Meditation people roll call!

How's everyone getting along?

I've got about 18 months under my belt now - 4-5 times a week, 20 minutes a time. I'm also going to my local Buddhist centre a couple of times a month for guided meditation.

It's difficult to 'measure' directly but I feel 'something' is happening. I'm still unskillful a lot of the time but have a degree of distance from myself that feels new.

I'm sure it's correlation not causation but I've recently changed jobs and the process felt deliberate in a way I've not really had before - as if there were a firmer hand on the tiller or something like that.

Not a silver bullet but...

Just got back from a six-day retreat. Gorgeous location on a forested mountain. Great teacher. And we were allowed to talk at meals which was surprisingly great. I think that might be my preferred retreat model, one absorbs the vibes better when you can talk to people.

I might have said this before but meditation is a very physical process right now. Subtle tension patterns coming and going. Not much that I can look at directly to help it along, just kinda have to sit there while it works itself out.

I would like to try a retreat. Maybe just a weekend to start - to see what I can manage etc.

I'd say my process is still very cerebral/intellectual. It's more physical when I meditate in the presence of others, I think. I'm less distracted with others, somehow. There's something intangible about the shared nature of group meditation.

Anyway yes to the 'not a silver bullet' but also, dang, I should have done this years ago.

otm

China ski, I’m curious what you mean by “a degree of distance from myself” up above?

I haven’t really gotten back into a regular practice since like December, when I was in a great groove of daily meditation that really helped with calmly reflecting and handling tricky situations and overall emotional awareness. But I feel like I’m still enjoying the benefits of that so I’m not beating myself up over dropping the routine.

China ski, I’m curious what you mean by “a degree of distance from myself” up above?

I guess I'm thinking about the Pali meaning of mediation being something like 'becoming familiar with' and how this translates to 'off the cushion' experience, where now I'm much more inclined to notice habitual responses and processes - in interactions with others but also interactions with my thought processes.

Yeah when things happen I'm less often fully engulfed by them (people talk about awareness "collapsing.")