|
|
 |
|
| Author |
 Topic  |
|
Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 01 2014 : 7:44:29 PM
|
| W/ regard to the above discussion about depression, it may be helpful to distinguish between "circumstantial depression," which is a passing mood related to external events (e.g. being dumped by your girlfriend, losing your job, etc.), as opposed to "clinical depression," which is a persistent state that can occur independent of external circumstances and is generally thought to be caused by a chemical imbalance, although (contrary to popular belief among laypersons) there is no actual scientific proof of this. When I mentioned my own positive experiences w/ "depression" I was referring to the former. Some people who suffer from severe clinical depression may benefit from medication, although there can be major side effects. Meditation has been shown to be helpful for depression without the negative side effects, as has hatha yoga. |
 |
|
|
catrynn
Ireland
68 Posts |
Posted - Nov 02 2014 : 07:27:31 AM
|
'It is also of interest to me that not only Alan Watts, but Eckhart Tolle, Shinzen Young http://www.shinzen.org/index.htm and many others promote the idea of feeling our moods and emotions while in complete recognition and acceptance of them - or as Tolle puts it, to bring consciousness to it. This appears, in my own experience, to reduce the energy of the mood/emotion and even physical pain, which when repeated consciously, eventually has the effect of eliminating the problem all together.'
Hi Whoziz! Interesting thread. You may like to look at 'The Presence Process' (Revised Edition) by Michael Brown. He goes along with the above quote from you and provides a ten week training programme that individuals do for themselves. His whole system is to encourage us to safely feel and process our old childhood emotions and integrate them. I am on the last week of my second round and can say that it is an amazing experience. I have learned to safely stay with my old childhood unpleasant emotions and get so much better at feeling. I don't know if it would be helpful for someone in deep depression as you do have to do his breathing exercises for 15 mins twice a day. But it is a technique that works so we can go in the direction that you indicated. There are threads on 'The Presence Process' in this forum - probably under 'Other methods'. Check them out! 
|
|
|
|
ddaniel
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - Dec 27 2014 : 1:25:46 PM
|
Older thread, but I thought i'd give my input as I have struggled with severe depression for most of my life, and feel i'm winning my 'battle' (read: THERE'S HOPE!! :) ). My life has been filled with more and more happiness and fulfillment -- the past year in particular has been one of the most rewarding in my life, despite being overwhelmingly difficult (death of 2 loved ones, failed relationship, etc. etc.).
Meditation undoubtedly helped me tremendously in my journey, though it's not a magic-pill.
In my experience, depression is more of a combination of different factors than a 'thing' in itself. The most obvious contributors to my overall depressed state were deep-seated feelings of worthlessness / self-hate, and a physical / physiological deficiency.
More often than not, depression goes hand in hand with anxiety. Anxiety overloads the 'fight-or-flight' response, depleting the body's glandular system and lowering overall energy. The lower your energy levels, the higher the anxiety and feelings of worthlessness, and the more difficult it is to bring yourself to make changes - it's a perpetual cycle. The quickest way to help this (again, in my experience) is diet and exercise. Eating lighter foods made me feel lighter, and exercise not only helped my self-image in the long-term, but releases endorphins that help tremendously from day-to-day.
Meditation helped me in different ways. By cultivating stillness / the witness, a 'buffer-zone' is created around the depression. It's still there, but you don't necessarily identify with it - "I'm depressed" turns into "depression is arising", and that subtle shift is significant. This is somewhat of a 'short-term' fix in that it helps treat the symptoms of depression, but it doesn't really change the underlying cause.
For that, emotional integration has been a Godsend. In a nutshell, this entails letting the emotions come up, experiencing them fully without resistance, and letting them pass through the system. Past traumas (the majority of which you likely don't even remember) create conditioned responses to situations which often result in negative states, but this conditioning can be 're-programmed'. The more stillness I cultivate, the greater my ability to process these negative emotions - both on the cushion and when the arise in day-to-day life.
Finally, since i've started my sitting practice, I feel my ability to connect with my fellow humans has steadily increased, and the more I connect with others, the happier I seem to be. This is probably more of a secondary effect, but still worth mentioning.
Things / resources that helped me:
Glenn Morris has a practice called 'The Secret Smile' that is basically just the practice of cultivating positive emotions. You can read about it here: http://thetaobums.com/topic/9719-dr...e-tao-bumbs/
The Presence Process, which has been mentioned, is a good book to help deal with integration emotions. Another is a book called Emotional Clearing: http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Cle...p/0962929530
This might sound odd as well and might not necessarily be for everyone, but something else I recognized is that i'm tremendously capable of expressing unconditional love toward others, yet am overly hard on myself. To counteract this, I try to love myself in the same way I love others, and that slight change of perception has been significant.
...This response has been all over the place, but in response to the OP, it's my experience that meditation can be a tremendous tool to battle depression - but more than that it is a tool to help increase our overall well-being. |
|
|
|
finding_my_way
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2015 : 4:15:45 PM
|
Thank you for the above information. I will be digesting. I have been practicing deep meditation with very few missed sessions for the last 7 months. I have abstained from all alcohol. I have noticed significantly less anxiety and more awareness and presence through the day. Suddenly, I am feeling more depression in the last week or so. Hope it will pass soon.
Marcus |
|
|
|
BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - May 03 2015 : 8:56:18 PM
|
I hear ya' Finding my way!
The "sudden" bouts are a consistent theme in my life even here at 57.
You express awesome bhakti affirming as you do your consistent mantra(deep meditation) efforts and booze abstention.
What a loyalty towards your own spiritual efforts! That's more real than anything Marcus.
That will for sure bear fruit without fail.
|
|
|
|
fusions
Netherlands
18 Posts |
Posted - May 04 2015 : 1:11:05 PM
|
In my experience Eckhart Tolle said it quite spot on; You can experience a negative spiral in that an emotions arises, that emotions creates negative thoughts, which creates more emotion etc.
But once you stop fueling the spiral and abide in awareness, the emotions/thoughts gradually dissolve and peace and joy gradually arise from stillness. |
|
|
|
finding_my_way
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2015 : 12:54:58 PM
|
| Thank you for the responses! I cut back on practices and feeling better. Maybe some overload was coming on. |
|
|
|
BillinL.A.
USA
375 Posts |
Posted - May 06 2015 : 1:00:39 PM
|
Great news Finding!...and a little overload is kind of a good sign that we're headed in the right direction. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
| AYP Public Forum |
© Contributing Authors (opinions and advice belong to the respective authors) |
|
|
|
|
Depression, Spiritual Emergence or Crisis
