Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 6/29/19 3:58 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Siavash ' 6/29/19 5:00 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 6/29/19 9:30 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 6/30/19 6:05 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/4/19 9:41 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/10/19 11:00 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/15/19 6:31 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Travis McKinstry 7/15/19 7:09 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/15/19 8:49 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Travis McKinstry 7/15/19 9:57 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/17/19 6:16 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Travis McKinstry 7/17/19 10:32 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Shaun Steelgrave 7/17/19 11:07 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Ostaron 7/17/19 2:03 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/18/19 9:19 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/23/19 11:22 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/25/19 10:55 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Travis McKinstry 7/25/19 12:00 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 7/25/19 12:33 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/8/19 10:43 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/12/19 8:25 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/13/19 11:51 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Shaun Steelgrave 8/13/19 12:21 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/14/19 11:08 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/15/19 3:49 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/22/19 11:37 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Dustin 8/22/19 5:41 PM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/25/19 10:28 AM
RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry Brato Ganibe 8/27/19 11:29 AM
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 3:58 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 3:58 PM

Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
Starting a practice log as I prepare for a week-long solo retreat at Heartwood Refuge at the end of August. Please feel free to add suggestions/comments.


50 min sit this morning...

10 min breath counting for concentration: A light concentration arose within a few rounds of counting the breath at the nostrils and I then became aware of an even lighter pleasantness that I tried to encourage as I slowly expanded the focus to include more of the whole process of breathing. The pleasantness and concentration continued to develop slowly until it felt like I had gone as far as I could without pushing. It felt wide, light and fragile.

15 min noting See, Hear, Feel (SHF)/8 States: As soon as I began noting the concentration almost completely fell away and the practice felt flat and rote, and not at all meditative. The noting was continuous and steady, but there was something in the background that felt like it was somewhat discouraged because the concentration had been lost. 

25 min Mahasi noting: [I've never really practiced formal Mahasi-style noting (rising/falling abdomen and noting when the attention is pulled to other sensations) but I'm giving it a try because I think that technique might be more helpful for 'off the cushion' practice on retreat.]  I moved the attention to the rise and fall of the abdomen. At first, I think the contrast from the more open style SHF technique caused a bit of uncertainty in the mind because the attention kept jumping to each little sensation that came up in awareness. Eventually, the noting at the abdomen did seem to improve the concentration a bit, but I was still having trouble jumping back and forth to other sensations. It's like the mind is so wide that it tries to catch everything, but that eventually starts to feel like I'm not catching anything at all. This leads to selfing, overthinking and frustration and then I just return to the sensations of breathing and the cycle repeats.
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Siavash ', modified 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 5:00 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 4:51 PM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 1679 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
Regarding "Striving for Stream Entry"

I am below Stream Entry, and I don't think that I've been in Equanimity so far, and sometimes I have a skeptical doubt that probably I haven't crossed the A&P (which I think is not true), but whenever I get the similar feelings/thoughts about striving for higher stages, I say to myself:

"You haven't experienced post Stream Entry or a Fruition, so you don't know what that is, and you can't know it unless you experience it, so it's not reasonable to crave for something that you don't know what it is."

It helps a lot, and often removes the craving and striving.

Best wishes for you and your practice.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 9:30 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 6/29/19 9:30 PM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
I really like that! That's a very logical way to look at it.

My problem with striving came after I had a some experiences where the dimmer-switch of the self was turned down so low that I could viscerally feel how much less suffering there was in that place, and then to come out of that state (which lasted moments to hours) and eventually find myself floundering in the pits of the DN began a viscious cycle of really unhealthy attitudes toward practice. Having sampled a taste of some freedom and assuming (as you suggest) that what I'm searching for is that and even more, sent me into a very unproductive period of craving and unhealthy desire...where I first thought of my practice, or at least my attitude towards it, as 'striving for stream entry'. The irony was not at all lost on me, and actually kinda snapped me out of it.

Luckily, at least for this moment, I'm currently holding my practice much lighter and it definitely feels more mature than ever before. That's why I'm really trying to plan well for this next retreat and hold it and my expectations in a more realistic container.

Thanks for your input!
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 6/30/19 6:05 PM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
50 min morning sit...

20 min breath counting: I started by focusing on the sensations of the breath at the nostrils but they were very faint and after a few rounds I realized that I was actually focusing on the idea of the breath rather than the actual sensations of breathing. I moved the focus back to inside the nose/throat where the sensations were more obvious. Eventually, a very light feeling of piti and sukkha arose in the body. They seemed very fragile so I took care to try and develop them gently. The sukkha finally developed into a pleasantness that produced a half-smile across the face. The attention widened to hold much of the front of the body, but it was unstable and then the mind began throwing up a rapid cacophony of random thoughts and images that pulled the attention away just enough that the jhanic factors completely vanished. I spent the rest of the time increasing the frequency of the counting to help build the concentration again, but the mind was just too much of a distraction.

30 min Mahasi noting: The movements of the abdomen were also not clear. There was an aspect that seemed like a phantom sensation. In the beginning there were enough random physical sensations that I was able to move away from the breath and note them on a steady basis, but soon the random chatter of the mind would suck up the attention and I could watch the rapid flow of thoughts from a distance. Eventually, I would get pulled into some thought and lose mindfulness and then go back to the breath and start again. This was the pattern for most of the session.

The randomness of the thought-stream was so obvious that I made an intention to watch them from the perscpective of no-self. Although I could see that these thoughts were just bubbling up to the surface without any urging from me, I was somehow unable to 'pull back' enough to completely detach so there was some sticky sense of ownership that I couldn't shake. At one point there was a clear visual memory of myself as a child acting out in a painful way and I was hit with a deep sadness that I tried to drop into, but the mind quickly moved on to more random thoughts/images and I was pulled along with it. 

The speed of the mind today was something I usually don't see. The clarity of internal visual images was also something that caught my attention, because that is very uncommon as well.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/4/19 9:41 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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30 min morning sit...

10 min breath counting: The breath was light and pleasant to watch for the first few rounds of counting, but then the sensations of breathing suddenly vanished and the mind filled with very rapid and random inner talk and inner visual imagery. I moved the attention away from the nostrils and toward to sensations of breathing in the chest, and switched from counting to in/out along the length of the breath. The concentration returned somewhat with a light, dreamy quality.

20 min SHF/Vedena: The insight practice began slow and steady, noting obvious sensations and the subsequent feeling tone associated with them. At first, I was having trouble teasing apart unpleasant feeling tones from painful mind-states but as more obvious feeling tones arose I was able to have more clarity about the process. At one point a rather neutral thought arose in the mind and was immediately followed by the generation of a self. I was able to clearly see the suffering caused by attaching ownership to the random thought.

Also, I've been experiencing these random drops/blips in daily life where the awareness is at first clearly in the head looking out at the world in a very standard dualistic way, and suddenly with no effort or warning there is a subtle feeling like falling slightly or a very light dizziness and for a split second the dualistic perspective seems to almost vanish. It's always a bit startling and immediately returns to the standard mode as soon as the watcher tries to catch a glimpse of it. (I would love to hear thoughts on this)
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/10/19 11:00 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/10/19 10:54 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
30 min morning sit...

10 min breath counting: The sensations of breathing were difficult to find at the nostrils, but I kept the attention there hoping that the calrity would improve. I was able to catch a strong sensation or two with each in and out breath. It felt like there was a loose wire that was shorting out, causing the signal to flip on and off. At first there was the normal hesitation and doubt about where I should place the attention or if I should push harder, but eventually I just watched the sensations as they were with the thought of impermanence in the back of the mind. This switch to a more vipassanized approach seemed to have me lost in thought more, and so I stopped trying to develop concentration and went to noting all sensations.

20 min SHF/Vedena/Reactivity: I began a basic SHF meditation, adding vedena and reactivity (wanting, not-wanting, equanimity, unconsciousness). The insight practice seemed to flow well from one object to the next without being too fast or too slow. The initial reactive response was mostly 'not-wanting' but if I stayed with the sensation long enough I could see the painful contraction of 'not-wanting' and equanimity would arise. I continued this for a while until the clarity of the mind seemed to fade and the sensations drifted into the background and became like some light murmur or shadow that I knew was still there but could not really differentiate from the background itself. At this point the awareness shifted from the murmuring sensations to the calm, spaciousness of the mind. Periodically a strong physical sensation would arise, be noted, and pass and then the calm spaciousness would return. The mind felt bright and alert, but very peaceful and calm even still being aware of the background murmuring of thoughts/images. I continued watching from this space for the rest of the session.

Since the end of the formal meditation, I have periodically dropped into that calm, spacious awareness without warning throught my day.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 6:31 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 6:31 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
My formal sits all seem to have the same flavor or texture to them...

I begin with concentration on the breath, usually at the nostrils...notice some very subtle pleasantness arise and try to support it lightly in the background while maintaining the focus on the breath...this continues relatively unchanged for a while and then, sometimes the inner landscape of the mind seems to open into a wide, spaciousness...I try to hold awareness of the spaciousness as well as strengthen or at least not lose the concentration....All of this seems very fragile and almost any strong sensation or thought can cause the whole thing to collapse, and when it does....

I start some form of noting practice...this will typically flow steady enough, not too fast or too slow, until I get pulled away into some random train of thought that I never saw coming....I come back to noting sensations....this process repeats until the sensations seem to drop away and I'm left with this kind of quiet mind that's looking for an object....maybe I pick up on the sensations of the breath and go back to noting or a random thought pulls me into thinking and I'm gone until I come back and start the process again.

The whole session has some light spaciness to it that seems to lend to the being pulled away into thought so easily and so strongly, especially when the mind seems to open up wider.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated, particularly concerning what to do with the spaciousness that seems to lack an object and the getting lost in thoughts in that space.
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Travis McKinstry, modified 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 7:09 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 7:09 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Also, I've been experiencing these random drops/blips in daily life where the awareness is at first clearly in the head looking out at the world in a very standard dualistic way, and suddenly with no effort or warning there is a subtle feeling like falling slightly or a very light dizziness and for a split second the dualistic perspective seems to almost vanish. It's always a bit startling and immediately returns to the standard mode as soon as the watcher tries to catch a glimpse of it. (I would love to hear thoughts on this)”

I get this this as well. I imagine (if you’re in equanimity) this is a good thing. Daniel talks about these occurrences happening in both Dissolution and Equanimity. 

The idea idea is to catch when the mind is moving from object to that sense of an observer. With each sensation, the mind “blips” out to give some space and create an illusion of “me” and this object. 
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 8:49 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 8:49 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Thanks! The other day I had an experience of what felt like a ping-pong game in my head between an 'object' and an observer, but that has only happened once. Lately, the drops are coming in conjunction with the arising of some contraction/craving/aversion/selfing/etc and as soon as the tension is noticed, the mind drops it and the awareness falls into the body and the mind goes quiet for a bit. I can clearly see the suffering brought on by the 'selfing' and also the immediate relief when it all falls away. This is all happening in daily life, so it's great for a bad day because nothing sticks!
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Travis McKinstry, modified 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 9:57 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/15/19 9:57 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Sounds like your working hard and getting somewhere! Keep striving (or not haha)! I hope your practice helps you arrive at SE!
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/17/19 6:16 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Update...

...I should be up to doing 45-60min sits in preparation for my retreat, but the mind is getting sucked into this very dreamy, hypnagogic state that seems so thick and sticky that I can’t shake it. Nothing I try (concentration, noting, eyes-open, eyes-closed, etc) seems to help keep me from almost immediately being pulled under into this place. The only aspect that stands out to me is that it lacks the heavy, contractive, and down-right uncomfortableness that standard drowsiness usually has. Even still, it makes it difficult to sit for more than 30 minutes or so.

Any thoughts/suggestions?
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Travis McKinstry, modified 4 Years ago at 7/17/19 10:32 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Walter_Sobchakheit:
Update...

...I should be up to doing 45-60min sits in preparation for my retreat, but the mind is getting sucked into this very dreamy, hypnagogic state that seems so thick and sticky that I can’t shake it. Nothing I try (concentration, noting, eyes-open, eyes-closed, etc) seems to help keep me from almost immediately being pulled under into this place. The only aspect that stands out to me is that it lacks the heavy, contractive, and down-right uncomfortableness that standard drowsiness usually has. Even still, it makes it difficult to sit for more than 30 minutes or so.

Any thoughts/suggestions?
I’d be interested to see what more experienced meditators on here have to say... but my suggestion would be maybe try doing some walk mediation...? I’m experiencing that a little bit myself
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Shaun Steelgrave, modified 4 Years ago at 7/17/19 11:07 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 7/17/19 11:07 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Try to stay on top of your noting and try not to miss any of the sensate inputs that arise.

and maybe some caffeine to perk things up? emoticon
Ostaron, modified 4 Years ago at 7/17/19 2:03 PM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Shinzen has a great blog post about sleepiness/dreaminess that I go back to often. 

https://www.shinzen.org/from-fuzz-to-buzz-suggestions-for-breaking-through-sleepiness-during-meditation-practice/

My go-to tactics, in order, if one fails, I'll usually try the next: 

- sit up straight
- some deep breaths
- eyes open 
- try to note the sensations that make up the sleepiness/dreaminess/drowsiness
- interrogate it (how do I know I'm sleepy? Where? How big? Fast or slow? Shape? Vedana?), and then note those things
- spoken labels with the noting
- standing or walking 
- if all else fails, just letting the sleepiness go. If I start falling asleep or day dreaming heavily, I'll let that run it's pace for a while. Sometimes it'll do whatever it needed to do and I'll snap back, or slowly come back, to a more alert state. Sometimes it won't and I'll totally fall asleep, and then I'll usually call it quits. 


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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/18/19 9:19 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Thanks! That is very helpful.

This morning's sit was very similar to the previous description except I could see mental objects slightly more clearly, but the 'spaciness' of the mind was still a strong component that seemed to significantly impact attention and clarity. It's like dullness and poor concentration combined with the most random thoughts/internal imagery to equal a good waste of 30-45 minutes. 
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/23/19 11:22 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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I decided to give this technique a shot after reading it in the Soft Jhana Thread:
Try this hack and see what happens. Breath less, surf the edge where you almost want to gasp but then take a longer breath, then go back to short breaths then long ones again as needed. Know the short and long breaths as they happen-all the way thru the breath, investigate every moment of this intensity of surfing that fine edge of breathing as short and shallow. Don't overdo it to where you actually gasp or start doing all long breaths, but if you do, just fine tune it to fix it. Try 10-20 minutes.
I don't know if it was because it was new to me or what, but I got concentrated very quickly and was solidly in access concentration after 10 minutes. It was pretty amazing considering that I've had trouble developing stable concentration since passing the A&P.

I switched over to noting practice and the concentration deepened and stabilized. Normally, when I make the switch over to insight practice what concentration that was there quickly fades away, but this time it was like the 'good ol days' when the concentration was made stronger by the noting and the mind was placed in a 'real' meditative state.

I began with a simple SHF practice, but that easily expanded into seeing the sensation plus the vedena and the reaction to the sensation...clearly seeing the suffering that is added to the experience by the mind. Next, I began to play around with the subject/object duality and the sense of an awareness as being located in certain spot (usually in the head). I slowly tried to expand the awareness to hold the entire experience instead of having the knowing bouce around from object to object, but there was something that felt like it didn't or wouldn't do that. I backed off trying to expand the awareness and just continued noting with a light touch, trying to lessen the sense of a watcher as much as possible. Towards the end of the sit there was a slight little 'dip' that surprised me a bit and automatically coagulated a self/watcher back into the head.

Afterwards, there was a post-meditation afterglow that seemed to last for about 30 minutes.

Many thanks to Dream Walker for this very helpful concentration technique!
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/25/19 10:55 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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50 minute morning sit...

20min breath counting: Continuing to experiment with 'riding the edges of breathing' by elongating the breath as feels needed and counting at the end of the out-breath. This is producing a pleasant, calm focus that builds gradually to a stable access concentration within about 10mins or so. The concentration practice was so good that when my timer went off I was surprised that the 20mins had already passed so quickly. I have to admit that it feels pretty good to finally have some level of stable concentration after what has felt like years without it. Unfortunately, I had to learn firsthand why they are called the ten corruptions of insight, and now I can see how much they hindered my practice. Now I hold the concentration lightly and cautiously, and it's like I just know when it's sufficient and time to move onto insight.

30min noting practice: With a very stable access concentration, I shifted the focus from the breath to a basic SHF noting practice. The labeling began to get in the way, so I dropped it and just let the awareness gently 'point' at each sensation. Next the mind began to naturally see each sensation and the corresponding reactivity and/or vedena as well. Then the mind began to pick up some speed and the awareness shifted to vibrations throughout the body. At first it was in specific places but eventually included the whole body and I just noted 'Feel Flow' at the end of the out-breath. The mind then began to notice external sound as a flow state and I included that as the mind would bounce back and forth from the body to the sounds. At some point the mind quieted down and I was left with the vibrations throughout the body. The vibrations were still rather rapid but the strength had died down a good bit. It was like the mind could now watch them from a more calm, objective perspective. At this point, the mind seemed a bit too 'soft?' and wide, and the focus seemed to begin to dissolve. I moved the attention to the tips of the index fingers to see if I could bring more alertness back but even the narrower object had a feeling of width to it. I watched this for a while until my timer went off again and I ended the session.
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Travis McKinstry, modified 4 Years ago at 7/25/19 12:00 PM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Your descriptions of your meditation sessions are wonderfully clear and precise. Either you have a knack for being able to communicate your experiences, or your experiences are just super clear. Or both. Either way, I enjoy reading them
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 7/25/19 12:33 PM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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Thanks! Maybe they will be helpful for us all.

I think the specificity is most due to the fact that my teacher uses very specific language since he is a student of Shinzen Young, who is also very specific. Over time you develop the vocabulary to describe these experiences and then I feel like the journal entries just kinda flow out of you without much effort. Also, much like dream journaling, it seems to be self-reinforcing.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/8/19 10:43 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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50 minute morning sit...

15 minutes breath counting: I began by tweaking the posture until it felt sturdy but relaxed at the same time. I brought the attention to the breath and quickly noticed lots of random background thinking. I intentionally emphasized and elongated the out-breath to try to settle the mind and improve attention. This quickly produced a pleasant feeling in the body and steadied the concentration. Over time the concentration began to wane, so I switched to counting on the in and out-breaths. By the end of the 15 minutes I had achieved a very fragile access concentration.

35 minutes noting: The transition to noting was very smooth and I was able to stay with the breath for a while, while noting stronger bodily sensations intermittently. This continued at a steady pace for a while until the attention shifted from the breath/'solid' bodily sensations to more disperse, vibratory energy throughout the body. I was able to sit with the vibrations for a while, but the energy seemed to stir up the thinking mind and eventually it was hard to tell exactly where the focus was. The trouble seemed to be with finding the balance between a wide view that just 'holds' the sensations without spacing out and the zooming in/being pulled into other thoughts/sensations and getting caught up. 

I watched these cycles play out for a while (kinda white-knuckling it most of the way), and then out of nowhere the mind would fall completely silent and I would be left with the very fast, subtle vibratory energy along the surface of the body.....then the whole process would repeat....including the mind falling silent. Afterward, there was a slight meditative afterglow but it diminished quickly.

Overall, I think I was trying too hard to direct the mind in a certain way (not even sure what that way was), too afraid to just let the experience be what it was. Also, I know I was trying too hard to analyze what was happening...trying to 'force' insight. 

Later, I had a thought hit me about Mahasi's description of the bird leaving the ship to look for land, but it's like I have the bird on a leash that's tied to the boat because I'm afraid the boat may drift off somewhere and miss the bird when it comes back. 
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/12/19 8:25 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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50 minute morning sit...

15 min breath counting: I was able to hold the attention on the sensations of the breath at the nostrils pretty well, but background thoughts kept slipping through and pulling at least enough of the attention away that the concentration did not get much stronger over the course of the session. Periodically, there would be an awareness of pleasant feelings arising in the body, but they did not last long enough to make them the object of meditation.

35 min noting: The noting practice began with the attention on the moments of the abdomen and noting when other sensations pulled the attention away. This noting began slow and steady and I was able to stay with each object enough to watch it arise, change, pass away, and then return to the breath. Over time the entire body-mind seemed to dull significantly and it became very difficult to single out any one sensation, espescially since there was no one thing that seemed much stronger than the other so all sense gates seemed to blur together and it became almost impossible to differentiate an 'object' over a 'distraction'. I sat with this for a long time, and periodically the mind would momentarily brighten and seem to have some focus but it would very quickly fade back into the dull blur.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/13/19 11:51 AM
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RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

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10 min breath counting: Quickly shifted from counting on the out-breath to counting on the in and out-breath and eventually reached a pretty solid concentration that was probably just barely access concentration, but it was definitely good enough.

15 min Equanimizing the Pool of Poison and Pain: I was able to find an emotional pool in the center of the torso, just below the sternum. Most of the noting was 'contraction' with a few intermittent bursts of an emotion that I could not name at all, but I was able to stay with them until they dissolved.

35 min Mahasi-style noting: I began noting body sensations with a slow but steady rhythm. The sensations began to get blurry and then shifted to very subtle vibrations. For a little while, there was a bit of uncertainty about where to put the focus but the subtle vibrations were just strong enough to hold the attention so I stayed there. These subtle vibrations over the surface of the body eventually became stronger and vibrated faster (as I'm writing this I can feel the vibrations coming back). I stayed with these vibrations and noticed a few larger sensations here and there. At some point I noticed the sensations that make up the feeling of 'the watcher' and could clearly see that they were just more sensations. I went back and forth noting the sensations, the mental echo, the sensations of the 'watcher', and then tension the back and forth all caused. 

There was a lot of energy in the body and things began to feel intense. I caught the sensations of the watcher and began to carefully turn the attention inward, back around at the sensations of knowing. The internal perception of the body began to feel stretched vertically and compressed horizontally, and the body felt like it was about to be flipped inside-out but it kind of stopped just short of that point and relaxed a bit. I took my foot off the gas for a minute and let the mind relax and the whole process began again. I could feel the indecision in the mind of not being sure what was happening and what I should do with it...and hoping it was something going in the direction of SE. I began the process of turning the mind inward again and this time the body felt like it was about to tip backwards or maybe falling or melting through the floor. Again, it seemed to progress to a point and then I backed off again. As I began to start the process again, my timer went off.

As I arose from my cushion, I noticed a ton of muscle tension in the body and the mind felt somewhat jarred. I tried to just relax and try not to 'think' too much. Still hours laters, the mind still seems to be a tiny bit hungover.
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Shaun Steelgrave, modified 4 Years ago at 8/13/19 12:21 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/13/19 12:21 PM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 121 Join Date: 7/7/19 Recent Posts
sounds like progress to me, well done.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/14/19 11:08 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/14/19 11:08 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
50 minute morning sit...

15 minute breath counting: The concentration was dialed in pretty quickly to a sufficient level and the mind started to 'vipassanize' the breath and other sensations/thoughts. This setup a very smooth transition to the noting practice.

35 minute noting practice: I began with a slow and steady noting of big, obvious sensations...watching them from beginning to end. As the meditation deepened, the awareness seemed to swirl and flow seamlessly with one sensation flowing into the next. At some point there was a shift and I had a strong and oddly pleasant sensation that my face and upper body was swollen. As I pushed into this feeling I noticed that the internal proprioception felt like my arms had crossed over my body (right arm on the left side, etc), but I knew that had not actually occurred in reality. I stayed with these odd sensations for a while and the concentration began to deepen and there was a drastic increase in energy in the body. I stayed with it, and tried to remain calm.

After a while, these sensations that held up these odd feelings began to quickly dissipate and I was left in a quiet space with not much going on. There were some subtle background sensations but nothing really drew the attention. I stayed here, resting for a while and then stronger sensations began to arise and eventually the mind was jumping from sensation to sensation. If it seemed to tight or constrained I would intentionally pull the awareness back into the torso and try to just 'watch' sensations arise where they were without 'jumping' to them. This process repeated itself many times.

Then the attention was drawn to the internal visual field. There was a blackish/grey screen and I had the feeling like the mind's eye was flying over a road at a decent speed and I was seeing some type of marker, like traffic cones pass underneath me. The experience was nice and I was almost getting sucked in, but then the mind clamped down hard and stopped the whole process. I was a little disoriented for a second and tried to go back and just let it flow, but the mind would not move and when it did the visual was gone anyway. 

As I went to return to noting, the mind went black (I was aware of total blackness) and the head physically dropped to my chest (the chin had just previously been somewhat elevated - this tends to happen when I'm very concentrated and the energy straightens my posture). The head bounced right back and the mind was left quiet and a little disoriented again, but after a few moments I went back to noting. I never really got back into a rhythm again because my timer went off. The mind had a pretty solid meditation hangover for about an hour or so.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/15/19 3:49 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/15/19 3:49 PM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
50 minute morning sit...

15+ min breath counting: Something seemed to be wanting to force an exaggerated out-breath that sometimes was almost like 2 exhales in one. The first section would be a normal exhale but then the body or mind or both would want to force more air out. This made the breathing much more interesting and so concentration came quickly. Evenso, there was something about the concentration that seemed fragile. It was like it was almost to access concentration, but wouldn't go any more. Eventually I stopped trying for more and switched to noting practice.

35 min noting: In the beginning of the noting practice I was noticing emotions, thoughts, and mind-states...which is odd because I usually begin with the more obvious physical sensations. Over time, these things fell away and I was left with very rapid and subtle vibratory energy throughout the body. These sensations were super fast and seemed to pop up all over the body. They were too fast to label, and almost too fast to note at all. There were some moments when I wasn't sure I was actually 'catching' any of them because the awareness was trying to 'meet them' where they were and they were too fast for that.

This whole process generated a lot of tense energy and some moments of nausea and a light headache. I knew something was trying too hard, so I decided to pull back and find the sense of a watcher. At first, there was nothing but the vibrations, but eventually I caught a glimpse of the sensation of watching that arose with a relatively slow and strong sensation in my chest. I could clearly see the sensation in the chest and the watcher-sensation in the head. My next thought was 'but then who's watching the watcher-sensation', and my mind got tied in a frustrating knot and everything went back to the rapid sensations from before. About halfway, there was the strong sensation of the arms and torso lengthening to what felt like 5ft long but that vanished quickly, and the rapid sensations return to the foreground.

Afterwards, up to 3 hrs later, I felt off....like I'd drank too much coffee. It did not feel good at all, and I had the thought that Daniel's 'mind-storm' label would fit well here. I feel like I was trying way too hard to 'meditate' and probably should've backed off and let things just flow without trying to direct it or get too analytical about it.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/22/19 11:37 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/22/19 10:41 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
45 min morning sit....


Entire session was wide and spacious, but I had the ability to focus in on objects at will. The concentration was strong enough without filling the body with too much piti, leading to too much vibratory sensations. I was able to note sensations one by one and soak into them until they dissolved. During one of these 'soaking-in' moments I realized that the deeper I dove into a sensation, the less of a sense of self/observer there was. I continued to investigate this with each new sensation.

If, for some reason, the sense of observer stayed strong then I would shift the attention to the observer and watch how the observer tries to go out and 'meet' each new sensation in order to 'know it'. It became clear that this 'knowing' was extra and unnecessary but I couldn't really see it much clearer than noticing that it was actually causing tension that was not needed.

The last thing to mention are the two moments of the internal experience pausing or resting just out of the blue. It was most noticeable on the internal visual field, which would suddenly and briefly go black...like the camera shutters suddenly closed shut and there was just the stillness of the black, empty shutters. It was almost like something pressed a reset button in the middle of the noting. This happened twice during the noting practice, and although it was just a brief moment the pause was obvious, black, and still. Afterwards there would be the thought, 'What was that?', and then the noting practice would continue as before.
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Dustin, modified 4 Years ago at 8/22/19 5:41 PM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/22/19 5:41 PM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 113 Join Date: 12/28/17 Recent Posts
[quote=The last thing to mention are the two moments of the internal experience pausing or resting just out of the blue. It was most noticeable on the internal visual field, which would suddenly and briefly go black...like the camera shutters suddenly closed shut and there was just the stillness of the black, empty shutters. It was almost like something pressed a reset button in the middle of the noting. This happened twice during the noting practice, and although it was just a brief moment the pause was obvious, black, and still. Afterwards there would be the thought, 'What was that?', and then the noting practice would continue as before.
]
   Thats a pretty cool experience. I had the same type of thing happen to me last week or the week before. It was all the sudden and the visual field went cleaner and clearer black than I have ever seen before. Like it was all brand new. And then the question "what was that?". I still don't know but it was pretty bad ass.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/25/19 10:28 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/25/19 10:28 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
Question:

Any tips on dealing with dullness in noting practice?

I start my sits with 15min or so of breath counting that usually produces an alert mind/body that is somewhere close to access concnetration, then I switch to Shinzen-style noting (see, hear, feel, in, out, etc). Very quickly after switching to noting the mind seems to go dull (but not drowsy) and I have trouble finding an object to note. Sometimes I will note 'Rest', but it doesn't feel like a true rest. I feels like there may be an object there but the mind can't 'see' it. Eventually the mind will get pulled away into thinking, be gone a bit, and then come back to dullness.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Brato Ganibe, modified 4 Years ago at 8/27/19 11:29 AM
Created 4 Years ago at 8/27/19 11:29 AM

RE: Walter's Practice Log: Striving for Stream Entry

Posts: 66 Join Date: 8/30/16 Recent Posts
55 min morning sit...

15min breath counting: The sensations of the breath at the nostrils were faint and hard to perceive at first, but after a few rounds I was able to hold them in the forefront of attention. The concentration deepened very slowly and gently to a stable access concentration.

40min noting: The insight practice began slowly because there were not many strong sensations other than the breath. There was an almost forced effort to transition from concentration practice, but I widened the scope of the awareness and began to note other body sensations here and there. This eventually opened up into a broad scope that had a very dull feel to it and I was essentially wavering between a generic 'feel out' and a generic 'rest'. This time the sensations seemed dull rather than the mind...the mind was noticeably sharp.

Eventually, a light piti began to arise in the hands, arms, torso, face, and lower legs. It was a rapid, vibratory energy that strengthened a little as I stayed with it. I stayed with this energy for a long time, just holding it in awareness and noting intermittent burst of sensations/thoughts elsewhere. There was something about this that felt too easy or too lax or something to be making progress, so I intentionally tried to investigate the 3C's. I could clearly see impermanence, and not-self was clear when I had random thoughts or if I pushed into a sensation to the point that the sense of self dissolved somewhat. Dukkha was harder to see except for the doubt I had about whether I should try a different technique and the wanting for something 'deep' to happen.

In the midst of all of this fine-grained buzziness, I did notice one very clear 'blanking' of the internal visual screen that caused the mind to quiet significantly afterwards and then the mind went back to watching the piti. There may have been a second 'blanking' moment but I'm not quite sure.

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