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Okay. Thank you but that is not what I am after having created this thread. I am aware having attended and served Vipassana retreats ?. They’re great but not what I am after right now.

Am I allowed to bump a thread after 24 hours? (Genuine question). Forgive me for being 30 minutes too early on that first bump. I am aware of this. The point of this thread is to find a local partner to make the opportunity of a retreat more feasible, hence why I spoke about combining resources.

Bump

Bump

I've been practicing Vipassana for around 3-4 months consistently. I have completed 1 10-day retreat, and just recently served a 10-day retreat. Felt like my first 10-day retreat was rather introductory and surface level, and good for just establishing myself in the technique. I've managed to maintain on average at least an hour and 40-50 minutes a day of Vipassana meditation since my first course in June. In terms of results, they definitely seem to be slowly trickling in. My concentration overall has clearly improved, and in general, I am slightly more equanimous, however I intuit that in order to deepen my practice I must strengthen my samadhi - thinking of running a self-course of strictly anapana until my samadhi is strong. At the moment I am lacking guidance, so I am going to purchase either Mastering the core teachings of the Buddha or The Mind Illuminated. If you guys have any advice on choosing either of these two books that would be greatly appreciated. I also have the opportunity to do a sit-serve program at a Vipassana centre, where I can stay there for 3 months or longer. That will enable me to sit a 10-day, then have a break, serve a 10-day etc in a fairly isolated environment, where I can keep building momentum. I have been listening to a few of Shinzen Young's talks which have also been deeply inspiring. One idea that keeps me patient is the (apparent) fact that meditation is all about momentum. Results begin to grow exponentially over time. I can't help but be curious about other techniques, specifically Kriya Yoga. Leo's video on "The Importance of Real Yoga" definitely inspired me. I also met someone (while serving) who practices Sadhguru's program of yoga, and they strongly agreed with pretty much everything Leo talks about in that video - that yoga is faster, more effective, and more integrated. They also believed that there was nothing dangerous about mixing Vipassana with Yoga - although the person I was talking to didn't seem like a long-term practitioner of either path. I know in the past I have dabbled around using different techniques, and I certainly don't want to make that mistake again. I can accept that real change and transformation will take time, persistence, patience, and focus. I am still very young (20). And am grateful to be where I am in life at such a young age. Essentially my goal is to just keep growing spiritually. Purifying my mind, and experience true insights. What do you guys think? Should I focus on Vipassana for at least a year - which would give me ample opportunity to give the technique a fair go, or plunge into Kriya Yoga and keep exploring that world? Or is it possible to do both (at different times of the day)? Are there any dangers involved? Thank you all. Let me know if you have questions.

When it comes to developing a good meditation posture over time, is it as simple as just doing your best to maintain a good posture during sits (straight back, shoulders back, and hips higher than knees), and then trying to increase the time you can hold it, over time? I imagine you get to a point where you can relax effortlessly into the posture. I've also got a stretching routine in place for mornings and evenings. One of the problems I've found with this approach of just muscling your way through to a good posture is that its distracting me away from the actual technique I'll be doing whether that be anapana or vipassana. Is this just a short-term problem that I'll need to accept until I develop muscles to naturally hold up my body with good posture? Appreciate any insight people can offer into this problem. Thanks

I've sat a Vipassana course, and served a Vipassana course. For the following 3 months of my first retreat I stuck pretty diligently to the 2 hours a day of Vipassana (Anapana when the mind is wondering/agitated, followed by body scanning). I had intuitions that body scanning is pointless unless you have developed a somewhat strong degree of concentration. Goenka doesn't really emphasis the importance of samadhi. So I just recently begun following The Mind Illuminated (as recommended from this forum), where it essentially takes you through the different stages of meditation, beginning with the development of "stable concentration", and then onto mindfulness. The book is very thorough in that it covers everything you need to know in relation to developing a strong meditation practice e.g. theory, stages of meditation, benefits, pitfulls/traps, etc. It also meets you where you're at in your meditation practice, prescribing you certain techniques for that stage, whereas I felt that at Goenka retreats they kind of give everyone the same bland advice. It's too early for me to give you an objective judgement on either Goenka retreats and TMI as a whole, but from the short time I've had studying the textbook and putting it into practice, I am definitely way more satisfied with TMI.

Yeah, thats exactly how I'm making this decision. For now, I will focus on meditation, concentration, and developing a good sitting posture. And if I ever feel like it's ripe to try out Kriya Yoga or any other techniques, the skills I learn from meditation will help in those other techniques anyway.

Bump

@nistake Ah, thats good to hear that your body eventually adjusted! I think thats the way to go. Just tough it out and do my best to meditate, relaxing into the pose. Thank you

Bump. Interested to see more perspectives

@Consilience Excellent. Thank you for your response.

People are never inherently unconscious, just different degrees of perception. They have noisy minds, which creates a very illusive reality. Their mind is so deceptive, that it tricks them into believing reality is a certain way, which is what makes them unconscious. You could say that mind-matter (thoughts) is only one example of form in reality that is really misleading and deceptive. Is this accurate?

Hey. So these are my insights I'm realizing in my experience. Am I on the right track? I apologize if this is in the wrong thread, new here. I sincerely appreciate all feedback/advice! Awareness is ALWAYS here. Awareness = Direct Experience (always happening). We have nothing but direct experience to explore. Awareness is by nature, still. You can’t feel or experience this stillness if your mind is noisy. Noisy mind = neurotic, expectations, interpretations, judgements, attachments to experiences, thinking, memories, projections (to degrees, that the average person is totally unconscious about) These “noisy mind experiences” happening in awareness, prevent you from experiencing the stillness of awareness. Noisy mind experiences make life unpleasant and create suffering because you're resisting. Your own ego works through your mind to protect you. So, in a sense, assuming Leo is right that “You” don’t exist as this body, you can’t be non-neurotic without realising who you really are, because your ego works through your mind to control and protect reality. Leo says that you must “detach” yourself from all experience (which would include the thought experience i.e. attachments to particular memories or emotions), in order to experience/feel MORE deeply this moment. Your mind is distracted (noisy) into thinking/believing the “attachments” will make you happy, which in turn distorts the present experience making it unpleasant, and unsatisfying. Also, if you aren’t happy with fresh food, clean water, shelter, good parents, good siblings, enrolled in university, hot showers, then what is actually going to make you happy? It seems to me the root issue (of being unfulfilled, unsatisfied, unhappy) is purely internal (in your mind). So the crux of this work is in quieting your mind to significant degrees? And not just in meditation, but in everyday experiences? To be less judgemental, less attaching onto expectations, less projecting mental stuff etc. Also, Leo talks a lot about psychedelics. He also says that they raise your consciousness to profound levels. Is this because they still the mind to profound degrees? And yes, I’m also aware that they can also make the mind go crazy/become noisy? (when people speak of bad trips) Thank you for all the help!