1 hour daily meditation

[Angelo D]

I recently took a Vipassana 10 day course (S.N. Goenka's) and now I have made vipassana my daily meditation. It is much harder to focus while practicing at home, and I even find it hard to pass my attention through every part of my body more than once in the full hour. I am wondering if it is worth keeping Vipassana as my main meditation or switching to another.

What is best for the one hour daily in your experience, and what benefits might I expect?

 I love the idea that vipassana makes you equanimous, I'm just wondering this question because it is quite difficult outside of the dhamma hall. 

Thanks!

Edited October 21, 2020 by Angelo D

[r0ckyreed]

I would much rather you master one form of meditation than to know many forms of meditation. 
 

The fact that it’s hard for you to do a body scan for one hour, shows you that it would be best for you to master this basic form of mindfulness before getting lost in meditation techniques. 
 

Realize that meditation has no technique. Meditation is about connecting to the NOW. It is being in tune with the “observer.” Become the watcher. 
 

Be mindful of the sensations of breathing, sight, sounds, and feelings. Listen into the wisdom of silence. Watch your mind and bring it back to sensations. That’s pretty much it. Just BE with yourself and The Eternal NOW. 
 

You can also look at your hand for an hour and just BE with your hand. Observe your hand and marvel at it.

[Rolo]

S.N Goenka's Vipassina is a really powerful method of meditation. I would also suggest checking out Shinzens methods of meditation.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Rolo

[molosku]

If you dont resonate with it, don't so it. I was in exactly in your position, so I quit my daily vipassana and switched to the mind illuminated instructions, which I can recommend for someone familiar with vipassana. 

[Michal__]

It is worth it. Maybe try 2hr (in two sessions) for a few days just to get it back together.

The amazing thing about body scanning is that it lets you train both insight & concentration at the same time which no other technique does.

Also idk if you are lying down but perhaps try sitting upright for a while, that helps concentration too.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Michal__

[allislove]

@Angelo D

I was in a similar position... eventually, I ended up doing 1h of "focus on deep breathing" meditation.

Congrats on taking Vipassana  

[tezk]

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.

Edited October 21, 2020 by tezk

[Jodistrict]

I have done the Vipassana 10 day and Shinzen was my first meditation instructor.    Osho developed numerous meditation techniques specifically for westerners.  He observed that westerners, due to their upbringing and culture, have busy minds, so every attempt at meditation is futile, because they can never get to a state of quiet.  He developed a dynamic meditation, where you move and dance around vigorously until you are exhausted and then you stop and meditate.   I recently took one of his meditations online where a hypnotist inducts you into a state where you can meditate.  Once you are in the state, he stops for 15 minutes where you meditate, and then starts with an induction to get you back to the waking state.   Those are just two examples of the Osho meditations.  

[Angelo D]

Cool stuff, Thanks all.

[r0ckyreed]

1 hour ago, Angelo D said:

Cool stuff, Thanks all.

Check out the thread I wrote about called Self-Love meditation exercises to attain Infinite Love

[everythingisnothing]

@Angelo D Hey Angelo! I‘ve been meditating daily for an hour for almost four years now and what has helped me immensely is to use a variety of techniques so that I don‘t feel imprisoned by one way but rather flexible and free with the technique that I would like to do that specific day. If I had a very stressful day, I wouldn‘t want to force myself to focus on the breath, I‘d much rather relax and do nothing, let go completely. Or I would want to feel the emotions. On other days I might have high energy and would want to push myself to count every conscious breath I take.

So having a variety of techniques was the best way to go for me. Also not doing one hour in one run (not possible everyday), but rather to 1 hour in total.

Hope that helped!?‍♂️