I meditated 2+ hours daily for 4 years. Honest reflections

[@matthieulecce]

12:00 "If you look carefully and with an orientation of loving curiosity". If I needed only one meditation instruction that would be it. Thank you for saying it so clearly.

[@sonamtshering194]

The honesty in this video really leaves a profound effect on the viewer

[@SamRoff]

I’m glad 😊🙏

[@leraginasian]

I like the quote, the zen you have at the top of the mountain is the zen you bring with you for the climb. I botched that quote but it's saying, the peace you have during meditation can be found anywhere you are after the meditation is over. Hope this helps.

[@SamRoff]

Love it! Yeah totally agree man. Just appearances 👁️

[@DillyDallyLove]

I love how you talked about observing what makes us suffer! I love how you talked just being on the ride of life! I just love sitting with myself and observing and I need to get a friend that likes to sit and observe just like you!!! ❤

[@Bee7Z7]

The difference between year-two and year-four versions of you in your videos was night and day to watch. Good to know that's what it takes to grow, so thanks for posting these.

[@bjk1895]

Beautiful man, humble and refreshing. Thank you so much for sharing. I watcjed the 2.5 year video and then this on new years eve 2024/25. What a lovely way to start seeing in the new year. A good reminder to practice with all of life and the object of meditation. Hopefully i too can exist from a place of open hearted awareness more and more ❤

[@pokefriend13]

I love that this is unedited, very raw, very good. Thanks for making this video :D

[@SamRoff]

You're welcome mate! Thanks for the suggestion to make it!

[@lAlexstraszal]

The different tint of your eyes in the video looks so beautiful, man. Great honest video, thank you for comming into my recommended section

[@nturner82]

Thank you for sharing this. It seems to me that you've put so much effort into trying to understand and manage your anxiety and inner self. I'm glad to hear you say it's worth it.

[@louaychikha1395]

i ve been meditating for 5 month for almost 2 hours daily .. it helped me on all aspect of my life .. i can relate so much on how wet get humbled when we face certain circumstance and all that energy and connection appear to disapear

[@SamRoff]

Oh yeah, unfortunately that’s just the way this goes. 🤯

[@KanishkaMangal]

does it helped with your relationships with others

[@vics6353]

I saw your face light up with a sincere joy when you talked about your partner and your step daughter. As a step dad myself i can relate. Godspeed you on your Journey.

[@e00d20]

"jumping out of my skin" is 100% relatable... thanks for keeping it post

[@SamRoff]

You're welcome man. Yeah haha, it can definitely feel like that sometimes

[@juliangould2715]

really great video mate thanks for sharing, always nice to hear about people's experiences along the way. sendin metta!

[@forollkin]

I have just come to the same conclusion as you that no one is coming to save me from my own mind... It feels like an impossible situation to fix and that im not smart/skilled/good enough to be able to fix it myself... But then again there is something in me that still believes i can. I appreciate the video! Thanks!

[@anastazja.s.insight]

Thank you for this video. I watched your video on the Vipassana retreat experience just about a month ago when I was preparing (anxiously) for my first Vipassana getaway. Now, it has merely been 5 days since I returned, and here I am back again, with the determination to keep on sitting. This video has resonated with me on so many levels. I don't feel like Vipassana has given me a big relief (which I was I guess expecting after having tried some Breathwork, where you feel like you had gone through a whole day of sauna in a mere hour). The retreat instead shed little light on reality, where I could see how restless the mind is. I was scared to come back detached and out in the cosmos, but in fact, it is still me, experiencing little moments of non-reacting here and there. It is absolutely great to see you being able to keep up consistent practice, it gives me the reassurance. Thank you and wishing you all the best.

[@gubi2507]

i have been moving away lately from vipassana and into other meditation practices and things like yoga and chigong it is nice to see the impact it is having on you, i dont know if i will ever come back to vipassana but it really is a great clear teaching and i am greatful for it.

[@SamRoff]

Yessss trust yourself! I do a lot of qi gong too and its very very helpful for regulating the nervous system!

[@catmeister6460]

Hi Sam, I appreciate you authentically sharing your experience. However, as someone who is relatively new into meditation and doing the work, I hoped for a more detailed and specific review. Science has shown countless physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits ranging from increasing one's ability to focus, concentrate and remember things to reducing negative emotions, stress and anxiety. As someone who recently did a 10-day Vipassana, I can tell my cognitive functioning as well as emotional functioning seem to have been improved. These are things that directly improve my quality of life. Could you do a video about that?

[@chaunceylocklear3661]

I think we might be of similar age. It will be interesting to see those of us at our age grow older because I think time is an essential element in the wisdom to be gained in life. I can speak for myself in that while I began my meditation journey, I was strongly encouraging myself to gain as much understanding as quickly as possible. After 15 years of vipassana, and living life, and now being 37, I don't feel that same pressure or need to gain so much so quickly. It's like, as we heal, the suffering of feeling behind, or stupid, or not good enough, becomes replaced with acceptance for where we are, with no need to become the buddha or enlightened person that we once felt so strongly we should become. It has made sitting more gentle and possible because I'm no longer chasing the "final stage." And yet, of course, I still have an ego who wants to be cool by being more aware and enlightened-- but I'm aware of it now.

[@poshack4751]

Thank you for sharing your meditating journey. It´s definitly helpful for me to know that there is a way to cope with thought itself and of course there will be always ups and downs in life but as you described it, it could be a 1 or a 10 but i feel like we need the downs to apreciate the ups even more. Hope you post a vid in 2 years again. Much Love and Peace

[@peterpuskas8199]

Hey Sam! i just want to thank you :) i love your content...

[@krishnamadhusudan8370]

Awesome to see you making videos on power of shadow work. Love the authencity and openess and found this very relatable. Nobody is coming to save you outside yourself is true from a certain pov. However the question I would propose ia why have the belief "that one needs to be saved at all".

[@SamRoff]

That’s a very good inquiry ;) thank you!

[@mbaril100]

Beautiful, mate! thanks for sharing!

[@SamRoff]

No worries!! Hope it was helpful man

[@limeng7999]

He is enjoying the process❤ That’s what I see from this video. Wishing to see your 10 years spiritual journey summary one day Sam😊😊

[@SamRoff]

It has its moments but yes, overall - I wouldn't change it for anything :)

[@Glaubensfragen_Christentum]

You are such a beautiful Person! I changed to just live bei accept emotions the way Vipassana teaches, but without meditation. I personally like it much more than meditation. It is more the way Eckhard Tolle descripes. In my opinion sometimes it is better not to dig to fast and accept that we are not perfect, but still be open to become a better person :) Best reguards

[@SamRoff]

Thank you for the kind words ☺️ and yes beautiful! The capacity to bring it into daily life without avoiding the emotions is so powerful!

[@danielcausevic4403]

I loved listening to you. I can relate to a lot of what you're talking about.

[@veelouie]

i'm glad to hear that you've been putting in the work through shadow work/therapy. it was what i was going to suggest. i think that when we first come into an understanding about spirituality or meditation or even therapy, we think that it's a cure. we think things work in this sort of binary fashion where we go and do the thing and then we are fixed. and i think ive been learning that it's really moreso about your ability to move with the negative events life throws at your with more and more equanimity and ease. that's done through radical acceptance and takes an introspection that's seperate but still just as important as meditation. as for me, i've never done meditation and my work i think is the opposite. i've been spending all my time reading and learning about psychology and philosophy in a way to try and 'cure' my own ailments. and slowly with time i'm trying to incorporate more mindfulness. i want to start building a meditation practice soon. thanks for your video! take care

[@deb6706]

Thank you Sam, I have been same like you and no other guru say about it even in vipassena camps I have been there once,whatever you say is very true and hard to believe that its gets worse before its gets better.

[@SamRoff]

Oh god yeah!

[@ValentinBaron-sy6yt]

Great and authentic video man, thanks a lot for sharing!

[@SamRoff]

You're welcome brother. :)

[@tomallsop6460]

Nice one. I’ve practiced for around 4 years. Yes, it definitely gets difficult after a while. Somehow a lot of my traumas show up at night yielding great insight into my past. Mind provides sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrifying distractions in the form of visions, extreme sensations, out of body dreams etc… Then very occasionally glimpses of our purest self, void of separateness, something to aspire to. I feel symptoms of greater amounts of energy coursing up through my body, untying knots, and daily experience becoming ever more beautiful. I’m grateful to come across a video by a young person that isn’t just banging on about non-duality. The vast amount of these guys have no real experience and are pretty poor teachers, filling up the airwaves with parroted views of their own apparent non-existence. Really?? How helpful is it to tell someone who is going through an existential crisis that they don’t exist?? Advaita Vedanta is a high level teaching for a reason. Also, I liked your first video too, but I see so many videos that talk of problems with meditation, but none with any solutions. I follow the AYP method which was started by an American guy called Yogani. In his teachings, the method of ‘self pacing’ practices is always highly recommended and I have found it invaluable in my own experience, especially when the energy of the body becomes more prevalent in experience. When things are getting too tough, it is recommended to cut down your practice to a safe level. Simple. It’s common sense really but nobody says it!! 🤷 ‘Pushing through’ will lead to more discomfort and will slow your progress .

[@persianprincess90]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. 🙏😍☘️

[@SamRoff]

You're welcome 🙏

[@lionkleinschmidt4612]

the words of the buddha. great video. real one ❤

[@TThomasCPA]

Thank you.

[@peterlewis8006]

loved this

[@SamRoff]

I'm glad 🙏

[@nepalkushal2]

12:34 Relationships are where you learn the most in life. They always show you places where you are not free. It’s difficult as hell lol

[@joseleandrobaptista5690]

So and you think you will continue with the 2h practices through out your life? Or have you changed anything and why? Thank you.

[@constructor_777]

Just curious, have you used psilocybin? Boosted my experience and spiritual journey a lot

[@juno7496]

Hey Sam, I highly highly recommend reading Everyday Zen by Charlotte Joko Beck which deals very directly and eloquently with how we can deal with the everyday pain and suffering of living. She explains how the aim of meditation is not happiness or to feel good all the time but to have a rich and full life in the midst of all the difficulties of living. I found it a lifechanging and life affirming read which has given me a new perspective on what my practice actually is and is supposed to accomplish. If you like everyday zen then also read her other book nothing special which I am finding equally insightful. I also see you have an Alain de Botton book on your shelf. I cannot recommend highly enough his “School of Life: an emotional education” enough which I think would resonate with you.

[@SamRoff]

Awesome Juno, thanks for the recommendations! Good to see you still hanging around on the channel too mate, I’ll see if I can get access to those books. Everyday Zen sounds excellent

[@ArturMnemonik]

I've meditated for the 3rd time. Will I be in the same place after such a long journey?))

[@reemas213]

Thanks for sharing.

[@SamRoff]

You’re very welcome!

[@ternvall]

My biggest takeaway from attending a Vipassana retreat was that I wouldn't progress much further with teachings built on reincarnation. To me, it's not transcending the stresses of mortality, by denying its finality. How do you deal with it?

[@SamRoff]

I’d me more inclined to ask how YOU deal with it and ask that from a heart level like you really really want to know, awesome inquiry! Personally though I find reincarnation to be a helpful concept that I’ve leant on before in times of seep suffering. Sort of like.. unless I see through this apparent fixation or hindrance, I’ll only have to deal with it in the next life. Best earnestly inquire into whats actually happening here rather than entertaining the forces of ego.

[@ternvall]

I dealt with it by not dealing with it. Meditation helps me with a lot, but have accepted that stress about fulfilment (life goals) is not one of them. That I won't get the patient look in the eyes, that meditators get. In fact, I've seen non meditating christians with that calm.

[@binamdulal4138]

Please post other too..............

[@SamRoff]

I may :)

[@ante-z1g]

beautiful!

[@emanori123]

Thank you Sam for sharing your honest and raw review on meditation. I have been following your channel for two years or so and you inspired me to attend my first Vipassana retreat. However, it is a huge struggle still for me to concentrate my mind even though I have maintained a 2 hours daily practice. Could you please recommend some books or teachers that would help me improve my practice?

[@SamRoff]

You're welcome! Nice job keeping up the practice! Usually, it's difficult to concentrate because there is discomfort in the body. Is that the case for you? Body contraction, tightness in the gut etc. The mind jumps to thought as a habitual way to mildly dissociate (everyone does this to some degree) from feeling the discomfort- so if the body is tense, I would suggest some relaxation practices. But let me know if that is the case - otherwise it's usually just patience. Teacher wise - Simply Always Awake (Angelo Dilullo). His book called Awake - it's your turn - is probably my number 1 recommendation. He doesn't practice Vipassana though, more so self inquiry - so trust yourself. Jeff Foster - The Deepest acceptance is also good, more in alignment with Vipassana as taught by S.N Goenka probably. Jeff Foster is also a great teacher on his KZbin Channel with very good pointing to equanimity. Hope this helps

[@Sharad045]

This reminds me of a quote from ram Dass that if you think you are spiritualy enlightened then go and spend some time with your family XD (i see that you said this by the end of the video 😂) Love you brother❤

[@SamRoff]

Hahaha yesss exactly! Great minds think alike ;)

[@MrAmritbhagat]

Thanks brother

[@SamRoff]

you're very welcome my friend

[@RC-md2yx]

Theres also small research online if you search about adverse effects of meditation its also increase anxiety and depression. Also my friend don't forgot that meditation is for sadhu or monk for enlightenment meaning he or she lives society and all motivation. For example if you get anger by something you don't get enough motivation to act or take good action that required. So be careful for meditation

[@josephselwan1652]

You said you would talk with a teacher every fortnight in the previous video. Was that a Vipassana teacher? What kind of teacher was it? Would be curious to know as I am thinking of adding on as well 1-on-1 advice.

[@ethan_490]

look into St. Seraphim Rose.

[@vladyslav737]

You gave me hope. I hope it's possible. What would you recommend someone struggling with first year of university degree(difficult to stay consistent), loneliness, social media addiction, social anxiety, eating enough and I guess some feelings around break up. Listed like that, doesn't sound promising. I am probably complaining, but i guess i need some hope and maybe some support. Thank you for your time and for hope. I will look into your other videos.

[@SamRoff]

Hey man, I've been there. At uni I had a heavy gaming addiction and numbed out a tonne and struggled with procrastination. I learned that I was avoiding very painful feelings that I had been carrying for a long time. Be compassionate with yourself, step by step. I would start with a basic meditation practice if you haven't already, focus on loving kindness toward yourself and really get in touch with you feelings. Start working on becoming deeply on your own team, from the inside out. There is much to say on what could be done, if you need extra support I offer coaching calls. You got this man. It gets better. Awareness is the beginning.

[@vladyslav737]

I just found out that my ex girlfriend, my first and only love has a new boyfriend. I'm going to start meditating in the morning. The pain is overwhelming. Thank you for your words. I can't. I don't understand

[@vladyslav737]

Sorry for whining. I know nothing is going to change if I don't change. I just don't know why am I still alive. No reason to be.

[@vladyslav737]

Should I just try to feel the pain? Should I try to avoid numbing myself at all costs? Or should I use meditation when the pain gets too strong? Or is it ok to numb it sometimes?

[@vladyslav737]

I don't know how, but I think I'm going to make it

[@khalidrasouli]

Brother, I would like to invite you to consider Islam. Spirituality isnt just for us to feel better and treat our mental health. It is meant to align you to your greater purpose. You are a sincere person. God will guide you to the truth.

[@toshxtxt4713]

These all practices help you on a biological level once you fix it it becomes easier fix your psychology but most of practice force you just ignore the ego or the psychology

[@SamRoff]

Yeah there’s an integrative and disintegrative aspect to this. You could call it avoiding psychology but it also feels like it contains the psychology. I like the saying ‘if you’re avoiding it, pick it up - if it’s stuck, put it down’

[@MiguelDantasC]

Hey man, who is your meditation teacher?

[@Vipassanawithkhalid]

Great video! Would love to collaborate on a video about vipassana if you are interested.

[@bx6p166]

did you personally experience any cognitive benefits?

[@SamRoff]

Absolutely. If you're more specific on what cognitive benefits you mean I could comment on it :)

[@bx6p166]

​@@SamRoff I apologize for the confusion. By cognitive benefits, I was referring to enhancements in memory, problem-solving abilities, abstract thinking, and IQ.

[@SamRoff]

@@bx6p166 In regards to memory, it may have actually gotten worse. Because there’s more presence, there’s less entertaining of thought. Or, that could also just be because I’m not bullshitting that I remember something when I actually don’t anymore haha. So not sure. And there’s a deep okayness with that too. Problem solving - because theres less sed criticism and I can see doubt as doubt, that definitely better. Narratives I used to entertain so deeply like ‘I’m not enough to do this’ can be seen for what they are now and action is taken, so that enhances problem solving for sure. Abstract thinking - definitely benefits here… I think our essence is creativity (using creativity as analogous to abstraction) so when there’s less baggage more abstract thoughts and lenses to look at things arise in my experience. Deeper access to the unconscious where creativity can just flow. Ie, writing a piece of poetry in 3 minutes rather than 30. Iq - not sure, I’ve not done a test in a long long time. Would be cool to have a control but I don’t. I’d again say because there’s less narratives and self doubt and stories around being stupid or something (or when they arise, they’re seen for what they are and action is taken nonetheless) that there has been an increase in IQ. Hope this helps.

[@bx6p166]

@@SamRoff Thanks for the insightful and informative reply. Subscribed btw.

[@SamRoff]

@@bx6p166 you’re welcome mate! Awesome, glad you find value in the content :)

[@michaelzieniewicz1107]

Sam. Too bad you're living on the other side of the Atlantic. I'd love to grab a 'beer' with you. Very inspiring content on your channel. I am 34 and only starting my journey.

[@michaelzieniewicz1107]

Haha! "Atlantic". What am I even saying. You're in Australia! Greetings from Denmark, so the other side of the world.

[@SamRoff]

@@michaelzieniewicz1107 greetings brother! Awesome you’re liking it my friend! I’d definitely be down for a beer if we were closer. When you come to visit Aus one day hit me up! What do you mean by started your journey? Taken up a meditation practice and diving into the psyche?

[@stephanblack4558]

Keep it simple.

[@SamRoff]

Simpler the better!

[@Justfor2day10]

Jack Paul 😂

[@lamus4e]

Wow, this sucks.