TJ Broccoli:
hi Melody,
welcome to the dho!
sounds like things are moving along for you. would you mind sharing with us some of your practice techniques? what have you found to work or not work for you? when you meditate (I assume you mean sitting), what do you do besides "following the breath steadily and quietly"?
jill
Hi jill
Thought I’d put notes into bullet points, it might keep my writing more succinct (er after writing below I can see I have failed on that account! Apologies. Points put in bold, perhaps that will help lol)
I don’t think my practice is complex and it’s pretty lightly structured. I don’t overthink stuff but I do read a lot and slowly incorporate new techniques. I don't try and memorise and incorporate it all at once, rather gradually develop the structure and content of my practice at a gentle pace. It seems to be working but hasn't been all plain sailing.
Many others seem better at analysing and articulating what they do. Maybe as my technical knowledge grows I will get better at it. For now here are some notes...hope you find them useful

BTW all simple stuff you’ve probably read a thousand times, but they’ve been significant for me so here they are...
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Yoga. Done immediately before meditation each morning. Before I began meditating I had been yoga’ing every day for quite a while. Taught me how to breath properly, control and concentrate on the breath, mindfulness, patience Perfect foundation practice.
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Mindfulness in Plain English kicked me into daily meditation practice. First time I had read something with solid practice instructions, so follow them I did.
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Manageable timeframes – started with only 5 minutes seated meditation a day. Then each week added just 5 minutes more. Never pushed myself hard in terms of how long I sat. Did (still do) however push myself very hard to do it EVERY day no matter how I feel.
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Counting the breath. Initially used counting the breath to build concentration and stop my mind wandering, as it did all the time to begin with. Stopped counting a couple of weeks ago as it didn’t seem necessary anymore. Counting was becoming a distraction in itself. I just wanted to sit with the breath. Plus I kept losing count lol.
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Mindfulness in everyday life – started practicing mindfulness every day ala Thich Nhat Hanh ‘wash the dishes to wash the dishes’. Household chores have never been executed with so much care and attention

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Posture – I guess because I can sit in lotus pose I thought I should sit like that, and lots of books say you should. But while I can sit in lotus for a few minutes, after 10 it becomes seriously uncomfortable. After 20 downright painful! Finally wised up a few weeks ago and changed to Burmese pose, and bought a proper zafu cushion. Now can sit indefinitely. Why didn’t I do this months ago dur!
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Mindfulness with Breathing (Buddhadasa Bhikku) – found this book a really useful read (step by step anapanasati). Discovered his books in Thailand on a recent trip (thanks BB!). Only finished it a little over a week ago but started putting into practice straight away.What did I put into practice from it? Lots of things but nothing earth shattering. What I recall most was the translators note that said don’t try and leap ahead. Just sit with each stage and be happy with where you’re at. And always start each sitting from the beginning. Reminds me of yoga practice e.g. being happy with whatever you can do on the day. The minute I start thinking about what I’d like to do/achieve but can’t seem to, I’ve just lost the essence and value of the practice - I’ve just lept into thinking and planning instead of just observing and enjoying being in the moment.
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Following/chasing the breath – this turbo boosted my concentration when I started paying complete attention to every single part of my breath including the pauses. It can be quite hypnotic. For some reason doing this slows my breath riiight down, especially the out breath, feels like it goes on foreeever sometimes, quite comically so. Sometimes after the out breath I seem to sit pausing, waiting, for what seems an eternity. I wonder hmm am I gonna start breathing again?! Suddenly the breath is incredibly interesting! No reason for the mind to wander when it’s intrigued and interested in what it’s watching. Once I got this level of concentration and focus going, things started to click.
Watching Daniel’s talk on vimeo helped. I was starting to think ‘I wonder where is this meditation stuff going?’. I’d read about stuff like stream entry and all that, but I assumed that was unattainable. On the one hand that may have helped – I had no lofty ambitions or expectations. On the other hand listening to Daniel recently opened me to possibilities I hadn’t seriously considered before. Thanks Daniel!
I should note that a year ago I was in a bad place. A stressful career (and mentally unhealthy work environment) nearly drove me to the edge and I bailed on it to save my sanity. Then I met someone who made a huge positive impression on me, who I soon after discovered was a practicing Buddhist and former Monk. Those two events kind of sealed the deal for me. I hit my threshold and was highly motivated to get my shit together. The thought of many more years suffering along the same vein, well I just couldn’t take it anymore. So my practice has rarely wavered.
Opps this was not quite as concise as I set out! Nevermind. Not sure if this is what you were looking for but I hope some of it was useful for you. All the very best
Melody