Dream Walker:
Wing Biddlebaum:
I'll be practising goenka style body scan vipassana
So you find every sensation other than in the body as unworthy of investigation? Why is that? Of the 6 senses are you sure you want to put all your eggs in the feeling basket? I'd notice everything that is happening even if you wish to predominately want to feel into the body, do not ignore other sensations.
Wing Biddlebaum:
and 1+ hour of metta every day.
Start with Metta, focus on the FEELING of loving kindness and use it as the focus to get concentrated. Notice where the feeling is strongest and stay on it wherever it goes.
Wing Biddlebaum:
I'm scratching my head with how best to timetable the sits. A few options I came up with are:
-One strong determination chunk e.g. 06:00 to 12:00 every morning, ending in metta. Then the rest of the day free to work and be a human.
-Two slightly less determined chunks e.g. 06:00 to 09:00 and 20:00 to 23:00
-30:00 minute sits alternated with 30:00 minute regular work/study all day.
Walking meditation for 15 minutes min. between sits.
Wing Biddlebaum:
A few factors are weighing on this decision. Firstly, long sits seem super useful for developing strong concentration and the end portion of any sit usually feels like the most productive. However, I also have some tendency to develop tension and stress at the expectation of not moving for many hours. I can do it, but want to make sure it's healthy since I have a pattern of trying way too hard with just about everything.
Goenka sits are about 45 minutes before a break of some sort. I would recommend trying this time period out and maybe a few longer sits to see what happens. No longer than 2 hours though.
Wing Biddlebaum:
Its your practice so play around with it and see what you notice about how you chop things up....then modify it to get closer to the optimal expereince you are looking for.
Good luck and tell us how its going.
~D
Thanks DW, your advice is helpful as usual. Goenka style is mainly a question of familiarity and wanting to pursue one method diligently without flopping around. I did quickly see some flaws as you say, so I did modify it a little. When thought/hearing/sight activity is predominant I've started noting "thinking", "hearing", "seeing" during my scans. I also sometimes note the quality of my perception e.g. if scanning feels really slow like a worm burrowing through some thick dirt, or if clarity is low I sometimes note "slow" and "dull" to make sure hindrances are seen as yet more phonemena.
Another reason for choosing the body scan style was because I considered it to have some power in emotional processing. In the past I used other techniques that reduced reactive thought activity a lot, but despite this I still experienced a great deal of physical anxiety in reaction to sensations occuring in my body (primarily torso area stuff e.g. palpitations, tingles, tensions, heavy bracing type sensations, etc). So focussing on observation/equanimity of these type of bodily phenomena seemed like it might be useful in alleviating big patterns of reactionary suffering, as well as attaining insight of the characteristics.
What would be the risk of overlooking certain sensations? Is insight into certain types of sensations not enough?I will start using metta as start point on your advice. I found this idea more attractive than standard anapana type practises (especially when a degree of restlessness/anxiety can mark the start of my sits) and also heard it evanglised by bhante vimalaramsi as a base for insight practise.
Sometimes I can't find a loving-kindness type feeling, other than maybe some vague warmth that might be my blanket. I seem to be quite binary with metta, the feeling either missing or suddenly emerging in full force. Like a light switch rather than a volume knob, although I'm not quite sure how to turn it on. Kind of like how suddenly dropping into equanimity sometimes feels, except dropping into love.
Is the feeling of loving-kindness a necessary start point, or is it okay to power through with intention until hopefully hitting the feeling?Sometimes I've sat for 4-8 hours and held strong concentration and it's felt fruitful. At other times I've definitely sat too long. I think I was operating on a mixture of curiosity, trying too hard and something shinzen said that resonated with me, "sit until just past the point of maximum intensity". But I also know that it's beneficial to get used to practising when in motion, since it's often more difficult and more applicable to achieving continuity of practise in daily life.
Is there a guideline you'd use to decide when to stop sitting and start walking practise? Thank you for your help. I think I might make a log to track progress and make this month maximally useful. I would also be very grateful to be able to contact you occasionally? I've found most of the posts you've written insightful.
-Wing