Is it important to actually sit for longer periods of time, or does walking work too?
To me, no. What I think is vital is that a person keeps learning how to see more of the source of their actions and actions and to take up as sincere and honest a look as possible without becoming some severely scouring, perfectionist lens on oneself. So sitting practice is like being in a quiet lab in which to see the impulses underlying action. But other actions that very naturally occur in life are also excellent trainings to see "why am I doing what I'm doing?" and "what am I?"
We're basically talking about a training that involves sitting quietly and seeing what the mind and body do during an extended very simple, quiet activity: sitting kinda still and upright, being mentally alert by observing care-fully
(this is also why walking meditation 'works' and living with paying attention to what's in the present moment 'works' and this is kinda hard!). That's it. It is hugely useful. And these phases of 'easy sitting' come and go, so while it's here, maybe follow your instincts and sit without a timer at all.
These days I'm sort caught up in the idea of making progress for its own sake.
That can be a useful, artisanal aesthetic. Just to practice sincerely during the time allotted, and that's that. This is why "short sits" are also excellent.
I sort of get the terminology you're using in an intellectual sense, though I don't really have an intuitive 'feel' for the stages.
Yeah, no worries. These 'stages' are a kind of double edged sword. We naturally use form to train, but we can all look around and say that nothing really has absolute form. (From the Heart Sutra chanted in zen groups: "form is emptiness, emptiness is form") So the stages do not absolutely exist. They can be useful training tools though, and they can be counterproductive, too. Form is just for training, not to be taking as absolute (in my opinion).
I also want to be a better person in general.
Every religious and secular ethics tradition shares basic ethical concepts: refraining from killing, refraining from stealing/cheating, refraining from sexual misconduct, refraining from lying/deceit/harsh speech, refraining from intoxication. It's amazing how far that can take a person; and it's amazing how hard those can be.
I started meditating regularly at home about three months ago to deal with some emotional turmoil I was having.
Well, if you keep paying attention to the mental feelings and impulses that arise, on the cushion or just in daily life, this is gonna be really informative about how a lot of conditions around us come into being; we often manage to create them. Basically, when I have a strong desire to take action, I have to pay close attention to what's going on in me --- because that interior is likely driving my urges to do something and will strongly color the action taken. Using myself as an example to say that even a useful meditation practice usually doesn't prevent absolutely "emotional turmoil" experiences, but the effort does add up over time and I'd conservatively say it's more useful than not. It sort of trains one in choices and creativity among other things
At present you have an instinct to sit longer. Maybe make use of that. There are also simple things to do in living that can avoid emotional turmoil and seed better experiences. I don't know your living situation though and if you face a lot of external affront or more internal attitude.
What do you think?
[edited: reduced]
