# Analytical Meditation



## revuptheglory (Feb 14, 2016)

I'm sure most of you know about mindfulness meditation already, if not it's where you focus on the breath, a mantra, etc. to promote relaxation and increase concentration. However, ive recently discovered something called Analytical Meditation, which is to my knowledge the process of contemplating a topic with the goal of a deep understanding using analytical, or rational techniques. There are many ways to do this, for example I personally do this in a journal and will write instances I've heard the topic being used , go into detain of what it means, maybe origins, if it's a object, I'll describe it in detail, what I feel about it, etc. I think the only rule would be to stay somewhat revelant.

Some topics: 
Deconstruction of objects. (human=brain, blood, skin, etc.) ** helpful in exploring the interconnectedness of everything,
The self,
Truth,
Change,
Time,
Peace,
Emotions,
Life/Death.

Perhaps you are already aware of this mediation, I personally have never heard of it until quite recently when by accident stumbling on a website that briefly mentioned it. There are not many websites on it either although used in Buddhist teachings. Anywho, I've been doing this for a total of two days now and have seen massive benefits. I found that the sense of confusion and lack of "self" that comes with dp/dr and furthers anxiety was dramatically reduced in just 3 sessions. I can't say if I'm on to something here, it is to early to tell.. but nevertheless it may be something worth trying!

Links:
http://dharmakaya.org/practices/analytic-meditation/
http://www.meditationsociety.com/twotypes.html


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## TDX (Jul 12, 2014)

> I'm sure most of you know about mindfulness meditation already, if not it's where you focus on the breath, a mantra, etc.


Mindfulness of breath and mantra meditations like TM are *not* equal. They induce different patterns in EEGs and probably in other imaging techniques aswell.



> I can't say if I'm on to something here, it is to early to tell.. but nevertheless it may be something worth trying!


In my opinion the research in meditation techniques is worth the effort, because buddhist techniques like mindfulness of the breath, loving-kindness and so on show some promise for several indications. At some point of time, it might be possible to artifically build meditation techniques to target certain health problems and mental disorders in particular. Maybe this could be the future of psychotherapy, built by merging psychology and neurobiology, because I tend to regard meditation as some kind of "self-induced neuromodulation", because it seems to be at a lower layer of abstraction than common psychotherapy.

The problem is that while there is much research on the positive effects of meditation, not much is known about side-effects. I think it's something like an universal law: Treatments with effects always have side-effects. Research shows that there are side-effects of meditation. TM seems to be quite shitty in this regard (and useless at the same time) and there is anecdotal evidence that it can also cause DPD. Mindfulness meditation might have this risk, too, but I bet that it's much lower and this includes other side-effects aswell.

It should also be noted that meditation can induce some changes in the brain. In the press this is always presented as a good thing. They say that meditation has lasting benefits. The problem is that there is *nothing* known if this effect is *reversible*, for example by stopping meditating. This can be a serious problem. You changed around some on your brain with meditation, you don't like the results, but you don't know if they go away when you stop or if they can be undone.

All people who want to try meditation for their DPD should keep these problems in mind, especially when it comes to a less well-known meditation technique, where side-effects are completely unknown.


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## revuptheglory (Feb 14, 2016)

TDX said:


> Mindfulness of breath and mantra meditations like TM are *not* equal. They induce different patterns in EEGs and probably in other imaging techniques aswell.


My bad, it was not my intention to give the impression of complete equivalence. I grouped them together because the focusing of the breath and the repeatition of a mantra are both known to create and used for thought stabilization, which is the skill compared against through this technique.


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