Meditation people roll call!

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.

i set up a little meditation room in the closet of my new place! i love it. got a small altar that sits on the floor and a larger buddha statue than i had before and a little ceremonial water bowl. it's wonderful to have a place just for this one thing.

Jealous!

🙏🧘‍♀️🪔

Good weekend to have a practice.

Did a longer sit than normal this morning, 90 minutes. All kinds of pain and tension and annoyance and blahhhhhh. Felt great when I got up though.

90 is nice!!

For a long time it didn't feel like there was much of a point in going longer, because I'd started to get a lot of dullness. That's a lot less of an issue now, though. No idea why.

90 was about as far as i ever got at my most obsessive just after getting sober, doing 2 or 3 of those a day just to stop thinking about liquor, but that feels real distant these days where 20 minutes is an accomplishment

Never gone for more than the usual 15-30 minutes myself. Not sure if I am scared of one of those psychotic breaks I've read about or...

Yeah, I have some free time right now, and I feel like I notice a difference the rest of the day.

Is anyone else doing zazen and can anyone recommend any guided zazen? (Or is that a contradiction in terms?)

I've used the usual Headspace / Calm options on and off for the last few years but nothing really stuck. In the last year I've been investigating Zen as a broader philosophy/religion in a much more involved way and started doing twenty mins of zazen a day back in February, eyes open, no guidance/music. Some days it feels amazing, some days it's boring and fidgety. I feel like a lot of the stuff I've read about zazen seems to point towards not using music, guidance etc as these are all distractions. I might be wrong on this? Basically, would love some pointers from anyone here who's doing it as well!

re: music, calm/headspace, etc, there's nothing wrong with relaxing but I wouldn't call it meditation.

"some days it's amazing, some days it's boring and fidgety" sounds like it's working as designed

agree with that.

my #1 pointer is to find other people to practice with or at least talk with about your practice. this thread in a pinch but real-time humans even better.

this looks cool (Kozan is a wonderful person): https://www.upaya.org/program/the-ease-and-joy-of-mornings-online-version/?id=2470

Many zazen teachers are down with counting breaths if you need an anchor.

BH you may like Treeleaf Zendo, who's been doing the "online meditation" thing since like 2007 somehow

https://www.treeleaf.org/

Thank you everyone - some really useful pointers all round here, very much appreciated.