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Meditation Support Group

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Lyme Disease
Are you interested in joining a Lyme/etc. support group?
Absolutely! - 33.3% - 1 votes
Maybe--no meditation for me please - 0.0% - 0 votes
Maybe--meditation focus preferred - 0.0% - 0 votes
No thanks, but good luck! - 66.7% - 2 votes
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Posted 1/26/2021 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
So this came up in another topic about EFT/EMDR and now I'm putting feelers out there....

I'm personally struggling the most with my mental health symptoms. I do struggle physically also, but it's really the depression, anxiety, rage, mood swings, paranoia, etc. that seem to control me. Would anyone on here be interested in taking a free 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course with me? I've already "started" but I am not holding myself accountable so I'm reaching out for accountability buddies. It's based on the work of Jon Kabat Zinn, aimed at people with chronic stress, pain, and/or illnesses. I'm also reading Full Catastrophe Living by JKZ on the side (it walks you through his original MBSR program details) if anyone wants to book club that with me.

I'm not sure if anyone is interested but I the course is designed to occur with in-person group meditation, and nowadays we can only ever do anything online anyway. Plus I think it would be a nice support group to have people together who are dealing with similar issues. Also, this doesn't necessarily have to be a big commitment--there's lots of varieties/options!

I won't be offended if no one is interested, I'm just attempting to de-isolate myself from this incredibly isolating disease.

NOTE: I'm aware this forum counts as a support forum....so I'm really referring to something more guided and recurring with a weekly meeting/goal or something.

Post Edited (mitch27) : 1/25/2021 10:34:32 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/26/2021 9:03 AM (GMT 0)
I'm not interested in joining a group, but I have meditated for over 10 years and I can give you some advice. I don’t meditate that much right now and focus on a short yoga routine for about 7 min, 6 days a week. Meditate for 15-20 min 2-3 times a week. At my peak, I did 20-40 min every day. The longer meditation helped a lot when I was processing trauma.

It's very important to find a routine and certain times when you meditate, so you do it out of habit. For most people, that’s in the morning before breakfast. That is when I do my yoga now. It can be nice to track it for accountability. I used Headspace before and they let you know how many days in a row you have been doing it. You can have the days on a paper on the fridge and make a mark for the days you meditate or use a habit tracker app. I started programming my own habit tracker program yesterday to track yoga and two other things.

I do meditation before I need to perform mentally as it helps me to calm down. I would love to do it more again if I had more time. I mostly see it as some quiet time where I can just relax.

It's more important to start with a lower time to get in the routine of doing it every day. So it's better to start with 5 min, instead of doing 20 min and quitting after a while.

Post Edited (Deep_sleep) : 1/26/2021 2:07:05 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/26/2021 11:28 AM (GMT 0)
Mitch, thank you for the recommendation, I just ordered that book. I'm very interested in this lately, as I'm starting to see benefits myself from meditation.

In addition to meditation, two things that are helping me that go hand-in-hand with meditation are breathwork and stoicism. Have really been working on my breathing (I'd recommend reading the book Breath by James Nestor) and on Stoicism (The Obstacle is the Way). Stoicism is very important for anyone w/ damage to the sympathetic nervous system and anxiety.

Dont want to confuse you or add to much on your plate, focus on the 8 week course, but if you like it these are follow-up things to consider. I will say, however, that you are on the right track. These things can really help.
Posted 1/26/2021 12:00 PM (GMT 0)
I’d be interested in a group thing for sure. I find this lyme thing so isolating.
Posted 1/26/2021 3:27 PM (GMT 0)
I like the idea of some accountability for meditation. It's one of those things that's hard for me to get into the headspace for, so it's easy to come up with other things I "need" to do instead. The thing that makes me hesitate is scheduling; unfortunately I don't think I could find any regular time to be involved reliably. If you want to connect asynchronously by email, then I'm in!
Posted 1/28/2021 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
Yay! I'm excited to see that even a few people are interested.

How about this:
Every week, I (or someone else) can start a new thread for our group. Then we can record our meditation day/time and experience as it comes up. Could also just be a support group check in if you aren't interested in/don't get to meditation. This way we have some accountability, but it won't be a synchronous group meet. I'm certainly open to synchronous meetings if anyone wants to.

I'm excited!

Also, thanks Deep Sleep for the advice! I love your ideas. I will definitely be tracking and coming up with a routine to get in the habit of meditating. Yoga is on my list as well 🙏
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