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How To Meditate & Why Most People Fail
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2014
- Bestselling author, Noah Elkrief, explains how to meditate and avoid the mind traps that keep your mind busy and conflicting
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How to meditate for beginners at home? This video will show you how.
Noah Elkrief
• How To Meditate & Why ...
This video is about how to meditate. It is useful as an instructional video for how to meditate for beginners at home. But, it’s also useful for people that have a lot of experience with meditation.
How to meditate for beginners at home? The most important thing to understand about how to meditate is… What is your goal? If the reason you want to meditate is because you want to silence your thoughts, then you will end up with a busy mind and conflict. How to meditate for beginners at home? Become clear about what you really want more than anything else. What is the ultimate goal for why you want to meditate? Peace. All you want is peace.
How do you get peace? Not from trying to force your mind to be silent. Or by forcing your attention on your breath or anything else. It is by changing your relationship to thoughts.
How to meditate for beginners at home? Allow your thoughts to do anything they want. Don’t try to stop them, don’t try to change them. The only one that has a problem with thoughts is thoughts.
Another key point for beginners trying to meditate is to always ask whether something is bad before you try to change it. Question whether mind’s ideas of good and bad are real and true before you spend mental energy trying to fix imaginary problems.
Meditation for beginners (and anyone else) is about discovering that there is nothing wrong with this moment exactly as it is. Meditation for beginners is therefore all about allowing this moment to just be as it is. Meditation is all about recognizing that peace doesn't come from changing "bad" to "good", but from ending the war of trying to change everything.
I hope you find this video about how to meditate for beginners at home to be helpful. Meditation is a wonderful way for how to deal with anxiety, and it can give you great anxiety relief.
Dude you are amazing. Everytime you say "stop", it feals like a hug. Best wishes from France.
+Philippe Dussaussois Thanks for sharing Philippe
Yeah!
I saw a quote about how when you want something, you can't have it, but the minute you don't want anything, you have it all
Nice!
I don't want Margot Robbie in my lap, and she is not in my lap.
How do you know they wish for nothing?
Buddhist
A
Was Proble l not love i love m a Stony
Hi Noah, I found this video six months ago, when I was very, very sick from stress. Your video gave me great relief, to the point where I was in tears, because it was the first time in months I was able to put down the burdens of my mind, even if it was only for a few seconds at the time. This video helped introduce me to mindfulness and meditation, and today I'm completely stress free, I have turned my life around, giving up striving for money and succes. Instead I focus on creativity, peace and joy. I no longer plan or live for tomorrow, now I enjoy every day. I am very thankful to you.
nckclsn Thank you for sharing with me. I'm glad to hear you are enjoying life more!
Noah, just looking at your is a meditation. you speak so calmly and gently, in a non-judgmental way.... I find a lot of peace just by listening to you, thank you for your videos.
lily You're welcome Lily
I want to say that I suffer from manic depression, "regular" depression and anxiety. I'm also a very over analytical person, I'm always thinking. Even when just sitting, I'm worrying or my mind is racing. You have no idea the impact the video made, granted I was able to fully meditate, even though I have before. But you changed my perspective on thoughts. I used to think that I could be in control of my thoughts and that it was my fault. But you're so right, thoughts come and go, thoughts are just words that my brain puts in my head. They're anything, they have no real impact, they don't do anything expect exist. My "bad" thoughts are not bad, they're just thoughts. My good thoughts are not good, they are just thoughts. I'm not in control of what my brain pops into my head and I want you to know that I fibd extreme comfort in knowing that. Thank you Noah.
Wasn't able*
Powerful words! I wish u lots of luck on your life journey.
Angel Marie You're welcome, thanks for sharing.
You might also find these videos helpful:
1) How To Deal With Anxiety - Immediate Anxiety Relief
2) Guided Anxiety Meditation - For Instant Anxiety Relief
3) How To Deal With Stress At Work - Stress Relief
4) How To Be Happy In Life & Why You Aren't Already Happy
5) How To Find Inner Peace - Finding Inner Peace
+Noah Elkrief I like ur video
+Noah Elkrief
Meditation's just like anything else. In the words of Neil Strauss, Anthony Robbins et al, "people don't fail, they just give up trying".
Meditation, like so much else in life... doing it "badly" is "still" doing it.
^_^
neil strauss and tony robbins... nice.
+TheCristeo
To start with, it will help you, as it has helped so many others, just to read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl.
Maybe it it won't give you the life you think you want, but it will help you appreciate the life you have.
Anyone who knows anything about life seems to know that you "cannot know true happiness until you have known true despair... otherwise how else would you know the difference?".
M Scott Peck talks about "the Dark Night of the Soul" &c. and how suffering is a very important factor in spiritual development
Basically...
"If you're going through Hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill.
Chin up, suffering isn't forever... and once it's over you'll be wiser for having gone through it, genuinely.
Yours
PB
^_^
+TheCristeo
Well, it's not just a cliché to say "you're still young".
That said, the sooner you can get to grips with this the better.
If things really are that bad you can do a lot worse than going to 12 step meetings. They're as good as therapy and immeasurably cheaper. You don't even have to give your real name and all you've got to say is "I'm going through a bad time emotionally, I was told being here might help".
Give it a go, it sounds like it's got to be better than where you are now.
Message me if you need any help.
Chin up. 😁
I wish i had a guy like you in my life. In fact not a guy like you, but you. Your heart is filled with love and compassion. More power to you Noah. Thanks for all such lovely videos.
I see and feel the compassion and love within you Noah, we really do need more people like you in the world of nowadays! Namaste.
Meditation Is a Jump
You can never go beyond the mind if you go on using it. You have to take a jump, and meditation mean that jump. That's why meditation is illogical, irrational. And it cannot be made logical; it cannot be reduced to reason. You have to experience it. If you experience, only then do you know. So try this: don't think about it, try - try to be a witness to your own thoughts. Sit down, relaxed, close your eyes, let your thoughts run just like pictures run on a screen. See them, look at them, make them your objects. One thought arises: look at it deeply. don't think about it, just look at it. If you begin to think about it then you are not a witness - you have fallen in a trap.
There is a horn outside; a thought arises, some car is passing; or a dog barks, or something happens. Don't think about it; just look at the thought. The thought has arisen, taken form. Now it is before you. Soon it will pass. Another thought will replace it. Go on looking at this thought process. Even for a single moment, if you are capable of looking at this thought process without thinking about it, you will have gained something in witnessing and you will have known something in witnessing. This is a taste, a different taste than thinking - totally different. But one has to experiment with it. Religion and science are poles apart, but in one thing they are similar and their emphasis is the same: science depends on experiment, and religion also. Only philosophy depends just on thinking. Religion and science both depend on experiment: science on objects, religion on subjectivity. Science depends on experimenting with other things than you, and religion depends on experimenting directly with you.
It is difficult, because in science the experimenter is there, the experiment is there and the object to be experimented upon is there. There are three things: the object, the subject and the experiment. In religion you are all the three simultaneously. You are the experiment upon yourself. You are the subject and you are the object and you are the lab. Don't go on thinking. Begin, start somewhere, to experiment. Then you will have a direct feeling of what thinking is and what witnessing is. And then you will come to know that you cannot do both simultaneously, just as you cannot run and sit simultaneously. If you run, then you cannot sit, then you are not sitting. And if you are sitting, then you cannot run. But sitting is not a function of the legs. Running is a function of legs. Rather, sitting is non-function of the legs. When the legs are functioning, then you are not sitting. Sitting is a non-function of the legs: running is the function. The same is with the mind: thinking is a function of the mind; witnessing is a non-function of the mind. When the mind is not functioning, you have the witnessing, then you have the awareness.
Osho - excerpts from the book What is Meditation?
As a person with multiple illnesses like with stomach, thyroid, intestines, skin etc, suffering insomnia and anxiety after brain tumor surgery, I look at myself an hearing "nothing is broken with you" starts to (really against all common thinking odds) make sense :) It's not crazy talk - It's true - It's just how it is and now I've realised that there's no point in trying to escape that because it always leads to more suffering - really ! I have to just deal with it - sht happens and that's life, eh ? It's not easy, but it's a far better way - just letting things happen and stop blaming myself. Life's still cool :) Thanks for that
+Grzegorz Nonszalancki Life keeps going :) enjoy..
+Grzegorz Nonszalancki I have similar problems. And you're actually right. I did some really stupid things and hurt my self. And now I'm always in pain, but thanks to what you said. I'm now convinced that I should keep things as they are, and stop fighting them and stop blaming myself.. And as you said, shit happens, and that's life. peace..
It's hard to move on when depression is trying to stop you. Some days i feel like i'm okay the old me is back and the next day depression is hitting me again i'm so done with this feeling sometimes i wish i was.. you know. It sucks.
+Grzegorz Nonszalancki _"I have to just deal with it..."_
What does that mean? The way you "deal with it" can either help you heal yourself or worsen your condition. Believing that nothing is broken will mislead the believer.
You're welcome Grzegorz
Seriously I can't go one day without meditating. I've been meditating for about a few years now and it helps me not be depressed. I wake up a little sad but meditation really helps me put everything in positive focus & help me align with my true self.
you had me teary eyes ...happy tears..relieved tears
same
Please tell me why I was in tears through this whole thing, tears then laughter, then tears
+Gabriella Furlong :) The most likely scenario was either a deep discovery lead to this... or a part of you was hit and seen that hasn't been "touched" in a long time
Listening to the Holy Spirit does all you say and leads to a much better life and lets me know how to discern the things that I don't need in life. God's mind tells me what and how to live.
Holy shit, came back to this video 2 years later because I had forgotten how to meditate, and the first session I reached this point of great bliss after the video ended and I meditated with it. Insane feeling. Heightened awareness of the now for about 5 min. So today I was like, "Yes! Ima reach state again!!" And then I went through the video and at the end I couldnt reach that state, because as the gentlemen says, we're not trying to reach a certain point or diff experience. Although I LOVED that state, it was the best high i've ever experienced, I shouldn't be bound by and it try to reach it. Thats what an addict is. Love this video. I will continue to meditate and let go of that bliss feeling and continue to do as I did the first day and not expect anything or any outcome.
I am new to the practice of meditation (I was interested in it as a means to overcome certain anxieties) and so I have looked to several sources for methods, practices, etc. I just want to say that I am very happy to have discovered your videos...your voice is thoroughly comforting and your perspectives aren't at all intimidating for the beginner. So thank you.
secondact77 You're very welcome, I'm glad to hear that
This is the first and ONLY explanation on how to meditate that made me actually get it! And I've studied Zen, Buddhism and read Tolle's and Mooji's teachings. What a relief......Trying to stop yourself from thinking is like trying to stop yourself from peeing. Impossible!
Excuse my unenlightened example, but I don't care if it's appropriate or not anymore hahahaha!!! Freeeeedooooom wohoooo! Bless you, G.
Layla P haha glad it helped Layla (or G)
thanks Drake!!
You're welcome :)
tatdrag2 😂😂
I always think during mindfulness meditation: "Observe, don't judge or evaluate."
Just observe thoughts. That's it.
Do what u want. What is the problem?
This lightens my heart so much. i began meditating with no thoughts at all and one day i realized how angry it made me even when i was dealing with life in general. Thank you so much Noah, you are making people's lives easier and please make videos more often because il be watching them all!
Meditation Is a Knack
It is the simplest art in the world, to be silent. It is not a doing, it is a non-doing. How can it be difficult.
I am showing you the way of enlightenment through laziness! Nothing has to be done to attain it, because it is your nature. You have already got it. You are just so busy with outer business that you cannot see your own nature.
Deep within you is exactly the same as outside you: the beauty, the silence, the ecstasy, the blissfulness. But please, sometimes to be kind to yourself: just sit down and don't do anything, either physically or mentally.
Relax, not in an American way.... because I have seen so many American books titled "How To Relax". The very title says that the man knows nothing about relaxation. There is no "how".
Yes , it is okay - How to repair a Car; you will have to do something. But there is no doing as such, as far as relaxation is concerned. Just don't do anything. I know you will find it a little difficult in the beginning. That is not because relaxation is difficult, it is because you have become addicted to doing something. The addiction will take a little time to disappear.
Just be, and watch. Being is not doing, and watching is also not doing. You sit silently doing nothing, witnessing whatsoever is happening. Thoughts will be moving in your mind; your body may be feeling some tension somewhere, you may have a migraine. Just be a witness. Don't be identified with it. Watch, be a watcher on the hills, and everything else is happening in the valley. It is a knack, not an art.
Meditation is not a science, it is not an art, it is a knack - just that way. All that you need is a little patience.
The old habits will continue; the thoughts will go on rushing. And your mind is always in a rush hour, the traffic is always jammed. Your body is not accustomed to sitting silently - you will be tossing and turning. Nothing to be worried about. Just watch that the body is tossing and turning, and that the mind is whirling, is full of thoughts - consistent, inconsistent, useless - fantasies, dreams. You remain in the center, just watching.
All the religions of the world have taught people to do something; stop the process of thought, force the body into a still posture. That's what yoga is - a long practice of forcing the body to be still. But a forced body is not still. And all the prayers, concentrations, contemplations of all the religions do the same with the mind: they force it, they don't allow the thoughts to move. Yes, you have the capacity to do it. And if you persist you may be able to stop the thought process. But this is not the real thing, it is absolutely fake.
When stillness comes on its own, when silence descends without your effort, when you watch thoughts and a moment comes when thoughts start disappearing and silence starts happening that is beautiful. The thoughts stop of their own accord if you don't identify, if you remain a witness and you don't say, "This is my thought."
You don't say, " This is bad, this is good." "This should be there" and "This should not be there". Then you are not a watcher; you have prejudices, you have certain attitudes. A watcher has no prejudice, he has no judgment. He simply sees like a mirror.
When you bring something in front of a mirror it reflects, simply reflects. There is no judgment that the man is ugly, that the man is beautiful, that, "Aha! What a good nose you have got." The mirror has nothing to say. Its nature is to mirror; it mirrors. This is what I call meditation: you simply mirror everything within or without.
And I guarantee you... I can guarantee because it has happened to me and to many of my people; just watching patiently - maybe a few days will pass, maybe a few months, maybe a few years. There is no way of saying because each individual has a different collection.
You must have seen people collecting antiques, postal stamps. Everybody has a different collection: the quantity may be different, hence the time it takes will be different - but go on remaining witness as much as you can. And this meditation needs no special time. You can wash the floor and remain silently watching yourself washing the floor.
I can move my hand unconsciously, without watching, or I can move it with full awareness. And there is qualitative difference. When you move it unconsciously it is mechanical. When you move it with consciousness there is grace. Even in the hand, which is part of your body, you will feel silence, coolness - what to say about the mind? With your watching and watching, slowly the rush of thoughts starts getting less and less. Moments of silence start appearing; a thought comes, and then there is silence before another appears. These gaps will give you the first glimpse of meditation and the first joy that you are arriving home.
Osho - excerpts from the book What is Meditation?
Thanks
+Tarangita Shantam Thank you !
Osho was a fraud. An eloquent fraud.
+humanyoda why
+rupunzel12345 He is right. There is a man who is involved in the "movement" of becoming "actually free". His name is Peter. In his work he called Peter's Journal, he described his life in communes formed and governed by Osho. He has had much personal experience with Osho, and his conclusion was that the status of englightenness ascribed to him wasn't justified. He was a man with quite big ego.
If you want to find that writing, start by googling for _"peter's journal" actual freedom_.
Even your god damn voice is calming
***** haha
Noahs like finding a bubbling spring of water in the desert. I had 3 session with him and "flipped" a number of thought switches of my "imaginary" self off and on ... amazing. He has a gift and is doing wonderful work - Happy Thanksgiving Noah!
Thank you Noah for the video. I found it very helpful.
You're welcome Daniel. I'm glad you found it helpful
I love the video. I've been trying to start meditating on a day-to-day basis every night to "zen" out my mind in preparation for lucid dreaming, which I found to be a very hard concept to grasp. In my dreams, I can't help trigger myself into know it isn't real. I would love to see a lucid dream video sometime in the future, all other guides aren't explained with detail and what NOT to do! Great work!
Cole NotTelling Glad you liked the video.
Can't stand those kind of dreams they drive me crazy but some are pretty darn intense..
I think I'm in love with you...I've never admired someone's thinking as much as yours, what you said in this video is so powerful. I will definitely meditate in my life & remember this...❤️
+Reema Amar Glad you enjoyed the video Reema
Noah Elkrief awww you’re so sweet ☺️ I definitely did
Noah Elkrief lol, good neutrality
i am pretty sure this video is helping ALOT of us who find many meditations "dont work". I have watched so many and struggled so long, now i TOTALLY UNDERSTAND why I never suceeded. THANK YOU great help there.
I'm a big believer in loa because there is so much evidence of how we are all connected and that our minds are more powerful than we know. Reality is what we make it.
I was really really struggling to put my thoughts away while meditating and this video helped so much!! Thank you :)
You're welcome Kaitlyn
noah, how many girls fall in love with you each day. You must be fighting them off with a stick. hahaha I love you you beautiful creature
Noodle Poodle I think this guy probably has relationships sorted too
I had no idea that when I viewed this I would feel overwhelmed with gratitude. This is exactly what I need to recover from the box I put myself in. Thank you. I can't wait to try meditation without force.
The point is to Let it go. I have let lots of things go and I have felt peace and then I get an amazing opportunity but then I screw it up, by getting nervous and either not taking up the opportunity or feeling lack of gratitude after taking it. I just want god to take over. I want the universe to protect me. I just want peace.
Can't stop thinking about Honey
That's the way it works :)
You have a true gift my man. Thanks for the helpful insight.
You're welcome
Noah, I'm an artist and I found your video very helpful. When I'm working on a piece, all other thought just slips away, I am completely in the moment. For so long I looked for the rewards associated with art but now after so many years practicing it, I know that it is it's own reward. So meditation isn't special when you believe every moment of every day is special. In that context it is just being at ease with the different parts of our experience. Each has it's part. I always wondered what walking meditation was. I heard about it many years ago. Now I think I understand.Thanks Steve
Snatadog You're welcome Steve, thanks for sharing
Noah, this makes a lot of sense. One time I was at a concert and I feel I was meditating while standing. And once I "came back" about 15 minutes later, I thought, oh wow. All there is in my life is the here and now. I'm standing here at a concert and having a great time. And for some reason after that my life changed. From that point, I have been living in the moment and it feels great.
this may not be related to the topic but I took shrooms(6g), and this video helped me out of a bad trip. thankyou kind sir
Hi Noah, I found your channel yesterday when searching for an answer to an issue I've had for a long time. Thank you for freeing me from the thoughts I was having. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of your videos, you have a great way of simplifying things with the way you explain things. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. May I ask where you are from and what you studied? What books have you written?
Hi Zukreat, I'm glad that the way I explain things helps you to see more clearly. I'm from NY. None of what I share comes from knowledge. In one moment in 2009, almost all my thoughts left my mind and didn't come back. From that moment on, I saw very clearly how thoughts work. My book is called "A guide to the present moment". I am writing a 2nd one now
Noah Elkrief
Like, ,
Hi Noah, I was a worrier from birth, then one day it felt as if my brain filled with warm liquid or filled up with air like a balloon. Since then, I cannot worry about anything.
Noah Elkrief
Hope you get some thoughts back soon 😂
@@larapalma3744 😁😁😁😁👍👍
i sit & relax, i feel my own hand, take a deep breath i realize that i feeling no pain in my body... then i am all right & deeply relaxed.. thank you
+semar ab You're welcome Semar
Thank you mate, you have help me out incredibly and got me out of a recurring panick attack about what happens when you meditate, relax (and try to silence mind), was and insane circle that got me really bad at times, Thanks
You are so soft spoken. Loved the way you explained.
P.S. for homophobes- I am not gay !
+rishi raj I loved the way he explained it too. I am gay and liked his face too :)
+rishi raj haha thanks
At 0:58 you asked to turn off any distractions. I paused your video. Now I don't know what to do.
Mushahid Hussain 🤣
my husband asked me if i wanted to meditate, we put your video on, after 9 minutes my husbands left me to play the ukulele. nailed it!
Noah, is just a really sweet person. His words are always so comforting.
Thanks Linda
;)
You are absolutely amazing. I really hope you keep it secular though. I have seen enough of religious meditations. I can see at amazon that you actually do reflect the secular understanding of meditation. I am diving into your videos and buying your book with a strong hope you indeed are secular. Thank you from the bottom of my heart if you are and _meh_ if you are not :) anyway thanks a lot
Daniel Korolev Nothing that I speak about is based on any beliefs from anywhere. Everything is about direct discovery.
Noah Elkrief you have got a new subscriber and follower, sir. In the best sense of the word. Thank you for your work.
Ditto Daniel... amazing comment. And wonderful video... very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you Noah,
I'd like to share with you (and with others here) my experience. Firstly, know that I have never been able to meditate, but then, in the past I have always fought so hard to repress all thoughts. In the end, meditation was always a frustrating affair. I had not attempted it again for many many years.
Two days ago, I came across your channel and meditated to this video. I felt that I had gotten nowhere as the video came to a close... but then the next video of yours started playing, and so I simply continued. After a moment, I could see stars rotating in the distance as if through coloured fog. The fog twisted and played, competing for my attention. I accepted it but didn't make it my focus. Soon the stars were bright and sharp, sharper it seemed than my usual vision. This stayed with me for perhaps five minutes, but I was aware of my thoughts still creeping in, though less often, less strong.
Suddenly, in a snap - an image of an ornately decorated person appeared in such great detail and such colours that no painting or description could ever approach it. I saw/knew all of the detail at once, like taking in a world of information in an instant. I felt instantly as though my mind widened and was wrapped around every detail, knew every part of this one single clear image/thought. I felt my body take a sharp involuntary breath and the image and feeling was gone. I opened my eyes and for a time the entire world seemed still, as though even the air dare not move. And as I rose, I had the curious feeling of passing through the air without disturbing it. This continued for about ten minutes or so, during which my body felt light and my mind was unusually quiet and restful.
The next night I did the same, but all that would come were mists and strong thoughts. After an hour or so I stopped, with such a feeling of loss that I felt like crying - though I had lost nothing.
Today I have read that it is common to have brief moments of perfect clarity or of absolute stillness and quiet, yet to fail to find these moments in subsequent meditations. Perhaps it is because I began my second meditation with expectations from the first. The only solution, I feel, is to keep meditating regularly until I can have these experiences without making them my aim.
However, I must thank you for guiding me to my first, and all too brief, moment of clarity and stillness. I shall now continue to meditate until I learn not to grasp at such moments when they do appear, nor become shocked by them, nor to make them my goal.
Again, I thank you so much for sharing this video Noah.
Peace
GaryChap You're welcome Gary. But this is not about reaching a certain experience and keeping it. Experiences are cool and useful to help show you what's possible. But, this is about discovering the truth of our thoughts. The result is our natural state of peace and freedom, not an experience. Don't go into meditation looking for an experience.
GaryChap Dear Gary, every one who practices meditation has gone through and/or still goes through what you're experiencing. The key is to practice non-attachment (in particular to past experience) without judging yourself and without congratulating yourself either. Just try to be content with whatever result you get and just keep practicing. I like what you shared and it's great to hear that you're motivated to keep going. All the best.
Thanks Noah for a great platform and offering too!
Grace
Grace T. Mandala Thank you Grace,
Since I wrote that last account I have found that I can now have these sharp powerful images and not focus on them. They tend to move on if I just remind myself "seeing... seeing..." without giving them value.
I do the same when an intense thought comes or if I get an itch ... "feeling... feeling..." and, once I remind myself that I am simply feeling, these too move on. Itches no longer get unbearable and fight for my attention... which is good, because I found this particular distraction one of the most difficult to overcome when I first started,
Over the last two months the length of time I can maintain an inner quiet has increased considerably, although each time I begin meditation I do have to get past stages of sensory phantoms (where my monkey mind seems to try its best to find something to distract me)
Fortunately, these stages of 'sensory phantoms' are becoming noticeably shorter. It is almost as though my monkey mind is slowly learning that it does not need to fight the stillness.
I'd like to encourage anyone who still feels that they are unable to meditate to not get frustrated. I felt like that too but I now realise that any frustration at finding meditation difficult is what makes meditation difficult. The worst thing a newcomer to meditation can do is to feel they've failed. You can't really fail at meditation ... it's just a slow training process. I've learned that now but I wish I'd known it sooner.
Thank you Grace for your kind words of support, and to Noah for his excellent channel.
And best wishes to all of those learning to meditate.
Wow Gary. You've really come a long way. The distractions are some of the greatest challenges when starting a meditation practice.
It's true. A lot of people forget that it is a practice. Even monks who have been meditating all their lives still need to work at it. Much like any exercise whether it be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.
Right on. I'm very happy for you and keep sharing your journey. You may be inspiring others who share your story.
Peace, love and light. Namaste.
Grace T. Mandala
I use to meditate and do yoga everyday, then I got sick and wheelchair bound, didn't do anything for years, now I want to meditate again and am having to start at step one all over again but I know it'll just take practice everyday before I'm back where I use to be, then I can do yoga in my mind and I think that will really help set me free! 🤗
+cara matimong Good luck Cara
i have been meditating for the last eight weeks. i was having the same problems that you mentioned here, trying to eliminate all thoughts. Now, what you just explained makes a lot of sense. i will enjoy my meditation session even more now. I will also apply what you have explained to my life. I think that it will make me more happy and less preoccupied for whatever is happening in my surroundings. i just sent the link to someone who i love immensely and i know that will see meditation now as a very good thing.
thank you very much for this video it is priceless!!!
I love every bit of this video. I guess that is why it makes hours to relax as I feel so frustrated trying to get there and at times I can't even relax. Thanks mate, this is really awesome.
There are times when I feel like I can't breath as I meditate, why does this happen?
Sumeya Ahmed You're welcome Sumeya. It is most likely just the way that the energy is expressing itself in the moment.
This is very instructive. Thanks for posting
You're welcome
When I watch this video in my room, I only focus on your voice. My grandma walked in on me while I was lost in the video. Because I have my eyes closed and sitting still. She scared me out of my mind when she thought I was dead or something. But your videos help me a lot. Thank you so much for uploading!
Katelyn Wittenburg You're welcome Katelyn
Noah Elkrief you must be the happiest & most peaceful man! Thank you!
I liked the way u try to make everything positive.. U R great
This really helped me, thank you. Great video :)
The best meditation guide i have ever seen. After this video I can meditate anywhere and any time in a way that gives me a sense of freedom in the first few minutes. I don't need to waste more time watching videos about spirituality because all of what is needed is right here in these video! Thank you Noah Elkrief!
This could sound extremely self centered but listening to this allows me to empower myselfninto having a very open relationship with my dad. I recognize the thoughts and feelings I have towards him, but I choose not to make these feelings my reality. I choose the present now, the great moments we are having, the meal we are sharing, the laughter, and meditating liberated me from being tied to the past. I choose The NOW!
spongebobmx I'm glad that meditating has helped to free you in your relationship with your dad
Thoughts are involuntary :)
so is breathing and hair growth and heart beat
they happen without our conscious awareness
awesome video man
Fitness4life Agreed. Glad you liked it
During like the whole of this video my foot was dead and when you said about not changing state and that its just a feeling I felt obliged not to move my foot, good video it worked however my foot is still very dead
+pompous python glad it worked... hope you're foot isn't dead anymore ;)
Giggly Hercules I feel same experience during meditation, why it does happen?
Deep Sharma we aint moving it that's why aha, were figits
I'm going to a concert tomorrow and usually I get anxiety at these type of events. My mind starts racing and I'm too worried that something will go not as planned. Now after watching this,I'm going to accept whatever thoughts I have at the concert. They won't stop me from having a good time. Thanks Noah!
Justin Whyde You're welcome Justin
Noah you are fantastic, just stating the obvious and making us believe in you, in ourselves.
Thank you so much, you are a wonderful human being. Giving so much of your self.
I know you believe in all of us with our fears and anxieties. Thank you beautiful person.
Meditation Is Non-doing
When people come to me and they ask, "How to meditate?" I tell them, "There is no need to ask how to meditate, just ask how to remain unoccupied. Meditation happens spontaneously. Just ask how to remain unoccupied, that's all. That's the whole trick of meditation - how to remain unoccupied. Then you cannot do anything. The meditation will flower.
When you are not doing anything the energy moves towards the center, it settles down towards the center. When you are doing something the energy moves out. Doing is a way of moving out. Non-doing is a way of moving in. Occupation is an escape. You can read the Bible, you can make it an occupation. There is no difference between religious occupation and secular occupation: all occupations are occupations, and they help you to cling outside your being. They are excuses to remain outside.
Man is ignorant and blind, and he wants to remain ignorant and blind, because to come inwards looks like entering a chaos. And it is so; inside you have created a chaos. You have to encounter it and go through it. Courage is needed - courage to be oneself, and courage to move inwards. I have not come across a greater courage than that - the courage to be meditative.
But people who are engaged outside - with worldly things or nonworldly things, but occupied all the same, they think ....and they have created a rumor around it, they have their own philosophers. They say that if you are introvert you are somehow morbid, something is wrong with you. And they are in the majority. If you meditate, if you sit silently, they will joke about you: "What are you doing? - gazing at your navel? What are you doing? - opening the third eye? Where are you going? Are you morbid?...because what is there to do inside? There is nothing inside."
Inside doesn't exist for the majority of people, only the outside exists. And just the opposite is the case - only inside is real; outside is nothing but a dream. But they call introverts morbid, they call meditators morbid. In the West they think that the East is little morbid. What is the point of sitting alone and looking inwards? What are you going to get there? There is nothing.
David Hume, one of the great British philosophers, tried once... because he was studying the Upanishads and they go on saying: Go in, go in, go in - that is their only message. So he tried it. He closed his eyes one day - a totally secular man, very logical, empirical, but not meditative at all - he closed his eyes and he said, "It is so boring! It is a boredom to look in. Thoughts move, sometimes a few emotions, and they go on racing in the mind, and you go on looking at them - what is the point of it? It is useless. It has no utility."
And this is the understanding of many people. Hume's standpoint is that of the majority: What are going to get inside? There is darkness, thoughts floating here and there. What will you do? What will come out of it? If Hume had waited a little longer - and that is difficult for such people - if he had been a little more patient, by and by thought disappear, emotions subside. But if it had happened to him he would have said, "That is even worse, because emptiness comes. At least first there were thoughts, something to be occupied with, to look at, to think about. Now even thoughts have disappeared; only emptiness....What to do with emptiness? It is absolutely useless."
But if he had waited a little more, then darkness also disappears. It is just like when you come from the hot sun and you enter your house: everything looks dark because your eyes need a little attunement. They are fixed on the hot sun outside; comparatively, your house looks dark. You cannot see, you feel as if it is night. But you wait, you sit, you rest in a chair, and after few seconds the eyes get attuned. Now it is not dark, a little more light........You rest for an hour, and everything is light, there is no darkness at all.
If Hume had waited a little longer, then darkness also disappears. Because you have lived in the hot sun outside for many lives your eyes have become fixed, they have lost flexibility. They need tuning. When one comes inside the house it takes a little while, a little time, a patience. Don't be in a hurry.
In haste nobody can come to know himself. It is a very very deep awaiting. Infinite patience is needed. By and by darkness disappears. There comes a light with no source There is no flame in it, no lamp is burning, no sun is there. A light, just like it is morning: the night has disappeared, and the sun has not risen.... Or in the evening - the twilight, when the sun has set and night has not yet descended. That's why Hindus call their prayer time sandhya. Sandhya means twilight, light without any source.
When you move inwards you will come to the light without any source. In that light, for the first time you start understanding yourself, who you are, because you are that light. You are that twilight, that sandhya, that pure clarity, that perception, where the observer and the observed disappear, and only the light remains.
Osho - excerpts from the book What is Meditation?
That was really helpful. Thank you. xx
You're welcome Emma
Watched the vidio tonight. Thank you Noah! Your voice, your words and your eyes make me feel calm and relaxed. Thank you xx
I was so caught up in the fallacy that I am in control of my thoughts, and that's why I couldn't make this work for me. Great video! Thank you!
Yes, of course we can use reasoning skills, string sentences together, etc all on command, but during meditation you're not supposed to be doing that. Random thoughts you don't want just appear and I before I had watched this video I thought that if I couldn't control the random thoughts from happening that I couldn't meditate. Basically what my comment says, but expanded for clarity.
I'm glad you got to see that. Most people never realize this, and it leads to a tremendous amount of internal conflict. You're welcome.
Meditation Is an Experiment
You don't believe in God? That is not a hindrance to meditation. You don't believe in soul? That is not a hindrance in meditation. You don't believe at all? That is not an obstacle. You can meditate, because meditation simply says how to go withinwards: whether there is a soul or not doesn't matter; whether there is a God or not doesn't matter.
One thing is certain, that you are. Who are you? To enter into it is meditation: to go deeper into your own being. Maybe it is just momentary; maybe you are not eternal: maybe death finishes everything. We don't make any condition that you have to believe. We say only that you have to experiment. Just try. One day it happens: thoughts are not there. And suddenly when thoughts disappear, the body and you are separate - because thoughts are the bridge. Through thoughts you are joined with the body; it is the link. Suddenly the link disappears - you are there, the body is there, and there is an infinite abyss between the two. Then you know that the body will die, but you cannot die. Then it is not something like a dogma; it is not a creed, it is an experience - self-evident. On that day, death disappears; on that day, doubt disappears, because now you are not always having to defend yourself. Nobody can destroy you, you are indestructible. Then trust arises, overflows. And to be in trust is to be in ecstasy; to be in trust is to be in god; to be in trust is to be fulfilled.
So I don't say cultivate trust, I say experiment with meditation.
Osho - excerpts from the book What is Meditation?
+Tarangita Shantam your own experience?
I couldnt find a book with this name by osho but i did stumble across one called 'meditation the art of ecstasy' by osho. i downloaded a free pdf of it. very interesting!!!!!
Who has taught you the things that you know?
Everything was discovered in my own experience. Only direct discoveries can provide us with the peace we are looking for.
I'm not here for the meditation actually, I'm just here to hear your presentation. it seems for me that every single little things you said really make sense to me. I can see life for once and it really got me so relive. thank you so much. this video got me cried really that it make me realized that I'm stuck with my imagination. stuck with my thoughts that everything is as bad as I think when it's really not. Thank you so much!!! keep doing the great job!!!
İ'm kicking out heroin addiction nowadays.İ'm off about 5 days and today this method helped me A LOT.İ will do this everyday every hour 15 days more.After 15 days my cravings will be over.
Kyerios Nosurname And thank you so much btw.One day is one day but it means a lot.
Kyerios Nosurname You're welcome. Good luck!
So in reality you are yourself, not your thoughts
ScilexGuitar something like that.
Great video, Noah. You have a great calming voice, too. You just gained a new subscriber. :)
Glad you found it helpful Saul
Noah, I loved every single video of yours. Thank you so much for sharing the simple truth. It set me free. I have been trying to get rid of my emotional suffering for last two and half years. I read many books followed other teachers but you are the first person to actually show me how not to believe in thoughts. Thank you Noah!!! Much love to you my friend 💗
This is brilliant. Very helpful. Thanks :) I thought about it last days and came to conclusion that the key/first step to becoming happy and just yourself is to embrace yourself and accept that you do NOT need to be or look or live like someone you imagine you should be or you're told.
You look kinda like drake.
+OsamaBinLaden hey osama , was 9/11 a inside job or you did it ?
+OsamaBinLaden sthap..
+vin kum he's part of the inside job
+OsamaBinLaden is thea WIFI in Hell ...coz you are still online
he looks so much likr cesc fabregas
Most people fail because you are hot.
Noah, are u agree with me? I say we are no exist. There is just mind. And the mind is one. Same mind in every humans heads. We are one. Personality is an illusion.
0 Persona
Cool😊😁
Yeah lol
We are all separate streams of consciousness actually. I would say we are all NOT ... one. If you catch my drift.
HAHAHA
Wow thank you so much for this video!!! I've tried meditating many times and I've been doing it all wrong. Your video had me there within a couple minutes and it was great. I'll be mediating all day today. You're awesome sir.
Joe momma You're welcome Joe, glad it helped
I am a Buddhist and go to meditation retreat every now and then. Answer to your question. You can never rid off your mind. If you have a brain, you will think. That's human nature. While you are meditating, you are going to think of something every now and then. Once you notice that you are thinking about your ex or dog or whatever. You stop and notice "oh, I am thinking" and stop whatever you are thinking. Then shift to your mind back to your breathing. Focus on your nose. Inhale and exhale. After a few minutes, you are going to think of something. Then notice you are thinking. Then stop thinking about the story. then back to your breathing. After a few minutes, you have better focus on your inhale and exhale. Now you need to increase your mindfulness like focus on sensation inside your nose. You can really feel cold air going in, hot air coming out. Hope my comment helps.
Bogore is that you? lol
knigthmare dub haha I don't know who Bogore is
he is a music producer XD lol sorry for the joke but you look like him nice video by the way helped me a lot to meditate ;)
You seem so nice and likeable, I find it almost nauseating.... Sorry. I dont meditate enough
:) it's okay
Noah what a great explanation on meditation, Well done sir, Many thanks!!!
John Styles You're welcome John
Noah Elkrief: THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for this video! It's REALLY IMPORTANT for me TO GET TO KNOW THE ART OF MEDITATION better!
That I don't control my attention is a revelation. thanks Noah.
i like how you have this really calm energy...it exudes happiness to me. That may not be the case, but that's the vibe i get from you throughout this video. it's positive, and inspiring :)
Danielle Byrd I'm glad you liked the video Danielle
this is the best talk for a loong time! I have listned to watts, tolle, spira etc. the best! thank you so much! Great.
And he does it again. Swings and knocks the ball out of the stadium. Nicely done good sir. Thanks for the wise advice.
Only thing don't get rid of negative thoughts when they need to be addressed. Say like you have an infection or eye irritation. These thoughts are the ones warning you about serious health problems. Do not disregard every negative thought basically. If something is wrong, your mind is trying to tell you, get it fixed. And stuff like the things I mentioned should be easy to identify as wrong, but some people may take this advice to the extreme. SO clarifying on why they shouldn't do that, as you can see.
icey778 You're welcome
Ive watched 3 of your videos and have seen the best progress I have seen in the past 2 years
For the constant battle in my head that no one will ever understand except me i found ur video very insightful that nothing is wrong with me even my mind says right now no there is im beginning to say ok its just a thought..thnk u noah
Mazen Lotfy You're welcome Mazen
If only you were teaching Japanese. I would have everything in the world. Your voice is magical. I can hear many parts of your speech during the day ever since I started seeing your videos. You are helping a lot. Stay blessed.
I listen to this once a day.
It is a bit of a paradox. I'm trying to relieve psychosomatic symptoms via meditation.
So my goal is to let go and have the symptoms go away.
Any time I accept the pain and the uncertainty of whether it will get better, I feel it getting better.
But once I feel it getting better, I want to keep the experience. And in that instance my body tenses up again. It's torturing sometimes.
It's like my body gives me glimpses of hope to show me how it could be. And then when I want to say thank you , finally, it often takes it away.
1Kilili As long as you think there are such a thing as "bad" sensations, you will fight them and try to get rid of them when they are here, and you will fear them coming back when they are not here. You have to discover that you can love all sensations.
Thank you ! I think that's the right way ! It's much easier said than done, however . But it's the right way :)
at first.. i thought.. omg this guys is so wierd.. but then i listen.. the more i listened the more i liked this wierd guy. 30 mins later im hooked on this guys. AMAZING!!! GREAT ADVICES. U GOT URSELF ANOTHER SUBSCRIBER! THANK YOU
Arnas Creations haha You're welcome Arnas
I just tried meditating for the second time in my life and this video helped me do it so much better than the first time I tried. I feel so relaxed and rejuvenated. Really wonderful video!
This was so helpful! ive been having trouble calming my mind and trying to control my thoughts when i meditate, trying to force myself to not think. During the entire video I was in a meditation state with my eyes closed & I feel like I totally get it now. Thank you :)
I liked you video. lately I've been stressed and have tried as many ways as I, and everyone close by, can think of. I saw a video of people doing an experiment with meditating for 2 months straight and giving there feedback through out the time. by the end, all participants felt calmer, more relaxed in life, and were happy they did it and said they would continue doing it. I thought "okay. I'll bite." so I ended up finding you. At first it was hard to watch 'cause you were talking so slow. but then I started to listen to the instructions you gave. I relaxed, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then things just started to wash over me. It was weird at first 'cause the whole " meditation works!" was kind of working, then I refocused and finish off the rest of the video feeling a whole lot better. the slowness and calmness of your voice turned out to be the key to this type of video.
I happened upon your video thanks to the TH-cam programming that offers up videos you might like. To date, this is the best teaching I have heard regarding what meditation is and how to do it properly. Thank you for posting this. I plan to peruse your channel for additional nuggets of wisdom.
Last night I found one of your videos on Anxiety it really helped me out its the first full night sleep I have gotten in a three weeks. Thank you Noah.
I'm a beginner at meditation and found this very helpful. Thanks so much, handsome :)
Each time I watch one of your videos, I need to watch it again and I can get more insights because I know that is a knowledge that is pointing beyond the mind. Now I am converting this videos to mp3 and I can listen to you when I am doing my work out or other tasks, I am using them like podcasts. Once again, thank you.
***** You're welcome Ricardo, sounds good
Wow that was the perfect start of for me this morning. The speech I needed to remind me becuz I have had my struggles with meditating and how to do it. Correct, how can you silence your mind was the problem I had or thought I had until I realized there was no way I was gonna keep forcing or try to control it if I am suppose to be at peace with my mind. So I had to embrace any thoughts that come along but not react to it. Just let it flow until it decides to be at peace. It's like the universe within you that decides to silence on its own , whatever that means for my mind, spirit and body to do. Thanks for the teaching Noah. I feel much better now
Jubil Khan You're welcome Jubil
I feel nice after watching that and that i can relax and meditate now.
i also love how positive everyone is in the comments and no one is trying to bring anyone down.:)
+jasony7 Thanks for sharing Jason. I'm glad it helped
After lots of youtube clips, I finally understood what meditation really is and how to do it... Thank you.
I look forward to trying this. I have anxiety and as an artist who needs to accept criticism this is very difficult. Had two people comment on a practice piece and i stopped drawing for months. I know I need to seek assistance for my anxiety but I get so panicked about dealing with it I never end up leaving my house. As a polytheist I have tried meditation many times and never got anywhere, always blaming myself for not getting better at it. I really hope this helps.
Bre Jax Also try my anxiety videos and social anxiety videos