Staying in 6 prrlimary stages for too long

[Roger95227Member]

Hello guys. I’ve been seriously practicing TMI for 2 months and I’m a bit stuck. It appears that my patience makes me stay in 6 prelimary staged far too long. Sometimes it takes me an hour to progress through them and then begin breath awareness for final 30 mins Can anyone clarify as to how one knows one can begin breath awareness?

This is my problem so far:

When I restrict my awareness to my body I will simply be aware of any sensations related to the body and also be aware of peripheral background. If any thoughts come and disturb this simple awareness I will appreciate the fact that I have been forgetting and return. However it seems as if these intrusive thoughts never serm to stop during 6 prelimary stages. So I keep noting and revert my attention back to the sensations constantly until I notice that I’ve been practicing for 1 hour ! I’m wondering if its ok to go through 6 stages fast and work with these distractions during breath awareness i.e following/connecting?

[Darlene TMember]

Hi Roger,

It might be that as you say, your patience is well practiced. I believe you are actually leaning into stage 5 practice without the benefit of the earlier practices. I would certainly encourage going forward with the following, connecting, labeling! Best wishes,

N Darlene Tataryn (TMI teacher in training)

[tjansenMember]

I think you’re referring to the 6th step preparation for meditation. Is that correct? I am not a teacher, so this is my own personal experience. I was doing a lot of forgetting and mind-wandering during that preparation. So I started setting intentions to keep my attention on the sixth step preparation, and I renewed that intention frequently until I made it rather quickly through the steps. That has helped me a lot to get through those steps. Good luck, Tom

[tjansenMember]

I think you’re referring to the 6 step preparation for meditation. Is that correct? I am not a teacher, so this is my own personal experience. I was doing a lot of forgetting and mind-wandering during that preparation. So I started setting intentions to keep my attention on the six step preparation, and I renewed that intention frequently until I made it rather quickly through the steps. That has helped me a lot to get through those steps. Good luck, Tom

[EricMember]

Hey Roger,

Try this and see if it works. Make the 6-step prep more deliberate to tamp down the distractions by actually writing down the answers to the first 5 steps…as if you were filling out a questionnaire. Maybe save your answers to see how they change over time (another lesson in impermanence 🙂 ). Eventually you will see you won’t need to write them down as you work on overcoming gross distraction with the breath. That is the attentional work you do with the breath will have an effect on the mind. Spend a minute or 2 considering each of the 5 steps. The clarity and seed laying at this stage helps with mastering stage 1.

mucho metta,

[DennisMember]

I see four preliminary steps. What is the six step preparation? Where is it in the TMI book if I might ask?

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