with regard to goenka's caveat about focusing too much on the heart region being a risk of awakening potentially deep defilements laying dormant therein, i see his point, but think it is a loss to steer away students who are inclined toward awakening them. a friend of mine was ordained in a forest monastery in burma once - i didn't retain either the sayadaw's or the monastery's names unfortunately - and he said the practice taught there was mindfulness of the breath and resting attention at the heart. that's it. now while there can be a difference in the instructions you give to students you live with and instructions you give to students you're teaching remotely, there is still in the latter case, in the goenka tradition, an assistant teacher on hand at every course. surely this is sufficient for safe passage through the territory. i would say the difficulties encountered by braving the conditions of the heart are due to unrealistic models, faulty expectations, and neuroses cultivated by a culture of taboo and overwhelming secrecy rather than to the sensations that arise as a result of careful attention to the heart/chest region.
ps i once asked a very senior teacher in the goenka tradition once about how craving and aversion really seem to happen at the heart and he said he didn't know anything about this. ...

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pps this is a huge topic, so far under-discussed here, and with so much good input as seen in all the contributions above, we should probably make a page for it at some point. any takers on organising?