Ask HN: What's it like getting better at meditation?
I observed three stages in my personal experience:<p>Stage 1: Being the river of emotions<p>In the beginning when emotions arose in my head, I was strongly attached to them. I identified myself with emotions I felt. My internal happiness and inner piece were strongly dependent on emotions I was experiencing. As a consequence, my internal happiness was volatile.<p>Stage 2: Observing the river of emotions<p>Through meditation I was able to become an observer of my emotions. Emotions are still present, but I don’t identify myself with them that much. Like an observer watching a river of emotions. I still feel joy, I still get aggravated, but the relationship towards emotions has changed. What’s present is curiosity towards my feelings coupled with a peculiar sense of detachment. It’s a great feature of consciousness to have, IMHO.<p>I feel more alive, I recognize my emotions more accurately and I  think I have become more emphatic. I find myself feeling the present moment in every day common situations (e.g., commute). I can concentrate more on tasks at hand, I’m naturally in the flow. On top of this, my internal happiness has become deeper and constant, as the attachment to my emotions has weakened.<p>It took me 2-3 years. I experimented with  various kinds of meditation (static, dynamic, breathing, etc.) and picked those that I found effective. I started with Headspace, for about a year. Then dynamic osho meditation + qi-gong standing meditations worked great. Also, targeting my attention to how I felt during everyday common activities helped tremendously (what I feel when having an argument, what I feel before a presentation, etc).<p>Stage 3: Who’s the observer?<p>Currently, I’m becoming more and more curious about the nature of the observer. Who’s the observer? Who’s feeling a feeling I’m feeling? If Stage 2 is a meta-level of thinking, stage 3 seems like a meta-meta level. I’m curious how that feels like. My hunch is that the internal happiness and calm becomes even more deeper. The question that is burning my consciousness currently is who will be feeling that calm then? :)<p>It seems to me we live in a world of abundant information and opportunities on cultivating one’s consciousness.  I think that advanced levels of consciousness can be reached quickly and effectively, compared to people who lived hundreds of years ago.<p>Also, it’s a long-term game. I’m currently learning a 60-second free-standing handstand, starting from zero, and I know it’s a project for at least a year. I’m 6 months in. The progress is really really slow and highly non-linear.  Sometimes the non-linearity is very discouraging, sometimes very encouraging. Nevertheless, I show up 3 times a week and do my one hour routine. Despite the slowness, I cannot believe my current skills compared to January this year.<p>If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer.