Hello everyone!

I am looking for some tips/advice to share around a specific problem/hurdle I seem to have. I fall asleep quite often during meditation. I have been trying to look deeper inward, but an unintended consequence of that deep kind of relaxation is that my brain seems to think its time to dream.

A factor that complicates this is that I have chronic fatigue caused by an autoimmune disease which sends me to sleep faster, it always feels like a heavy blanket of "go to sleep" over me in that moment.

Applying a bit of discipline during these moments seems to help and I am slowly able to bring myself back quietly to meditate longer and deeper, but generally I cant seem to hold on to consciousness long enough or with enough clarity for me to feel like I am present enough for a more meaningful session.

I try to prioritise sleep and generally get about 7 hours of good quality sleep. I eat healthy, though due to some intense work related responsibilities my opportunities for exercise is maybe once a week, though I should be more disciplined there I think personally.

I have rarely meditated on and off for years in the past, though after what I believe to be an ego death from mushrooms and going through a period I think can be identified as the dark night of the soul, I am now practicing regular sessions in an attempt to find wisdom and guidance.

I was hoping someone that has faced a similar issue might have some useful input, suggestions will be welcomed.

I don’t know if this is the right forum to post this but it does relate to meditation and just existentialism in general.

I was first introduced to Vipassana four years ago and I did my first 10 day Goenka Vipassana Retreat and came back feeling absolutely wonderful and couldn’t wait to feel the same again. I’ve done 3 more retreats since then and on and off have been practicing body scanning/ mindful breathing/ Vipassana but have not felt the same way.
I am not condemning any technique here, meditation has been very useful at times when managing my emotions have been difficult. It hasn’t calmed me down instantly when I’ve felt extremely overwhelmed
But, I definitely have a different approach towards life now , it’s suffering and just observing dukkha objectively and it hasn’t been easy. Picking up Daniel Ingram’s term, I might be in the Dark Night phase.

To cope with this, I have also tried Metta Vipassana/Loving Kindness and I feel this has helped, but the progress is slow.

In between all of this, life has been difficult, relationship problems, my own mentality making it difficult to deal with it.

I constantly feel like if I ceased to exist, it would be the best solution. Meditating my way out of it feels exhaustive and the easiest way to solve the issues I am facing and the sadness I am causing others is just to die. I am not suicidal, I just feel like if I get into a fatal accident, fall sick and die or be at a wrong place wrong time, everything will solve. Death feels comforting.

But then suddenly I find myself wanting to be happy, meditating and planning other retreats, exploring different spiritual paths.
How do I explain this feeling to myself?
I know it’s easy to just accept this as my state of mind but any insights to work this feeling out?

PS I have started taking therapy and not just relying on meditation.

I realize that i’m not my thoughts and my emotions, but it’s made me feel like like i’m not real. like who am i? anytime something bad happens to me, im like this is just an experience my character is going through and it’s gonna be okay. it helps but it’s made me wonder who really am i then? and its been making me feel things like derealization or depersonalization. am i doing this whole meditation thing wrong? i feel weird

I want to discover the ones that genuinely resonate with you, and a higher power, God, or the Universe. 💛🔮🙏

I’m looking for guided meditations, sound baths, and guided quantum leap meditations! YouTube, Spotify, or other sites are all welcome. ✨

One of my favorites is Jhené Aiko’s Protection Mantra because it combines spoken words with sound bowls. I also love nature sounds like the ocean and instruments like seed shakers! I wish I could use seed shakers myself, but I get distracted playing with them instead of meditating

TL;DR: Who are your favorite creators or go to tracks? What gives you goosebumps or makes you feel deeply connected? Pls no general search terms, I've done that and just end up annoyed not finding this sound

I am extremely new to meditating and I recently started exploring visualization meditation. Tonight I had a really interesting experience. It supposed me with how vivid it was.
During a 15-minute meditation, I found myself exploring an entire imaginary world made up of islands representing different parts of myself, like survival, peace, identity, and self-love.
It wasn’t like I was consciously deciding every little detail. Most of the time, it felt like watching a movie or exploring a dream while still being aware I was meditating.
Different places brought up surprisingly strong emotions, and afterward I felt incredibly calm and lighter.

I’m curious whether anyone else experiences something similar. Do you ever explore detailed environments during meditation? Does your mind seem to create things naturally without you consciously directing everything?”

I started to meditate for quite a while now for the last few months especially in the last month or so meditating 45 minutes a day 3x a day. Recently I started to do longer sessions some as long as 2 hours.

I began to experience what’s called a spontaneous Kriya / Kundalini.

During some long intense meditation sessions I noticed my hands, legs, head and back all moving and stretching involuntarily, by themselves. They started to get more intense. I also started to experience slow motion & amplified vivid thoughts. Felt like I was on the green substance ( I can't write the real word otherwise this post would be taken down). Felt very self conscious and alert.

Now I am beginning to feel very very low and depressed. I also feel a constant sense of extreme dread or uncertainty / anxiety.

I know that this can be common for people who meditate deeply and experience Kriya, but how long did this last? Because it can get quite intense and unpleasant, even in my daily life outside meditation.

Many people experience extreme bliss and love during deep meditation. I hope that this can gradually change?

Anyone experience this and how did it progress?

We are seeking adult participants who regularly practice meditation and/or have previously used psychedelic substances.

This study aims to investigate how regular meditation practice and/or psychedelic use influences beliefs, cognition, and well-being.

What does the study involve?

The study is conducted entirely online. Participation takes approximately 35 minutes.

You will be asked to:

• Complete questionnaires about your mental health, substance use, experiences, and beliefs.
• Complete two cognitive tasks involving looking at pictures.

What counts as a regular meditation practice in this study?

A regular meditation practice is defined as having practiced formal meditation for at least 20 minutes per session, at least 3 times per week during the past 12 months, OR for a total of at least 52 hours during the past year.

Would you like to participate?

Email: [BeliefsCognitionStudy@liu.se](mailto:BeliefsCognitionStudy@liu.se)

You will receive an automatic email containing a link to the participant information sheet and questionnaires.

Compensation?

No compensation is provided.

Ethics approval number: 2026-04680-01

Principal investigator: Rebecca Böhme, PhD

Posted with permission of moderators. :)

​

I've been meditating for about a year, usually while listening to dark ambient music.

During a particularly deep session, my body felt extremely heavy, and I felt like I was being pulled into a single point. With my eyes closed, I saw vivid, colorful, psychedelic patterns. It felt like being between sleep and wakefulness while still being conscious.

When I opened my eyes, I briefly saw dark silhouettes in my room, which scared me. After these deep meditation sessions, I often have very vivid and strange dreams.

Dark ambient makes these experiences feel even more intense.

Hi! Long-time meditator here. I recently developed some cardiac problems and can’t breathe well; I’m often short of breath and have a hard time centering myself because, historically, I focus on my respiration to find stillness.

Any guidance? What else do you use to guide your initial focus/awareness? Thanks for any help!

I'd like to share an analogy that helped me immensely when I first began meditating over twenty years ago.

Imagine your mind is standing on the beach, holding a tape measure, desperate to analyse and comprehend the vastness of the ocean. The problem is, as long as you're standing on the shore trying to measure the water, you never actually step into it.

When you meditate, you make a conscious choice: you drop the tape measure on the sand and dive into the water. For the first time, you stop trying to quantify the ocean and simply experience its immense, infinite depth.

Eventually, you realize that your analytical mind is just a tool - and for this, it's entirely the wrong one. You can't map the infinite with a tape measure.

So, you leave the instrument on the beach where it belongs, stop trying to calculate the moment, and swim freely into the expansion.

You aren't analysing anymore. You are back to that familiar place.

It's home.

I used to run seminars, speaking in front of 25–50 people three times a week, and I was terrified. Not just butterflies. Sweat dripping down my face, a shaky voice, so no hiding it. As a last resort, I saw a hypnotherapist. She walked me through a visualization session, then sent me home with the recording and told me to listen every night for 30 nights. I did, and it worked! I was still nervous, but I could get through it, and I was amazed.

Now I’m wondering if something like that could help me switch off at night. I'm self employed and my mind is constantly running. I've tried some general meditations but it takes me a while to settle in. Has anyone tried guided audio that was made around their own life rather than general meditation? Did it feel different from regular meditation?

just tried meditating in the dark , the second i entered the no thought state i just heard a loud scratch against the wall right in my ear and then like followed by some noise in pure silence, no one is home. Idk what im getting at here, it was just really strange and it scared the shit out of me

Hello, I will begin this by noting that I have been meditating for more than 15 years semi-regularly and I do not use any sort of recreational drinks or substances.

One morning a few months ago I was having a simple meditation, I was listening to one of Jeffrey Thompsons meditation songs. Very vividly, I saw myself in a dark space and I stood up, then I saw what I can describe as a small "window" appear and I went to it, suddenly I was pulled into what looked like the galaxy/space and in front of me was God. I was "lifted up" and my entire being became alive with white light. I then noticed that I was crying and came out of the meditation.

For some context, I had recently ended a long-time unhealthy relationship, and had been letting go of a ton of stress, for the first time in years felt peaceful overall.

I'd love to hear what this may mean?

I once tried to focus on one point for a couple of minutes. It felt like meditation. However, deep into this activity, I felt like I was stuck in that nothingness and I couldn’t get out of it. I stopped any other forms of meditation since then.

I already had this fear of being stuck into an experience from before while trying a brownie in Amsterdam. But maybe that fear played a role during my meditation? I don’t know but I am scared. And I really want to try again.

How do I overcome this fear?

Hello,

I now have 2-4 weeks of vacation and significantly more time than usual, what do you recommend to deepen your meditation? Would you rather meditate several times a day or longer sessions?

After that I'll be working full time and I'm afraid I won't have much time to meditate. Above all, I will have to meditate at 5 in the morning, where I am often still tired. Do you have any ideas or tips?

Thank you!

Hello! I'm new to meditation and I want to work on fixing my addiction to dopamine. More specifically to help cut back on doomscrolling, youtube, porn, and eating foods that are really bad for me like chips, candy, and stuff really processed stuff.

I want to cut out the addiction out because I'm a musician and these things make it very hard to enjoy creating. I will binge a bad habit and then in comparison the music creating becomes less enjoyable and I do it less, and this isn't good because making music is how I make money.

I guess the main question I have is, where do I start? I don't know how long I should meditate for or if there's a pose i should be in, if my eyes should be open or closed, I feel pretty clueless. And is there a way to meditate that helps me fix my relationship with dopamine? And maybe can it help me be more creative with music? anything helps! I want to learn.

Hey there ...m31IST working individual ..since few months im unable to consistently hit meditation sessions by self..I would appreciate any buddy who is also trying to sit for meditation thrice and would cross check on me and help me improve. I have spiritual tendencies. I love meditation and peace it begets especially the portion of it where we lose all the senses and what remains is just awareness

I first tried meditation a few years ago, but without success—I was too inconsistent and saw no results. My therapist had encouraged me to try it, and it made perfect sense logically, given the therapeutic journey I was on. Perhaps I just wasn’t ready.

Two months ago, I started again. My therapist and I paused our sessions in January, as I had reached a level of balance that helped me curb the more severe aspects of my neurosis. I now view meditation as a continuation of that therapeutic work—a way to strengthen the progress I’ve made. For the past two months, I’ve managed to stay consistent, and it’s been incredibly beneficial. I feel more relaxed and sociable; I dwell less on the problem, and when reality forces me to confront it, I’m able to move past the moment with greater speed and resilience. In general, I’m beginning to appreciate the small, precious details of daily life once more, rather than focusing on performance. I practice breath-based meditation every single day—I’ve only missed three or four days in total—and I currently spend between thirty and forty minutes on it each day.

I’m now trying to figure out the best path to tailor this practice to my specific needs. First of all, is it okay to practice on my own, or is it essential to take a course or work with a teacher? Also, is breath-based meditation enough on its own, or should I alternate it with—or supplement it by—incorporating other forms?

To provide some context, my neurosis relates to issues of control and a sense of being "nothing." Specifically, it has become fixated on an acquaintance whom I’ve come to fear—to an extent that defies all rationality. I avoid places where I think he might be, and I’ve even stopped going to certain spots of mine if he happens to show up there. Therapy helped me uncover the root of this fear and provided me with the rational tools to manage it. Meditation, it seems to me, could be helpful in ensuring that this liberation from fear is channeled through the body and truly "experienced." I would welcome any advice on this. I have also tried Metta (loving-kindness) meditation, as well as walking meditation. Please excuse any inaccuracies regarding meditation—or my English—but I have been going through a very difficult period in my life over the last few years, and I truly need to find a way out. Thank you.

I have begun chanting Om and really feeling like more energy and less anxiety. What other chants should I use or stick with Om? New to this so not sure where to start

Excuse me if this doesn’t make sense/ comes off as very novice. 
I have been interested in meditation for about a year now. I re-read a diary entry from May of this year where I was trying to work through this issue. It’s now October and I’m still thinking it through

It seems to be the case that when we want to concentrate, the mind wanders to distracting thoughts/memories/scenarios. I have also noticed that when I just sit or lay down (without the goal of meditating) on my bed or on public transport, my mind is pretty empty. I am sort of waiting for my mind to come up with something interesting and it normally doesn’t. This has led me to feel like my mind is very defiant because when I want it to be quiet, it doesn’t and when I want it to do something, it normally doesn’t want to. 

This led me to experiment with actively ‘watching’ my mind for thoughts when I am meditating rather than just focussing on the sensation below my nostrils. I think this might help to trick my ‘defiant’ brain. I am waiting to have a thought and so my mind doesn’t produce one as readily. Does this make sense? 
I was wondering if this is what people are referring to when they talk about having an alert (not dull) mind when meditating?

I tried doing this and I do think I had less thoughts/images. I did it this morning and it was okay at first and then I started to get flashing images and then I had an upsetting memory of something that I really latched onto. Oh well. 

I think the next step would be to accept and allow these thoughts/memories to arise and then return to watching for the next thought. 

What do you think? 

Every time there is some random dude saying you can reduce urge by meditating. Does not work guys. Tried more times that i can imagine. It simply does not work.

What works I do not know sadly.

I had a 100 day streak and felt super proud of myself since I’ve never been able to maintain a streak so lengthy in my 5 years of meditation experience.

Then summer came and I was abroad for 6 weeks and fell out the routine around 3 weeks into being abroad. The last 3 weeks of my vacation until now (+2 weeks) I’ve been having trouble sleeping again. This was one of the benefits I appreciated the most as I had sleeping issues for the last 1-2 years due to university stress.

I started meditating 2 days ago again, and last night had the best sleep of my life, uninterrupted and I fell asleep quite quickly, without overthinking all night. Meditation requires a lot of discipline and it’s so easy for me to fall out of the habit but once I start experiencing suffering again, it just reminds me why it’s so worth investing time in this small but high reward habit.

This morning, after a Monroe audio session and meditation practice, one line landed with total clarity: never speak ill of anyone. It felt like a full awakening, and then the reasons came flooding in.

**1. Everyone is already doing their best.**

Whoever a person is right now is the sum of all their causes, maybe across many lifetimes. "Karma" isn't quite the right word; it's closer to the output of a system running its structure. Given who they are, where they are, and what they can do, their best is exactly what you're seeing.

We're each running our own script, and when scripts meet, there's friction. Two hard objects don't merge on their own; you need heat or something in between. That's when "the highest good is like water" finally clicked for me. Water nourishes everything and holds everything. It isn't just a substance. It's a state: fluid.

**2. Negative words don't get you what you want.**

Speaking ill of someone spreads negative energy. It hurts them and rarely brings anything good back. That's very different from self-reflection: when I criticize myself, at least I know it's to grow. When I criticize someone else, they can't see my intent. Make it a habit and it gets worse, because even people who know you mean well start to push back.

**3. Words manifest.**

I believe we're all manifesters, and I know I am. So what we say matters enormously. One key to manifesting: only the keywords in a sentence really carry. Speak ill of others, and it can turn back on you.

**4. The deeper layer: we are one.**

I've long believed we're one with the universe, all part of a single whole. Look closer and each of us has a higher-dimensional self; anyone can reach the Dao or awaken to buddha-nature. Buddhism even says all things have it. Negative judgment comes from our lower-level thinking. From the higher self we all share, those words aren't just small. They're wrong.

And from oneness: speaking about others is speaking about yourself. Label someone, and you label yourself. If there's any chance it manifests back on you, that's reason enough to be careful. That's cause and effect too.

From today, I'm practicing this line and tuning myself to this frequency.

**P.S.** The moment the urge to speak ill arises, or the words slip out, that's the best feedback I can get. It means something in my practice isn't complete yet, and in that moment I'm thinking about it wrong.

**P.P.S.** I now feel more deeply what the phrase "see your mind, see your true nature" means.

I’m harboring a lot of resentment and bad feelings towards a few people. I’m gonna try to meditate on it but never meditated on my own or seriously. Also I can only hear my thoughts if I smoke beforehand. Anyone have tips or esoteric information on meditation for insight or spiritual connection? Im a very nihilistic person so this is my last resort at spirituality