Mantra practice plus coffe at work turns out to be a slightly overwhelming combination.
Have to spend a break slot just to write down some 10+ ideas so the mind will stop pinging me about them every 2 seconds!
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Along w/mind spam, there was also some fairly strong somatic stuff, coffee effects & side-effects amplified in awareness.
This is a great example of why we should not uncritically recommend meditation to people with e.g. trauma issues.
Will clarify:
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For most, lowered latent inhibition or somatic effects may be helpful or at worst just a nuisance.
However, if dissociation or suppression are key to someone's ability to function in society at the moment, meditation can take that away without offering a functional substitute.
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I think this is exactly what happened to me. In many ways meditation helped me be more present and embodied but suddenly I was present to how dysegulated I was and now I had taken my coping mechanisms away from myself! I was a mess for years without knowing why.
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It’s wild because in my teacher training we were taught over and over that you simply can’t harm someone with basic meditation techniques and I believed it — couldn’t tell what was “wrong with me” and just always meditated more more more
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And to think these are often the same people pushing bodhisattva oaths on students...
If these were medical practitioners, it would be severe malpractice.
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It’s why I’m so vocal about the more trauma-informed work I’m doing now. I learned all of this the very hard way and feel like I lost a decade and am just starting my life for the first time. I hope others can learn from that and skip getting stuck in this bog for years on end
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Sent only half the tweet, was going to say: I know at least two people who have benefited a lot by you sharing your experiences.