How has meditation changed your life?

[Jeeprs]

very beautiful, Ivana! That is great motivation.

[Morning Dew]

I second Jeepers    that is beautiful Ivana 

well done my friend

Che

[Stefan]

Maybe the last change is the most important.

won't be your last, I'm sure 
thanks for your post, I like it

Metta, Stefan

[teacher]

Although i am sitting from last 1 month ,i have been cultivating mindfulness from past 2 months in my day to day life and i can now actually see how my mind want to get itself into mess.Before my mental shock i was completely identified by my mind and ego and made my life a hell .Now i can see very positive changes in me.
Thoughts are still there but very few .I was completely suicidal and depressed just 3 months back.Just a month ago i consulted the physciatrist and he told me there is nothing to worry and prescribed me very mild medication.Thanks to mindfulness and meditation , they really have changed my life in positive way.I know i am not completely happy and relaxed but i am sure this state will also go with my regular practice of meditation

hope my story would be encouraging for someone who is on the path ....

i realized one thing that only after suffering comes realization ...

ankur   

[Lokuttara]

Some very nice replies here!

It's a good question. I started my journey in 2002, when I took my first 10-day Vipassana course. It was my first proper foray into the spiritual field, but I'm really glad I chose Vipassana, there were many other options out there. So nearly one-third of my life I've been involved in Vipassana, and I feel really lucky to have found it. I spent a lot of time searching for the answer, probably since the age of 15 when I hit rock bottom on the happiness scale. My Dad spent a lot more of his life searching but he found Vipassana at the age of 60, and he was the one who told me all about it. I also share in the benefits described by others, and my faith and devotion in meditation is strengthened every day.

Sometimes the challenge comes not from the meditation, but how to live in the world without clinging to the things you've learnt from the meditation. The bodymind may have learnt how not to be greedy, how not to be conceited, how not to crave, how not to be angry, but....it still needs to sit side by side with many bodyminds that are greedy, angry, at war. This often poses quite a challenge, but the more the ego dissolves, the easier this will be. At times one can feel like an alien from a different world, who no longer understands the strange ways and motivations of most humans. Sometimes this is a little isolating, as you want to share the joy and the riches you have found with others, but instead sit alone in your golden mansion of peace. But again, the more the ego dissolves, the easier this is. And I certainly find it easier now, as practice continues more and more into the present moment and not just on a zafu

[Matthew]

Lokuttara,

Beautifully written as always.

The sense of alienation from society is a mirror of the reduction in alienation from your true self. The Buddha used a simile of a bowl "floating upstream"  to describe the difference from being on the path to being in the same mindset as the majority of folk. As Krishnamurti said, however, "a truly spiritual man is always alone, never lonely, but always alone".

The beauty of Sangha is that we are alone in it together. A contradiction, yes, but also true.

Matthew

[Lokuttara]

Thank you Matthew. It's funny you should post that exact quote, as it was in my mind and I was going to add it to my post but forgot.

The "always alone" bit is very apt. The lonely part comes and goes, I guess this reflects the fact that I'm not always "truly spiritual". But when meditation is active, loneliness usually ceases, funnily enough

[mdr]

Bumping an older thread, but not sure where else to post this: i hadn't practiced Vipassana per se for over a decade - except for breathing consciousness - and was suffering from really bad  migraines which would last for days and basically could be stopped only by intravenous injections; as soon as i started meditated regularly and prolonged the sessions, those were gone.

[Falkov]

At the very least, I am not bombarded by all kind of thoughts- my own or otherwise, after waking up in the morning  any more.   It's feel very different not being a slave to my own thoughts.   

[Falkov]

Really been thinking about this, and notice that I have been thinking negatively less and less.  I still live a normal life just like last year or ten years before but w/out doing or thinking badly about anything or anyone.    With awareness,  I can dissolve unwanted thought by really looking into it, leaving me w/ more productive thinking process.

There are some people whom I used to feel annoyed being around, now it no longer bothers me.  I can sit next to them and really listen to what they have to say.    While driving, I still get cut off from time to time, but I didn't see it as aggressive driving (judging on my part)- simply a car in front of me which was too close, so I slowed down the car  and got out of the sticky situation. 

[mdr]

While driving, I still get cut off from time to time, but I didn't see it as aggressive driving (judging on my part)- simply a car in front of me which was too close, so I slowed down the car  and got out of the sticky situation.

You are an inspiration! I believe road rage will be the last thing i'll overcome... (To my defense - where i live it's the same as driving in Kabul or Istanbul - roads are dangerous and rules almost non-existent; of course one could take as it is instead of screaming and swearing... )

[peepalala]

in today's fast moving life meditation is the best to keep your self calm and get some relief from daily tension full life .
many people using meditations now day's to get relaxation from their tiring life .

[Stefan]

I believe road rage will be the last thing i'll overcome...

yeah me too. it affects me faster than I can respond to it with equanimity.
and I live in Germany, where everyone drives so neatly ... driving in India would spoil my karma for several lives, I'm afraid ... 

[joy]

I believe road rage will be the last thing i'll overcome...

yeah me too. it affects me faster than I can respond to it with equanimity.
and I live in Germany, where everyone drives so neatly ... driving in India would spoil my karma for several lives, I'm afraid ... 

Otherside of the coin is that you also get more opportunities to burn karmas of several lives if you take the challenge!

[Stefan]

...
Otherside of the coin is that you also get more opportunities to burn karmas of several lives if you take the challenge!

  regarding my temper on a moderate german road I wouldn't call it opportunity ... more a karmic avalanche ...
but well, the time will come when I'll be driving through Kalkutta with a peaceful smile on my face ... maybe not this life ...
I am working on it ...

[Sylvia1982]

Prior to my introduction to Vipassana, I was very depressed. Everyday was a drag.

As the time went by after the first course, I started to notice many changes in me especially in terms of maintaining sila. Every time I went on a 10 day course, observing sila became easier and easier, my mind became purer and purer.

So many things have changed for better in every aspect of my life, from health, family relations, job satisfaction and I sleep peacefully.

Although, I struggle with selfless love when I find that much difficult to deal with difficult people (my perception) but nevertheless, I try to become aware of that fact as much as I can and develop compassion towards them and myself.

Over six year’s period, to put in a nutshell I would say that my attitude has changed from absolutely hating life and everything else to loving my life and everyone else (almost). Before when I first woke up, all there was is darkness now the first thought pops up when I wake is that, how can I be a better person today than I was yesterday.

Mediation is no doubt the best decision of my life. Lately, I have been blessed with the insight of anatta, suffering and anicca at least at the surface level.

[redalert]

  Hey Sylvia1982,
 
  Sound like you have been doing some great work.

   

[Sylvia1982]

I try to do the good work because it is very encouraging to know that as one continues the practise one begins to shift from Anariyo to Aryan (ignorance to wisdom) and this can only be experienced by doing the work at an experiential knowledge.

[Mal]

... i hadn't practiced Vipassana per se for over a decade - except for breathing consciousness - and was suffering from really bad  migraines which would last for days and basically could be stopped only by intravenous injections; as soon as i started meditated regularly and prolonged the sessions, those were gone.

I'd been practising Samatha-Vipassana off and on for decades and it was always calming, or induced a better mood. Then, after mis-applying Alan Watts, I went through a couple of years of "no meditation is meditation", which ended up as "no meditation"

I ended up in a bad mood, suffering from severe sinus/eyestrain headaches & tinitus. Can't read without pain, can't listen to music without pain, thought I'd get back to Samatha-Vipassana mediatation (through reading "Full Catastrophe Living" by Kabat-Zinn, and other sources)

Within a couple of weeks headaches disappeared, and haven't returned after a few months. Tinitus still there but less intense & more manageable. Much better moods! Now I'm starting to experience ecstatic states, extreme calm, etc - got me reading books on jhana - a great new hobby

[Mal]

Zen Mind Beginner's Mind ...  Suzuki-roshi, cautions against practicing meditation with 'ideas of selfish gain'. I always felt if I could persist in practice with this attitude, it would provide the greatest benefit not only for myself...

How do you account for my sinus headache cure then? I started meditating again for a selfish gain ("no headache") and it worked!

[Mal]

Overlook the real thing? If the real thing ain't THE END OF SUFFERING than I don't want to see it.

But do you know exactly what "suffering" means in this context? For instance, if an arrow hits you, you have the actual physical pain the arrow causes and then you have mental pain from thinking: "I'm dead!", "Ow! That shouldn't hurt so much", etc. Now if you can stop these thoughts and totally accept the pain, but the pain is still there, have you ended suffering?

[Vivek]

When Goenkaji first went to Sayagyi U Ba Khin to study Vipassana, the teacher refused to teach the method because Goenkaji mainly wanted his migraine to be cured through it; he was not concerned about the eight-fold path and it is all about. Curing of psychosomatic diseases, emotional well-being etc are by-products of practicing the technique. The real end is the complete purification of the mind which leads to awakening. Goenkaji came back to the teacher after couple of months of avoidance, denial, dealing with conflicting views regarding Vipassana and re-consideration, this time fully resolved to learn the technique not for any secondary benefit, but to understand the path in its entirety. By and by, his migraine got cured but he says that was just one of the many benefits he picked up along the path. Practitioners are more successful with the technique when they keep in mind the primary benefit from the path and set aside all concerns about secondary benefits.

[peepalala]

hello friend thanks for sharing your experience , i start doing meditation recently your post is very motivating for newbies  .

[verdanais]

I have been meditating now for the best part of four years now. Over time I noticed miraculous changes within myself. I used to suffer with anxiety, depression and panic attacks. It was so bad that I could barely get out of bed, I couldn't make friends or get a girlfriend, and I couldn't get a job. Life was hell and I was suicidal for a long time. One day, I was on a website about anxiety disorder when I read a post by a lady who said she was going to try meditation as an aid to help her deal with her mental problems. Being curious, I googled meditation and anxiety and I was astounded at the positive results people claimed they'd had at dealing with depression and anxiety through the use of meditation. From that day onwards, I decided I was going to meditate. It was so hard in the beginning and required so much discipline. But I was so desperate to dig myself out of the hole I'd gotten myself into that I carried on. And slowly but surely, things began to change. I will always remember the time four months into my practice when I was talking to somebody at college one day and I felt much more relaxed and less nervous than usual. That was the turning point and the first sign that things were getting better and I've continued with my practice ever since. Four years on and depression and anxiety are no longer a part of my life, I have a beautiful girlfriend whom I love very much and to top it all off we're expecting a new baby boy in May. All of these things seemed impossible just a few short years ago and I cannot believe how far I have come. So now I put the question to you. How has meditation and the dhamma changed your life? Stories like these can give inspiration to people who are suffering out there.
Kindest regards,
Craig

I am very happy for you that it was the catalyst for so many positive things in your life, I really wish mine could have improved that way unfortunately, I don’t think it ever will but I have learnt to accept it.
For me meditation has been a fantastic ally in understanding myself. I personally view the process of meditation like studying the mind with a microscope. Very often when I sit, I learn a new “tiny” lesson about my mind (lately I have learned that I often tried to trigger emotions with my thoughts, which was futile and exhausting).
When I sit, some things become visible at a conscious level but I also believe that something is happening at unconscious level. This has really helped me in my fight against depression (I have much less negative thoughts about myself than in the past). It also lead me to accept a lot of things about my current situation instead on focusing on what I would like to have and what I could have had in my life, the past and an imaginary future. Regrets haunt me less and less.

I still suffer every single day but it is definitely less painful than what it used to be. I have close to no friend and I lost my job but instead of falling into an abyss of sorrow, I am actually a little happier. I decided to use some of this “extra time” that I have (having nobody in my life and currently no job) to explore myself even deeper and I am really shocked to discover that 34years after my birth, I pretty much had no idea about who I am or even what goes on in my mind.

I might never have a family, or somebody I love and loves me back, or a job that would fulfill me and that I would be proud of, or the life I’ve always dreamed about but at least I do know that the last day I will spend on this realm, I would have been a little less of a stranger to myself than the first 30 years of my life.

[Sylvia1982]

Coming from Sayagi U Ba Khin tradition,  emphasis is laid upon Observation of the bodily sensations and after my last course someone said he had met a student who was training to become a assistant teacher. After going on numerous 10 days, 20 days, 30 days, 40 days and 60 days, he was still unable to feel the sensations in most parts of his body but what he had learnt was that the importance of equanimity.

It took me good few years just to be able to feel the sensations on the area above the upper lip.

I know it is very easy to say but we must continue to do the good work with right understanding.

Things can only get better and will get better but we have to learn to let go of all expectations and desires. Willingness to let go is the key (I feel).