Mindfulness in Plain English

[goodoljoshua]

Originally Posted by Edwin

Couldn't wait and started reading online, allready at chapter 8...

Thanks for this man, it's amazing !

It's quite a book, huh? Thorough, succinct, readable, methodical, and FREE! Feels really good to know this post has been helpful.

[bashmaki]

I have decided, after a number of years meditating, to try the method described in this book. At first it seemed an effort in futility. . . I kept trying. I eventually thought it was just becoming an exercise in chasing thoughts around in this head.

The key here is obviously relaxation plus concentration on the breath. As the book says; fighting the thoughts is fruitless. I HAD to try that

I eventually came from the chair with some satisfaction that I was being able to concentrate. At one point I had the brief realization that I'd become the breath itself and nothing else. For me, this is enough to keep me going for now. I'm still sitting in a chair. Once I begin to get the hang of it in a chair; I'll start to sit on a cushion. I think baby steps would be key in successfully, radically changing meditation styles.

If anyone else has been trying to change to this type meditation; I'd love some feedback. If anyone has any extended experience; pointers would be wonderful.

Gus

[Edwin]

Been reading it up to chapter 9, and stopped there because it was too much info all at once and I needed some time to absorb it before I continued.

I got my best result from this meditation method by sitting absolutely still.

I realised that in fact I had been sabotaging my meditation for almost a year by scratching when I had an itch, moving a leg when a hint of pain came up...

And not only have I reached the new Calm I have been writing about, I ended up noticing some really big unresolved issues as well ! I even went through a 15 minute period of being really agitated after my meditation last tuesday ( boy was I relieved that after those 15 minutes the Calm came back )

Still feel great because of it !

[Bhavya]

Thanks for the recommended reading, Josh. Nice to have the nuts and bolts without the dogma.

Gus you wrote: "If anyone else has been trying to change to this type meditation; I'd love some feedback. If anyone has any extended experience; pointers would be wonderful."

I don't claim to be an expert - I'm walking my path the best way I can - but it's very important to me. It's really the only thing that has fascinated me throughout the 63 years of my being in this body. I've searched through many ways and have done vipassana meditation extensively and intensively. Here are some thoughts that I have on the subject, for what it's worth.

The key for me is to distinguish concentration from awareness. This book Mindfulness in Plain English has a couple of chapters, 13 and 14 which talks about that. And of course Eckhart Tolle has written several books on the subject. They use concentration in the process of witnessing whatever's happening - thoughts, sensations, sounds...and hopefully in that witnessing, we can allow the phenomena to pass by without getting caught by them. However, if you're like me with an active mind, this can be difficult, especially if there's lots going on in your life!

This weekend, I discovered another layer to all this and I'm really finding this new piece helpful. I took a workshop with an advaita master named Mooji who tells us to start inquiring about who or what is doing the witnessing. You have a thought and by noticing that it's arisen, you witness it, knowing that it's your mind thinking. Then you inquire, "who is doing that?" Answer, it's "me." But "who is that "me"? Or what?" Seeing that there's something apart from the mind, you notice that there's more to you. But where does this "me" come from? Somehow there's this identity that we have, thinking it's who we are. Yet, by being aware of it, we notice that there must be something more to ourselves than our identifying with the body/mind. We cling to this "me" but we can step back from it and witness it as well. When we discover this ultimate observer, we realize it's just pure consciousness. It is formless, without attributes, neutral, doesn't do anything but just "be." In it, we are joined with all that is. It's the source.

I know that's a very wordy attempt to describe something that is so elegant and simple and beautiful. Being there with someone who is coming from that vibration made it possible for me to enter that ultimate state, however briefly, so that now in meditation, if thoughts come I can step back to notice that it's the me identifying with them and I can step back to the much more fundamental Self that precedes all of that. The thoughts either stop, or slow down, and I just witness, there's a thought, here's another one, the body is breathing, there's a sound ...without identifying with any of it. Insight, which is what "vipassana" means, arises because we see that it's all just phenomena, arising and passing away. Some of it is enticing, some is not and we start to notice the craving and aversion that the pesonality has to that. Behind it all, like the depth of the ocean, is the witnessing, just pure being. It's out of that that peace comes.

I suppose what I'm saying is that we need some concentration but we also need to develop wisdom about the nature of existence - the body/mind, our identifying with "me, myself and I".

You clearly have already developed capacity to concentrate, so kudos to you. How you use that concentration can bring great insight and spiritual growth. And I think that you can trust yourself to know how to proceed. I love the advaita teaching that we are ALREADY pure being. It's there inside of us, obscured by our focusing exclusively on our thinking mind and feelings. You've said that you're a long time meditator so you already have the yearning for spiritual truth. There's no question that you're on your way.

Wishing you peace
Bhavya

Btw, sitting on the floor is great if you can, but my meditations are much better now than when I was a young un' looking great on my cushion. As long as the spine is straight, what does it matter? We're moving beyond all of that

[goodoljoshua]

Mooji is pretty cool. He has a gift of leading you past and through your conditioned conceptualizations of who "You" are.

About a week ago I stumbled across a web site by Richard Miller called Never Not Here. He's hosted a few satsangs and posted the videos on his site. He has about 2.5 hours worth of satsangs with Mooji. This is the link if you're interested.

Shine On,
Joshua

[Bhavya]

Joshua, that link is terrific. Waiting for my water specialist to show up, I got to watch half of the first one. I love this man. Sitting in his presence, you feel such wonderful, loving energy but even more important, he takes you into that space. Even watching the video does it for me.

I've been doing the 'inquiry' listening to LF9 for a few days now and the combination is very powerful.
Many thanks
Bhavya

[bashmaki]

I am having continued success with this type of meditation all-be-it slowly. I expected this though. I find the mind trying to build a construct and also departmentalize the breath as I concentrate awareness on it.

Each time I merely bring my concentration and awareness to the thought pattern and ask the pertinent questions of this thinking. In no time the thought disappears only to come back again later.

I would expect this to be a normal process since we've been taught since childhood to use our minds to categorize and departmentalize absolutely everything we do.

The mind seems to dread anything it cannot departmentalize or categorize. It is merely what it does with everything. Because of this phenomena there seems to be no place for mind in the presence of true awareness.

gus

[Bhavya]

Yes, me too. I'm going to spend 5 days with Mooji in a silent retreat because I want to learn more about this technique. I find I've gotten pretty good at observing my dysfunctional mind thanks to Tolle's books but as you say, the mind comes back! Like everything, it probably just takes continuing practice.
And Mooji has given me more of an awareness of myself as a "personality." I can step outside of the body/mind and witness it's dance as a whole (and what a dance it is!) I think I have more of a sense of humour about it all

I'm hoping that the five days with Mooji will help me have a deeper experience of the ultimate observer which might make it easier to return to that space, ongoing.

Bhavya

[bashmaki]

I am also looking at a 10 day school put on by the Vipassana Meditation website. They have a school within 180 mile from where I live. It is interesting from the standpoint that they do not charge anything for their course, food or lodging. All their funding comes from past students. You do have to fill out an exclusive questionaire and from this they make a decision on whether you are a good candidate for their program. They have a program starting in the spring and one again in the fall. The one in the fall would work better for me. In fact, the fall course is going on right now. It is fairly rigorous.



The website is: Vipassana Meditation Website
Intersting stuff here with a lot of information.

gus

[Bhavya]

I've done a lot of 10 day retreats with Goenkaji's outfit. They have centers all over the world. It is rigorous but I found it very helpful though you may find a lot of your 'stuff' comes up. The first one I did, I had a great release and cleansing of emotional baggage. In 7 years I did about 11 retreats and got a lot out of it but finally I knew I had to broaden my practice. They want you to use their method and no other.

You see, they truly believe there's is the only way. It's subtle but when you sit in silence for 10 days and all that you hear are talks by Goenka at night, it penetrates into the mind. The method is fantastic though - like the Mindfulness book only with Goenka's vipassana, after 3 days of focusing on the breath, you move to sensations going from the top of the head to your feet, slowly part by part in a systematic way. It's very powerful. I just wish they wouldn't mock other paths. (My sthick!)

Bhavya