Hey Christopher, welcome to the DhO,
in my own personal practice, studied in vipassana, anapana,...
Would you mind describing your practice history in a bit more detail, please?
will get the mind focused for a bit then go into observing body sensations, and then i will realize that the mind could be more subtle, and focused, do ill go back into anapana, for a bit.
What is it, if you're able to describe it in phenomenological terms, which causes you to realize that the mind could be more subtle?
part of me is thinking i need to go much deeper into mastering anapana before i go into vippassana, what are your opinions about this, thank you so much.
Based on my own experience it's not necessary, although having a firm grasp of jhana will undoubtedly help your practice. You could take the dry insight route and just go straight into vipassana, which will also lead to jhana, although this tends to potentially more unpleasant. There's a teacher called
Culadasa who's worth checking out as he approaches the process quite differently and, as far as I can see, in a more pleasant way.
It depends on what you're looking to achieve through your practice, although I'm assuming that you're aiming for awakening (or further awakening, perhaps?). If so, tell us a bit more about what's gone before and some descriptions of your current practice in phenomenological terms as this makes it far easier to offer some practical advice.
All the best and welcome on board!
