A lengthy article on problems and issues with meditation.
One method discussed is intensive Vipassana retreats.
Can Meditation be Bad For You?
[thehumanist.com]
Very interesting comments.
The ones against the article say do not throw out the baby with the bathwater, the Westerners were going into meditation for escapism, had been using drugs, already had a predisposition to mental illness (blame the victim). One bloke
said the article made its conclusions from a lot of cherry picked information.
Relatives of survivors, people who observed nervous breakdowns in ashrams -- that is cherry picked?
The vast majority of the meditation literature is pro meditation all the way.
Discussions of side effects are rare -- and full of people ready to blame the victims, especially the Westerners. (If you don't like us, stop taking our Euros, Pounds and Dollars.)
One method discussed is intensive Vipassana retreats.
Can Meditation be Bad For You?
[thehumanist.com]
Very interesting comments.
The ones against the article say do not throw out the baby with the bathwater, the Westerners were going into meditation for escapism, had been using drugs, already had a predisposition to mental illness (blame the victim). One bloke
said the article made its conclusions from a lot of cherry picked information.
Relatives of survivors, people who observed nervous breakdowns in ashrams -- that is cherry picked?
The vast majority of the meditation literature is pro meditation all the way.
Discussions of side effects are rare -- and full of people ready to blame the victims, especially the Westerners. (If you don't like us, stop taking our Euros, Pounds and Dollars.)
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Really excellent article, I am a veteran of Vipassana, having attended S.N.Goenka's first course in the West in 1979, and then been a strict follower for seven years.
It kept me enslaved in an abusive relationship, cutting off my self preservation instincts, unbalanced me to the point of severely aggravating my eventual PTSD symptoms and comorbid bipoar mania and psychosis.
Sure I saw a lot of stuff, but actually the wisdom I have returned to is not so far as the insight I had as a young man who encountered it and the person who insisted I had to do it.
Reexamining and then rejecting meditation was a major step on my recovery.
Others I know practicing more "self hypnotic" techniques seem even more damaged, numbed to empathy and merely going through the motions of compassion and conspicuous charity for ends other than the common good.
Lisa Ross • 2 years ago
I personally witnessed a suicide directly related to meditation.
As I sat in a Tibetan Buddhist meditation course in Kathmandu in 1997, a young man entered the room. He spoke briefly with the lama/guru, then promptly went up to the roof of the building and jumped off. I heard the horrible splat as he hit the ground and the commotion outside following the event. The guru merely continued with his instructional session as if nothing had happened.
Even that experience was not enough to bring me to my senses.
I continued to practice meditation for many years afterward, neglecting my adult son who needed my help, staying in a mentally and financially devastating relationship, and letting my mind go farther astray into isolation, depression, and obsessive tendencies.
In 2012, my only son died from a gunshot wound, never conclusively determined to be suicide or homicide. The shock of his premature, violent death and the horrible grief and guilt that followed have begun to bring me to my senses.
From personal experience, I would strongly discourage anyone from becoming involved with gurus and meditation practices other than a few brief moments of quiet time alone after a long, frustrating work day.
I agree that a short walk in a pleasant place (garden, park, beach, forest trail) is far better for mental health. I even find some computer games and a few educational movies more beneficial than mantras and sensory deprivation. Human brains as well as muscles require stimulation and exercise.
Since stopping meditation practice, I rarely wake myself up screaming but still have trouble sleeping. I initially turned to meditation as a means
of escape from a high-pressure job, a bad marriage that ended in divorce, and the rampant injustice, social inequality, and governmental interference in my native country.
The only benefit in my life from meditation was that I stopped smoking for ten years, most of which were spent in India and Nepal (where cigarettes are horrible). I would give anything to be able to undo the damage to my life and my son’s life that resulted from my following gurus and practicing
meditation. I had no prior history of drug or alcohol abuse or mental illness. Now, I am still struggling with the depression, lack of self-
confidence, and proclivity for isolation acquired during many years of meditation.
This article helped me understand what happened to my brain chemistry during those years. I now find facing reality through secular humanism and atheism to be far more beneficial.
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Yury Skanavy • 6 months ago
This whole meditation business is a poorly researched area and certainly not universally safe or beneficial. I suffer from panic disorder and a couple of months of simple breathing meditation (20-30 minutes a day) caused me to spiral deeper into panic. At first the practice felt positive that came to an end suddenly when. I started having episodes of extreme fear and two months after I still struggling.
I wish I never done this stuff and I wish that all delirious propopents of this stuff just piped down and admitted that we know next to nothing about brain to abuse it like this. This is all fun and games until someone loses an eye. And don't talk to me that it has to be gradual and might not be for everyone. Because until we know how gradual and what kind of people are in the risk group, these statements are doing nothing but providing a false sense of safety.
This is serious business, folks. If you are looking for stress relief, pick up needle point or go for a walk in park. These things don't have chance of debilitating you.