What technique do most of you regular posters use here on the dharma overground  for insight ? Seems like the Mahasi Sayadow  tradition is popular. I want to pick one and go with it. 

1. As you might imagine, there are a variety but quite a few people read MCTB and get some value out of it.
2. Yep, or simpler methods.
3. Good luck, perhaps start simple and do what you are good at. Slowly add more with enjoyment and curiousoty

Good Luck,
​​​​​​​~D

this might be helpful...

​​​​​​​bp503s_Mahasi_Practical-Insight-Meditation.pdf (bps.lk)

Ha, I'm not good at any of them. Its like my mind is wired in the opposite direction  of meditation.  Maybe that's why I could ise it so much.    For example . If I do a half hour sit of noting .  I will only do about a dozen notes with labels.   The label is usually  " daydreaming again".    I will keep trying

Get a drum or slap your leg for a labeling tempo. 
Notice something
On tempo, label it- See, Hear, Feel, Thinking.
Notice next thing, Repeat.

Or find someone to do labeling with.....Best starting practice. Hard to daydream when someone is waiting on your ass to label....
 
~D
​​​​​​​

I watch the activity of the mind in meditation and daily life noticing the arising and fading of thoughts, emotions, impulses, sensory experiences, and senses of self and no-self. Mainly I am interested in ending suffering so I pay particular attention to dukkha arising and fading, how the ego is involved in dukkha arising.

I discuss this more here:
https://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2023/05/observing-mind.html

I prepare for insight meditation with samatha type meditation described here:
https://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/2020/08/preparing-for-meditation-with.html

more here:
https://ncu9nc.blogspot.com/p/meditation.html

When I used to go on retreats or go to public meditation sessions at a Buddhist temple, we would prepare for sitting meditation with chanting or bowing practice first. Then we would do samatha meditation to quiet the mind further. I think vipassana something that you get the most out of if you prepare your mind first. See my other post this thread for links with more info. If you are only doing half an hour of meditation a day, and you have a normal busy life with work or school, then what you describe is not far from normal. 

If you don't have enough time to do both preparation and vipassana, and you are not getting anything from the vipassana, maybe you would find samatha type meditation helpful.

Also I think a lot of people have trouble concentrating because internet apps shorten their attention span. Look up "dopamine detox" for more info. I stopped reading exciting modern novels because I thought they were having a similar effect to internet apps. After a few days I found I could read non-fiction and older fiction (classic literature) that I had found too boring.  I continued to notice improvements in my attention span over the following months. And I found better uses for my time. (I'm not saying you should live like a monk, just to have realistic expectations, there are reasons why monks live in monasteries.)

Diet can also interfere with concentration, particularly sugar or refined carbohydrates, in some people. Everyone is different so you will have to work it out for yourself. At one point in my life I'd go to the grocery store once a week on Sunday and get some "treats" along with my weekly supply of groceries. It would mess up my meditation until Thursday or Friday even though I ate junk food only on Sunday.

Shinzen Young talks a lot about three qualities that you should cultivate in meditation: concentration, clarity, and equanimity. As I understand it, equanimity is the absence of distracting emotions, concentration is the absence of distracting thoughts, and clarity is produced by insight meditation. So to have good insight meditation you also need concentration and equanimity. I find relaxing meditation helps me let go of emotions and so provides equanimity, and meditation on the breath helps to quiet thoughts and so provides concentration.

​​​​​​​Turbulent emotions will also cause distracting thoughts, so I build equanimity, then concnetration, then work on clarity. Clarity on emotions is very helpful in letting go of them - so there is a kind of circlular self-supporting synergy in clutivating all three qualities, equanimity helps with concentration, concentration helps with clarity, clarity helps with equanimity.

Thankyou. That makes sense