Right practice? Change focus?

junglist, modified 7 Years ago at 1/25/17 1:13 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/25/17 1:13 AM

Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 232 Join Date: 1/25/17 Recent Posts
Hello all,
I would like to ask for some advice about, basically whether I should continue what I am doing.
I have done various practices (mostly concentrating on breath though) with varying and limited degrees of commitment (i.e. some short periods of a couple of hours a day, periods of nothing, a couple of weeks or so of something every day, no retreats) for quite a few years now. Sometimes slightly interesting things have happened, but nothing that serious.

I have tried to get my act together over the past month to get up early every day and have been doing 30 minutes of counting my out-breaths from 1 to 10, focusing on the sensations of breath in my abdomen. This week I have dropped the counting since I felt I can keep the count for several more than three counts of 10, and I have increased it to 45 minutes. I'm planning to increase it an hour next week. 

At timesI have had moments of quite relaxed, focused, pleasant states, which last for a relatively short time. Today, exactly when the timer bell rang to end the session, I noticed a slight pleasant feeling in my body, mostly around my arms, so I decided to stay with it for a little while.

My question is whether I should continue just to focus on breath, or shift my focus?

Thank you!
Tobias Grosse, modified 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 1:43 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 1:43 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 2 Join Date: 1/10/17 Recent Posts
I am experiencing the same with focus on breath. The is progress in some way, but I think I have not reached the 1st Jhana, yet. For me the main issue is the missing time as I am full time working and having three small kids. I am practicing nearly every day later in the evening for one hour...concentration on the breath. As the day is full of noise I need much time to calm down and fade the daily memories, dreams, thoughts etc. I am also not sure if I am doing right or wrong but I keep going the path. I guess the answer from the experienced community here will be: just continue!
Good luck!
Banned For waht?, modified 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 9:08 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 9:08 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 500 Join Date: 7/14/13 Recent Posts
you have questions, then think answers to them. Take it as a practice so that then you don't have to count breath.

When you have a question then its just a fetter or urge there. Actually no questions have arisen.
junglist, modified 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 4:00 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 4:00 PM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 232 Join Date: 1/25/17 Recent Posts
Hey, thanks for the reply Tobias, I think your final conclusion of just keeping going is sort of generally the one I expect to be told as well!
I also used to be (or kind of am) a big night owl, but general daily stresses and the such like seemed to make it difficult to keep a regular practice going in the evenings or at night, especially since I am often too tired or haven't managed to keep a regular time for it...
So I've been getting up a hour or two before my family does and before I have time to get caught up in other things, and that seems to be much easier to regulate.
Let's both keep it up!
Good luck to you too!
junglist, modified 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 4:09 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 4:09 PM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 232 Join Date: 1/25/17 Recent Posts
sfg sgd:
you have questions, then think answers to them. Take it as a practice so that then you don't have to count breath.

When you have a question then its just a fetter or urge there. Actually no questions have arisen.
Hi sfg sgd, thank you very much for your reply, it's not quite clear to me what you meant in the first two sentences—are you suggesting that I think answers to questions during meditation?

I found the second line very interesting, how would this relate to practice in terms of focusing on breath in my abdomen? 
Banned For waht?, modified 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 5:58 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/26/17 5:32 PM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 500 Join Date: 7/14/13 Recent Posts
Urge is food. Urge has to be seen only couple times to get it full. But the hard part is to see urge and succesfully gather it.

I have seen reports here in this site that some see urges. So it could be a bit unbelieveable, i have asked in RL and don't get answer only when it is presented, for an example hide a bottle away from alcoholic but so far the maturity is not enough there to see its importance or merit what it brings.
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Breath goes to lungs. Tho there is a mudra + breath you can open a channel or lock and there seem to be a movement or wind in belly and other areas.

but for mediation and cultivation to fill the stomach i think you need food. Also water.

edit. just put your question or what you can do into google search or any other search engine, you will be amazed how easy is to find answers and names what you can do. There is probably more than three books for every possible answer.
junglist, modified 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 12:37 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 12:37 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 232 Join Date: 1/25/17 Recent Posts
Thanks very much for your reply, although it was a bit tricky for me to quite understand it fully, I'm not quite sure whether urge is exactly I was trying to understand with this thread, interesting and worth investigating though it is indeed.

So I'll try again: 
I have heard/read about techniques for jhana that involve following the breath, usually somewhere near the nose, and after some time when things develop enough, a light or something appears and then you shift your focus to this light, and then you get jhana (or something along those lines).
I have also recently heard about focusing on something pleasant, like a smile, or the pleasant sensations of breath. This sounds like it involves doing a bit of breathing focus and then when stuff happens, shifting it.
I am basically trying to cultivate concentration, so I'm a bit wary of changing my focus because it looks to me like a response to a distraction.
Any suggestions?
Tobias Grosse, modified 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 2:06 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 2:06 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus? (Answer)

Posts: 2 Join Date: 1/10/17 Recent Posts
Hi Roni, last night I started with metta thoughts and moved on to concentration practice. After about 20...30 minutes I saw a mental light, even with low concentration. I smiled and went on. The light remained for a few minutes and disappeared. This event I take as a sign of the right way. Therefore I assure you: please continue the practice. If you are in doubt, watch the doubt, note the doubt, see the doubt changing and vanishing.
I wish you all the best!
junglist, modified 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 2:15 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 2:15 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 232 Join Date: 1/25/17 Recent Posts
Thanks Tobias! That makes good sense to me and sounds very interesting!
I'll keep at it.
All the best to you too!
Banned For waht?, modified 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 6:11 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 1/27/17 5:31 AM

RE: Right practice? Change focus?

Posts: 500 Join Date: 7/14/13 Recent Posts
The practice you suggest is same level as dreaming. You can use your minds eye, to imagine what you going to do then bring mind back to reality and then sometimes will the sensation rise, then cultivate and meditate on that sensation.

The light what rises, is different. It is related to inner alchemy. Different practice. And that light doesn't rise everyday and not forever, it is just some points you pass by and its done for a long time.
There is even a list of lights waht wil appear and the first types are on dreamlike consciousness where the consciousness shift or click is there. Later the appreance of light or lights are different. And what the light looks are traditional.

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How do you practice concentration? concetration itself can be many different things, so you can realize yourself that practicing them on your own idea some rigid way is going to take you more than a lifetime, because there are too many ways to concentrate and try them all.

In short, find a way what practices all ways and qualities. For that you can't do nothing and at the same time everything works, so what is the correct answer only you can figure out, it is not allowed to tell how to do things, it is allowed t opoint out things and you need to realize yourself what to do- same way treat environment, it points you out things what you need to practice or do.
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 And the importantest thing is that how you understand what you read is also dependable. Lead pure life and you see better and grasp things without questionable shadows from dirt stuff. <--understand that you can do very "easy" practice= restraint and you get information or suggestions what you need to do....it is even logical. By restraint you see your cancers or fetters, you also see what they are and how to clear them, cultivate them etc. It is still 1/3 of whole. Restraint is also suggestion or pointed out. No idea how You understand restraint and what potentials there are..so well don't know..maybe you will harm yourself with that etc etc.

--Do practice what you can't imagine, therefore also can't explain, and therefore can't also do. It would be 2/3, because the base is from nondoing.
(totally made this up so i don't know what is 3/3, so take it as inspiration for your own practice)

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