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July 31, 2016 at 2:26 pm #1363
Hi John,
Thanks for the additional information. You state that you don’t notice any judging or expectations, yet you are experiencing “impatience, annoyance and frustration”. Do you know what is causing these emotions? Are these emotions related to your practice?
I recommend taking a look at Hindrances and Problems in the Second Interlude. In particular I would look at agitation due to Worry and Remorse.
You state that you cannot identify the physical sensations related to restlessness. So how do you know that you are restless? There are usually sensations that make us feel that we are experiencing an emotion. However, they may be impermanent and fluctuating. The next time you are restless ask yourself (and examine) what restlessness feels like. If you don’t feel anything, then ask yourself how you know that your are restless.
I would also recommend trying some exercise or walking meditation prior to sitting to see if it calms the mind at all.
I hope this helps.
Blake – DT Teacher in Training
July 26, 2016 at 3:57 pm #1345Hi Darrell,
Becoming fully present with sensations is keeping attention on the sensations as much as you are able at this point in your practice. Being fully present will probably evolve as you develop the mental skills of attention and peripheral awareness. As you develop more mental power, you will probably notice more sensations with more clarity. A greater number of you mind moments will notice what you intend to notice.
In the early stages of practicing step 1, if you are regularly noticing things in the present moment (sounds, body sensations, smells), then you are fully present. Your attention will move to thoughts and forget the present, and this is perfectly fine. When this happens just gently redirect your attention back to the present moment.
It would be nice if you have no resistance to the limits of the steps, but this may not happen early on, and it is not necessarily required. We are generally addicted to thinking, and our attention generally prefers that to other forms of sensations. Having the intention to notice pleasant sensations in each step can lessen the resistance, because our minds also like things that are pleasant.
It can also help to cultivate a sense of relaxation. Having a sense of exploration instead of forcing attention to stay put can really help. For example, examine the present moment like a child would.
Culadasa has the following to say about the steps. “Use it each time you sit down to meditate, especially if you are a beginner”. There may be a point when you want to let it go, but this would probably be when you get to Stage 7 or 8.
Hope this helps,
Blake – DT Teacher in Training
July 26, 2016 at 3:35 pm #1344Hi John,
Has anything changed in your life to cause this restlessness and monkey mind? Does the restlessness start at the beginning of the sit, or come on later after your mind settles.
Are you putting a great deal of effort to keep your attention on the meditation object. If so, this can cause agitation. Are you judging you meditation practice, or holding expectations about the way things should be?
When you feel the restlessness, where do you feel it in your body? Does it change in size? Is it constant or does it pulsate. What do the sensations feel like. Do they tingle, burn etc? It often helps to take a step back and examine things like a neutral third party observer, or child experiencing something for the first time.
If the sensations associated with the emotion end, then you can just go back to the meditation object.
Some exercise before you meditate could help to calm the mind. You could also try walking meditation.
Hope this helps,
Blake – DT Teacher in TrainingJuly 22, 2016 at 11:27 am #1334Hi Darrell,
When performing the Gradual Four-Step Transition, you do not need to stop mind wandering before moving on to the next step. As you stated, mind wandering will stop considerably later in the practice.
Culadasa states “Once you have become fully present with every kind of sensory stimulus, limit your attention to bodily sensations”, or move on to step 2. In other words, after you spend some time letting attention move freely through present moment sensory input, then move on.
I see where you can get stuck in Steps 1 and 2, because it says “Repeat this process of backing off and starting over as often as needed until the mind can rest easily with your attention focused only on body sensations.” It goes on to say “If you never get past Step 2 during the entire meditation session that’s perfectly fine. However, sometimes focusing in more can help you settle down, so don’t hesitate to to try moving to the next step”
In this step you are not trying for exclusive attention to body sensations. You will not work on this until Stage 6. I would recommend once you have a reasonable amount of stability with body sensations that you move to Step 3.
I don’t agree with the following advice from Wiley. “The idea in Step Two is to overwhelm your attention to thoughts, by flooding your attention WITH NUMEROUS body sensations SIMULTANEOUSLY.” This is not mentioned in the description of Step two nor have I ever heard Culadasa mention it. What Wiley describes is a stage 6 practice.
In summary, I recommend experimenting with spending various amounts to time on the four preliminary steps to see what works best for you. However, please remember that you are developing fundamental meditation skills, and an understanding of attention and peripheral awareness while practicing the 4 steps. You could also practice the aha moment when you mind wanders, and you are supposed to cultivate and appreciate positive feelings. So, it is not a waste of time.
Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training
July 20, 2016 at 3:16 pm #1329Hi Lou,
I agree that having a second form of practice outside of your normal meditation would be a good idea. This is what Culadasa recommends for those that wish to practice analytical meditation.
Blake
July 20, 2016 at 3:13 pm #1328Hi Amit and Bakary,
Bakary, I think you are on the right track. Please see page. 152 in Mind Illuminated. There is a section called Moments of Attention and Moments of Peripheral Awareness, that may answer your questions. It is in the Fourth Interlude chapter.
Blake
July 20, 2016 at 2:30 pm #1327Hi Moln1,
It seems like you have quite a few expectations and judgments about how your practice “should” be proceeding. I recommend being aware of any judgment or discontent with your practice. When you notice that your doing this, then let go of it as best your are able. Judgement tends to agitate the mind, and it also makes your practice less fun.
It is not a linear process, and you will certainly have ups and downs as you progress through the stages, and everyone progresses at a different pace. It is possible to practice diligently and still let go of attachment to the outcome.
Progressing in meditation involves a great deal of letting go. Even if you don’t feel like you are progressing, you may be on a plateau, and you may be preparing your mind for progress in the future. It might also help to notice anything pleasant that arises during your meditation.
It seems to take some time and practice to fully understand introspective awareness. At first it will probably be an alternation of attention between the breath and a thought. The simplest example to understand it focused vision vs. peripheral vision. If you focus your eyes on something (attention), you are still aware of things in your peripheral visual field (peripheral awareness) even though you don’t actually shift your visual focus. They are fuzzy and unclear but there is an awareness.
This exact same process happens with attention and awareness of mental objects or any other sense objects.
For example, your attention may be centered on the breath, and you also have some awareness that verbal thoughts are happening in the background. If your attention does not shift, then you probably can’t understand these verbal thoughts, but you do know that they are happening.
Sometimes my attention will shift to something, and I will realize that I have been aware of this for some time in my peripheral awareness.
Hope this is helpful,
BlakeJuly 17, 2016 at 3:18 pm #1238Hi Louis,
It is great that you have been able to establish such a regular daily practice, particularly during a difficult time in your life.
It sounds like you are experiencing a milder form of discursive brilliance. This typically happens during stage 4, but it could occur earlier when your mind calms. I would suggest reading pages 132-133 in Mind Illuminated for more information.
Hope this helps,
Blake
July 13, 2016 at 11:19 am #1140Hi Shannon,
Welcome to the forum. It sounds like your current approach is working for you at this time in your practice. There may be a point where you don’t want to switch postures during your meditation. This point could be in stage 6 where you are working on exclusive attention. When you get to this point, you can experiment with moving to see if you are able to return to exclusive attention in a relatively short amount of time. There is also something to be said for the skill of re-establishing exclusive attention in a timely manner.
As you progress, you will develop a feel for whether or not changing postures in hindering your progress, and adjust accordingly.
It will be interesting to see if when you get to physical pliancy if your symptoms subside. This usually happens in stage 8. Please keep us informed.
Good Luck with Your Practice,
BlakeJune 7, 2016 at 12:21 pm #618Hi William,
You are probably applying too much effort. It is more tiring at first to notice more detail. I recommend having the intention to notice more detail, and then just seeing what happens.
It is interesting that you contrast following the breath vs. just observing the breath. Following the breath is also just an observation, although you have the intention to notice more detail.
You may have an expectation that you should notice more detail than your mind is currently capable of doing. There could be a feeling that “I” have to notice a large amount of detail, and this means the sense of self is involved, and this is much more tiring than doing it through an intention.
You might try just noticing the beginning of the inhale and the end of the inhale, and just “observe” the rest of the breath. When that is not too tiring try adding the beginning of the exhale and the end of the exhale. You can slowly work up to noticing more detail.
Blake
June 2, 2016 at 4:29 pm #599Hi Jonas,
The point of this meditation it to generate positive feelings towards others and yourself. The practice can also help you break down barriers between yourself and others. If different phrases seem more likely to help you to do that, then I would encourage you to give them a try to see how they work.
Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training
May 31, 2016 at 3:18 pm #590Hi Jonas,
Upasaka Tucker has a video conference based meditation group/class that meets every Tuesday. He has been trained in this style of meditation by Culadasa. I recommend sending him a private message through this forum to get the details.
Thanks,
BlakeMay 31, 2016 at 3:11 pm #589Hi Olov,
I cannot comment on all of your questions, because I have not experienced a cessation event. However, Culadasa recommends developing Samatha first, and then insight. He recommends getting to at least stage 7 before starting insight practices. However, in doing the samatha practices insights are likely to develop along the way.
Developing the joy, tranquility and equanimity that happens while developing samatha can smooth the transition to Awakening and make the difficult stages of insight easier to manage. If you have not done so already, please take a look at Appendix F.
The power of mind that you develop in samatha also makes insight much more likely. As you mentioned above, the unification of mind is also more likely to make the cessation event transformative.
Culadasa would be a better person to answer your other questions, but unfortunately he does not always have the time and energy to respond to forum questions.
With Metta,
Blake – DT Teacher in TrainingMay 27, 2016 at 7:56 pm #582It sounds like you have a pretty good understanding of your relationship to marijuana.
It is curious that you consider being high as being “awake”. Culadasa feels that intoxicants, and mindless activities produce states of dullness. However, dullness is often pleasant, so that is why we seek those experiences. It makes me think that there is some dullness in your marijuana experience, because you are unable to sustain attention. A truly vivid experience is the optimal interaction between attention and awareness.
Meditation can produce mental states that are more pleasant and satisfying than marijuana and other drugs. It does not have nearly as many side effects as intoxicants. However, meditation can have its own side effects, and it takes more time and effort. You might take a look at the chapters on Stages 8-10 to see what may be possible. If you grasp at the meditation experiences, then they are not likely to happen. When we notice that we are seeking a particular experience in meditation, we can simply let the desire go, and return attention to the breath.
Doing these practices can develop strong mindfulness which can really help with addictive behavior.
I hope this information is helpful, and I wish you the best of luck working with this issue.
Blake – Dharma Treasure Teacher in Training
May 27, 2016 at 7:17 pm #581Hi Olov,
I don’t know if you have access to Amazon from the US, but the Kindle version is available here.
Blake
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