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What has helped you with your practice?
I was wondering if anyone would like to share a couple of your tips or insights you've had that have really helped deepen your practice, whether it be in meditation or daily life, i.e. what helps you to sustain mindfulness throughout the day, or how do you deal with unwholesome states of mind more skilfully?
Here are a couple of my recent revelations:
Recently during breath meditation I've had trouble with sleepiness (much more than I had in the past). Before I would in a way just ignore the sleepiness and try and force the mind on the breath in order to overcome it...of course it just wasn't working. I have found that shifting my attention partly to the sleepiness itself, but still keeping the breath as the main point of reference, was effective in dispelling the sleepiness. In doing this practice, over time I have become much more aware of when the beginning stages of sleepiness or dullness begin to arise and I can 'nip it in the bud' as Ajahn Jayasaro says in his instructions on how to deal with sleepiness. Buddhist Meditation (6) Sleepiness
Another tip I would like to mention is when unwholesome states of mind would arise, especially more tenacious ones like anger, I found I was trying to deal with them intellectually, trying to think my way through them, which often resulted in losing mindfulness completely and getting stuck in the 'story' surrounding the issue. Now I firstly acknowledge the state of mind that has arisen and then observe the effect it has on the body. By bringing attention to how the emotion manifests in the body, it becomes tangible, and much easier to deal with. At first I thought by doing this I might be somehow suppressing the emotion, but I have found through experience that that isn't the case.
Anyone else wish to share?
Here are a couple of my recent revelations:
Recently during breath meditation I've had trouble with sleepiness (much more than I had in the past). Before I would in a way just ignore the sleepiness and try and force the mind on the breath in order to overcome it...of course it just wasn't working. I have found that shifting my attention partly to the sleepiness itself, but still keeping the breath as the main point of reference, was effective in dispelling the sleepiness. In doing this practice, over time I have become much more aware of when the beginning stages of sleepiness or dullness begin to arise and I can 'nip it in the bud' as Ajahn Jayasaro says in his instructions on how to deal with sleepiness. Buddhist Meditation (6) Sleepiness
Another tip I would like to mention is when unwholesome states of mind would arise, especially more tenacious ones like anger, I found I was trying to deal with them intellectually, trying to think my way through them, which often resulted in losing mindfulness completely and getting stuck in the 'story' surrounding the issue. Now I firstly acknowledge the state of mind that has arisen and then observe the effect it has on the body. By bringing attention to how the emotion manifests in the body, it becomes tangible, and much easier to deal with. At first I thought by doing this I might be somehow suppressing the emotion, but I have found through experience that that isn't the case.
Anyone else wish to share?
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Comments
I see that you shift from "breath" meditation to vipassana (insight) meditation quite seamlessly when distractions arise. I found that alternating between these two meditation types is quite practical in my own practice - but I don't know if it is recommended. Anyone knows?
I really love the quote which always helps me to deal with anger:
"When one contemplates
sickness, od age, and death,
one sees that no one and nothing
can escape them.
When compassion is born
in the heart,
one sees that there is no reason
to add to the evil and pain."
To overcome lazziness, I read/think about vows of all Bodhisattvas and it makes me feel ashamed that I waste my time insted of helping them in their great work. "Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vowed: Until hell is empty, I will not become a Buddha."
And the last quote which helps me to be more friendly to all people, without choosing these "better" and "worse" is "Care for a (...) person as if they were not different from the Buddha himself."
Namo Amituofo _/|\_
Regarding sleepiness, did you try the method suggested by Ajahn Jayasaro of feeling the breath in your whole body and feeling the whole of your body filled with light ?....or did you try the metta suggestion he also gave?
That's a very good series of meditation videos.
Kind wishes,
Dazzle
This seemed to really help.
By the way I recently noticed there's quite a few relatively new videos on Youtube of Ajahn Jayasaro from the retreat/s he gave at Bahn Boon in Thailand. I haven't seen any of them yet though.
The_Fruit_Punch_Wizard, your method sounds quite interesting; I might give it try.
Thank you Magga, I haven't seen them either, I'll check them out later.
Suffering .