The science so far isn't as sciency as I'd like, so I won't quote any numbers. However, its general conclusions match what I've seen in decades of meditation practice and informal conversations with thousands of meditators.
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Meditation is not entirely safe. In the worst case, it can cause disabling psychiatric breakdowns lasting years. That is very rare. Mild emotional disturbances, confusion, and odd sensations are common, and not usually a problem.https://www.cheetahhouse.org/symptoms
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Meditation has a "dose-response effect": generally, the more you do, the more intense the results will be, whether positive, negative, or just weird. If you do 15 min/day, you'll probably have mild positive effects, and are unlikely to be hospitalized (although that can happen).
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In a group retreat of 12+ hours meditation per day for months, many to most will experience some negative effects at least briefly, and it's pretty normal for one or two people to have a major mental health crisis.
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Usually, if it is producing negative effects, stopping meditating stops the problem. I am not an expert or teacher, so I rarely give advice, but this is my one main recommendation: Just stop until the problem goes away. Take a break. You can come back to it later.
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Meditators may be reluctant to stop even when it has impaired their ability to function: because it feels good, because they think "no pain, no gain," because they mistake dysfunction for incipient "enlightenment," or because their teacher tells them to push through.
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It is sometimes true that pushing through what looks like imminent psychosis can produce spiritual breakthroughs. It can also lead to months of psychiatric hospitalization. Do not attempt this without intensive guidance from an expert. (How do you know who is qualified?)
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Methods, goals, results
Anecdotally, some meditation methods are safer and/or more effective than others. Afaik, there is no good quantitative data on this. There is lots of vehement religious opinion, though.2 replies 0 retweets 20 likesShow this thread -
As an engineer, I take a first-principles, mechanistic approach to meditation methods. What is this method supposed to accomplish? What are its prerequisites? How is the method supposed to get you from here to there? Is it plausible that would work? What might go wrong with it?
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Western teachers usually say "meditation" is supposed to make your life better, and also possibly someday you will become "enlightened." This is all very nice and super vague, and the lack of precision is harmful. It (deliberately) obscures the actual goal and risks.
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reminds me of refactoring. different types of refactoring for different goals. scale, response time, price efficiency, etc... potential risk of breaking EVERYTHING. *always* refactoring is a red flag that there isn’t a clear goal and it’s just masturbatory.
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