Meditation, Concentration practices

[hikmatshiraliyev]

Hi guys.

I started to meditate a month ago, with Leo's "No bullshit guide to meditation" and "How to meditate deeper" videos. But at 1st video he says that do not go with thoughts. At second video he said that let the mind do what it wants, just observe it. When i meditate there are lots of topics in my mind and there are lots of thoughts about them. I try to be aware of them, but at least they are stories about thoughts. Should i just observe the thoughts and let them go, or observe all the thoughts and stories?

Second question: Is vipassana meditation is same with concentration practice? There are a lot of people doing vipassana as a meditation, but isn't vipassana a concentration practice with focusing breath? 

[PsiloPutty]

Sit, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Feel it at the tip of your nose as it comes in. Feel it as it goes out. Notice little things about it, like how it's cooler during the inhale than the exhale. A thought about breakfast comes into your mind....greet the thought silently (hello Mr. Thought!) and then go back to noticing your breath. Try not to control your breath or make it be deeper, etc. Just notice how you can feel the rush of fresh air as it comes into your nostrils. Innnnn and ouuuuut. A motorcycle passes outside and you wonder if it needs a new muffler. You think about a motorcycle that you used to have and wonder if someone still rides it. Oops, you're supposed to be meditating! Congratulate yourself silently for remembering the task at hand as you again go back to your breath. Notice the period of no-breath that lives between the time you exhale and inhale a new breath. Innnn and ouuuut you go, noticing everything about the breath, become fixed on it. Ride along with your breath, like a cork floating on a gently rising and falling sea. You remember that you need to text your brother to see if he can help you move the couch next week. He has that new girlfriend that you don't really care for....what was her name? Gina? Tina? Oh shit, you're meditating! Give yourself a mental high five for remembering and get back to noticing the breath again. Do this until the timer sounds.   See how it works?

There! That's the basic breath-focus technique. It will build concentration and focus. 

Vipassana does use the breath as its anchor, but it stays with the distraction (breakfast, the motorcycle, your brother and Gina, etc) longer and actually focuses on it for a few seconds or until it stops being at the front of your mind, then you'd go back to the breath afterward. Some people in vipassana put a mental label on the thing that took them away from their breath. Labels like "thinking" or "hearing." There are plenty of YouTube vids on that technique, but I've talked enough for now. 

[ground]

17 hours ago, hikmatshiraliyev said:

Second question: Is vipassana meditation is same with concentration practice? There are a lot of people doing vipassana as a meditation, but isn't vipassana a concentration practice with focusing breath? 

Vipassana is also called 'insight meditation'. Usually concentration is the primer on the basis of which vipassana is conducted because concentration leads to calm abiding which is the prerequisite for insight. Breath can be used as both, as an object of concentration to attain calm abiding and/or as an object to attain insight into impermanence.

Deepened concentration meditation can also lead to entering the form realm or even the formless realm. These are just other modes of consciousness which have nothing to do with vipassana and are temporary, i.e. they do not last longer than the meditation session does last ... with a little bit of 'hang-over' during a short period of post-meditation. In contrast to this the fruits of vipassana meditation do affect post-meditation perceptions/experiences.

What I have sketched here is buddhist view. So maybe Leo uses the same terms 'vipassana' and 'concentration' but defines those terms differently ... ?

Edited December 17, 2018 by ground

[Bobby]

there's a book on leo's book list which tells you exactly how to meditate.  

[Bluff]

the thing with thoughts is..

ideally you want no thought. In the beginning you may first have to see what a thought is, so you can let them go. try to grasp the substance of thoughts.

again, for deep meditation you want to have no thought. 

[Matt8800]

On 12/16/2018 at 2:45 PM, hikmatshiraliyev said:

Hi guys.

I started to meditate a month ago, with Leo's "No bullshit guide to meditation" and "How to meditate deeper" videos. But at 1st video he says that do not go with thoughts. At second video he said that let the mind do what it wants, just observe it. When i meditate there are lots of topics in my mind and there are lots of thoughts about them. I try to be aware of them, but at least they are stories about thoughts. Should i just observe the thoughts and let them go, or observe all the thoughts and stories?

Second question: Is vipassana meditation is same with concentration practice? There are a lot of people doing vipassana as a meditation, but isn't vipassana a concentration practice with focusing breath? 

They are different methods.

First, strengthen your concentration meditation (Jhana). That will set the foundation for insight meditation (Vipassana).

I would recommend a book called Wisdom Wide and Deep. Its a western version of the Vissudhimagga, which is an ancient buddhist text that details all the basic up to the most advanced techniques, when to do them, how to do them and in what order.

[Hellspeed]

On 16.12.2018 at 11:45 PM, hikmatshiraliyev said:

Hi guys.

I started to meditate a month ago, with Leo's "No bullshit guide to meditation" and "How to meditate deeper" videos. But at 1st video he says that do not go with thoughts. At second video he said that let the mind do what it wants, just observe it. When i meditate there are lots of topics in my mind and there are lots of thoughts about them. I try to be aware of them, but at least they are stories about thoughts. Should i just observe the thoughts and let them go, or observe all the thoughts and stories?

Second question: Is vipassana meditation is same with concentration practice? There are a lot of people doing vipassana as a meditation, but isn't vipassana a concentration practice with focusing breath? 

Focus on Breath and let anything come and go. 

[hikmatshiraliyev]

@Bobby i ordered it man. but i will get it at the end of january. Whenever i try a technique i feel anxious because i feel i am doing something wrong. So i decided just to be aware of thoughts and watch them.