Mindfulness, Sex, And Strange Sensations

I recently did a Q and A session where I answered some common questions about mindfulness including discussing what mindfulness is, whether or not to categorize your thoughts, what to do about strange sensations you may have as you meditate, and whether or not masturbation is mindful.

I had a great time answering these questions and I hope these answers help some of you.

If you’d like to ask your own question please shoot me an email or join me live on the first tuesday in September.

 

Here are a list of the questions:

What are the long term benefits of mindfulness mediation?

How should I practice mindfulness?

What is right mindfulness?

What is not to be forgotten? What is easiest to miss? What am I missing?

Is it a good technique in mindfulness meditation to categorize thoughts

as you let them through….for example, say to yourself ”judgement of others” when you get a thought like that, or ”fear of the future” etc, as you accept the thoughts and emotions and let them pass….

I just thought this would be a good way to become mindful of the type of thoughts and emotions that run through us while going about our daily business, so we are familiarized and not surprised by them, viewing the thoughts like old friends….

Has this idea been spoken of before in meditation philosophy, and would it be productive or counter productive in your opinion?

How are you successful in meditation?

What is it that goes through your head when you are trying to quiet the mind? I have been successful, but only for very short periods of time. During those periods, I feel deep calmness and hapiness, but I can not get it to last for long. It is hard work, to stop thinking.

How has mindfulness meditation helped you?

Has it affected you? May I hear your story

How to go about learning how to meditate?

What does “mindfulness” meditation produce?

Does Mindfulness Make life deeper?

I bought one of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books. I’m interested in everything he says, but I’m still a little unclear on how mindfulness enriches your life.
I often come across the example of, “When I’m washing the dishes now I’m just washing the dishes and not doing anything else.”
Does this really make life richer or deeper?

Is Buddhism teachings and mindfulness too simplistic?

So let me tell you. One of the students in the meditation class asked this…What do you mean by happiness and kindness? In the world filled with stress and bad people, how can kindness and happiness enlighten you…Can you really become enlightened by breathing meditation and breathing your problems away?

Dont you think it is a bit too simplistic telling a poor person without food on the table ….sitting down and breath and become happy?

Sensations when doing mindfulness?

I recently started up mindfulness cause I surfer from anxiety and ocd. When I did the mindfulness I got these weird senations in my body and felt like everything was in slow motion. Is that common when doing mindfulness?

Mindfulness help, anxiety?

Hello im an anxiety sufferer as a 17 year old,
Ever since a traumatic experience, I have always worried about my health. It used to my physical health but now im always worried about my mental health. Im always overanalyzing and checking if anything is wrong, I obsess over getting the worse mental ilnesses. I cannot stop thinking about my mental health. Also when I was 13 i experienced a feeling ” a feeling like i was in a dream” maybe it was caused my stress, and it was only 2 times. I decided to research about it and found out it was derealization and saw all the horrible things related to it, now i obsses over it and everything just seems foreign and not right. I am now going to mindfulness therapy and have gone to 2 sessions. But I still dont feel any difference, my therapist said not to think about my thoughts but to think more about whats happening in my body but its so hard! Please help me. I feel like crap and cant even concentrate

Buddhism, mindfulness, and lust?

I’ve been practicing Buddhism on and off for a couple months now–yoga, exercise, meditation, healthful eating, compassion towards all sentient beings, mindfulness, etc. but i seem to really get stuck at the lust part. As i 19 year old male am i like..not allowed to masturbate if i’m a buddhist? Or rather, not that i’m forbidden from doing so but will masturbating continue my karmic cycle and further increase my attachments/prevent clear perception? I seem to have an insatiable sex drive, and this has been tough for me. any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!