A few months ago, I decided to start meditating regularly, around an hour a day. It seemed like a good opportunity to measure possible effects, so I asked for advice on what to measure. This post summarizes the results. In short, while the subjective effects of meditation were strong, the measurements didn't show anything. This is a fine place to stop reading; I'm mostly posting this because I promised to.
I did mindfulness meditation, as guided by The Mind Illuminated. My object of focus was typically my breath (while sitting), or my steps (as hiking).
I set up roughly once or twice daily pings from TagTime for experience sampling.
What I Measured
My performance on the tasks looked entirely random. It wasn't better or worse after meditating, and it didn't get better or worse over time.
I have no idea how to do experience sampling. I understand that some people have moods. I'm almost always in a neutral mood, and so wasn't sure what to put most of the time. Also, I'm apparently often away from my phone, and missed many (most?) pings.
A few measly months of meditation isn't going to change anything like your performance on reaction-time-like tasks.
A few measly months of meditation will give you a fascinating look into your own mind. It's not what you think. I'd say more, but I'm deeply confused and don't have a good model.
Meditation retreats are great. I went on a two-day one, whose format wasn't particularly well-suited for me, and even this had a large effect on my practice.
There has been (some) research on the hoped-for effects of meditation. http://nonsymbolic.org/publications
"waking up from a dream" is a relatively common description as are the other things you describe. As your "mindfulness" improves you will more or less permanently shift into "awake". With practice the experience transitions from a "psychological" state to a "psychological" trait. Using Kahnemans terminology this transition can crudely be thought of as the balance of power shifting from the "remembering self" to the "experiencing self"
A few months ago, I decided to start meditating regularly, around an hour a day. It seemed like a good opportunity to measure possible effects, so I asked for advice on what to measure. This post summarizes the results. In short, while the subjective effects of meditation were strong, the measurements didn't show anything. This is a fine place to stop reading; I'm mostly posting this because I promised to.
I did mindfulness meditation, as guided by The Mind Illuminated. My object of focus was typically my breath (while sitting), or my steps (as hiking).
What I Measured
What I Measured
What I Learned