formal practice time

• BrianEleven

  7 Oct 12, 02:19

  Hello again,

  Hope everyone reading this(and not reading this) is well.

  I have a question regarding my seated meditation practice and was hoping someone here may have some helpful advice.

  My practice is only about 2.5 years old, but during that entire time I have been very diligent in maintaining approximately 1.5 hrs of formal meditation per day(2X45m). I can count on my fingers the days I haven't meditated at all. I have read that this is a good way to maintain momentum in practice and progress quickly.

  At An Eternal Nows suggestion, I have been working with Shinzen Youngs "Do Nothing" meditation. It has been very helpful in helping me to relax while meditating. Tension has been a constant issue in my practice. I've seen  a lot of similarities between "do nothing" and Bhante Vimalaramsi"s TWIM practice I was doing earlier. In July and August I had a "I Am" experience, but nothing since.

  Now the question: For the past 1-2 weeks I have found myself meditating for shorter periods of time. 20-25 minutes after I begin I feel like I'm done. Sometimes I get up and sometimes I push through to 45 minutes. I'm worried that getting up will resullt in my losing momentum, and pushing through will create tension again. I'm doing "Who Am I?" throughout my day and have come to notice more subtle levels of tension that I had presviously not seen. How long should I be sitting??

  I realize it may be hard to comment on such little info, but any suggestions, guidelines, advice would be appreciated. How long do you sit/did sit at this point in your practice?

  Thanks in advance, and feel free to ask for clarifaction if required.

   

  Metta,

   

  Brian.

   

• An Eternal Now

  7 Oct 12, 20:12

  You seem to be doing good. 20 minutes to 45 minutes a sitting is fine. Any less may not be enough for development of samadhi (depending on your practice), any more may be too long or lead to weird experiences (if done consistently), so you can guage for yourself.
• bycai

  9 Oct 12, 11:12

  In July and August I had a "I Am" experience

  During that experience, you should continue your seated meditation for deeper.

• An Eternal Now

  9 Oct 12, 18:24

  One more thing: self inquiry may be done beyond formal sitting. I did that whenever I could
• BrianEleven

  10 Oct 12, 11:55

  Thank you both!

  I do, generally , sit longer if experiencing "I Am". It becomes so pleasant I don't want to get up!

  As far as self inquiry off the cushion, I try throughout my day, whenever I think of it, to ask "Who am I?" then just rest and allow whatever happens to happen(I try not to control an answer). I'm finding that often this has little noticeable effect, as doing it at work I may have several things causing tension in my mind and body, so often no real "answer" is apperent. This tension that I'm coming to be more aware of seems to block access to the "I Am", so I'm trying to relax tension and control throughout my day. This seems to be helping decrease suffering and makes it easier to sit in the evening as I've accumulated less tension throughout my day. Feels like I'm moving in the right direction, hopefully I am.

  I had a short "I Am" experience(I think) Sunday night. The wonderful vibrant, dynamic, energy was obvious and it was easy to just rest in it. No effort was required for my mind to stay locked onto to the feeling of life in the body. It felt the same as my previous two experiences. When I woke up yesterday it was gone though, I had a really bad sinus headache instead. lol

   

  Metta,

  Brian.