50 Days of Meditation: A Review of the Waking Up App from Sam Harris

Summary

The speaker shares their experience after completing a 50-day meditation journey using the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app, which they found superior to other apps like Headspace for its depth. They clarify that meditation isn't about silencing the mind but becoming aware of its constant activity. The 'Waking Up' app guided them through various techniques, emphasizing mindfulness and the importance of non-judgmental awareness. The benefits highlighted include calmness, mental clarity, and the ability to separate the observer from the experience. The speaker recommends the app for its comprehensive approach and encourages finding a meditation practice that works for each individual.

Takeaways

• 🧘 The speaker completed a 50-day meditation journey using the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app and shares their insights without sponsorship.
• 🌟 They found the 'Waking Up' app to be the most beneficial for their practice, but also appreciates 'Headspace' for its foundational techniques.
• 📈 The speaker started meditating in 2012 and has used various apps, noting that 'Headspace' was limited in its techniques after a year of use.
• 💡 Meditation is often misunderstood as silencing the mind, but the true purpose is to become aware of the constant occurrences within one's mind.
• 🌀 The speaker recommends a 10-second exercise to focus on breathing, highlighting the difficulty of maintaining focus and the natural tendency to get distracted.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Meditation is likened to a workout, where each time one returns focus to the breath after being distracted, it's akin to completing a rep.
• 💪 The benefits of meditation include improved calmness, centeredness, and the ability to recognize that one is not every thought that comes to mind.
• 💰 The 'Waking Up' app offers a 10-day free trial, after which a subscription is required, ranging from $8-12 per month or $100 annually.
• 🌱 The app's introductory program guides users through various techniques, emphasizing the importance of non-judgmental awareness of one's experiences.
• 👀 The 'Waking Up' app also introduces techniques for expanding awareness, including focusing on different areas each day and integrating them into a cohesive practice.
• 🌈 The speaker encourages finding what works for the individual, emphasizing that meditation can be practiced anywhere and under any circumstances.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the video transcript?

The purpose of the video transcript is to share the insights gained from using the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app for a 50-day meditation journey and to discuss the concept of mindfulness and meditation.

Why did the speaker choose the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app over other meditation apps?

The speaker chose the 'Waking Up' app because they felt it helped them reach a new level of meditation and mindfulness, offering techniques beyond the basics found in other apps like Headspace.

What is the common misconception about meditation mentioned in the transcript?

The common misconception is that meditation is about silencing the mind and thoughts, which the speaker advises against, especially for beginners.

What is the recommended exercise for beginners to try in the transcript?

The recommended exercise is to focus on breathing for five breaths in and out, using this as a way to become aware of distractions and the natural flow of thoughts.

How does the speaker describe the benefits of meditation in terms of mental health?

The speaker describes meditation as a mental exercise that can lead to calmness, centeredness, and the ability to observe thoughts and feelings without reacting to them, thus improving mental health.

What is the cost of the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app after the free trial?

After the free trial, the app costs about 8 to 12 dollars a month or $100 per year, which the speaker acknowledges as being steep for some people.

What is the main goal of the first stage in meditation according to the transcript?

The main goal of the first stage in meditation is to develop a lack of judgment about what is being experienced, simply being aware of what is taking place inside the mind without labeling it as good or bad.

How does the 'Waking Up' app guide users through meditation?

The 'Waking Up' app guides users through various techniques, starting with basic meditation focusing on breathing, and then expanding awareness by focusing on different areas each day, slowly weaving them together.

What is the role of the observer in meditation as described in the transcript?

The role of the observer in meditation is to maintain a separation from the experience, allowing one to observe feelings and sensations without directly reacting to them, thus building distance and disentangling the observer from the experience.

What additional meditation techniques does the 'Waking Up' app introduce beyond basic breathing focus?

The app introduces techniques such as expanding awareness to all five senses and a sixth sense, including physical sensations, hearing, and vision, allowing users to observe these perceptions as objects of meditation.

What advice does the speaker give regarding finding the right meditation method?

The speaker advises that one should find what works best for them, emphasizing that meditation can be done anywhere and under any circumstances without the need for apps or specific tools.

Outlines

00:00

🧘 Personal Experience with Meditation Apps

The speaker shares their personal journey of completing a 50-day meditation program using the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app. They emphasize that this is not a sponsored review and that they have tried various meditation apps, finding the 'Waking Up' app to be the most beneficial for their practice. The speaker discusses the limitations they experienced with other apps, such as Headspace, and how the 'Waking Up' app helped them to progress to a new level of meditation. They also address common misconceptions about meditation, clarifying that it's not about silencing the mind but rather becoming more aware of its constant activity.

05:02

🌱 Understanding Mindfulness and Meditation

This paragraph delves into the essence of mindfulness and meditation, explaining that it involves bringing awareness to one's consciousness and the associated feelings and sensations of the physical body. The speaker stresses the importance of developing a non-judgmental attitude towards one's experiences during meditation. They discuss the process of noticing judgments as they arise and treating them as objects of meditation. The 'Waking Up' app is highlighted for its guidance through various meditation techniques, including focusing on breath and expanding awareness to different senses, which helps in building resilience and the ability to observe experiences without reacting.

10:03

🔍 Exploring Advanced Meditation Techniques

The speaker talks about the natural progression of meditation to expand awareness beyond the breath, as facilitated by the 'Waking Up' app. They discuss the benefits of meditation, such as promoting calmness and centering, and the ability to recognize that one is not every thought that arises. The paragraph also touches on the importance of disentangling the observer from the experience to react appropriately to emotions and sensations. The app's approach to meditation is praised for helping users recognize and categorize different experiences, and for introducing techniques like open-eyed meditation to observe visual perceptions as objects of meditation.

🚀 Embracing a Mindful Lifestyle

In the final paragraph, the speaker recommends the 'Waking Up' app for reigniting excitement about meditation and providing a structured path for personal development. They encourage finding what works best for each individual and emphasize that meditation can be practiced anywhere and under any circumstances. The speaker draws a parallel between the mindfulness practiced by monks and the potential for everyone to incorporate mindfulness into daily routines and chores. They conclude by urging those who feel they lack time for meditation to make it a priority, as it contributes significantly to mental health.

Keywords

💡Meditation

Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind and achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. In the video, meditation is the central theme, with the speaker discussing their personal journey and the benefits they experienced from using the 'Waking Up' app by Sam Harris. The script emphasizes that meditation is not about silencing the mind but rather becoming aware of its constant activity.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness refers to the mental state of being fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of where one's body and mind are without judgement. The video explains that mindfulness is a key aspect of meditation, helping to develop a non-judgmental awareness of one's thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, as illustrated by the exercise of focusing on breathing.

💡Waking Up App

The 'Waking Up' app is a meditation guide developed by Sam Harris, which the speaker highly recommends in the video. It is mentioned as a tool that helped the speaker reach a new level of meditation, providing a structured program from day one to day fifty, covering various techniques and guiding users through the practice.

💡Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is a form of meditation where a narrator leads the practitioner through the process, often focusing on specific aspects like breathing or body awareness. The speaker mentions that they still use guided meditation and found it beneficial, especially for beginners, to have a structured approach to meditation.

💡Body Scanning

Body scanning is a meditation technique where one mentally scans their body for sensations, often starting from the head and moving down to the toes. It is mentioned in the script as a foundational technique provided by the 'Headspace' app, which the speaker used but eventually felt limited by.

💡Noting

Noting is a meditation practice where one acknowledges or 'notes' the presence of a thought or sensation without becoming attached to it. The speaker discusses noting as an important technique for developing mindfulness and for understanding the nature of one's mental activity during meditation.

💡Non-judgmental Awareness

Non-judgmental awareness is the practice of observing one's thoughts and feelings without labeling them as good or bad. The video emphasizes this as the first goal in meditation, to develop an awareness of experiences without judgment, allowing for a clearer understanding of one's mental state.

💡Mental Exercise

Mental exercise, in the context of the video, refers to the practice of meditation as a way to strengthen the mind, similar to how physical exercise strengthens the body. The speaker suggests that even a small daily commitment to meditation can yield significant benefits for mental health.

💡Observer

The term 'observer' in the video refers to the part of oneself that is aware and observing the thoughts, feelings, and sensations without getting entangled in them. The speaker discusses the importance of differentiating the observer from the experience to build mental resilience and avoid immediate reactive behaviors.

💡Experience

In the context of the video, 'experience' encompasses the thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations that one becomes aware of during meditation. The script explains that recognizing and separating these experiences from the self is crucial for developing a deeper understanding of one's consciousness.

💡Resilience

Resilience, as discussed in the video, is the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, or other stress. Meditation, according to the speaker, helps build resilience by allowing individuals to observe their reactions to stressors without becoming overwhelmed by them.

Highlights

Completed a 50-day meditation journey using the Sam Harris 'Waking Up' app.

The 'Waking Up' app is considered the best for the user, compared to other meditation apps like Headspace.

Meditation is not about silencing the mind but becoming aware of its constant activity.

Guided meditation is recommended for beginners to help focus on the breath.

A 10-second exercise to focus on breathing is suggested to demonstrate the nature of meditation.

Meditation helps in developing awareness and letting perceptions and feelings occur without judgment.

The practice of meditation is likened to doing reps in a workout, improving with consistent practice.

The 'Waking Up' app offers a subscription-based service with a 10-day free trial.

The app provides a guided program from day one to day 50, covering various meditation techniques.

Mindfulness and meditation involve bringing awareness to consciousness and physical sensations.

The goal of meditation is to develop a lack of judgment about one's experiences.

The 'Waking Up' app helps in recognizing and separating different categories of experiences during meditation.

Meditation builds distance between the observer and the experience, leading to better reactions.

The app encourages resilience in meditation, even in noisy environments.

Vision can be incorporated into meditation by opening the eyes and focusing on an object.

The user found the 'Waking Up' app exciting and a tool for personal development in meditation.

Meditation can be practiced anywhere and under any circumstances, promoting a mindful lifestyle.

Transcripts

hey sapiens I just finished fifty days

of meditation using the Sam Harris

waking up app and I want to share these

insights with you so this is not

sponsored I just did this on my own this

fell out of my previous video where I

review different meditation apps and

I've used a few you can check out those

reviews but I do think that the waking

up app is the best one for me I've also

really enjoyed headspace and I would

recommend that

so I started meditating in 2012 I

started off with different basic

meditations headspace was great I really

liked the narration I liked the timing

the guided nosov it but I do feel even

after a year or more of using both the

free and paid version of headspace they

were limited in a certain sense to their

techniques most of their techniques were

about body scanning noting which are

very important and I do think they're

foundational but there was a limit I

felt I reached where I was like where do

we go beyond this I do feel like the Sam

Harris waking up app helped me reach a

new level but I wanted to talk to you a

little bit about meditation and

mindfulness and what mindfulness really

means a lot of people have this idea

that meditation is about silencing your

mind silencing your thoughts and that's

actually really bad don't do that don't

even try to do that and definitely for a

beginner I would say it's good to have

some kind of guided meditation I still

use guided meditation I think it's great

now this exercise that I recommend is

only going to take you 10 seconds try to

breathe and focus on your breathing

for five breaths so in and out five

times so and you want to turn your

attention towards your breathing and

just like I said cover that breath with

your attention from the start at your

mouth down to your chest

and out

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

you

most people are actually unable to

follow their breath five times without

being distracted by some and you'll

notice that it just pops up into your

mind so as I said meditation is not

about trying to silence your mind you're

simply trying to become more aware of

what is always and constantly occurring

in your mind when you get distracted by

a thought by a feeling or sensation and

in meditation where for 10 minutes out

of the day you're just saying for 10

minutes you're gonna let that perception

and feeling occur and you're gonna let

it go by returning to focus on the

breath or whatever your object of

meditation is this is a lot like doing a

rep in a workout so if you're doing

push-ups and you're doing one rep then

in meditation when you get distracted by

a thought and you're able to pull

yourself back and focus on your breath

that is like one rep so I hope you see

why the more you practice the better you

get even devoting just a small amount of

your time 10 minutes a day to do this

mental exercise I mean it you really

have to see for yourself the benefits

that it will give you in your own life

and something that makes me feel guilty

is if you're exercising your physical

body but everything is so tied to your

mental health why are you doing so much

for your physical health when you could

just do a small extra bit for your

mental health if you're not careful

meditation can be a confusing and very

frustrating activity I did the 10 day

free trial of the Sam Harris waking up

app after that you have to subscribe to

the app it's about 8 to 12 dollars a

month or $100 per year which is kind of

steep for some people it was a little

steep for me I ended up spending that

much partly as a commitment and partly

because I've been following Sam Harris

for a long time and I should give him

some of my money his introductory

program goes from day one to day 50 and

it really guides you through all kinds

of techniques the most basic form of

meditation is of course to simply

breathe and focus on your breathing

because what mindfulness and meditation

is is simply bringing your awareness to

what is occurring in your consciousness

what are the feelings associated with

being your physical body where are you

in space what are the sensations of your

body

there's the mental aspect of what it's

like to be your mind what are the fuss

that occur where do they come from what

about your emotions and really it's not

about silencing or minimizing anything

in fact the first goal you should have

is to develop a lack of judgement about

what you're experiencing you don't want

to say that thought was bad these

feelings you don't want to judge one way

or the other you don't want to say it's

bad or it's good you simply want to be

aware of what is taking place inside of

your mind and the next stage is you will

likely judge some of your experiences

and you have to notice that that

judgment is simply another perception

occurring in your mind and that

perception in your mind is simply

another object for you to meditate upon

to be aware of with each perception you

want to notice it be aware of it and

return your focus and attention to your

breath you want to cover the breath

completely so as you inhale through your

nose you want to feel it and focus your

attention on your nose and throat down

into your lungs and then as you breathe

out as well

notice where the air is where is your

attention where's your focus where's the

feeling so the waking up app in the

first 10 days it covers that really well

and I would

I recommend it it goes a lot deeper and

it definitely expanded my mind and

expanded my awareness of meditation in

most meditation apps that I've

encountered and a lot of introductory

and basic manuals on meditation what I

described where you notice what's

happening and occurring in your mind but

you do your best to maintain a stillness

and return to the breath and focus a

natural progression for meditation is to

expand your awareness and waking up

helps you do all of these things

focusing on one different area each day

slowly bringing those back and weaving

them together the main benefits of

meditation are that it helps you to be

calm to be centered is to recognize that

you are not every thought that comes

into your mind it can become very

difficult as we experience an emotion or

thought process or physical feeling to

be caught up in that sensation and to

identify with it and to feel like that

is what we're doing that is who we are

but meditation allows you to build

distance from what you're actually

experiencing and the observation of that

experience

we often get mixed we're the observer

and the experience feel like one and the

same meditation allows you to draw a

separation you're able to experience a

feeling and sensations without directly

reacting to that when the observer and

the experience become entangled you are

less able to react appropriately you

often react immediately and it creates a

feedback loop in a cycle so meditation

is simply building some distance and

disentangling the observer with the

experience so I was really interested in

how to build that distance how to see

and recognize categories of experience

and to separate them out so the waking

of that it does a great job of helping

you recognize experiences because often

we feel like oh I can't meditate because

it's too noisy or it's just any other

excuse the waking out that helps you see

the

any kind of sensation can be the object

of meditation it helps you be resilience

even if you're in an apartment by

freeway with lots of traffic the waking

up map walks you through all five of

your senses and actually the sixth as

well you can start with physical

sensations like where you are in space

where is your body located and oriented

to itching to look small pains and you

start to build in an awareness of your

sense of hearing listening for

everything in your environment noticing

that it the sound itself bubbles up in

consciousness and it fades away quickly

what I was really excited to get into as

well is bringing in vision into

meditation so that's where instead of

closing your eyes with meditation you

open your eyes and fixate on an object

and that allows you to see that vision

is still another perception that occurs

in your conscious mind and it's another

experience that we can observe I highly

recommend sam harris is waking up app it

made meditation exciting for me again

something to work towards now I am still

excited after the fact that I feel like

there's so many things for me to explore

I feel like I can develop much more on

my own now I thought this app was great

it was very helpful for me but you

should find what works for you and again

you don't need apps or anything else you

can do it anywhere and under any

circumstances there are many monks who

do everything in a meditative and

mindful way which might be a little bit

extreme but if we could just get a

little bit of that and part of why you

see monks in Zen gardens where

everything looks immaculate and

perfectly cleaned and cared for it's

because part of their training is to do

their routines and chores in a mindful

way you do anything with a mindful

quality so meditate wherever you are

whenever you can find the time and I

would say again if you feel like you

don't have the time to meditate then

that's when you should absolutely

meditate thanks bye-bye