It sounds like a gross distraction now, congratulations!

I never had such a difficulty directly but the times I went through periods of lack of sleep, what helped me was multiple “micro” practices. Sitting 5 or 10 min with clarity, stopping before nodding off and then to repeat it later in the day. It was more energy management than anything, and later I was able to increase the time.

I don’t have…[Read more]

Could you walk us through a typical sit?

Awareness is more like the field, the background where everything you’re, well, aware of is happening. Attention is that part of the field that is more vivid, with more details.

One usual habit when trying to keep focus on something is to try to ignore everything else. That’s because we tend to get distracted by many things: sounds, toughts,…[Read more]

I’m not sure I understand your questions and how it plagues you.

Do you want to understand how does it work? Or what to do in your practice?

Introspective awareness includes thoughts, feelings, etc. This faculty allows you to catch distractions so you won’t forget to follow the breath. You can see it as “the background”. You’re not supposed to split your attention (“the foreground”) between the breath and other sensations, as they are different faculties. Introspective attention,…[Read more]

I find listening amazing as a practice!

I wish you the best

Small thing to add: staying mindful off-cushion is working in the same way than on the cushion.

You set an intention to stay mindful and when you notice you aren’t anymore, you reinforce positively the “coming back”, you renew the intention and you keep going. This positive reinforcing is as important here, and I know from experience that…[Read more]

Do you mean what to practice while falling asleep or what to practice in order to fall asleep?

The article On Mindful Awareness vs Dullness may be interesting to read.

I avoid the body scan while going to sleep as it tends to keep me very awake.

Cheers

It won’t be published. You can still get a copy (at least electronic one) by supporting Culadasa on Patreon.

Cheers

Obviously we’re all different but here’s what seemed to work for me:

• At first, or after a long break from practice, I’d start with only short sessions (“how short for me is okay to not feel any resistance to sitting” kind of short). It would be 5 or 10 min, just enough to feel a bit of relaxation and enjoy that time I took for myself.
• Then,…

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You can find teachers working with TMI there: https://dharmatreasure.org/teachers-in-training/

For your original question, here’s what I’ve heard: you can’t avoid the knowledges of suffering but you can definitely avoid the dark night, as long as your practice is balanced (cultivate the 8-fold path and the practice of virtue). That has been…[Read more]

I don’t have any specific recommendation, I only followed the ones for the retreat “Joy & Meditation”.

I’m one of the new student teachers. I’m not yet qualified to answer but I can share my own experience with the 4-steps.

First of all, I have to admit that it took me almost a year before starting my sits with it. I was used to breath at the nose immediately and kept doing it. Nothing wrong with that, it’s supposed to help you, not to give…[Read more]