The power of meditation or the power of prayer

If it's something else, please mention it in a post. If you practice regular or irregular prayer or meditation, or some other technique, please discuss.

My mother-in-law is staying with us and she prays throughout the day. I, on the other hand, have started practicing meditation called mindfulness and have found it to be very beneficial. I have a friend who is a psychologist and he has been swearing by it for a long time. He is also a Buddhist, but one needs no religious affiliation to do it.

http://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-courage-be-present/201001/how-practice-mindfulness-meditation

By the way, I've known a few who practice both meditation and prayer, and there is crossover....

Once again, I can't think of a good question to ask for the poll, but choose one that you think applies more to you.

Edited by Logan - February 18 2017 at 09:42

I haven't done either with enough regularity to really answer, but gut reaction says meditation would be the preferred route. (not that I'm an atheist, mind).

I rarely do either and am not religious but at least prayers are answered in the Yes or No, whereas meditation seems to be largely a lot of lonely contemplation; I do that all the time.

Meditation is actually a good and healthy thing routed in our psychology, prayer on the other hand is just wishful thinking 

 

This may also be helpful.


Edited by Vompatti - February 22 2017 at 18:50

As a young man and non-religious, I practiced Yoga and Meditation along with dabbling in Ayurveda.  These practices brought me relaxation physically, I felt great after a session, but I would credit the Yoga far more than the Meditation.  The latter was almost a let down after having a great Yoga session, but I tried it anyway.  I incorporated healthy eating which was fine but it fought an uphill battle against the partying I was putting my body through in those days....had fun though! I recall many nights driving home from my teacher's home, listening to "The Kick Inside" in the car and feeling like I was floating.

As an older man I have embraced prayer (and my traditional faith) again and it brings me an incredible sense of peace.  I'm afraid I can't exactly articulate the fulfillment this gives me, but I know I'm home, spiritually speaking. I am thankful this aspect of my life turned out as it did. 

Adrift - in between my young man and old man days I would say that I practiced smoking.  When properly appreciated and used, the cigarette can provide a sense of well being, relaxation, and enjoyment that few other vices (or lifestyle quests) can best.  I'm sure the old smoke horses here can attest - is there anything like a cig on a foggy morning?  Or after a few drinks, late on a summer night?  I used to tell my friends, weed and alcohol were just foreplay for the Cigs, who were the real star of the show.  Alas, I left my old friend standing on the dock.  Not a day goes by that I don't crave him in my lungs again.  I'll pray or meditate that I don't fall off that horse again.  It's a bitch to get back on. 

Edited by Finnforest - February 22 2017 at 20:36

Thanks Greg.
And as far as the meditation goes, I have a feeling it was probably a combination of factors as to why I didn't get much benefit.  First I was very young and found it hard to sit still in those days.  But second, doing it in combination (right after) a yoga session was perhaps just too much happening in one session....as I recall those sessions were like 60 minutes of yoga followed by 45 mins meditation, something like that. 

They took place in this wonderful century old brick house with hardwood floors, no air conditioning, which allowed the body to literally melt into the pose.  Also I was a young guy surrounded by, largely, a room full of older women (30-40s), which made the after session refreshment and tea go down well.  And our teacher, a beautiful woman with a soothing voice.  Ahhh, here it is.  This is the place I studied meditation

It was a magnificent experience, I loved going there.  I took some heat from my metalhead friends for choosing Yoga over the social activities some nights but I chose right. 

I should try the transcendental meditation à la Bretonne (it seems to involve the use of sacred drinks such as chouchen...)

Some lovely, thoughtful posts here, and that looks like a beautiful centre, Jim. Thanks to all

A lot of people perform forms of meditation without even being aware of it.

I'm a non-believer (could call myself an atheist or an agnostic), but I do get something out of going to church and Buddhist temples.

As for prayer, it's not something I have really practiced, but it means different things and is done differently by different people. My wife was a born again Christian (I regret being such a pain in the arse that she became cynical and jaded) and I got her into the Anglican Church as I felt more comfortable with it than her Pentecostal churches -- in her church everybody expected that I must believe in God and take the bible literally, whereas in my church being agnostic and atheist was fine, and no one gave me a hard time about it in discussion or tried to convert me. I became good friends with the "priest" and even met Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon there when they came to services (they weren't religious either, but all were welcome). The rector was also into Buddhism, and the bishop was very into the multi-faith movement. It was a pretty intellectual church with many brilliant people in the congregation. But I digress....

My mother-in-law prayed by asking God for things for herself, which I felt selfish. She would look at the bible without reading it and ask God to make her win the lottery, and she claimed to believe that she would win the lottery because she asked God for it. She also tried to convert various of my children's friends to her faith which ended some friendships as most of my children's friends are from atheist families. My kids are never willing to go to church now, by the way, since they were ridiculed and chastised at a Foursquare church for questioning Gods existence and the veracity of the bible when my wife was taking them to church. I generally try not to tell my kids what to believe, or what to think, though I do try to help teach them how to think rationally and sceptically. My wife has never tried to force a belief in God on the kids, nor has she tried to make them read the bible. Our faith/lack of faith differences did present challenges early on, but we both agree that if the kids ever want religion then it's better that we don't indoctrinate them and they find it on their own. Partially since my wife is in the sciences, literalism did not make much sense to her despite being in the Pentecostal church. For her the Bible was more about the general message.

Anyway, the way my wife prayed was very different from her mother. She didn't ask God to do things for her (God helps those who help themselves), but she would take out her Bible and look at passages from the NT that she felt related to her life and present situation and reflect on those verses. It was quite a meditative approach to prayer, and I've done the same at times.. I do think that there's a lot of good that one can apply to ones life in the New Testament, as there is in many other texts.

This is all leading me in a round-about way to Blacksword's query. There are various types of meditation.   My mother uses it to clear her mind and de-stress, but since she does it regularly it takes her very little time to achieve the state she wants. I use mindfulness, not every day, and usually spend about 10 to 15 minutes on it at a time on days that I am particularly stressed.   I do sit still, but I don't really try to clear my mind. It's more about becoming aware of my thoughts, the process of them, and observing them in an objective way without getting hung up about about them. For me it helps to deal with anxiety, depression and obsessive thinking. I naturally found it very easy to do, and found it helped me greatly the first time I tried it.

I think Sam Harris does a good job with his exercises (whatever one thinks of Sam Harris, I happen to love his podcasts mostly -- the recent David Frum one was great and favourite guest of mine of his is Paul Bloom): https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/mindfulness-meditation

Sam Harris wrote: ...There is nothing spooky or irrational about mindfulness, and the literature on its psychological benefits is now substantial. Mindfulness is simply a state of clear, nonjudgmental, and nondiscursive attention to the contents of consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Developing this quality of mind has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression; improve cognitive function; and even produce changes in gray matter density in regions of the brain related to learning and memory, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. I will cover the relevant philosophy and science in my next book Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, but in the meantime, I have produced two guided meditations (9 minutes and 26 minutes) for those of you who would like to get started with the practice...

Since a brain injury about 15 months ago, I have found that I have a terrible short term memory, so it's another reason for me to try it. Good thing that there is much plasticity to the brain, and there are days when my memory is much better than others and I can focus/ have more clarity much better some days than others.

Usually music is what I use for achieving a meditative state (various electronic music often) and cigarettes used to do it for me before I quit.   Showers also help for some informal contemplation and is great for relaxation.

Edited by Logan - February 24 2017 at 11:10

I've been wanting to try hypnosis for a long time (have tries to self-learn it), ...   edited for too much info

Edited by Logan - February 24 2017 at 17:10