[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Praxis

First of all, it’s great that you’re so clear on your motivation. With that motivation I also wonder if a guided relaxation/meditation might not be better. The Insight Timer app (the paid version) has a lot of guided meditations – many of them geared toward stress reduction and relaxation. You may have to experiment to find one you like. Also, maybe 30 minutes is too long. It seems likely that less might be more for you. Better to do 15 minutes and feel positive then 30 minutes and stressed.

Hope this helps

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Please let us know what Tucker says Jonas

Thanks

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi

My initial suggestion would be to do what works and don’t worry about parsing the distinctions at this point. You first should just get familiar with getting into jhana consistently. Experiment with using the whole body with the breath and then try using pleasurable sensation. See what works and enjoy yourself.

Hope this helps.

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Praxis,

Lots of good advice above. But I have two questions for you. 1. what’s personally motivating you to want to practice? In other words, what’s bringing you to the cushion in the first place – and there’s no “right” answer to this. 2. how long are you meditating for?

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Dave

Thanks for being so open about this issue. I appreciate your questions but want to take a different approach. First, have you gone a meditation retreat? If not, I think you might want to. It would be great if you could go on one with Culadasa, but that may not be feasible. I would suggest going on a 10 day vipassana retreat, Goenka style http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/. I don’t practice in this tradition anymore, but I found the retreat really helped me kick an addiction to aderall years ago. The second thing I’d do is look up Shinzen Young. He’s a great teacher and he’s also very open about his years of smoking weed. Here’s a video where he gives an account of his addiction and kicking it via the same sweeping method done on Goenka vipassana retreat I mentioned above, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N7A5kAESTQ. I might even reach out to him, send him an email outlining what you’ve stated here, see what he says.

I’m happy to answer your other questions, but let’s start here.

Be well
Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hello Ali-Reza

The arising of worry and anxiety when focusing on the breath at the nose doesn’t seem to be that uncommon. In other words, I’ve known other people who have a similar response. One thing I’ve recommended is to focus on the breath sensations at the abdomen instead, see if that works. Now to your questions:

#1. In theory, any object works for training attention and developing mindfulness. Specifically in terms of attention, remember that the aim is to move away from “spontaneous” movements of attention to “intentional” movements of intention. Therefore, as long as you intentionally select an object, any object, for attention then you’re going in the right direction.
#2. My suggestion would be to start with the breath, if the anxiety and worry becomes too much to ignore, then make the sensations the objects of your meditation. Do the same thing as you’d do with the breath – focus on the sensations with attention but remain aware of everything else. If the worry and anxiety dissipates, then return to the breath at the nose or abdomen.
#3. It’s tricky to assess the nature of the feelings of anxiety/worry based on this online conversation. Sometimes the anxiety/worry needs more therapeutic interventions – someone to talk to and process the emotions. Sometimes the anxiety/worry is actually a part of purification, which is a natural and important part of the path. So I really am not sure but would guess, based on the amount of time you’re meditating, that you might be at Stage Four and thus be experiencing some purification. So if you haven’t done so already, I would suggest reading Stage Four, in particular the section dealing with persistent distractions such as strong emotion.

Hope this helps and I wish you success.

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Paul

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve emailed them to our PR folks. Hopefully they’re on it.

Be well

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Blaz

Before I answer, I just want you to know that I’m currently in a teacher training program with Culadasa. So my answers are grounded in his teachings, but they are, of course, also being filtered through this particular mind. Other students in the program will probably have some great responses as well.

Anyway, an important distinction to make is between samatha and vipassana. Samatha practice entails training the mind – developing stable attention and powerful mindfulness. A full state of Samatha has three other qualities as well – joy, tranquility, and equanimity. This is basically what you’re doing by working through the Stages. As wonderful as Samatha is, however, it’s not an end in itself but a way to make the mind ripe for Vipassana, or Insight. In other words, a mind in Samatha is in the perfect state for investigating reality and thus having Insight.

Insight is a cognitive transformation which really restructures fundamental assumptions we hold about the nature of self and reality. These insights include: dissatisfaction, impermanence, interconnectedness, emptiness and no-self. Insight can happen at anytime and in any Stage. However, as you progress through the Stages, the possibility of Insight increases. That said, the final Insight into no-self, the one that leads to full awakening can only in a state of Samatha

So, like two wings of a bird, you really you need Samatha and Vipassana together for your practice to soar.

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Paul,

The mantra I’ve learned from Culadasa that I’ve found very helpful no matter what happens in meditation is, “let it come, let it be, let it go.” Let whatever happens, happen – don’t suppress or engage it, no matter how fantastic or dreadful. You don’t need to do anything, just let whatever’s happening run its course. When it goes, it will go. In the meantime, just continue practicing.

More directly to your last point, I’d say, no, you don’t want ” to break-up/keep the breath from getting too smooth and continuous”. “You” don’t want to do anything. Just let it unfold. You can let it unfold in peripheral awareness and keep focused on the breath. Enjoy it, let it fill awareness, and continue practicing with attention on the breath.

Another option is to actually turn your attention to and explore the ribbon, the bliss, and everything else that happens. But I’d only do that if I set my intention at the beginning of the sit. In other words, make a conscious intention to investigate the event. Then, start on your breath, and as the ribbon and bliss kick in, feel free to explore.

That’s what I’d do. But others might have different advice.

Good luck

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Paul

During the early Stages it’s fine to do whatever helps you follow the breath – counting, thinking “in breath, out breath”, or visualizing the breath. In terms of visualizations, you want the visualization to remain connected to the breath sensations rather than becoming disconnected from the breath. In other words, you want the visualization to help you focus on the actual breath sensations (at the tip of the nose, just above the lip, wherever) rather than become its own object of attention. So if the “rapture” and “golden light” is taking you away from the actual sensations of the breath, I’d suggest “reconnecting” it back to the breath sensations.

Of course, if it’s the onset of the luminous jhana, which would indicate a much more advanced Stage, then there would be another set of instructions.

But assuming it’s not, recall that attention tends to spontaneously move to interesting or novel objects. Golden ribbons and rapture sounds wonderfully exciting, novel and interesting! And I think you should enjoy these experiences! But also remember that part of meditative training is about developing stability of attention. That means, you want to cultivate intentional movements of attention rather than the usual spontaneous movements. Thus, the other option is to simply keep the joy and rapture and golden light in peripheral awareness, and keep focusing closer on the breath sensations.

Hope this helps

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

1. “Can startling reaction happen also when gross dullness is present?” As Paul pointed out, yes. The startle reaction can also happen when you’re mind-wandering or distracted. Just think about the last time you were startled when someone suddenly asked you something or surprised you. You may have been so preoccupied with some thought, your attention so rapt, that you let all your extrospective awareness drop. The person thus, in a sense, snuck up on you and surprised you. Subtle dullness also causes a drop in intro/extro awareness, thus the startle reaction is a good indicator for whenever awareness is lost. Essentially, the more mindful you are, the less likely you’ll be startled.

2. “I have no problem meditating lying down – does that mean that gross dullness was overcome?” Have you ever had a problem meditating while lying down? In other words, when you first started meditating was meditating this way a problem? If meditating lying down was always easy and never a problem, then I’d say it’s not a good indicator.

3. Can an adept meditator still experience subtle dullness when (if) he wants to?” Yes, actually there will be times when the mind is agitated and you want to allow some subtle dullness in as a way to calm the agitation.

4. Question about Intention: can I repeat my intention (think discursively about it) every few minutes? At which stage it is best to stop doing that?” I agree with Paul. Do what works. If verbal affirmations of intention help, do it.

Thanks, Blaž

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Hi Blaz,

I’ll do my best to more or less answer your questions

1. Start your meditation in the regular way, stabilizing it on the breath sensations at the nose. When attention feels stable and awareness clear, shift to experiencing the whole body with the breath. At some point, when you can detect the sensations of the breath in the whole body, shift your attention back to the sensations at the nose. Upon return, everything should feel clearer, more vivid, greater detail. When (if) that fades, you can return to the whole body breath practice. Then again, return to the nose. So yes, you can do 15 minute intervals but you can also move back and forth between the two more times or less times depending on the state of clarity and vividness.

2. Subtle dullness has three characteristics. . 1. The vividness and clarity with which you perceive the meditation object decline. 2. Both extrospective and introspective peripheral awareness fade. 3. There is a comfortable, relaxed, and pleasant feeling. These all occur together, though only one or another of them may be obvious at any given time. You should learn to identify these characteristics so you can recognize when subtle dullness is growing deeper..

You can recognize if you’re in subtle dullness by 1: the startle reaction – If some disturbance – say, an unexpected sound, a person coughing, or a door slamming – causes you to jerk, or feel inwardly startled, then dullness was probably present. 2. check in – You should intentionally check in from time to time during your meditation as well. When you check in, compare your present awareness and attention with previous meditation sessions when you felt particularly alert and sharp. 3. The best way to detect subtle dullness is by making introspective awareness stronger. The key to doing that is intention. Hold the intention to detect any degree of dullness…./

3. That those techniques aren’t working for you seems surprising if the dullness is actually subtle. It might be a bit “heavier” than you think. Nevertheless, keep trying and experiment with your own techniques. I find squeezing the perenium and sucking in my gut at the same time works.

4. Although there is a pattern to the progress, there is a lot of individual variability. If it seems quite fast to you and the antidotes don’t seem to be working then sure, it’s possible you’re at an earlier stage. But just hard to say online.

Hope all this info helps

Matthew

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Paul

Here are two sections from Culadasa’s forthcoming book that might be helpful.

SELF-DOUBT
We tend to stick with activities we are naturally good at and avoid the ones we have to struggle with. When you discover you can’t control your unruly mind, you may begin doubting your abilities. “Maybe I’m different in some way; I just lack self-discipline.” Or you might believe you aren’t “smart” or “intellectual” enough for meditation. It’s easy to think that some inherent obstacle is holding you back, especially if you start comparing your experiences with what other people seem to be achieving. Yet, the truth is, the real obstacle is self-doubt. Self-doubt is powerful and can rob you of your enthusiasm and determination to establish a practice. And without a regular practice, it will take a long time before you see any real improvement – which just creates more doubt in your mind. At root of self-doubt is the classic hindrance of Doubt explained in the First Interlude; the detailed solution to Doubt can also be found there. But at heart, the antidote is simple: trust and perseverance, and to possess those, you need inspiration and motivation.

5. DOUBT
Doubt is healthy and valuable when it motivates us to question, investigate, test, and try things for ourselves. It protects us from blindly accepting what others say or what seems true, and keeps us from being misled or taken advantage of. As a survival strategy, it keeps us from wasting our time and resources. Doubt begins as a kind of biased and unconscious mental process that focuses on negative results and negative possible outcomes. Once the mind decides that a situation should indeed be examined more closely, the emotion of Doubt becomes part of conscious experience. If the feeling of Doubt is strong enough, it compels us to either reevaluate an activity, or to abandon it altogether. The purpose of Doubt is simply to challenge the strength of our motivation, inviting us to test our current activities and intentions by using reason and logic.
Yet, if we don’t reevaluate a situation rationally and only respond to the emotional component of Doubt, we may never succeed at any difficult task and simply abandon whatever makes us uncertain. This is where Doubt becomes a hindrance. It creates the kind of uncertainty that makes us hesitate and keeps us from taking action. For example, if you doubt your ability to succeed in meditation, your motivation will fade and you won’t sit down to practice. Although Doubt is often projected onto other people and things, it often takes the form of self-doubt, a lack of confidence in our own abilities. Indeed, this kind of Doubt is a perverse faith in failure that saps our will and undermines our intentions. Too often it keeps us from making the effort needed to validate something through our own effort and experience.
The immediate remedy for Doubt is to use your reasoning abilities to project the possibility of success in the long-term, countering the short-term emotional pressure of this hindrance. Once you have overcome the paralyzing effect of Doubt, you can move forward with stronger motivation, and through action, replace uncertainty with certainty. The ultimate remedy for Doubt is the trust and confidence that come from success, and success depends on persistent effort.
Because self-doubt is so pervasive, it’s worth providing a few more assurances and antidotes. If you doubt your ability to concentrate, just remember that even though some people are calmer by nature than others, very few have such active minds that they cannot meditate. Even people with serious cases of attention deficit disorder succeed at meditation practice. If your mind really is more active than average, the first three Stages will be the most challenging. However, rest assured, not only can you master them, but once you do, the remaining Stages will come much more easily.
For some, self-doubt is about self-esteem and, specifically, with comparing yourself unfavorably to others you believe are brighter or more capable. In fact, intellectual ability is not a particularly important factor for success at meditation. Meditation is about awareness and attention. If you can read this book and follow the instructions, you have more than enough intelligence to learn to meditate. For that matter, even if you don’t understand some of what you read in these pages, by simply following the basic instructions for each Stage, you will succeed.
Some people doubt they have the discipline required. But if you can exercise regularly or go to work or school consistently, then you can establish a meditation practice. The key factor isn’t some inherent ability to be disciplined, but rather motivation and habit. If you ever find yourself questioning whether you have enough self-discipline to meditate, re-examine your motivation instead. Without motivation, self-discipline won’t help much. Making meditation a habit is also critical. Because we are in the habit of going to work, even when we’re reluctant, we do it anyway and often without giving any particular thought at all to consequences. Habit is powerful. In Stage One we discussed ways to create the conditions for your practice to become a habit.
In meditation, Doubt obviously stands in the way of persistence. Conversely, the meditation factor of Sustained Attention , achieved as a result of consistent effort, is what overcomes Doubt. That is, as you continue to apply yourself, you will learn you’re capable of sustaining attention and achieving other positive results from your practice as well. Successes lead to trust – both in the practice and in yourself. Once you realize that, Doubt will be completely overcome.

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

Thanks again Jordan

I had another lucid dream through the non-medicated WILD practice. So far, what I’ve noticed is that focusing on something in the dream usually catalyzes lucidity. The first time it was focusing on a poster and the words were all garbled. The second time I was focused on a coral reef that emerged from a boiling vat of coca-cola. It seems to be the intense investigation of the weirdness that stimulates this, “wait a minute, I’m dreaming!”

But I have also lost a good deal of sleep for not much reward. It does put a dent in the day for sure. So I haven’t been consistent anymore, especially with school starting.

M

[Matthew ImmergutMember]

A few corrections above. “The evidence that we feel this way is when we feel guilty for “being lazy.” This feeling of guilt is not an individual problem, its not a personal super-ego, but a collective super-ego that comes from the internalization of a set of external social demands that are very culturally specific.”

“But I very often wonder how much of this protestant spirit has infected OUR ideas of Buddhist practice”

[Author]

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