I've been building up my meditation by adding five minutes to my daily sit each week so that I am now at 35 minutes. I notice that I can often concentrate relatively well for 10 minutes before drifting in and out of mindfulness. Should I break the meditation up into, say, two 10 minutes and a 15 minute sit or is it better to do all your sitting at once in the day?
Thanks in advance!

(If this has been posted before I apologize; I searched as best as I could!)

howdy ian and welcome.

my two cents are that quality is more important than quantity, especially in the beginning,

meditation is like most other things in that one gets better at it with practice. you didn't write anything about your goals in meditation, if any, and since there are lots of different goals and approaches in this wide world that might be a way to get more precise answers.

in this forum most people have read daniel ingram's book Mastering The Core Teachings of the Buddha and use some of the ideas in it to inform their practice. its a good and valuable read.

so..do tell.

cheers

tom

Quality is very important. The other side of the coin is that, to my way of thinking, the driftiness that you are having in mindfulness needs to be worked thru. Again and again and again.

I meditated twice a day for a while and eventually consolidated into one longer sit. That gives you more time at the cutting edge of your practice.

Hi Ian,

The advice given by Eric, even though it may seem counter-intuitive to you at this stage of your practice, is actually the same advice I would give. Even though the quality of your meditation sessions can be, on the surface at least, viewed as being important, in the overall scheme of things that one is endeavoring to accomplish with meditation, quality comes (is developed) as one becomes more proficient at meditation and at learning the overcoming any obstacles that seem to be put in one's way.


Every student of meditation goes through this period wherein some sits seem to "do" themselves (are smooth and enjoyable, where the mind is sharp and concentrated and under one's control) and others seem to be "doing" us (are difficult and challenge us to stay focused on the object at hand). This is part of the work one is accomplishing in re-training the mind to follow one's own direction (to do as you wish it to do) rather than allowing the conditioning of the mind to direct how it will go (to do as its conditioning wishes it to do). It is breaking this hold that the mind's conditioning has over us that we are endeavoring to accomplish. Never lose sight of that fact.

The more you bang your head against the wall of the mind's conditioning, the more you begin to break that conditioning down until the mind finally, at long last, begins to heed and to follow your wishes as to where it goes and what it maintains concentration on.

Part of this process of reconditioning the mind, for me, came with the practice of samatha absorption states, which helped to increase overall concentration ability. This led to developing the ability to enter into samadhi states at will, which has made all the difference in the world. Being able to maintain focus on an object (during calming meditation sessions or samatha practice) or on a subject (during insight meditation sessions, or vipassana practice) is what makes the difference in one's ability to finally recognize the truth of the Dhamma.

Every sincere and dedicated meditator goes through these phases in the journey toward self realization. And you are no different.

In peace,
Ian

My goal is stream entry in the near (year) future, and I am attending a 10 day goenka retreat in june, where i plan on mahasi noting my ass off . I've given mctb a good read and read several sections multiple times, but right now my other question is whether I should continue doing Mahasi Sayadaws recommended meditation(rising, falling, noting distractions), or just pure insight meditation(straight noting?). After reading over the other responses -- thank you so much for them -- I think I'm going to continue to keep my sits in one session.

The question Ian asked is similar to the one I had in mind. I have read all the comments and I didn't really find the answer. So I will throw in mine, just in case more detail will provide for better luck.

Type of meditation: mindfulness of breathing (counting breaths)
Experience: 1.5 months
Goal: access concentration

Case:
At any given day, I can do:
Option 1. one 40min session
Option 2. two sessions of 20min each.
If I do one session of 40min, it will consist of two phases, which I feel are substantially different with regard to the mind activity that is going on. For the opening 20min (phase 1), I will be able to sustain attention on the breath with little to no mind-wandering (defined as completely forgetting about the breath, that is to say losing count of the breath). For the closing 20min (phase 2), I will be noticeably more prone to mind-wandering (will be noticing mind-wandering and shifting attention back to the breath once every 2min on average).
If on the other hand, I split a 40min session in two, and have enough rest in between sessions, I will never go to phase 2.

Question: which one of the two options is more effective and would provide for faster results? I was lead to believe that it is the cycle of Directing and sustaining attention on the breath - Mind-wandering - Becoming aware of mind-wandering - Shifting attention back to the breath - which makes up the proper technique. So if I can sit and count breaths for 20min and never once become aware of mind-wandering (defined as losing count of the breath) does it mean that I'm not doing the technique properly? Perhaps my concentration is too rigid or who knows what.

That's a technique for overcoming mind-wandering, and it sounds like you've made some progress toward that.

You might want to think about what you're doing in relation to your goal. What else does your goal include? Mental quietude? The ability to attend to each and every sensation of the breath on a moment-by-moment basis? Stability of attention (i.e., so attention doesn't shift to other sensations, sounds, etc.)? And how long do you want to be able to do this for? Once your mind isn't wandering, you get a chance to work on these other aspects.

Here's something you might find interesting:

http://dharmatreasure.com/wp-content/uploads/LightOnMeditationHandout.pdf

Thanks, I found that helpful!