Meditation people roll call!

Did my first Zen thing last weekend, short Zoom retreat with Roshi Joan Halifax. Really dug it. Will check out Charlotte Joko Beck.

Some people find her kind of a downer, but I love her.

What’s the diff between zen and other practices?. I have fucked with TM but have had way better results w mindfulness over the past 6 months.

Roughly speaking, the difference is the lineage. Zen developed in Japan, branching from the Chan lineage in China. Zen lineage-holders were teaching in the US from like the late 1800s. It falls under the big umbrella of Buddhism, places more emphasis on meditation (zazen) then some other other lineages.

IANABuddhist nor an expert on these matters btw

Been doing this for over a year now. No silver bullet or Buddha pill but it definitely helps.

You’ve been doin what? I’ve fallen off the wagon a little and need some inspiration to get back on.

I just can't get motivated these days, life is too messy.

I've had some intense experiences with meditation that feel transformational at the time but then I just end up digging another hole to crawl into.

recently i've found that reading about mindfulness has been as productive as actually meditating. I don't think that's the way its supposed to work but hey whatever floats your boat, right?

switched to lovingkindness practice a few months ago. was initially kinda ... awkward? but less and less so. i'm more repeating the phrases and letting my heart soften than getting a good care bear stare going, so far.

For all the supposed extra time I have in my life in the pandemic, my motivation has been a struggle. I seem to be able to keep up for a month or so, then I hit a week stretch where I can't be bothered at all.

I've been using headspace, which I know a lot of folks don't really love, but it was great when I was first getting into meditating years back. Now I just use it out of momentum. Lately I've been using it as a handy timer, essentially, while I've been playing around with metta meditation.

The one thing I really, really don't like about headspace is that, unless I am doing something majorly wrong, the completely silent timed meditations don't have any sound effect when the time expires. So I end up being way more conscious about the elapsed time than I should be.

Insight Timer yo

I keep hearing that's good, I need to look into it before my headspace renews in December.

recently i've found that reading about mindfulness has been as productive as actually meditating. I don't think that's the way its supposed to work but hey whatever floats your boat, right?

― tobo73, Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:30 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

switched to lovingkindness practice a few months ago. was initially kinda ... awkward? but less and less so. i'm more repeating the phrases and letting my heart soften than getting a good care bear stare going, so far.

― lukas, Thursday, October 22, 2020 8:33 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've never technically practiced loving kindness but I get the feeling it's very in line with my values, I've come to think of the goal of meditation as turning off my 'monkey mind' and just letting things sort themselves out.

Mindfulness respectfully tends to rub me the wrong way, based as much on the adherents as the actual concepts (NOT a personal dig). It does seem to take a very theoretical approach to a practice which is most effective when approached empirically.

Believe this is improving my hearing

Yeah I have found it sharpens the senses.

I'm looking for an intro to meditation book for a friend. Someone recommended Pema Chodron's Start Where You Are, and sure, Pema Chodron is awesome, it has pretty flowers on the cover and the title sounds right. Should be perfect for a beginner, right?

page 17:

The next slogan is "Self-liberate even the antidote." In case you think you understood "Examine the nature of unborn awareness," let go even of that understanding, that pride, that security, that sense of ground. The antidote that you're being asked to lib- erate is shunyata itself. Let go of even the notion of emptiness, openness, or space.

I used 8 Minute Meditation which was a survey of various practices and an easy intro.

Hmm. I assume you are saying that book may not be right after all, lukas.

Feel like a book might be the best way to start out, although there are plenty of good books for afterwards, once en route. I currently use an app that my work pays for, which may end soon. I am willing to pay my own way going forward since I am invested in the teachers and community but I can't recommend it to a newbie, but I hear people like Insight Timer, Calm and Headspace.

might not be

yes I'm not sure my friend who has never meditated before is ready to self-liberate the antidote

(did not mean to be snarky there, I just find it hilarious this was recommended as a beginner's book)

Right, I get it. I saw some page where they recommended another book of hers, I think.

I just now asked one of my teachers and she recommended: The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation, by Arinna Weisman and Jean Smith.

Also thinking maybe something like Thich Nhat Hanh.

Here's an interesting list but I don't know anything about the person who compiled it so take it with a grain of salt: https://bookriot.com/best-meditation-books/

And then there is always the question of how much Buddhism for beginners is present as well.

What I ended up doing is getting her both "Real Happiness" by Sharon Salzberg, which is a very approachable 28-day program, and then "Mindfulness In Plain English", which is a fabulous foundation but too much for someone who isn't already super motivated, I think. My recommendation to her will be to start with the Salzberg book, and after that dip into the other book as desired if she wants to deepen / inspire her practice.

Sound good!

'This the season... to remember that evergreen Ram Dass quote.

Which one?

"hey maharishi, put this under your tongue"?

Ah, no. One version is: if you think you are enlightened, go home for Thanksgiving.

I've built a fair collection of 'beginner's guides' and 'how to's - enough to look at the stack and understand books aren't going to be the thing that'll shove me into regular practise.

I joined a zoom meeting with my local Buddhist group and enjoyed the half-hour meditation a good deal (if enjoyed is the right word) and felt good afterwards but didn't really want the hour afterwards of chatting etc. It's scared me off going back (disorganisation and apathy also relevant here).

Does anyone know of a podcast or YouTube channel of guided meditations for beginners? Or do I just need to get on and find a teacher?

Some of the popular apps seems to have a lot of free content, like Insight Timer, I think,

Some friends of mine use Waking Up, Headspace and Calm but I wouldn't really know.

One version is: if you think you are enlightened, go home for Thanksgiving.

ha. yeah ...

Time for the Xmas LK meditation.

Dedicated the merit....maybe I will keep that to myself.

Happy New Year! How’s it going?

Pretty good! Feels like I'm developing some stability of attention in my home practice. Before I only ever accomplished that on retreat, or by going after the meditation object really greedily. Needless to say, this is a slow process.

Looking for a metta / brahmaviharas retreat, the only one I've found so far conflicts with a wedding, pah.

Yourself?

I'm really glad I have been doing it consistently these past few years. It is much easier for me to get into some version of the proper state, I can't say on demand or as needed, but more often, more readily or something like that. Agree that it is a slow process but, as one of my teachers said the other day, "if it's not slow, it's not real."

I really like that it is a technique or set of techniques actually, that is broadly applicable. And the fact that it requires practice, takes a long time to internalize and that various sorts of perceived "failures" are built into the practice!

Back on the horse. I really fell off in the last quarter of 2021.

Welcome back!

RIP Thich Nhat Hanh, 10/10 human being.

Yes, RIP, almost did the revive myself for that reason.

starting a ten minute a day thing. finally feel like i really need it and like it. excited to keep going.

wait til u try 11 minutes

I've been following some Jack Kornfield guided meditations on YouTube. They're about 25 minutes and are very simple, essential Buddhist meditations and just what I needed. I'm doing once a week at the moment but would like to try twice a week.

wait til u try 11 minutes

Probably shouldn’t go there, but noticed someone on another thread said they didn’t like the words “holding space.” I can imagine in another context it could be used by someone as a kind of cop out, but the way meditation teachers use it totally works for me.