Hello all,

I've been a bit of a lurker the past few months and have now decided to create an account and get involved! I have found this board very down to earth and honest, which is just what is needed in this weird/wonderful/horrible practice of meditation.

Anyway s...the reason I'm posting is to ask what is the most efficient way to achieve stream entry at a 10 day goenka (right spelling?) retreat? Which I will be on next week... Should I do goenka body scanning? Or Shinzen young style of noting? Or something/anything else?

Here's a little about my practice:

* 3 years practice of around an hour a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less and not always everyday. With weeks at a time with no practice at all.

* Been on 3 retreats so far. Two 10 day goenka and one 10 day personal retreat at gaia house in devon
First couple of years of meditation was mainly in the style of goenka body scan vipassana. Last year of so has been mainly shinzen young's style of noting the senses (mostly see in, hear in, feel in). With particular attention paid to stuff that vanishes.

* Sometimes I do self enquiry, asking “who am I” and try to break down the sense of self into the parts that make it appear solid.

*I start my meditation with 5-15 mins of concentration. Counting breath or gazing at a spot in front of me.

*I try to remain mindful at least some of the day. Paying attention to the senses, but mostly physical feel (feeling of feet touching the ground)

I must admit that 80% of my practice has been emotionally focused and releasing those 'bad' emotions and dealing with my stuff. Not so much at this present time, as a lot of stuff from the past has gone and therefore the emotions/thought patterns are not as overwhelming as they once were.

If I had to guess where I am one the MCTB model, I'd say somewhere in dark night. I think that I've reached equanimity before on retreat. First 7 days nothing but pain and misery...then boom:-) I could sit for hours and felt really relaxed.


Any advice much appreciated

kind regards

Richie

Nikolai wrote about going for stream entry at a Goenka retreat: http://thehamiltonproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/going-for-stream-entry-on-goenka-10-day.html

Are you sure you are at equanimity? Pain followed by peace is a common occurrence at retreats regardless of where you are. The main signal would be if you remember any significant A&P event.

Don't worry about obtaining stream entry. Just do the work and stream-entry will come naturally. It doesn't matter if it comes a month earlier or later.

If you go to a Goenka retreat, do Goenka meditation. It is breaking sila to do otherwise.

That's a very interesting read with lots of great advice, thanks.

I'm not in equanimity at the moment, but my best guess would be that I have been in the past. There are lots of things in the past that I could attribute to A & P...energy stuff, out of body etc... but, as with anything I can't be 100% sure. Although the feeling really shitty for no reason was a big part of my life for the last couple of years. Gradually easing over that time to the point now were it's not really an issue most of the time.

I thinks that the goenka technique is great, but in my opinion is quite narrow and limited. Does body scanning take you all the way in the fastest time? in my experience shinzens style of noting has taken my further in less time.

I know it's a big no no to mix or do other techniques at goenka retreats and I have slight reservations about this, but I'm a big boy now and don't want to end up with regret 20 years from now still scanning the body...not being much further down the path.

richie

Ohh, BTW I'm going to use this as a practice log/journal...to help myself and others.

No 1# lesson I wish I could give to my newb self 3 years ago?...set aside you're personal shit and pay attention to reality as best you can!

2# do more loving kindness/positive feel meditation, as you will be less of an asshole to be around ;-)