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Nikash's noting reboot

Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/1/13 11:17 AM
Hello everyone, well for those who don't know me a little bit of background first.

I've been practising meditation on and off for nearly 10 years, unfortunately I've never been steady enough to get to the higher insights stages. I've done half a dozen of goenka and mahasi retreat but I don't think that i've ever crossed A&P. So 10 years of practice no A&P I must be really bad at it.
Nevertheless i'm still there, I practice between 1 and 2 hours everyday mainly noting.
I'm also a tibetan translator so I have a pretty good knowledge of all the tibetan and vajrayana (messy) stuff. As I live in Paris my english won't be super fluent.


Just sat 1 hour:
Noted rising and falling at the beginning, some touching sensations, hearing, thinking, then torpor kicked in, I fought it but it kept coming back. Around 50 min in, i had to move my legs, did it slowly and crossed them back. Torpor was gone so I could much more clearly the sensation of my abdomen, so peace came along. Gong.

Nikash

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/1/13 12:49 PM as a reply to nicolas C.
Concentrate on the middle of the eyes or head.

If the center opens then there may be a cracking sound(loud noises), flashes of lights etc. Head pressures..
It will activate your energies.
Also it seems that its popular also to use drugs to activate this center, NDE, cataclysmic events.

Without activating it you can go like forever with no "effects". It also sets you in a dark night automatically after energies have done some work in your system.

You can practice this on bed in comfortable and relaxing position, or walking, literally everywhere

*anti-noting advice from non-authority.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/1/13 1:27 PM as a reply to nicolas C.
Hi!

A few question:
-how fast are you noting?
-do you happen to have mind-wandering problems?
-do you have some kind of daily-life practice? If so, can you note all day long without any major distraction?
-have you ever experienced vibrations at the Goenka retreats?

As for the 10 years-no A&P thing, that's not usual, certainly not unheard of. I think it's more a problem of consistency than of "not being good at it". Here Seamus O's log, a guy with 10 years of irregular practice and no A&P, getting SE this September in about 3 weeks of consistent noting practice.
More in general, lurking in these fora I noticed that people meditating many years with no apparent result, then beginning a consistent practice and making fast progress seems to be quite a recurring pattern...

However, what are your current goals as far as meditation is concerned? What do you want to get from it?

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/2/13 3:19 AM as a reply to Mario Nistri.
Thank you for your answers.
Mario,
-I usually note one time per second.
-I do have mind wandering but rarely above one minute, normally i notice it within 10 or 20 second.
-To be honest nowadays I don't have a daily life practice, I really need to implement it again. In the past I had one and it was very very nice. I'll make a real effort to do it from now on.
-I did experience vibrations in Goenka (RIP) but not the full blown Bhanga he is talking about, the vibrations stayed superficial.

just sat 1 hour:

main object rising and falling of the abdomen, one note per second, could note distractions, hearing, anticipation, touching sensations on different places, some frustration, tension in the back toward the end. My breath kept slowing down until it was barely noticeable, lots of tingling sensations sometime on the face sometime on the legs. When my almost almost stopped it was kind of nice as there was no more primary object to note so i could let my mind jump from one object to another. Left practice happy.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/3/13 2:58 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour sit:

a little blurry at first but concentration built up. Primary object was the rising and falling until the breath really slowed down, then it was possible to drop watching the breath and go freestyle noting. If i try to drop watching the breath too early then I stop breathing, breathing and noting are strongly related. Got a little bit restless toward the end of the sit. Noted peace, touching, anticipation, heat, numbness (which is getting more and more interesting), tension, pressure, wanting to stop, wishing for gong. Gong

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/4/13 3:20 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour sit

felt tired at first, kept focusing on the rising and falling of the abdomen. I had a lot of distraction during the first half of the sit. Then it's like i was very close to my abdomen like a zoom in thing, fun. Some peace and pleasure, noted the usual touching, numbness, tingling, thinking, almost no emotions noted. By the end of the sit I was waiting for the gong, noted expectations, impatience, tension, restlessness. Gong.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/4/13 9:23 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
Just sat 45 min,

at first very good clarity, i could feel tiny vibrations on the abdomen, good focus, steady noting and then 30 min in my mind starts to get a lot less clear. Noted aversion, anticipating report, thinking again and again then the noting got less efficient. It's always more difficult for me to sit in the afternoon, even if I take a nap before sitting. I guess I need to keep up so that torpor and dullness are not hindrances anymore...

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/5/13 3:57 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour sit

clear mind from the beginning. Nowadays it's my practice follows more or less the same pattern : first rising and falling with the occasional secondary objects being noted (tingling, pressure, pleasure, peace, thinking, anticipating report, hunger, touching); then concentration deepens and breathing slows down a lot to a point where is barely noticeable ; I can then do freestyle noting without my breath being messed up by it, this portion of the practice is really nice as there is some background peace and my mind is more bendy. After a while some back pain might kick in or some mental tension and I have to be extra cautious as towards the end of the sit sometime my mind is more tired and I start to be distracted.
I keep noting 1 per sec I guess it should get faster on its own. I'll keep posting my logs even if they look the same(for now) and might be boring to read but it helps me to maintain regularity in my practice.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/6/13 5:09 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
just sat 50 min
decided to try to note a little faster rising, rising, falling falling, and indeed it seems to shake things up. At first I had the impression I was just repeating words without really connecting to the corresponding sensations because of the speed but after a while it went easier. The only problem with faster noting is that my mind looks for object to note instead of just letting them come. So I wonder if it's counterproductive or not...
By the end of the sit for a little while I had the impression I could feel many sensation of rising and falling, almost robot like movement. Will keep the faster noting ( about 2 per sec) for a few sits to see how it goes.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/8/13 1:43 PM as a reply to nicolas C.
evening sit 1 hour

well as usual with my evening sits It was really more cloudy. The first 20 minutes were nice, i could the movement of the abdomen from beginning to end with no difficulty, I kept noting quicker than usual but stayed with the abdomen as a primary object. Then torpor made its to my mind and everything got blurry. Time passes much quicker when torpor is there. Had to move my legs once in the last 5 minutes because the numbness in my legs was too tiresome. Gong

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/9/13 8:13 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
Afternoon sit: 1 hour

nothing worth saying, I was in a big struggle with torpor, noting was sketchy at best, around 50 minutes in I moved my legs to rest the back and aftewards the mind was clearer. I really do need to sit mainly in the morning at least for now...

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 3:19 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour sir

excellent concentration from beginning to end. Started as usual rising and falling of the abdomen, then concentration increased and I could subtler sensations. Breath slowed down to the point where it was barely noticeable, noted lots of peaceful feelings, lightness in the hands, pleasure, contentment, tension, desire to think, anticipating report, pride, some mapping thoughts. My mind was very bendy and i could direct it easier than usual. A very nice sit, I did not enter any state but the surroundings were very peaceful. Gong

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 3:43 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
Have you been sitting in the morning?

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 5:54 AM as a reply to Mario Nistri.
Hi Mario,

yes I usually sit in the morning. Sitting in the evening is generally more difficult because my schedule is kind of hectic and I know my mind is much wilder. In fact I should really try to sit in the evening too, my progress would be much faster. Nowadays I'm trying to slowly implement noting in daily life.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 6:13 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
How is the implementation process going?
What kind of dictionary do you use? What sensorial perceptions? How fast?

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 7:51 AM as a reply to Mario Nistri.
Well I try to remind myself to note.
I like noting 'walking' when i go outside keeping my attention on the lower part of my legs.
I also try to note 'touching' or 'hearing' whenever i remind myself i should be noting. I'm still in the kindergarden of daily life noting. When I wash the dishes I try to keep my attention on my hands (mentally i note 'washing'). I note slightly slower than in sitting. When i find myself getting impatient or a little stressed out I try to note it too.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 12:23 PM as a reply to nicolas C.
Two tips that might help with noting:

There is no reason to put your attention somewhere while you are noting; if you are noting something, you are doing just fine.
The reason is that, in my experience, is completely impossible to be, for example, walking, mentally note"walking" and not percieving sensations in the body; I cannot say "I'm angry" and not percieving anger; the very fact that you are noting is keeping you disidentified with the phenomenon, or at least grounded in the present moment with a wide field of awareness, wich is just fine.
Then while you are sitting you can narrow your focus as much as you want, but as far as daily life is concerned, I don't think there is any reason to do things any more complex than that by trying to put attention somewhere, trying to do something other than just noting and be present as a natural -almost mechanical- consequence of that (then hey, if you want to do rapid-fire noting in daily life don't let me hold you...).

Also, you might find that noting seeing&hearing is easier to do it consistenly, and it's also quite calming.
I remember I got my first A&P just focusing on hearing, seeing and touch in daily life without any cushion time; this kind of external noting is notso much enphasized these days, the body ismuch more prominent in general as a meditation object, but since itworked for me, I don't see why it shouldn't be working for you.

Hope something there might help... bye!

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/12/13 1:20 PM as a reply to Mario Nistri.
Thank you very much for your tips, I'll let you know how it goes.
I've just had an evening sit (1 hour) and I did not experience any torpor or sleepiness. i did take a nap just before going on the cushion...
Anyway went as usual, because my breath slows down a lot I have some time after my exhalation so I try to note 'touching' on any part of the body. Like this morning I had more peaceful sensations than usual. During the second half of the sit I had a nagging pain in the upper back that i kept noting as pain or tension trying from time to time to penetrate it with my attention. Could not go very deep in it but my attention to it seemed to influence the place where I was experiencing it... Gong

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/13/13 3:54 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour sit
good focus from the beginning, I realised that when I focus on the rising and falling of the abdomen my breathing has a tendency to be accentuated. When I go freestyle noting my breath is much subtler. Anyway today i kinda entered a state where there was more vibrations, clearness and peacefullness. I feel i'm headed in the right direction. Noted hearing, touching, aversion, peace, vibrations, anticipation, happiness, doubt, wanting to stop, thinking, tingling (much more than usual). Gong, could have stayed more with no difficulty but I prefer for now to build a strong 1 hour habit.

RE: Nikash's noting reboot
Answer
10/14/13 3:18 AM as a reply to nicolas C.
1 hour morning sit
mind was not very clear so time went by quickly, nothing much to say.I kept being caught up in distractions and even failed sometime to note it quickly. Nevertheless there was indeed some peace and calmness throughout the sit, I don't know if it was a consequence of the concentration or the mild torpor that was there. gong