For this session only, we are accepting a few highly-qualified applicants who have not completed the Dedicated Practitioners’ Course.

For more information please go…[Read more]

I also recommend reading the Mindful Review in Appendix E of The Mind Illuminated.

You might also take a look at this thread.

Awareness in everyday life

Best Wishes,
Blake

Thanks for the follow-up, and I am glad that I could be of service.

Blake

I have had similar experiences in meditation where my teeth chatter and I have difficulty sleeping, particularly on retreat. I (and the teacher I was working with at the time) attributed it to a side effect related to piti (meditative joy). You might want to look up Meditative Joy (piti) in the index of TMI. While piti is meditative joy…[Read more]

We will definitely consider your application, but so far we have 142 applicants for 60 spaces. We evaluate students based on past dedication to meditation, TMI, and spiritual practice. We will let everyone know in about 2 weeks.

Thanks,
Blake

I don’t try to pinpoint the breath within specific parts of the nose, nostrils, or upper lip. I just have the intention to feel any sensations in the nose region. Your attention will probably naturally be drawn to the sensations that are the most vivid.

I would refer you to this post by Culadasa about attention and awareness f…[Read more]

You might take a look at these threads where this topic is discussed.

Piti arising earlier in practice?

Agitating piti and confusion of the object

time to switch to other practices?

Best…[Read more]

You are certainly not being annoying. We have about 45 applicants so far, and we are still accepting applications for another month. People have applied based on the days and times that we have published. If we have a large enough demand we might consider adding a third section on a weekday evening, but we would have to line up new…[Read more]

I have read some of Ajaan Lee’s writings a few years ago, and I believe he influenced Thanissaro Bhikkhu. I have not really combined this with TMI, and I never really liked controlling the breath. It was just one more thing to do, but it sounds like you found an effortless way to do it. TMI does teach using the whole body breath…[Read more]

I think we have some good ideas here, and I have been pondering the pros and cons of each. I also have an IT background, although it has been a few years since I worked in the field. I wanted to cover the proposed ideas at a higher level without necessarily worrying about implementation details.

1. Alex M.’s idea of dividing each r…[Read more]

When selecting applicants we look at several factors in addition to retreat experience. If you have a strong daily practice, it could offset your lack of retreat experience, and we would encourage you to apply.

Thanks,
Blake

I think that there are some good ideas here, and I feel that Dharma Treasure and Culadasa would probably be interested.

I am serving as the Executive Director of Dharma Treasure, and from my perspective, I would prefer to see an indexed, searchable recording list reside on the main Dharma Treasure web site or DT…[Read more]

Thanks,
Blake – DT teacher

We are excited to announce that we are searching far and wide for a superstar (or superstar couple) to serve as the on-site Retreat Manager for our meditation center at Cochise Stronghold.

Located in the Dragoon Mountains of southeast Arizona, this land has long been considered sacred — first by the Chiricahua Apaches and later b…[Read more]

Thanks for the feedback regarding weekends. It is difficult to schedule this event, because, in the current course, we have students from throughout the world, some in vastly different time zones. For example, we have students in North America, Europe, India, Japan and Australia.

We considered a week night, but it…[Read more]

Blake

The link is for the upcoming classes and the times are correct. We only offered one class last time. Do we have an incorrect date in there somewhere that made you think it was for the last course?

Thanks,
Blake

I would generally say that your option A is the correct version. Please remember that these are moments of consciousness, so by definition you are “automatically” aware of them. There are specific practices throughout stages 3 and 4 (labeling and checking-in, intention) for increasing the number of moments of introspective awa…[Read more]

I am glad that I can be of service. Yes, I think the important part is to master the goals of each stage. The specific techniques are designed to help you do this, but I don’t think every technique or practice works for every student. This is where it can help to apply some discernment, and to speak to a teacher.

Best Wishes,
Blake –…[Read more]

However, if you feel that your experience is truly emotional in nature, then I would refer you to the section “Emotions, Memories, and Distractions” in Stage 4 of TM…[Read more]

I think you could be experiencing something similar to Alex. Please see my response, to him, from today.

No perception of breath

Best Wishes,
Blake – DT Teacher

You could be experiencing energy currents and or the pacification of the senses. The TMI model predicts that these could arise in stages 7 or 8, but for some people they occur significantly earlier in the stages. Culadasa thinks this could be due to a partial unification of mind. It can manifest as muscle contraction or tension, and…[Read more]

You are welcome and I hope things work out. I wanted to add that the energy (piti) can cause muscle contractions or tension. You might notice if this may be the cause of the tension. If you relax it, and it immediately comes back this could be the cause. If the tension only arises with the energy then this could also be an indicator.…[Read more]

Thanks for the follow up information. I recommend letting go of expectations about what you “should” feel and just get curious about what you do feel. For now, at least, I recommend letting go of trying to notice details about the breath. Just intend to notice what an in breath feels like, then notice what an out breath feels like, the…[Read more]

I have a couple of follow-up questions. You state that the breath sensations are too subtle to detect.

Do you put your attention on the sensations at the nose?

What sensations do you feel that let you know you are either breathing in or breathing out?

Please describe what you feel while observing the sensations of the breath? Do…[Read more]

That would be great for you to do this, and it would be appreciated. We have a volunteer task force that is just starting on some projects to organize and coordinate Culadasa’s teachings among other things. As part of that we are planning to create a Wiki with information about Culadasa’s teachings for both students and teachers.

You…[Read more]

I would recommend staying with this simplified practice until you have mostly overcome mind wandering, and you gain a clear awareness of where your attention is moving moment to moment. At that point you can let go of noting all distractions and just focus on the ones that are the strongest, like thoughts. When you notice a subtle…[Read more]

Your following statement makes me think you are at stage 2-3 somewhere.

“I’m unable to keep the attention on the breath for more than three cycles, at most. One to three cycles, and it’s forgetting into mind wandering”

I recommend highly simplifying your practice for awhile. Just rest your attention on the breath without trying…[Read more]

The way that you can block peripheral awareness is to focus on the meditation object so closely that you aren’t aware of anything else. Have you ever had the experience that you were so engrossed in something (book, movie, hobby) that you didn’t hear someone speak to you?

You are correct that peripheral awareness happens aut…[Read more]

I recommend trying to check in every six breaths or so without counting. If that doesn’t work, then you could try counting for awhile. I would let go of the counting as soon as you are able.

For your second question, I recommend taking a look at some of my replies about intention and peripheral awareness in the following thread s…[Read more]

Thanks for the update. It is good to build up a knowledge base of information. I will be interested to see if less effort effects the movements during TMI practice.

Best Wishes,
Blake

The forum is only set up to send emails when a new topic is added, but not for individual replies. You can subscribe within the forum to individual topics, and then you will receive emails.

I recommend that you read stage 4 and the third interlude for more information on working with these purifications. In a nutshell, if emotions…[Read more]

It sounds you might have experienced Stage 4 meditation during your session, and the emotions and memories could have been some of the purification that often arises at that stage. A lack of introspective awareness would not have caused those things to arise, but if your attention was captured by those things then that might indicated…[Read more]

You are most welcome. I really hope these suggestions are beneficial. You can learn to let go of the over analysis and over trying, but you can’t just make them stop. Observing and labeling those patterns with equanimity is a good way to let go of them. Just get to know them like old friends coming back to visit.

Please keep us i…[Read more]

I think one needs to view my advice to Adrian in context. He stated the following “I have trouble maintaining attention to the breath for even one cycle”. To me this indicated a lack of peripheral introspective awareness.

For most of us, in the early stages, when we attempt to notice more detail we tend to lose peripheral awa…[Read more]

I recommend not spending much time trying to determine if the label is correct, and you don’t want to label the labeling process. For you, it seems like simpler more generic labels like see/hear/feel may be best.

When you don’t renew the intention to keep peripheral awareness “bright”, you say you are “not aware of sounds and body…[Read more]

Yes, you can use see/hear/feel labels, and the see/hear label works well to deconstruct thoughts.

When you say labeling generates thoughts, do you mean the label itself is a thought, or that you have thoughts about the label, or labeling in general just tends to lead to more random thoughts? You don’t want to label the label, but i…[Read more]

I agree that introspective awareness is the skill that you want to develop, along with more acceptance. You want to learn to know when your attention moves away from the breath. I recommend doing a version of the labeling practice from Stage 3. With this version, I recommend labeling everything that captures your attention with a…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing, I will give that I try the next time I get the hiccups. I have noticed a similar situation with muscle spasms or cramps.

Blake – DT Teacher

I read through through this thread again, and I don’t see any indication that Peter “admitted that he doesn’t understand the teaching”. You state that you “are not arguing or trying to change anything”, and perhaps that is not your intention, but your posts give a different impression.

Sharing “profound teachings” fits within the…[Read more]

I feel that the poem that Peter posted was appropriate for this forum. Hopefully, we can post things beyond the technical intricacies of TMI.

However, I found your posts to be sarcastic, and not within the boundaries of Right Speech. Please remember that we are forming an online community for the purpose of supporting and helping…[Read more]

I was pondering how to answer this question, and Bobby’s answer was considerably better than what I had in mind. Thanks for interjecting, and for your clarity.

Blake

As you have seen, you can turn your attention to thoughts, and in some traditions thoughts are used as the meditation object. So if you check in and continue to place your attention on thoughts you have basically switched to a new meditation object, but that is not the purpose of the checking in practice.

However, when it comes…[Read more]

I have done four retreats with Shinzen, and they were a positive experience. I have not done a Goenka retreat although I have talked to friends who have. Shinzen retreats are not nearly as strict as the Goenka retreats. Some of his techniques, like focus in, help to build introspective awareness. You can also do your own thing if you…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We will take these ideas into consideration as the task force develops strategies. We will also probably have opportunities for students such as yourself to volunteer to help with implementing some of these tasks.

Blake

I am glad to hear you are progressing in your meditation practice. I would refer you to my post in this thread from Feb. 28th. I feel like I answered these questions then. Perhaps you overlooked my response, or you need additional…[Read more]

I know it has been awhile, but I wanted to comment on a couple of your questions above. I know the Dana amount can be quite confusing at first. One guideline that I like is to think about how you would like to be compensated for your time. You might consider how much you make per hour before taxes, and consider giving at least this…[Read more]