Dharma Treasure Community

Hi Chris, cool topic. I often have wondered the same thing.

My understanding is that what you’re talking about is metacognitive consciousness, in that it is consciousness of what attention is doing. Now, as you know, consciousness can be further broken down into attention and awareness. So whether you are metacognitively aware or metacognitively…[Read more]

Very interesting reddit thread and videos, thank you for the update! Have you heard of the “long breath” as taught by Buddhadasa Bhikku? It is a technique I’ve been using for my own energy imbalances at the start of sitting, to good effect, on the chance mention by a fellow teacher trainee of mine.

Here is a link to Buddhadasa’s book…[Read more]

Hi Black Ghost, I just came back to this thread and wondered how practice has been for you this last week? You needn’t feel pressured to reply — but if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to reach out.

Best wishes,
Julian

Hi Black Ghost, great question. The experience of getting to our destination with no memory of the journey is something I think we can all relate to. The process for me during those times (which I’ve had to piece together by reviewing it afterwards, and by watching the process of being distracted over shorter periods and extrapolating, combined…[Read more]

Hi Black Ghost,

Verbal chatter is something that I encountered for many years of practice. You’re on the right track with trying to notice how it affects attention, and whether the chatter is in awareness or attention at any given moment. That approach doesn’t necessarily “get rid” of mental chatter — which would be an unhelpful way to measure…[Read more]

Hi Tim,

I would agree with Frederic and Salina. I just wanted to chime in with a message of solidarity. I too have ADD and my sleep patterns are pretty delicate to say the least. Insomnia for me tends to be the same as it is for you: waking in the early hours and having difficulty going back to sleep. I can empathise with the irony of knowing…[Read more]

Hi Becky, excellent questions! (and wasn’t that Q&A insightful as always). Thanks (on my own behalf as a new teacher trainee) for your enthusiasm to pitch in and build the community. There are a few volunteer initiatives at present along the lines of making it easier (through tools and guidelines) to connect and engage through the site, between…[Read more]

Hi Steve,

There is certainly a lot we don’t know about the mechanism behind energy currents and meridians. The understanding I have from speaking with others (I haven’t investigated to any great depth myself), is that systems like kundalini yoga and Taoism / qi gong have far more sophisticated ways of working with, directing and storing these…[Read more]

Great conversation. Just to show some solidarity with the southern hemisphere sangha, I am writing this from my home here in Christchurch, New Zealand 🙂 I know of at least one TMI practitioner from Perth doing the teacher training with me Bernadette, I will let her know you are nearby!

Julian (teacher in training)

Hi Steve, I have been following this thread with interest, thanks for the update. I practiced Tai Chi and Qigong here in New Zealand for four years and when I stopped (due to a whiplash injury) I noticed a sudden increase in convulsive pıti. Coincidence perhaps, but I have always found the possibility they’re connected very compelling. Your…[Read more]

Hi Alex, it is inspiring to see you pursue this issue and seek to get clarity on it. You’ve asked about some very important points. Just to add to the excellent answers from Darlene and Michael.

Also by the books definition of dullness, is it not technically impossible for anyone to actually consciously experience dullness because it is an…

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Seems like a worthwhile idea. I’m not sure if you’re interested in reviewing the extant literature, but i find this article pretty relevant http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176239

Not specifically TMI, and clearly more resources poured into it than our community may be able to muster but might give some insights…[Read more]

PS the collapse is a total loss of mindfulness. It’s like night and day. Re-establishing mindfulness afterwards requires a LOT of effort and usually uses up the rest of my sit. But I’m at least able to re-establish it now (most of the time), which is an improvement.

Thanks for this Wiley, I’ll try it 🙂 I’m still getting the collapse of attention but your idea to keep breath-body sensations in PA while attention is on the breath at the nose might yield interesting results. That’s kind-of how I practiced Goenka body-scanning but in reverse (with that, I would keep breath in PA and use attention to actively…[Read more]

Thanks for this Wiley, I’ll try it 🙂 I’m still getting the collapse of attention but your idea to keep breath-body sensations in PA while attention is on the breath at the nose might yield interesting results. That’s kind-of how I practiced Goenka body-scanning but in reverse (with that, I would keep breath in PA and use attention to actively…[Read more]

Thanks for this Wiley, I’ll try it 🙂 I’m still getting the collapse of attention but your idea to keep breath-body sensations in PA while attention is on the breath at the nose might yield interesting results. That’s kind-of how I practiced Goenka body-scanning but in reverse (with that, I would keep breath in PA and use attention to actively…[Read more]

Hi @wileyfox, sorry for my delayed response to your insightful comments. Let me go through them and respond inline…

“It takes a few weeks to realize that sotapanna has occured, as one notices the mind in a constant process of synthesizing its concepts and ideas, bringing order to itself to avoid insanity, frankly. Curing ‘cognitive d…[Read more]

Hi @Wiley Fox, sorry for my delayed response to your insightful comments. Let me go through them and respond inline…

“It takes a few weeks to realize that sotapanna has occured, as one notices the mind in a constant process of synthesizing its concepts and ideas, bringing order to itself to avoid insanity, frankly. Curing ‘cognitive d…[Read more]