Meditation is it just a drug?

Hi

Im confused. I started meditation about 10 years ago but found it did nothing for me but relax me and I ended up just giving up. This type of meditation was not spiritually based it was more sitting quite and repeating a mantra.

Then last year I felt I needed to take it up again, I felt I was awakening in some way and started looking for a more spiritually based technique.

I tryed Mer-Ka-Ba meditation which uses 18 breaths but found it far too complicated so again gave this up. However this technique does look interesting the more you read into it.

Then in Jan this year I started heart chakra radiance which was quickly followed by chakra meditation using the 7 main chakras. I now find I can not stop meditation as it seems I've become addicted to my daily chakra especially the heart one. I have never taken drugs in my life but I imagine its something like the feeling Im getting now.

Am I in charge of my meditation or is it in charge of me?

Well does it have a positive effect on you?
I wouldn't say addiction to meditation is such a big problem. Meditation has many benefits and is a great way of spending your time, so why be worried about it?

I have been trying to meditate but I think I am doing something wrong. I can't seem to clear my head of the day to day BS. Thoughts just keep going through my mind constantly like it is a news wire. I am curious about this meditation you call heart chakra radiance. Where did you hear/learn this? What can I do to meditate better? How effective is it for you?

Originally posted by Algonquin
I have been trying to meditate but I think I am doing something wrong. I can't seem to clear my head of the day to day BS. Thoughts just keep going through my mind constantly like it is a news wire. I am curious about this meditation you call heart chakra radiance. Where did you hear/learn this? What can I do to meditate better? How effective is it for you?

I was taught heart chakra radiance (HCR) by a member called Paul Richard. I have a thread on it in skunk works ( HCR what is it) and my very good friend psycho81 has a thread on the full 7 chakras meditation. His thread would be very helpful to you to get started .

The heart chakra is a wonderful chakra, it opens and you feel love, pure universal love radiating out. Of all the chakras you just know its open!
However my teacher, Paul should have told me to open all 7 chakras to give me a balance. The problem with HCR is that it feels so wonderful you don't want to be bothered with the other chakras but this leads to an in balance.

Yes its difficult fitting it in and clearing your head of the days BS. But as you meditate more it becomes easier, I can meditate now any where by just closing my eyes.

To answer the other post by PeaceUK, yes it does improve my life doing meditation but with the inbalance that came from just opening the heart chakra it was beggining to feel like a drug as the experience of this chakra is so wonderful.

[edit on 19-4-2008 by Mr Green]

I think it probably releases dopamine in your head and makes you feel good.

I meditate to the sound of a voice and i go to a pond (in the meditation) and its tranquil and serene, and it gets me where i want to be. I actually have several of these i do. They're awesome. I think we have the power within us to be anyplace we want to be and experience anything we want as reality at the moment.

reply to post by dgtempe


Yes maybe it does release chemicals in the brain who knows, or maybe it just takes us to a level of spirituality we are unfamiliar with. All I know is balanced meditation is good, un balanced meditation is a drug that belongs to the dark side.

Mr Green,

So tell me grasshopah, what is un-balanced meditation? I need to know, i certainly wouldnt want to take a bad trip where i dont belong.

???Better be safe than sorry.

I am in a state of meditation 75% of my day.

Can't help it now. I don't think it is a drug just spiritual development, state of being. I prefer it and it is funny how the mind and body yearn for it.

I have learnt a lot from meditating, about myself, about others etc.

I sincerely believe if you wish to know anything, look inward and meditate. You will gain answers specific to you. No one can tell you these things.

cheers

Yes I feel like Im in a constant state of meditation now to varying degrees through out the day. I find if I meditate first thing it really sets me up for the day, I feel refreshed and happy.
Since meditation Im rarely unhappy at all now. My family make comments that Im too happy and that Im actually laughing at them. Im not Im just happy.
Im beginning to feel more at one with the universe more than I ever have. So no I don't think meditation is a drug as such, but to stop it now would give me some sort of withdrawel symptom for sure. Ive unlocked something in me and I can not return to my old locked up self.

How strange it is to think these things have always been within us, we just need to find them.

Unbalanced is just that, you concentrate on just one chakra. Mine was the heart, I opened it up without the others and just became over whelmed with love for everything. This doesn't sound a bad thing but I became far too giving of my love and it started to destroy me.

It releases chemicals that make you feel good, like seratonin/ dopamine. When you eat food the same thing happens, so it is no more of a drug then food or exercise

Originally posted by 23Eulogy23
It releases chemicals that make you feel good, like seratonin/ dopamine. When you eat food the same thing happens, so it is no more of a drug then food or exercise

I always thought though that the brain can only make a set amount of seratonin and this is why some people are depressed. This is why people who take drugs and release ALL their seratonin at once have whats called three day downers because they have no reserves of seratonin left. So how come we feel good everyday from meditation? We would some times feel down if it were chemical related.

So exactly how do you open your heart chakra?

I can not advise to open just the heart chakra this would be wrong of me. You must open all 7 chakras to become balanced. Psycho81 has a good thread on how to achieve this in skunk works, his thread also covers lucid dreaming and astral projection, something both of us has experienced since practising chakra meditation.

Although the feeling of love released from the heart chakra is wonderful it is not advisable in the long run to just concentrate on this alone.

Mr Green,

Funny you should say that. I do find myself suffering enormously for this lonely ladies lost dog, as well as her financial situation.
I work with my heart chakra and ask that i be the best person i can be, but i do notice that i am obsessing a bit over others.

So you would work on the other chakras to balance them all? I have a Reiki Masters, Kundalini Master, Gold Reiki Master, Etherial Crystaline im working on and this one takes a long time. I wonder if i have too much empathy now as a result? I think i may be moving too fast on all this stuff.
I love it though- I have finally found peace and some understanding in my life.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Mr Green,

Funny you should say that. I do find myself suffering enormously for this lonely ladies lost dog, as well as her financial situation.
I work with my heart chakra and ask that i be the best person i can be, but i do notice that i am obsessing a bit over others.


I love it though- I have finally found peace and some understanding in my life.

Oh dear! Your words ring so true with me its amazing. I learnt heart chakra radiance with a group of friends on ATS with Paul Richard as our teacher. And man did I become obsessive about one of my fellow friends . I have never met this fellow member with who I joined the heart chakra group but I feel I became VERY obsessed about him. We were very good friends but the fact that I was only opening my heart chakra made me almost become enchanted with him!!! This I now know was due to the heart chakra. Notice I have put we WERE very good friends because the whole thing just destroyed our friendship. I became too giveing, too understanding and just too unbalanced. I found that yes I was feeling absolute love radiating out of my heart chakra but then I would find myself in absolute dispare,absolute sadness and feelings of loss.

All the above was purely and simply because for one Id never opened my chakras before in my life. Then to go and just open the heart one in a group with others also doing this was absolutely only ever going to lead to an unbalanced mind.

Yes I still open my heart chakra more than the others as this is my strongest but just with the others is so much better. So much more balanced.

You need to help your friend in a way that is balanced other wise you will not be helping yourself in the long run. A lost pet is terrible I know, but all you need do is be there for her, her lack of money is not your responsability. Do not become so overpowered with the heart chakra that you pay her bills for her this would be wrong. If you feel you would like to help her out with money this is your choice but help from within yourself is probably all she requires.