[Chris GagneMember]

Dear InnerKnowledgeSeeker,

I thought carefully as to whether or not to mention people by name at start. Since I am not qualified to gauge whether or not someone is an arahant and thus it is only my uninformed opinion, I felt comfortable sharing that opinion but not going so far as to name names. These individuals have not told me directly that they are arahants, further compounding my hesitation to name them. I offered my unqualified opinion to help break the perspective that it is not possible, but largely from the perspective that absolutes such as never and always risk closing our minds to new possibilities.

This is a sticky situation because many of the people who are arahants would not say so publicly, and many who believe that they are but are not would claim to be so publicly. There are also working different definitions. For instance, I don’t know if Daniel Ingram and Culadasa would agree on what an arahant is.

Also keep in mind that arahants may have achieved their own liberation but are not necessarily particularly good teachers. There are also good teachers who may not have really attained much liberation of their own. I don’t wish to name names, but rather to create the possibility that this exists for your own investigation.

Ultimately, I have met people whose behavior I admire and would like to emulate. They seem to profusely exude ease, peace, love, and happiness and I am not sure these can be faked. Whether or not we can call them arahants is up for debate. I have tested the practices they used and found them to be of benefit, so I will continue to practice them. Whether or not I become enlightened or an arrant is also irrelevant. All I can do is all I can do.

Love,

Chris

• This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by  Chris Gagne.

[Chris GagneMember]

Yes, I believe it is possible for a lay person to become an arahant now.

I do not have scriptural sources to back up my statement. However, I believe that such beings already exist quietly (and sometimes less quietly) in our world. I believe I have met at least two.

Which is more useful to believe? That it is possible, or it is not? If it is and I believe it is not, I will likely never attain it. If it is not and I believe that it is, I may yet attain something worthwhile even if it isn’t arahantship.

[Chris GagneMember]

Ultimately, I’d say it’s up to your investigation to see what works best for you.

A few additional factors to consider and/or experiment with:

Eyes open is associated with less dullness, at least initially. In fact, opening the eyes is a weak antidote to dullness. After a while the mind can adjust to the eyes being open and get dull anyway.
People who meditate with eyes open do not experience the illumination phenomena at higher stages.
This is only from weak memory, but I think most TMI practitioners I have seen on retreat meditate with eyes closed.
The visual field is generally rich even when facing a blank wall, so having your eyes open will likely consume awareness that could be used directed introspectively.

[Chris GagneMember]

Hi Michael,

I’ve used the system on myself a few hundred times. I think it’s definitely hit diminishing marginal returns. I’d say for most people that they can get 80%+ of the benefits with a 1-2 month rental. If you have someone to share the rental with, consider renting a professional system with unlimited sessions and just crank out as many as you can in a month or two. 2 times a day was fine for me, at least 4 hours apart.

Unless you have $6000-12000 burning a hole in your pocket, I would not suggest buying a system unless you intend to support others with it or feel like you want regular “touch ups” which I have found useful. I have also found it particularly useful when I am in a poor mood; it can pull me out of it within a session most of the time.

I am not aware of further public commentary regarding the system since 2010, and his commentary in our meditation teacher classes has been generally consistent with what’s out there already. I do know that its no longer offered at the retreat center, but this has nothing to do with the system’s efficacy. Sorry I can’t share further details, I’m not sure what Culadasa and Nancy would be comfortable sharing or not.

Culadasa and I have spoken about what to do during the neurofeedback session. We are in agreement that the best thing to do is to make the music the object of concentration. This way, the feedback is more likely to be consumed by the subminds as important information. I would not bother looking at the screen as it is a primitive music visualizer and likely does not convey much useful feedback.

If you’re near Sacramento, I’d recommend Jon at Optimal Neurofeedback. If you are near San Francisco, I may be able to help you.

[Chris GagneMember]

Hi Peter!

I met Shinzen a couple of months ago and thought very highly of him. I am not particularly familiar with his practice, but as with Culadasa’s he is highly regarded. I’ve not been one to one of his retreats, either.

That said, if his retreats are similar to Culadasa’s former group retreats, I think they’d be well worth the price. A Goenka retreat will be very inexpensive (I donated $240 or so which was their cost for the 10-day retreat), volunteer-run, and highly regimented. I don’t know if it is possible to evaluate the assistant teacher(s) before you apply. You will mostly be learning from watching Goenka on video and will have very little interaction with the teachers. There is effectively zero Q&A. There have been reports of people who have attended Goenka retreats and experienced significant psychological distress without receiving enough support, one of which recently led to a suicide.

I’d recommend going to the Shinzen retreat if you can afford it, especially if you are newer to meditation. Shinzen won’t be around forever (though I am highly optimistic that he’ll be around for many years to come), whereas Goenka retreats will almost certainly endure for a long time with few if any changes to the format.

[Chris GagneMember]

Magnolia, a few minutes is probably okay, particularly if it isn’t too strong. If it persists or refers, change your posture to be more gentle. I have gotten some of my strongest meditations while sitting in a good upright chair.

I have heard of one person who “stuck it out” at a Goenka retreat and developed permanent nerve damage, so I don’t see the risk/benefit calculus as being worth it.

[Chris GagneMember]

So far, sitting in chairs and on an ergonomic meditation chair has allowed me plenty of opportunities to explore pain and work through dullness. I am currently making progress through Stage 5 and do not consider the pain to be helpful at this point, merely a distraction.

In Culadasa’s “Beginning Meditation Handout,” he states: “Note: Sitting like a yogi in full lotus is not at all necessary for meditation!”

Stehpanie Nash wrote an excellent guide to posture, here: http://www.mindfulnessarts.org/POSTURE_PEDIA.pdf

If you find that your pain persists for more than a short time after getting up, you may be causing long-term damage and should consider a less aggressive position. There’s no need to potentially cause permanent nerve damage by attempting to assume a position your body isn’t currently adapted for.

[Chris GagneMember]

Hi Jem,

Here’s some food for thought from my own experience.

I’ve found periods in my practice, especially when focusing on vipassana, where I was inexplicably angry or upset off the cushion. I regarded them positively as indications of purifications in process due to years of repressed anger and did my best to avoid triggering situations.

It may well be that you are making contact again with those parts of your mind related to your depression as a teenager. Now, as a more resourced adult, you have the opportunity to work with them.

So long as you can remember who you are, where you are, and what you are doing (meditating), the emotions will arise, pass away, and eventually “purify.” I like this analogy: your mind is like the sky, open, expansive, so transparent we seem to forget it exists. We see the sun, moon, clouds, thunderstorms arise and pass away in this space and we fixate on those objects. Sometimes the sky is overcast and it is almost as if it isn’t there. But it is, of course, there all along. Look for that sky, not the thunderstorms.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by depression, taper back. Don’t bite off more than you can chew; it won’t help you. Above all, be gentle on yourself. As Ram Dass says, you can’t peel the skin off the snake. It’s an unfolding process.

You may wish to read Stage 4 again as it has good advice for working with these emotions. Perhaps replace some of your core samatha-vipassana practice with metta and walking meditation in nature. Work in a gratitude practice, positive psychology, and other forms of self care. Exercise, dance, and eat well. Spend time with friends and loved ones. If you can keep up enough of your samatha-vipassana practice to generally stay in Stage 4+ while building in some of these other activities, I think you’ll find it effective. Don’t be ashamed to slow down or stop and seek professional help if at any point this becomes overwhelming.

All the best to you.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by  Chris Gagne.

[Chris GagneMember]

As an Agile coach, this is something I think about a lot and hope to speak at more conferences about.

A few things come to mind:

* As you walk around, try to make it a walking meditation. In fact, hold the intention to be as mindful as you can in body, speech, and mind. This is somewhere we eventually get in practice anyway, so congratulate yourself whenever you find that you had and held the intention. I think the rest will follow.
* Consider starting the Mindful Review practice. This will help build up your mindfulness during the day, just as writing down your dreams makes remembering your dreams and lucid dreaming easier.
* If you find yourself in disagreement with a coworker, see if you can take a few minutes out to practice loving kindness for them as well.
* If you have time, consider taking part of your lunch break to practice formal walking or even sitting meditation. You may find that the second half of your day is so much more productive that it was worth the investment.

I used to use an app on my phone to fire off random alarms to remind me to check in (sort of like spontaneous introspective awareness in Stage 2) and found it of limited use, but you may find it worth trying.

[Chris GagneMember]

I too have done a *lot* of Neuroptimal (probably north of 200 sessions) over the last couple of years. I’ve never felt any euphoria or energy currents as a result of using it, but it did bring my mood back to baseline when I was in a funk.

I agree with David that taking some time to be kind to yourself may well be the work you need to do right now, as it may be the perfect antidote to self criticism/judgement. The way I have come to think of my own purifications is that meditation allows me to “make contact” with these walled-off parts of my mind system. I get the sense that once this contact is made there’s much we can do to work with it, even when we are not doing samatha/vipassana practices.

[Chris GagneMember]

Blake, feel free to reach out to me if interested. If you are on a modern cPanel setup, this is quite easy and likely free with LetsEncrypt.

[Chris GagneMember]

Hi Dor K,

Yes, I have experimented with the Neuroptimal system extensively. I have found it to be of benefit, particularly in quelling strong negative emotions that interfere with sitting. I think it has also helped with gross distractions.

I would say that if the money is not a significant factor for you, renting a personal system for a month (typically US $600-800 for 20 sessions) is a reasonable thing to try. It would be useful to ensure that you do all available sessions in that month to get the most benefit.

All that said, I would caution anyone from thinking that this is necessary to make progress. Although this is a useful tool, I think it would be a real bummer if someone felt like they *had* to use this or any other system. I think the vast majority of people who have made progress in the TMI model have done so without using neurofeedback. 🙂

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by  Chris Gagne.

[Chris GagneMember]

I think the Reddit AMA would be brilliant. +1 to that suggestion.

[Chris GagneMember]

Wonderful, thanks Jesse!

[Chris GagneMember]

Thanks everyone! There’s a lot to digest.

I’ll break up my sits. I like the 24 minute sit idea from Alan Wallace; that feels like where I start to lose focus. I can set a goal of doing 4 x 24 minute sits a day in two sessions (2 x 24 in the AM and 2 x 24 in the evening). I think to start I will try to get to 1 x 24 minutes twice a day to start. Tim, if you ever find that or a similar reference I’d love to read it. 🙂

I work in technology so there are a lot of constant distractions during work. I’ll start doing thing like limiting how often I check email. One switch for me will be not checking my smartphone so often…

I work full-time and so have somewhat limited vacation days, but I’d rather meditate for a week than go to most places in the world… 🙂

-Chris

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