I'm pre-1st Path but going for stream via a regular daily practice. I'm curious: The sense I get from many people who have attained 1st Path is that, when it happened -- even though the practitioner may have had a regular and rigorous practice -- it almost seems to come out of the blue, kind of like a surprise.

What I mean is, many of the folks who got stream didn't necessarily wake up that morning with the sense that it was going to happen that day. Or, that in their practice it wasn't necessarily the case the each and every session was an improvement on the previous one eventually reaching a peak series of sessions eventually culminating in stream.

Of course, Equanimity is a sign of progress, but a fair number of practitioners spend a good deal of time at this stage, and sometimes folks feel like they are stalling out there .

For me, the weird thing about Equanimity is that in the morning I might have a crap session, barely getting into Equanimity territory after an hour, and struggling to maintain mindfulness or build decent concentration the whole time. Whereas in the evening I might get into a deep and wide and spacious Equanimity within minutes, with powerful concentration and rock steady mindfulness.

Before you attained stream, did you have any feeling or sense that it was going to happen when it did? What were your meditation sessions like just preceding the stream event? Good? Bad? Were there any signs or indications which tipped you off [perhaps in hindsight] that stream was imminent?

It usually happens when you least expect it, when you truly let go. You cannot know when it will happen, or what it will be like. You especially cannot MAKE it happen, so just keep practicing

As for the day/night thing. This is not a meditation thing, this is a sleep/wake cycle thing. When you wake up in the morning you usually have a burst of planning thoughts etc, it takes some time for this to calm down. Later in the day you are usually much more settled. It's ok to have racing thoughts in equanimity, happened to me all the time, just note and notice, it's not indicative of a bad sit.

RELAX and let go of the desire for the shift to occur. Let go of 'your desire' for it and/or at least include such a subjective reaction as just another aspect of the mass/field of experience/phenomena 'noticed' (and noted). Practice as per usual but from that relaxed 'come what may' viewpoint and let it do itself. Step out of the way i.e. relax, pay attention to all the movements of mind, lending no mental weight to any of it (such as craving the shift) and let it all synch up itself.

Nick

P.S. RELAX!!!!

*pauses a moment*

*take a deep breath. holds it. slowly expels breath*

Thanks guys. You're right. Gotta chill a bit. Let things happen. Don't force it. I will endeavor to make it so...

*LEAPS BACK INTO THE FRAY*

:-)

Hey Alan,
just so that you won't relax TOO much ;-)

Here's a good take on equanimity where some of the typical "just about to happen" things ARE described.

Aloha Dharma EQ

oh yeah..relax

Relax too much, like to the point of totally vanishing. Definitely. This Video, oft linked to, is of real value.

Synchronize and FI.

D

If meditating is like shootin' aliens, then my new rolemodel is going to be Trinity. He is the fastest gun in the West, but MAN does the guy know how to relax.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97_qSwsDjvw