I'm curious to know more. But I also think it's important not to paint all meditation with the same brush. Transcendental Meditation® is it's own weird thing.
Meditation and yoga have taken the ‘Western’ world by storm. This is because they are extremely easy to instruct. Close your eyes, breathe evenly, etc.
Those who know (yah pasyati, sah pasyayi - are initiated in scripture and are able to ‘see’) understand that meditation is the end portion of a spiritual path, the last stage before enlightenment.
Every single canonical text mentioning meditation mentions how essential it is to control the mind first, before meditation. Yet most people end up using it as a way to calm down which is not the intended use. It is unsurprising that they end up hurting themselves. Most can’t continue the practise long enough to do that anyways because for a beginner your mind will be jumping within 5 seconds or less.
It doesn’t matter much anyways. Most people are not Really meditating when they attempt to do so, more just relaxing.
Source: Scholar of important ancient Indian texts.
Those who know (yah pasyati, sah pasyayi - are initiated in scripture and are able to ‘see’) understand that meditation is the end portion of a spiritual path, the last stage before enlightenment.
Every single canonical text mentioning meditation mentions how essential it is to control the mind first, before meditation. Yet most people end up using it as a way to calm down which is not the intended use. It is unsurprising that they end up hurting themselves. Most can’t continue the practise long enough to do that anyways because for a beginner your mind will be jumping within 5 seconds or less.
It doesn’t matter much anyways. Most people are not Really meditating when they attempt to do so, more just relaxing.
Source: Scholar of important ancient Indian texts.