Loving kindness meditation Vs Breathing / mindfullnes meditation.

Hmm. I cannot imagine how meditation and controllingyour breathing caused anxiety and depression. You speak of 'loving kindness meditation'. Please explain this.

 

Never tried kindness meditation before, what is it ?

 

When you meditate you're actually getting in tune with the thoughts and feelings that arise in your head or if you're skilled enough how your body feels in the moment. If you have anxiety about something, there is a good chance you'll feel that when you meditate. It's a common misconception that meditation is always peaceful. Sometimes it sucks, but hopefully the more you meditate the more you can learn to let the bad stuff just slide on by.

I believe loving kindness meditation is meditating while thinking and feeling about everything with loving-kindness, a form of positive thinking. Personally I think this is a GREAT idea. I've never personally tried it but loving-kindness is an amazing thing and I would imagine that meditating to it would make it even better.

 

Mmm, yes, me like! I tend to believe that if everyone in the world practiced this kind of thing, their wouldn't be conflicts, wars, etc. We'd be a lot better off with loving-kindness in collective unconscious.

 

The anxiety did not come from the meditation, but came to the surface (from inside you) during the meditation. This is good and just remain on the breath until it passes.

Meta meditation (loving-kindess meditation) is best practiced when your mind is very calm and quiet so that it can be better "heard" by your subconscious (kind of like hypnosis). You simply think compassionate thoughts for yourself and others.

I presume the mindfulness meditation is Anapana meditation? Are you attempting to do this from a book? If you wish to know details of a (free) 10 day retreat (locations in many countries worldwide) send me a message. It is a mixture of the 2 techniques you mention, as well as Vipassana (sensation) meditation.

So anyway, they work together. It is not a case of this meditation vs that one.

 

Ok, so it's clear now the intensity of your anxiety is due to your existing mental health conditions (addiction and depression). They would have not allowed you to join the retreat in case you had too bad a storm (like you describe) and they have received criticism for people "being damaged" by the meditation.

When you meditate everything from below bubbles up to the surface, some more than others. This is generally called "a storm" and it is a good thing, but a painful thing. And there are some people who have claimed that they were damaged by the practice. It is usually people with addictions and other pre-existing mental problems who have the toughest time. So often they refuse people for this reason, not because the meditation won't help you.

Note: I didn't say "not because the meditation won't harm you."

There was a good meditation practitioner (whose name I don't have at hand, but can get it if you wish) who taught many lay people. On of those lay people, a writer, decided to writ a book on how to meditation and he dedicated it to his teacher. When he showed his teacher the book and that it was dedicated to him, he asked if his teacher wanted to do anything (maybe read the books, bless the books, whatever). The teacher says, "Yes, I want you to bring all the books here." His student does this. Then he asks if his student will get a packet of matches and bring them to him. At this point his student realizes there is something wrong and inquires. The teacher says,"I want to burn those books before someone gets burned by them."

Apparently, we should learn to meditate from books and there are difficulties that can come during meditation.

I was told by my teacher that we shouldn't practice other techniques while on the retreat, just what was being taught. In the past there had been people who were mixing up different mediation techniques that weren't compatible together which they had learned elsewhere and they go themselves into a bit of a mess. Even the teacher couldn't bring them out of it because he didn't really understand what they had done (other than not follow his instructions). They had mixed up different mediation techniques that the teacher had no experience with.

So people can get harmed during meditation.

That in mind, you should practice or not at our own discretion.

I learned about 6 years ago (before my addiction really set in). I attended about 4 long retreats. I never practiced consistently, and instead succumb to passions and here I am, on NoFap.

Despite having had different mental health problems in the past (which came from my addiction) and still having one mental health problem (my addiction), I occasionally try to practice. I have had no adverse effect, though it is hard to practice when one is masturbating all the time and so I don't make much progress.

 

I tried breathing meditation it does not work for me. Different techniques work for different people

 

For sure. I'm curious though, how long did you try it? It may take some time before your body and mind get used to it.

 

I tried for years since I had hectic anxiety but it never worked and I also have breathing problems as well

 

Ah, gotcha. That makes sense, then. I'm sorry to hear that. Meditation is so good for the soul. I hope you find/have found a different way to center yourself.

 

I found that music helps a lot

 

Dear Frankied - I believe the Buddhist tradition do not view mindfulness and loving-kindness meditations as separate. They have probably been separated by western psychotherapists for practical purposes.

I have tried both for long periods of time.

It is known that mindfulness can lead to increased anxiety in some folks. One of the reasons for this is that mindfulness increases our ability to be conscious of mental chatter which usually goes on in the background and our judgements and criticisms.

This is why I believe it is wise to practice mindfulness with loving-kindness (metta) meditation, so that we can learn to dis-associate our 'core' self from our mind - which is essentially a clump of brain which has been conditioned for good or bad over a lifetime.

All the best.