Hi fellow yogis...
I'm new to this forum, although I've lurked for some time. I post over at the TMI reddit, but I've now arrived at a juncture in my practice where I feel like it's time to shift from the shamatha heavy practices that characterize TMI, to insight and non dual practices. More specifically, I'm seeking help regarding how to structure my sits now that I want to shift to more insight but after having done pretty intense TMI practice. In what follows, I'll just cross post the post I wrote about this for the TMI reddit, with the hope that you guys here can provide me with additional guidance, given that I know many of you practice in less shamatha heavy traditions. So here goes and thanks in advance for any help!
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So for the last couple of weeks I've been doing primarily TMI stage 8 & 9 practices. Since I just recently started doing these practices and these practices are primarily insight practices rather than shamatha, I'm a little bit rudderless when it comes to structuring my sits. Before hitting these stages, I was simply following the TMI instructions for the respective stages, which are, as you know, very shamatha heavy. But now that I'm working more with insight, I wonder how much time, if any, to devote to shamatha practice (e.g. mindfulness of breath, Jhana concentration practice, etc). I'd love your help with that.
It may be helpful to know what I'm currently doing. My morning sit is typically 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours long. I try to split the sit intro thirds. During the first third of the sit (40 minutes or so) I do TMI concentration practice like I've been doing since I started TMI (mindfulness of breath, applying antidotes when necessary, reaching effortless exclusive attention when I can, etc). I then move on to the second third of the sit, during which with a more concentrated mind I do Jhana practice. Currently practicing going from whole body or pleasure Jhanas 1 thru 4, and then back down from 4 to 1 and back up again. I then try to exit Fourth Jhana (or third, depending on how it went that sitting) and devote the final third of my sit to insight practices. I alternate between Do Nothing, Still Point Meditation, Meditation on Arising and Passing Away, Shinzen Young's See/Hear/Feel noting, and non-dual glimpse practices from Loch Kelly or Diana Winston. I, of course, don't do all of these insight practices in a single sit. I tend to choose one or at most two and do those for the last third of the sit.
OK, so that's what I'm doing with my sits right now. What do you guys think? Should I do less shamatha practice in these stages and simply go straight to insight after several minutes of good concentration? Should I do more shamatha? Something entirely different? Looking forward to reading your thoughts.[
Much Metta to all!
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