Five tips to help you start and sustain a regular meditation practice. Listen/download the short guided meditation I mentioned in the video: / tuza-practice For online mental health and fitness coaching: www.markfreeman.ca
A great thing for people who don't prefer the 'traditional' sitting methods is to just mediate when you're lying down on your bed. It's how I got started and it's every bit as good imo.
Hey mark as I always say you are a lifesaver.. Was wondering if you could do a video on the topic of constantly thinking of past events that cloud and darken our minds when it shouldn't even be here in the first place.. With me it's always simple things that happened but then build up in my head into this never ending story that just gets darker more painful and worse
ShockPopStudios I am going to be doing some videos on judgments in the future. Thoughts and events can't "darken" or "cloud" your mind. But the way you judge them can. You can judge any thought or memory as terrible, bad, disgusting, etc, and that could make you feel all sorts of feelings you don't like. If you really enjoy getting rid of those feelings, then that's going to train your brain to think of those thoughts even more. The same thing happens if you label a thought as something that "shouldn't" be there. The belief that certain thoughts should be there or shouldn't be there requires you to be judging your thoughts. If you enjoy getting rid of thoughts that "shouldn't" be there, then your brain will give you thoughts that shouldn't be there, so you can get rid of them and feel good. So rather than focusing on past events, I'd recommend learning to cut out compulsive judging.
Hey Mark, I've been watching your videos for a while and you've mentioned that exposing yourself to the obsessions and not following with the compulsions is one of the best ways to beat OCD (I believe you called it ERP). But for example, I have OCD and I have got this obsession where whenever I'm out and I put my hand in my pocket and then get it out of it, I start getting obsessed with the thought that I might have dropped something out of the pocket, even though there could be nothing I could have dropped. The way you suggest I deal with it is to continue minding my business and not check whether there is anything laying on the ground or whether there is anything missing from my pocket. But let's imagine that I have actually dropped something, my earphones for example, and afterwards I come home and notice that I don't have them in my pocket anymore. My brain then starts freaking out and thinking that the fear it was sending me was actually useful and I should've given into the compulsion. Or for example, I do not check my front door lock and actually get robbed (let's imagine that). The brain starts thinking that the fear it was sending me was actually useful and that next time I should definitely give into it to avoid anything like that happening in the future. Should I deal with the compulsions of that kind in the same manner? Should I just ignore all the urges? Since I can not really trust my brain at those moments and think whether that very particular situation is a real threat or it isn't.
Peter Jefferson Thanks for watching the videos! You might find it helpful to buy a workbook on ERP and follow the steps in that. There's a specific process to doing ERP. What you're describing about fears seeming useful or "rea" is what any person with OCD experiences. Worrying about whether something is a real threat or isn't is part of OCD. Have you seen my video on False/Real Memories? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-prN6_Lt1VZg.html Or the video on Irrational Worry vs Rational Worry? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DqXk38FA4wM.html
I meditate and pray everywhere, however, being out in nature is the ultimate. If you have a hobby that takes you into nature that makes it even better. I do landscape photography but I'm not just doing photography when I'm out there in nature. One thing that is VERY important is, meditation is not introspective analyzation of yourself. Most people with OCD do this all day long.
nagol5178 Nature is amazing! Thanks for making that point about OCD. That's so important to remember! It's very easy to try meditating in a way that only feeds OCD and repeats old, unhealthy patterns.
Well, think about this; If reality is a kind of simulation which is going on from our consciousness or third eye, going introspective or going inside, would actually mean going outside into the world. That's how you find yourself. Because the projection of what is inside of us is out there.
Hi Mark! Beautiful video, I think I will start today. One question. In the video you say that approaching meditation as a tool to help you get rid of anxiety is wrong beacuse it will make things worse. It's important to solve the problems that create anxiety. But isn't meditation the tool to help you watch your thought without judging them? Judging thoughts creates anxiety, stress and ocd. So why can't meditation solve your anxiety if you learn to integrate anxiety and welcome it while meditating? Thank you :)
Meditation is a great opportunity to welcome anxiety! But anxiety is just a feeling, like any other feeling. If somebody wanted to welcome a feeling in only with the intention of getting rid of that feeling, I think they would struggle a lot with that. It seems very unwelcoming to only let somebody into your home so you can kick them out.
I often hope for meditation to create space for me to enhance my ability to do exposure. So what I do is I go to a club trying to ask a woman out. Then I experience that "NOOOOOOOOOOOO WAY !!" feeling and I feel that there is not enough space for me to act on my values and ask her out. So one goal I have with meditation is to make me able to create space the next time I'm in the club and act despite the feeling. I'm not sure if this is right though. Very tricky :D
@Mark Freeman While meditating when a thought come to mind can i immediately focus on breath or i just wait for the thought to run completely or i just return to breathe without listing to mind can i need straight focus on my breathe continuously while having thoughts can u explain sir?
Hi Mark. When first beginning the practice of meditation, is it normal to experience a flooding of intense thoughts and feelings, along with nausea, tension, confusion, and other feelings? If so, do these experiences pass after a period of practising daily meditation and how long does it take to pass? What was your experience when taking up meditation for the first time?
Hi Olive. Meditation is very much the opposite of compulsions. So when we sit down to meditate, we are not doing compulsions inside or outside of our heads. It's very natural that the brain then throws up lots of things to try to get you to react with compulsions. This is especially true if we spend lots of time and energy reacting to thoughts and emotions and physical sensations and all of that. Meditation can be a wonderful opportunity to learn how to be with experiences. We can have experiences! There's no need to judge them or control them or try to get rid of them. You asked about whether they would go away but I would see that as the type of goal that's fuelling them. Compulsions are all about trying to avoid and control and chase certainty about unwanted experiences. If your goal with meditation is to get rid of experiences, that's a great way to keep having more of them. If you want to get certainty and reassurance about unwanted experiences you judge as unusual and too much, that's a way you can create even more unusual and complex uncertainties. With meditation, it can help to pursue goals that are about building and creating and growing. We can have any experience while we build our skills.
Be cool if you could do a meditation walk through sometime.. I've tried for past year and I never really know if in doing it right.. I try some times to let go of all the crap in my head and then I start to feel physical anxiety almost like a tingling burn sensation through my body I only get this when I "meditate".. I'm always worried that i will make meditation just an other compulsion.. Like trying to focus on the "now" feels like a compulsion.. Because soon as I forget about the now my mind just slips back to whatever I'm ocd about atm... Then I'm like "oh wait I got trapped again thinking about crap..
ShockPopStudios To follow up on the other comment I just posted, you might find it helpful to not see it as "crap" in your head. It's totally normal for ALL people who meditate to lose their focus on the present and have their mind wander off. The practice of meditation is about recognizing that and bringing their awareness back to their breath. But it sounds like you're judging that in a way that's making it problematic, and you're judging those thoughts as "OCD" and then that's making you worry that trying to focus is a compulsion. The OCD is becoming the lens through which you view the practice. But somebody that isn't carrying around the OCD label would just view what you're describing as "normal". If you listen to the guided meditation I linked to in the video and in the description that could be a helpful way to get started. It also mentions that it's normal to have your mind wander off.
Of course. It's like any exercise. If it were easy, you'd probably be doing it wrong. I just made a post yesterday on Instagram about the problem of struggling to concentrate for a few minutes: instagram.com/p/BjDbHPkAbGr/?taken-by=markwfreeman
You didn't mention that it's very normal to get distracted during mindfulness meditation. Even people who have been doing it for years get distracted and have to return to their breath.
xxttak ret Totally normal. Meditation and mindfulness are all about recognizing when that's happened and then bringing your awareness back to your breath. The more you practice bringing your awareness back, the better you'll get at it and the less you'll "blank out". It's a practice, just like running. Everybody, even the most experienced runner, eventually gets to a point when they stop running. When your mind wanders off, you're seeing where your limits are at. With practice, you can push those limits and you can do more, build more endurance, develop more skills, and be more aware.
Hey Mark its me again, remember me, fear of becoming ugly, and doing rituals to stop it? :D so am now doing really good against rituals, but mostly my bad thougts start when am on internet, i can control Really easy when am out. So example, i clicked Instagram picture of someone, and suddendly bad thought came and i had to click that picture really few times, then i realize then its Ocd playing with me again, but now am thinking only about that stupid picture, and am really trying not to click it anymore :D, i know it sounds stupid but its really hard thing, when am out with friend i completely forget about bad thougts, and thats why i think i can beat it. So any tips about this picture? :D, and i have youtube channel any time when i want to upload video, again thought come, and its like (if i upload that video i will become ugly), rly strange only when am on pc sry for long comment
filmo centar Since you know this happens when you're online, be ready to experience thoughts. You don't have to judge them as "bad". That's a compulsion. They're just stuff floating through your head. Have a thought and don't engage in the rituals. You know the thoughts will pop up so you don't have to start engaging in the ritual to then realize you're doing something that will fuel OCD.
***** Thank you for fast answer, i will not click that picture anymore :D, the hardest thing is that feeling (will that really happen if i dont click), i will use your tips, it helped me so far, and thank you, sry for comments i know you have alot of people with problems too.
filmo centarHey, am still thinking about picture, and i have thought that if i click one more time then it will be ok, but i know if i click again, that i will have to click 50 more times, is it normal?, its like click just one more time and you will not be ugly, brain is really strange thing :D, and interesting thing before that what ever i touch i got some bad thought and i must do some ritual, but know am only thinking about that picture, and i dont have any other bad thought, its a few days without rituals, is that some sign that that i have little progress with this? tnx
A meditation buddy is a friend or family member--a real human! You can download one at school, or at work, or at home, at a local community center, a coffeeshop, a support group, a sports field, a place of worship, or wherever you enjoy interacting with humans :)
Mark Freeman. Thank you Mark. Your videos helps me to understand my anxiety and OCD nature and overcome it. However sometime I feel weak and starts thinking that what if I have some serious mental illness. It creates anxiety :(
