had to imagine my enemies or the person who gave you the most problems, I was at a loss. I have no enemies or those against whom I still hold a grudge. And most of all, I caused myself problems. So she imagined herself as a little confused girl and played with herself. 🙂

At 17-30 evening tea and until 19-30 personal time. I usually dozed off.

IN 19-15 pm the big gong rings for the last time of the day. After the sitting meditation began what I was completely delighted with - group walking meditation. Just imagine - it's dark (it gets dark early in Thailand), only one candle burns in a huge hall. We go around in circles like witches in some gathering. At the same time, one must be conscious, repeat the movements of the person in front and concentrate only on walking. We also practiced this meditation on the street in a special clearing near the Buddha statue:

At 21-30 lights out. I slept pretty well, the dreams were lucid (I've been practicing lucid dreams and stalking for a long time), I even dreamed a few tasks for an application I'm currently working on. This is a program for iPhone and iPad with mindfulness and wish fulfillment exercises. It will be called "365 ways to catch inspiration, or How to shake things up and feel the joy of life." Those. it will be as many as 365 mindfulness exercises! Hope it will be ready by summer. The idea of ​​making an application and the fact that I got to the retreat are not related, but I am glad that I got to Dipabhāvan just during this period, it helped me a lot and inspired me.

Well, now about how the retreat went for me.

The beginning of the retreat and the first experience of Buddhist meditation

When I went to the retreat, I was full of enthusiasm. Well, I think I'm experienced in matters of meditation, so I'll meditate wow! All the monks will then say to the new participants: we had a girl, she meditated so well ... Maybe they will even hang me on the honor roll. Or even put in the Guinness Book of Records. 🙂 My mind is like entertainment for me, so you will still meet such thoughts - do not be surprised.

Yep, it wasn't there! I used to meditate while lying on the bed, concentrating on a particular chakra, imagining that I was breathing into it. And on a retreat, you need to meditate, focusing on breathing, sitting on wooden floor with a perfectly straight back and at the same time without changing the position for half an hour! I, accustomed to working at a computer and tablet (in a crooked state) and long walks (as you remember, Dimka and I love to walk) could not sit still for 20 minutes! But I will talk about this more below.

In the Book of Registration of Participants in the profession column, I wrote: sorceress. And with a feeling of delight, I went to the general women's building, where for 7 days I had to live, sleep on wooden bed without a mattress and on a wooden (!) pillow:

But that didn't scare me at all. I read that a lot of people even liked it. And I liked it.

Then we were given a tour of the territory, taught the basics of meditation, took a vow of silence from us and sent to sleep. The first day (we will consider the day of arrival as zero) everything was interesting to me, everything was new. I started learning walking meditation with interest. I go to myself, but the thoughts in my head, as always, continue to entertain me. And then something hit me on the leg. Hurt. And we took a vow of non-violence, even mosquitoes can not be killed! It turned out that it was a scorpion. We were warned that it was not life threatening, so I thanked him and promised myself to be more aware. All meditations last half an hour, but walking meditation was like five minutes for me, while sitting meditation was 3 hours. 🙂

On the second day, I came to the conclusion that meditating after yoga is cool. You can sit for an hour. On the third day, it seemed to me that there were not 24 hours in a day, but at least 100 hours! Previously, I always thought that time flies too fast, it turns out that I just stuffed myself with information (Internet, books, instagram, etc.) - so I didn’t have time to live. On the 4th day it became difficult - after all, 4 days without water made themselves felt, I began to pound, shake and feel sick. I missed one evening meditation.

On the 5th day I go up the stairs in the morning (there are quite a lot of high steps from the women's building to the meditation hall), my heart is pounding, it seems that I am about to fall. I say to the body

- Why are you? We are strong with you...

And it answered me:

“Yeah, who polluted me?”

The mind laughs, it just laughs:

“Damn, we have a smart body with you, an infection!” And there is nothing to say in response! I can't help you, dear. Let's write some poetry, shall we?

I laugh with them for the company, the merrymaker in my head does not let me lose heart under any circumstances. I walk up the steps and write poems to myself, something like this:

— This retreat invigorates me!

This retreat is making me slim!

Well, everything in this spirit. 🙂

Then the poems stopped helping, I had to skip the pre-lunch meditation and lie in bed. I'll drink water - it gets even worse, it's warm and nasty. I lie thinking whether to drink or not to drink, to go to the next meditation or not to go. And then a girl comes up to me (as it turned out, her name is Natasha, I called her a red-haired sun), gives some kind of cream and shows with gestures, they say, maybe this will help you? It was so touching! Not that they gave me a warming cream, but that they take care of me ... Ahhhh!

The girl left, I got up and started knitting (otherwise I was dying!), Sending her rays of kindness. Then she lay down, thinking about why I have such a difficult relationship with rainwater ... And then, bam, it started to rain! Soon the gong rang and I went to meditation, easily climbed the stairs. Many took umbrellas or raincoats, but I didn’t take anything, I like to walk in the rain.

Near the hall where meditations take place, I decided to get up and catch my breath. I lifted my head up and began to watch how raindrops fell on my face through the foliage of a huge tree ... And this process fascinated me so much that I stood there for several minutes, not noticing anything around - neither that everyone had long gone inside, nor that that meditation began a long time ago, nor who I am and where I am at all! It's like I became the rain. And I realized that really - we are all made of the same dough. And I, and the rain, and the tree, and the earth, and the people, and the sky. We are all one! I knew this before, but then I immediately plunged into it, felt it to the depths of my soul.

It is said that the Buddha attained enlightenment under a tree. And I've reached procreation under the tree! I made friends with the rain. After that, I began to drink rainwater in the center with pleasure and it became much, much easier for me!

Then she woke up and went into the hall. I sat down on the wooden floor and began to meditate. And she achieved what tan Hubert was talking about - a feeling of delight. I laughed and sobbed at the same time! God, how simple it is - we are all one ... we are all love. I sat still and was in the now, enjoying this moment. I open my eyes (something the gong has been gone for a long time, they are taken out of meditation with a small gong - a singing bowl): fir-trees, I sat for an hour and a half! I was not at the pre-lunch meditation and did not know that this time there would be no gong, and when to stop sitting meditation and move on to walking is all at the discretion of the participants. Simply awesome!

I suddenly began to admire the beauty of my body. I look at the toes - beautiful, damn it. I look at my hands - beautiful ... In deeds ... Previously, I somehow didn’t particularly love the body and considered myself a little better than the ugly (white hair, white skin - brrr). And then I clearly realized that every person is beautiful. There are no ugly ones.

On the 6th day in the evening we gathered in the training hall, but did not sit down as usual (boys on the left, girls on the right), but in a circle. Everyone went to the microphone and for 5 minutes talked about what this retreat was like for him. It was so interesting and great!

On the morning of the 7th day, we meditated a little, then packed our things, made donations (the center exists only through voluntary donations, the amount is at the discretion of the participants) and went home. We exchanged contacts with each other, some everyday experience. There was not much time for talking, but the sensations were indescribable.

In general, this is one of the most powerful experiences in my life. I am grateful to the organizers (they work on a voluntary basis, without pay) and the monks. I learned so many interesting things from them about Thailand, Buddhism ... I can write about this for a long time, but it's time to wrap up. If you have any questions - feel free to ask.

Our group (I'm in an orange skirt, white T-shirt, if anyone hasn't seen me):

Thanks for the photo to the guys with whom we were on the retreat, I also took some photos

Hello blog readers.

On my blog, I talk a lot about how she makes a person healthy and happy. But today I want to write not about the benefits, but about the harm of meditation for health, about the danger of meditation for the psyche of the practitioner.

Why about harm if I constantly praise her? The fact is that meditation, under certain conditions, when it is used incorrectly, can really harm a person. That's why I always say, meditate properly, read carefully.

The thing is that there are a lot of techniques that seem to be similar to meditation, but in fact are fundamentally different from it. They do not bring as much benefit, or harm the practitioner. It's just that in the East there has never been such a word as meditation.

Exist correct techniques leading to peace of mind, to stopping the internal dialogue, to awareness, which change a person in better side make him healthy and happy. These are the techniques I call proper meditation. And there are techniques that distort the essence of true meditation, and it is they that lead to problems and harm.

Is there any harm in the practice of meditation if done correctly?

Yes, if certain conditions are not met. I will also talk about this today.

After all, any activity, especially one that changes a person, can, in the wrong hands, turn into a technique for harming a person. As they say, make a fool pray to God, so he will hurt his forehead.

Wrong Meditations

A lot can now be found on the Internet such names as meditation on attracting money, finding happiness, meditation on love, light and stuff like that. It would seem that this is such a thing, people tend to a better life and meditation can really give it. But the problem is, basically it's not really meditation, but the so-called visualization techniques. And they have nothing to do with proper meditation. The instructors who give such practices either want to make money or simply do not understand what they are doing, although they do not want to harm you. In real meditation, we must treat any manifestations of our psyche with detachment, not become attached to them, observe from the outside, whether it is at least positive, even negative emotions.

In the above techniques, the practitioner chooses some image or thought in his head and begins to concentrate on them. For example, the thought of love, the image of a successful life, and everything like that. That is, instead of detached observation of thoughts, there is an intensification of some thought. Instead of stopping, increase it. Maybe with the help of such meditations, you can quickly achieve certain goals, but the price of achieving them will be too high.

And in the long run, it's easy to harm yourself irreparably. You can not concentrate on positive thoughts, displacing negative ones. In this case bad part your mind is not going anywhere. Suppressing something bad in yourself and striving for the good, sooner or later this bad will accumulate inside and shoot out in the form of illness or mental distortions.

That is why, often, people starting to meditate on wrong instructions either get little out of the practice or get themselves in trouble. Then they say that it only brings harm. You've probably heard that someone was meditating and he "went crazy" or something like that.

You just need to meditate correctly and understand what real meditation is.

If you meditate correctly, you will have everything: health, happiness, love in your life. But only after you clear all the dirt in your subconscious, all the heaviness, hidden depression and dissatisfaction with life, all bad thoughts. And for this you need not to suppress them, but rather not to prevent them from opening up in full.

Only in this way will they come out, and then dissolve if they are observed at this time. All the good that is in us dwells in our soul when it opens. And for this, during meditation, you need to observe any manifestations of the psyche, even good or bad, and not visualize anything, focus on something, but ignore something. So, if you do not want to get harm from meditation, read the instructions carefully and meditate correctly.

There are also techniques in which we try to do something, for example, forcefully concentrate on breathing. This approach is contrary to not-doing and can also be harmful. I already wrote about this in an article on how to meditate correctly.

I think I made it clear. If so, ask questions in the comments.

Escape from the world, retreat, erasure of ego, high

Some engage in meditation to escape from life's problems and hide in the altered state that meditation provides. And indeed, by meditating, we relax and take a break from stress, from everyday fuss, from life's problems. This is because we are no longer attached to the negative manifestations of the ego, bad thoughts and emotions dissolve under the onslaught of our observation of them. And many become attached to this state, get high from it. And some are even willing to meditate for hours. They are no longer interested in anything in life, they become hermits, someone leaves for India, someone closes in their apartments.

This is clearly the wrong approach that harms a person. Sooner or later, the world you were running from will come with new problems. But now you will not be able to withstand the onslaught of life's troubles, because you have lost immunity to life. You will be annoyed by people, bad circumstances, you will simply break down in front of the difficulties that life will sooner or later provide you with. And all because you decided to hide in meditation from the difficulties of life. As a result, it will lead not to happiness and freedom, but to dependence on meditation, to a buzz from a meditative state, and in the future, anyway, to a distortion in the psyche, that is, it will cause one harm. To avoid this, you need to understand what I am about to tell you.

During meditation, the internal dialogue stops, the ego stops, the programs in the brain are erased. But our goal is not the complete erasure of our brain programs, not the complete destruction of the ego, but only a rewiring of the brain, its rest, after which it will work much more productively. And for this you need to turn it off, erase the previous programs. But, in order not to harm yourself, erase it for a while, and not for good. After all, everyone knows that in order to relax the body, you need to sleep, lie on the couch. But what will happen if we lie and be lazy all day long, constantly sleeping for 12 hours or more. Yes, the body simply atrophies, we get sick. So it is with the psyche, with the brain.

There must be balance in everything, the body and psyche need both rest and exercise. Therefore, you can’t meditate for too long, you can’t hide from everyday problems in meditation, this only harms. The first month of practice, meditate for 10-15 minutes, then for excellent results, increase the time to 20-30 minutes, maybe 40 minutes. Plus shavasana, preparatory exercises.

As a result, the total maximum time of one lesson is about half an hour, 1 hour, an hour and a half, 2 hours is suitable for someone. Here, too, everything is individual. As long as you don't meditate for hours, as some do. Of course, much can be achieved by such meditations, but advanced safety techniques are already needed here, which I can only talk about in person.

Don't hide from the world. Meditation develops what is needed. That's the only way you'll become.

And by too long meditations, you can simply harm yourself by destroying the ego. If you cut off your hand, you will become disabled. Even without an ego, a person will become mentally disabled. The ego is a part of us and you don’t need to get rid of it, you just need to suspend it for a while, put control over it, become its master, and only will help you with this.

But do not be afraid to harm yourself by meditating after my words. The only way to erase the ego is to practice too long and with the intention of running away from the world. In order for our brain to work correctly, we need to stop the ego for a while, this is the law. How to flash a computer new program, the old one must be removed, in whole or in part. And this you can do only with the help of meditation.

If you suffered from panic attacks, autism, were afraid of everything and want to hide from these problems with the help of meditation, then meditate, because it will become easier for you. But after that, go out into the world little by little, take courage. Meditation will solve all your problems, as long as you don't lock yourself into it.

Also, don't get attached to the relaxation buzz that meditation actually gives. Meditation should give freedom from any attachments, including attachments from the buzz of relaxation and from meditation itself. It's just your ego getting attached to the high. Observe during practice this attachment in yourself. If you do everything right, you will feel that your soul is already enjoying relaxation. And this feeling is different from high. It is quiet joy, spiritual satisfaction, peace and happiness.

Subconscious Reset

If you begin to meditate correctly, then sooner or later you will reach a stage where all the dirt of the subconscious will begin to come out. This is a natural process and it takes courage to go through it. It is usually called a reset. Everyone goes through it differently. Many are just lucky, they do not feel anything and do not even understand that he has passed. But basically, especially for those who have a lot of dirt inside, who have psychological unresolved problems since childhood, a forgotten offense or a stone in their souls, who have done a lot of grief to others, broke firewood, endure the reset hard and painfully. In meditation, long-forgotten stories of life that you do not want to remember and have suppressed the memory of them may come up. Scary images, bad thoughts, heavy emotions and so on. It can be really hard and scary.

Some have twitching parts of the body or shaking the whole body. There is even an exacerbation of chronic diseases, nausea, trembling, fever, fever. And the negative emotions that come out can be harmful, driving us into depression. How so. Meditation should cure diseases and get rid of any mental distortions, whether it be depression or something else, but it turns out the opposite. And indeed, those who reached the stage of reset and quit the practice halfway, often made a lot of problems for themselves, fell into depression. But you have to go through it, but not give up the practice. This is a natural step in the purification of the subconscious and right approach and proper meditation, you will easily overcome the possible harm from the reset.

What do we have to do? How to overcome it? Yes, just during the reset, do not stop, but continue to meditate. After all main principle true meditation is detachedly observing everything that appears before our inner eye and not being attached to anything. If during practice, the subconscious mind starts throwing out unpleasant pictures, sensations, difficult emotions, do not become attached to them, but continue to observe all this from the outside. Here you are, the center of the cyclone, purity and silence itself, but here is the seething element of various negative thoughts and emotions. Let her seethe, you don't care about her.

She is on her own, you are on your own. In this case, there will be no harm from the reset. If you suddenly merged with a heavy emotion and began to experience it or were afraid of these manifestations of the subconscious, catch yourself on the fact that you are not an aloof observer, but you are thinking, experiencing, afraid. Look at your fear from the outside. Move into a position of observing any manifestations of the psyche. If you do everything right, then negative emotions they will simply dissolve and gradually disappear. This is the cleansing of the subconscious. The main thing is not to give up meditation at this stage, to gain courage and perseverance. Over time, you will feel better, and after cleaning, you will enter a happy world.

If your body starts twitching or shaking, don't be alarmed, ignore it, or also watch from the sidelines. And if the unpleasant effects of the reset will occur not during the practice, but after, in the daily fuss, then also observe them detachedly, turn on awareness in everyday life.

What I have just said is shown very well in the film "Little Buddha", but on a more advanced level.

He achieved enlightenment only when he could not become attached to any manifestations of the psyche and understand that this is just an illusion generated by the brain.
Be sure to watch this excerpt, and when you have time, the entire movie.

Strong relaxation

For some people (not all), meditation, especially if done a lot, can lead to abnormal, too much relaxation, lethargy, and even low pressure. In principle, meditation, if done correctly, brings about a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. But still, there is a high probability of earning pathological relaxation. To avoid such harm, you need to supplement your meditation practice with either special asanas from hatha yoga, mula bandha or qigong exercises. You can also perform a special morning workout for the spine. A few minutes of these additional exercises before meditation will greatly improve your practice, bring great benefits to the body, and will not take much time from you. We will talk about them in separate articles.

I would recommend everyone to start the practice in this way. The fact is that due to lack of time, many people meditate almost immediately after waking up. But in order for the meditation to be of very high quality, good vigilance of attention is needed. What is needed is awareness, not dullness of consciousness, which is often difficult to achieve in the morning. And preparatory exercises will just help you wake up, invigorate your body and mind.

But I also recommend doing meditation in a special way in the morning. If you meditate with your eyes open in the morning, and also perform pillar standing, then you will draw so much energy that you will be ready to turn the whole world upside down. Meditation in this case will never lead to great relaxation. I will talk about pillar standing (a well-known practice from qigong) and meditation with open eyes in a separate article.

You also need to understand that people have different energy constitutions. Someone is constantly excited, others are too lethargic and lazy. Too energetic people need to increase the time of shavasana, do yoga nidra. And lethargic, on the contrary, reduce the time spent in shavasana and perform more preparatory exercises, such as power asanas. Failure to follow this rule can also be harmful.

Now I think you understand everything about the dangers of meditation, why it can be not beneficial, but harmful. Any activity in foolish hands can be dangerous, and meditation even more so. Hammering a nail can hurt your hand. Therefore, do it correctly, following my recommendations from the instructions and from this article. And then meditation will bring you only happiness and health, because that's what meditation is for. I don't know the best remedy gaining happy life, body and mind health than meditation. Therefore, meditate with pleasure, but only correctly.

In this article, I did not consider why, according to Orthodoxy, meditation is considered harmful. And it is also not clear what studies about the dangers of meditation allegedly for the brain and nervous system. I already tried to argue with people holding such views on one of the forums. They clearly bend their stick, without giving any normal evidence, they only say that meditation is only harmful. Harm and danger.

It can be seen that people are clouded by their faith, and there is also a lack of sound logic. We need not only faith, but also knowledge, and vice versa, blind faith harms them. I realized that it is useless to argue, let them live their lives, and we will receive wonderful effects from meditation, gain health and happiness. For many years of practice side effects From meditation, which I described to you, I easily overcame, I already forgot about them, and I get more and more pluses every year.

In principle, I wrote all the side effects and about the harm from meditation, if it is used incorrectly. If I missed something, or if you find any negative effects in your practice, write, discuss, if necessary, I will add an article.

Good luck with your practice.

And now I still I suggest watching the movie "Little Buddha" in full.

Article comments

Good afternoon
Tell me, is it possible to combine meditation with visualization techniques aimed at improving the body (for example, visualizing yourself healthy, happy). At the same time, if in the process of visualization some negative thoughts or feelings arise, then just go into the "observer mode" at that moment?

Good afternoon. I was engaged in meditation, watching my breathing. And I did it a little within 7-10 minutes. I have a neurosis. About a month later, there was a strong nervous excitability, spasms, panic attacks that I simply couldn’t work without medication. Here is such an experience. I read that people who have mental problems are asked in the East, because meditation can cause very strong exacerbations in such people. So is it worth doing in alone? Or did this technique not suit me?

• Hello Marina. Meditation treats neuroses, panic attacks and other mental problems. But firstly, I wrote that watching the breath without relaxing and not doing, that is, the correct meditation that I write about, is harmful for many. And secondly, people with big mental problems have a strong reset that needs to be endured, then it will be easier. This is where the teacher can help. Of course, you can overcome everything yourself, but with big problems It's best to ask your teacher for help. Send me a private message and I will advise you good school where to go.

Hello Sergey. I was afraid to meditate. I am afraid that during my meditations my mind will become so cold that I will not be able to experience love, kindness, or anything else. Life will lose its meaning. I read the controlled stupidity of Castaneda. This made me even more sad...

Diana.
It is good that you have taken up meditation during a difficult period of your life. She will help you. It will dispel your illusions, help you look at reality correctly. If you succeed in practice, then after some time you will understand that there is a soul, a real Self, but there are thoughts, emotions that are fickle, interfere with a normal life, create problems. You will understand that there is good and evil. Good is in the soul, and evil is created by wrong thoughts. Speaking about the fact that there is nothing important, don Juan meant that those realities that we create with our thoughts are not important, because these are our distortions. We look at the world through the prism of thoughts and emotions, create with our thoughts the illusion of good and evil. That is, they decided that this is good, and this is evil, although in reality this is not so. That is why there are religious wars and other human problems. If you engage in spiritual practices, if you engage in meditation or real nagualism, you will understand that there is goodness, but it is beyond the mind. Applying controlled stupidity means choosing any brain program, ego, any thought, emotion. We are humans, so we can't stop thinking. But in the depths of your soul, do not become attached to it, be flexible, know that this is just a program that can change under other circumstances, be able to laugh at yourself. That's why they say that stupidity, because all these are thoughts. We are real, this is I with a capital letter, where the soul lives. It is unchanging, but thoughts are changeable, this is stupidity compared to the soul. They are not important, that's why don Juan says that everything is not important. Only the nagual is important, that is, quantum reality, where the soul is. And you will not turn into an amoeba, but rather into wise man able to be independent of his thoughts. This is a complex topic that can be talked about a lot. And according to Castaneda, it is difficult to understand the teachings of don Juan. You also need to read those who explain Castaneda.
And feel free to write. This will make it easier for you. It is also important to others and to me. I like helping people, explaining complex things. Of course, time is not always enough.