carolin varley:
End in Sight:
carolin varley:
So taking the advice of No End in Sight
Does talking about the First Noble Truth make me seem so emo?
Haha. Maybe you should open another account under that name for days when you are feeling less optimistic.

I think feeling that way would require some brain re-engineering.

carolin varley:
End in Sight:
I can think of two basic ways to lean, from where you happen to be (though there are lots of others):
1) Adjusting noting
* Use a different "go-to" object for noting (your body, your vision, your breath, feelings)
Do you recommend having a "go-to" object for noting rather than completely choiceless awareness?
In context of a pure or relatively pure vipassana practice, I would say that it quite difficult to practice choiceless awareness and yet notice enough of the range of one's experience (at a sufficient level of detail) to make for fast progress. This is a skill that one can learn, some people happen to be good at it by default, and it tends to become easier once having reached Equanimity.
Even for more advanced practitioners who have this ability, it is often better to stick with "foundational" stuff to note (e.g. the body).
When I was pre-path, I found that using the visual field as a "go-to" object was very helpful.
In general, I would say that these three things are things that are beneficial to overweight in terms of how much attention is being applied to them:
* Your body, its position, and all positive / negative / neutral sensations experienced within it
* Your feelings and emotions, whether positive / negative / neutral (if you see these as separate in any way from your body)
* Anything whatsoever that you observe vibrating in a clear way
A fourth would be
* "Formless" qualities of experience (e.g. spaciousness)
but these qualities are not always obvious, especially pre-path, and may not become obvious until one is squarely in Equanimity...one need not search for them if they aren't presenting themselves.
carolin varley:
End in Sight:
Should I resolve for this? Is it just as simple as determining to note faster if I feel stuck during meditation? I have tried to amp my meditation up before and feel like I just get quite muddled and confused, and forget to note these states.
The way that I found to be easiest is to pick the sense in which vibrations are clearest, and simply note the vibrations as quickly as they are observed; I would also intersperse the noting of vibrations with noting anything else that was observed (other senses, feelings, thoughts, etc.), with the understanding that noting vibrations is the primary thing and is to be returned to as soon as possible...if possible, returned to in the momentary gaps between thoughts / etc.. Following that strategy, one's noting will be about as fast as the vibrations one experiences, and there will be less confusion (assuming that confusion is due to having to look around for something to note, or pushing too hard to note beyond a speed that seems appropriate). There are other ways to pursue this, but this way is an reasonable default practice which you could try varying once you were comfortable with it.
As I have no idea how quickly your default noting would be, I have no idea whether this would be any faster.
If your default noting is on the slower side, a resolution to note faster (which may mean, a resolution to look more closely at your experience, and to decompose it more strongly) may be sufficient.
A Goenka-influenced noting variant would be to make the body and all vibratory experiences in the body the "go-to" object (even if another sense is more prominent)...the value of this may depend on whether these experiences are perceived to vibrate clearly enough.
carolin varley:
So note with eyes open? Maybe this will also weaken my tendency to get stuck in thoughts. I actually associate vibrations with too much energy and difficult sits (like the one I just had). Right now if I look at the table I can see that it doesn't look completely solid and that it is shaking/vibrating with tiny tiny pricks. Is this what you mean? I've never actually investigated this properly in a sit though. Might try that tmrw and report back.
That sounds like what I mean.
Noting with eyes open vs. closed is something that you will have to experiment with. It is possible to note vibrations in the visual field either way (the back of your eyelids are black, so any flickering you notice is a vibration that can be noted). I personally prefer eyes open; both ways are valid.
If you make vibrations in your visual field your primary object, it is likely to help make thoughts less sticky (as each time you note a thought, you immediately go back to the visual field...withdrawing attention from thinking removes some of the fuel by which it proliferates.)
The more prominent vibrations are, the more the particular qualities of the nana that you're in will be experienced...thus, in the Dark Night, clear vibrations are likely to be associated with difficult sits, as you say. However, seeing vibrations (which are the mind's affective reaction to sense-experience) in a clear way is the means by which stream entry is most directly attained, so my recommendation, assuming that you want to pursue vipassana, is to observe them (rather than ignore them) insofar as they present, and accept that it may not be pleasant, and accept that experiencing this unpleasantness in a non-reactive and accepting way is the key to progress at this point, and accept that some temporary increases in unpleasantness may be signs of progress (as they indicate being able to observe vibrations more clearly than before). (Do not forget to note the feeling of unpleasantness, however it manifests, and whether you see it as a body sensation or a free-floating "tone" that experience has.)
Some other advice. You have mentioned ending sits during stronger experiences of concentration...I would consider not ending sits anytime something interesting / new / uncommon is happening, and especially not when your concentration is good. If things are working, it's best to roll with it if possible. If that means extending a 45 minute sit to 3 hours, so long as you have no other impeding plans or responsibilities to attend to, why not?
Also, insofar as you have a lot of thinking going on, you could try ignoring the cognitive component of it, rather than focusing on it or noting it. (Paying attention to it often generates more of it.) Spending a lot of time noting thoughts is generally not as helpful as noting clearer sense-experiences or feelings / emotions. Keep in mind that you can note feelings / emotions while ignoring a great deal of the cognitive clutter that surrounds them.
Finally, if you reach Low Equanimity or think that you're reaching Low Equanimity, but keep falling out of it, consider whether (at that point) you might need to vary your practice in some way. Some people find a different approach to Equanimity to be useful. (However, don't expect that this will be required.) See what happens, and experiment.
carolin varley:
Well basically I was doing sits and just trying to disimbed from whatever came up, like noticing noises around me, how I reacted to the noises, the thoughts that triggered and my reaction to the thoughts (slashing/contracting energy). I used to use a labeling approach like "listening" "reacting" "feeling" etc. but lately I have only been using labels in my practice to label particularly sticky thoughts and strong sensations, as I found words would just spin off into thought associations and stories.
Keep in mind that noting your experience may be a clearer and easier-to-act-upon goal than disembedding.
carolin varley:
My pleasure.