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Billionaire Ray Dalio: Meditation is ‘the single most important reason' for my success

Wiggly0607

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Didn't see it listed here, but the best book on mindfulness and meditation that I've read is titled, "Buddha's Brain" by Rick Hanson, Ph.D. Does a great job of explaining the neuro underpinnings in a way that won't make you lose interest. Recommend it to everyone.
 
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Thinh

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I went to the TM center once in my city and never went through with it. I went to an intro class. Its something that I have wanted to do for over 15 years, and never have done it. Its good to hear about all of the success people have had with it.

Lately, I have experienced a lot of business stress; my last company was bought out in a hostile takeover and my office(which I led) was closed, and I have just left a high stress, extremely negative environment I am happy to be away from now.

I have used Headspace a lot. Back in the 90's when I started with meditation, I learned from a book written in the 70's, which taught me to count my breaths. I would count every exhale up to 4, and repeat. e.g. exhale 1, exhale 2, exhale 3, exhale 4, repeat.

Headspace and 'mindfulness' is hard for me to do. My mind wanders, I am easily distracted, I fall asleep. I may go back to the breath counting, or look back into TM.

Just a quick tip: being distracted and having your mind wandering is totally normal. The most important (and probably only ) thing is to "catch yourself" and gently go back to focusing on your breath or sounds or whatever helps you stay focused on the present.

Also, I've seen people talking about doing it for 20 minutes. You don't have to. That's actually quite contradictory to the purpose of meditation. You can do it 5 minutes, or even just one minute. The purpose of meditation, if there is one, is to appreciate the process in itself, not achieve a result like "having done 20 minutes of meditation."

Even meditating in hope of reducing stress is detrimental.

There's this talk from Alan Watts which I personally find incredible. He compares meditation to dance or music. He talks about other things but the topic of meditation starts at 2:40, although I strongly suggest listening to the whole video. It's a whopping 12 minutes long.

 

jesseissorude

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"Buddha's Brain" by Rick Hanson, Ph.D
Thanks! Just added it to my to-read list.

Two that really helped me are:

Wherever you Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart by Dr. Mark Epstein

If you only read one of the two, go for Dr. Epstein's book. He makes vipassana meditation extremely relatable to western psychology and strips out all the woo woo.
 

handog

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I'll add a vote for Lloyd Glauberman and his HPP cd's. It works a bit differently, but two competing threads of storytelling that happen on both sides (left and right) instantaneously allow the suggestions to go right in.

Seems to work for me as long as I'm in habit with running the meditations.

HPP: Download Hypnosis, Self Help & Meditation CDs - Dr. Lloyd Glauberman
 
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mindfulimmortal

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Just a quick tip: being distracted and having your mind wandering is totally normal. The most important (and probably only ) thing is to "catch yourself" and gently go back to focusing on your breath or sounds or whatever helps you stay focused on the present.

Also, I've seen people talking about doing it for 20 minutes. You don't have to. That's actually quite contradictory to the purpose of meditation. You can do it 5 minutes, or even just one minute. The purpose of meditation, if there is one, is to appreciate the process in itself, not achieve a result like "having done 20 minutes of meditation."

Even meditating in hope of reducing stress is detrimental.

There's this talk from Alan Watts which I personally find incredible. He compares meditation to dance or music. He talks about other things but the topic of meditation starts at 2:40, although I strongly suggest listening to the whole video. It's a whopping 12 minutes long.

FYI - 20 minutes is the "optimal" time much like 8hrs of sleep is the general recommended time. Is 10 or 15 minutes good - Yes. Is 60 minutes good - Yes. I did some research on why TM recommends 20 minutes and it is scientific based not simply someone's opinion. Basically the first 5-10 minutes is much like your bodies sleep patterns. It allows your mind and body to relax. The next 10 minutes (give or take a few minutes) is where the most "value" is derived. If you only have 15 minutes then that is better than none. The last thing you want is meditation to cause you more stress. TM has been studied at more "clinic" such as the (Mayo clinic, Cleveland Clinic) based institutions than most meditation techniques. TM is used for veterans with PTSD as well as other mental health issues.
 

Olimac21

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Thanks! Just added it to my to-read list.

Two that really helped me are:

Wherever you Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn
Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart by Dr. Mark Epstein

If you only read one of the two, go for Dr. Epstein's book. He makes vipassana meditation extremely relatable to western psychology and strips out all the woo woo.

Miracle of Mindfulness is very good too.
 

Thinh

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Yes. I did some research on why TM recommends 20 minutes and it is scientific based not simply someone's opinion. Basically the first 5-10 minutes is much like your bodies sleep patterns. It allows your mind and body to relax. The next 10 minutes (give or take a few minutes) is where the most "value" is derived.

20 minutes is good.
But 2 minutes is no less "good".

I point that out because it's exactly what made a difference for me. The first time I tried meditation, I gave up because it felt a hassle, justly because I felt "obliged" to do it for a minimum amount of time.

When I discovered this concept of not giving a damn about how long you meditate, that's when I embraced it with consistency. And now I regularly do 15-20 minutes, but it comes naturally. Had I kept aiming at 20 minutes, I wouldn't be meditating daily as I do today.

But the most important thing, and that's really my point, is that wanting to derive value from meditation is exactly what one shouldn't seek for in meditation.
 
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mindfulimmortal

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20 minutes is good.
But 2 minutes is no less "good".

I point that out because it's exactly what made a difference for me. The first time I tried meditation, I gave up because it felt a hassle, justly because I felt "obliged" to do it for a minimum amount of time.

When I discovered this concept of not giving a damn about how long you meditate, that's when I embraced it with consistency. And now I regularly do 15-20 minutes, but it comes naturally. Had I kept aiming at 20 minutes, I wouldn't be meditating daily as I do today.

But the most important thing, and that's really my point, is that wanting to derive value from meditation is exactly what one shouldn't seek for in meditation.
All good considerations. Everyone is different so I can only speak from what works for me. I am heavily biased for TM as I have tried many other methods and the holy grail was TM for me. Everybody in my TM sessions has said the same thing in that they have tried other methods but this was the first thing that gave them good results and quickly. Appreciate the conversation Thinh
 

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The Waking Up App by Sam Harris
- changed my relationship with meditation
- made me eager to try to be better
- provided insights that helped fill the gaps of the philosophy of mindfulness.

And now finding a meditating cadence has been the single best personal development achievement while really finding my fulfilled life.

Can not recommend learning to meditate with any greater conviction.
 

Low Chi

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cor

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I think guided meditation apps are very useful and a great way to maintain a regular practice regardless of if you're new or experienced. I've been practicing meditation for over 14 years, studying and practicing Vipassanā and mindfulness. Even with this experience, I still use guided meditations apps from time to time.

At the risk of seeming self-promotional, I actually launched my own guided meditation app in July called Declutter The Mind. It's a free guided meditation library with a daily guided meditation feature.

My approach is to teach mindfulness not as some monk or guru, but as someone on the same journey, looking to unlock the benefits of mindfulness. I also try to be careful to not treat mindfulness meditation as some stress-ball. Understanding your awareness and how your mind works does a lot more for you than simply relieve stress.

Anyway, if you have any questions I can do my best to answer them, without hijacking the thread or anything. I want to genuinely contribute here without simply plopping down a link to my app.
 

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I've been using Calm for almost a year now, but I'm hesitant to renew my subscription.

I continously hear good things about TM, can someone explain the procedure to me or point me to some more resources?

According to my knowledge and to what I read on this thread the procedure is pretty standard:
1. Sit comfortably;
2. Focus on breath;
3. Repeat mantra in my mind (or outloud? I have doubts here);
4. If I catch myself lost in thought, just return to the breath and mantra;

Am I too off?
 

Antifragile

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I've been using Calm for almost a year now, but I'm hesitant to renew my subscription.

I continously hear good things about TM, can someone explain the procedure to me or point me to some more resources?

According to my knowledge and to what I read on this thread the procedure is pretty standard:
1. Sit comfortably;
2. Focus on breath;
3. Repeat mantra in my mind (or outloud? I have doubts here);
4. If I catch myself lost in thought, just return to the breath and mantra;

Am I too off?
I practice TM.

The theory is that you can only be taught one on one. Find a TM office near you on the internet here The Transcendental Meditation Technique - Learn More or Find A Teacher

Curious, how many people here meditate?
 
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Nigel B

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I practice TM.

The theory is that you can only be taught one on one. Find a TM office near you on the internet here The Transcendental Meditation Technique - Learn More or Find A Teacher

Curious, how many people here meditate?
TM for about 6 years, various others over many years before.
Bizarrely fixed my "50's" back issues as a side-effect of starting TM (turns out it was all stress buried in my lower back muscles - something none of the specialists considered).
 

Nigel B

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I've been using Calm for almost a year now, but I'm hesitant to renew my subscription.

I continously hear good things about TM, can someone explain the procedure to me or point me to some more resources?

According to my knowledge and to what I read on this thread the procedure is pretty standard:
1. Sit comfortably;
2. Focus on breath;
3. Repeat mantra in my mind (or outloud? I have doubts here);
4. If I catch myself lost in thought, just return to the breath and mantra;

Am I too off?
(Oops joined a zombie thread ... I'll leave this in case it inspires anyone to try meditation for physical ailments).

That's about it - and I was a massive skeptic (went to support my daughter who did not want to train on her own). Came out the first day essentially thinking 'well that's a nice little side-hustle'. However I diligently practiced it for 10 days, during which my then recurrence of sciatica which had spread to the whole of my right leg and to my knee on my left leg gradually resolved itself. This tracked up into my lower back which was also a problem at the time and resulted in pain/symptom free after about 15-20 days total. So I had to temper my skepticism ;)

6 years on, and whenever I fall out of the habit - I gradually get a stress reminder in my lower back. TM gets it back under control. Of course there are wider benefits, but these are directly measurable benefits for me. Most people don't believe me when I suggest this might help physical alignments - but hey, I'm a believer (the point is that I was not when it made the first impact, so it was not a psychosomatic response).

Claim is they match a specific mantra to you (there are 400?) - but IDK, I suspect any mantra would do, but I have no reason to test this now as I am happy with my practice.
 

theazizmoh_

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Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio: Meditation is ‘the single most important reason' for my success

While that's a lofty, seemingly hyperbolic claim... he's right. If you'd like the science behind why, I would be happy to provide it. It changes the brain in way that improves certain skills necessary for success.
I can agree to that, I've been doing meditation a year and half, I noticed that my focus is way sharper, my attention span is longer that usual and being able to somehow control my emotions AKA being stoic
 

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