Hi all, I'm Matt, just joined up yesterday. I was reading about the stages of insight and came across this website so I decided to register.

I've been practicing daily since about February, so I'm newer to meditation. I practice at a local Zen center once a week and sit for about 90 minutes a day at home (two 45 minute sessions). I've also read "The Mind Illuminated" and "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha" but recently I just got Mahasi's Manual of Insight and it seems much more indepth and thorough than anything else I've come across, so I've decided to go with his noting style practice. I know that Zen usually scoffs at maps, but I made do with what I have when seeking a bit more instruction than "just sit".

I was looking up the stages of insight as noted above because I was wondering if I had crossed the A&P. About three weeks ago I had a very bright white light hit me like a lightning bolt, then was very relaxed and tranquil for a few hours later. I had a lot of piti beforehand for every single sit, and nowadays it is gone. Now I just sit and I get some aversion to sitting, and during the day I'm finding it hard to care so much about routine responsibilities, so maybe I am in dark night territory. Maybe not, this stuff is so squishy, but that's how I came here!

Hi Matt. Good to have you here. Looking forward to hearing how things go for you.

Hello all,

I started practicing in 2003 after receiving a Reiki treatment that kicked me immediately into a forceful A&P followed by a few hours of fear and anxiety, an awakening of energy currents in my body, and the permanent dropping away of boredom and irrational anger that had characterized much of my late teenage years leading up to the experience. After that I changed my major to East Asian Studies and began studying Buddhism and Daoism while engaging in all manner of practices, ranging from zazen in the Rinzai tradition, qigong, Reiki, Daoist inner alchemy, some Shingon esoteric practices, and energy work in Robert Bruce's NEW system. I dabbled through these various traditions and techniques as I intensely studied the religions and languages of East Asia through undergrad and grad school. After finishing my degrees I switched gears by teaching the Western classics for the last decade or so. As a result, I am thoroughly versed in the primary texts of the East and the West and have focused all of my free reading time on developing my understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness of the contemplative traditions throughout the world. I also am the type that can easily switch my reality tunnels, going from Christian to Buddhist to agnostic or from faith healer/energy worker to pragmatist to skeptic as the day goes by and my conversational partner switches.

A year ago I discovered The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa and have been working my way progressively through the Stages, which has given me a foundation that my practice has long been lacking. Over the summer I went on a 10 day Goenka retreat (my first retreat that was more than three days) and on Day 5 I had a massive kundalini awakening and I hit a dark night so shockingly powerful that it sent me home early from the retreat in an ambulance (I thought I might be going crazy and the retreat leaders had no idea what to do with someone who was convulsing uncontrollably with kriyas). I experienced numerous permanent shifts (wavelike piti on command, more mental silence, jhanas opened up easily afterward) following the peak experience, but I suspect that I am presently vacillating between reobservation and equanimity, given the anxiety that comes on every few days (following my first passing of the A&P I had stopped feeling any anxiety, even before giving speeches to large audiences). This anxiety is powerful and it does not seem to have any source, but I can pretty easily watch it without any clinging or aversion. Otherwise, my sits are filled with joy and pleasure.

That about sums up where I am right now. I look forward to working with this community.

Welcome home Daniel.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Hello, everyone. I'm a 29-years-old guy from Italy whose practice has recently deepened and, lacking a teacher in real life, is looking for guidance on the web. By posting a log on this site, I hope to get some much-needed feedback from more advanced meditators for my increasingly unusual experiences.

I consider myself to be a very easygoing person who has discovered Buddha's teachings and found them incredibly sensible, agreeable and compelling. I strive to follow them and the Eight-fold Path, trying not to cause suffering to myself or others.

I started meditating on June of this year, but it's only recently (past two weeks) that I realized I want practice to be my clear top priority in life. I've been steadily increasing the time spent on the cushion and I'm working on creating an even more conducive environment for myself in the upcoming days. I plan to have 10 consecutive hours of daily meditation in retreat-like/lite conditions, starting later this week or the next one. Since I don't expect this endeavor (or its fruits) to be simple or easy to navigate, I thought it safe to find someone I could sort-of report to for support and motivating purposes. And if there's a way I can contribute to supporting and motivating others on their path, I think sharing my experience (or lack thereof ^^) is the way to go.

I wish all of us great patience and courage on our journey!

Welcome to Awakenetwork, Daniele.

Welcome, Daniele! Your plans sound ambitious and exciting. I look forward to hearing how your practice unfolds.

Hi everyone! I'm Lewis, 28, and work as a games developer in Sheffield, UK. I started an on again off again mindfulness practice in 2008, took up dedicated daily practice in 2013, and after having some pretty wild, unexpected A&P stuff happen shortly thereafter found the pragmatic crowd online after finding the local Buddhists and meditation folk weren't too eager to discuss that kind of stuff. I've since tried a number of techniques, mostly I practice Shinzen's Unified Mindfulness noting techniques, though I've been reading through the Manual of Insight with a few friends and am interested in learning more traditional Mahasi style noting. Happy to be here and find another community of like-minded people to share this work with!

Welcome, Lewis!

Greetings AN community - I'm Eric, 43 in Denver, CO. Been practicing just shy of 20 years in the Zen tradition heavily doped with the vipassana teachings of Goldstein, Kornfield, etc. Constraints of time and geography have kept me pretty much practicing at home, although have done a few week long retreats over the years. Although my practice has often been rich and rewarding, I wouldn't say it has a definite direction. So I'm hoping that the Pragmatic Dharma community can help establish this.

Peace.
Eric

Hey Eric - I'm not in Denver but there is a Denver Pragmatic group that is part of the awake network. This is their meetup page - www.meetup.com/DenverPragmaticMeditation...Y3LWUyZjM5Y2QwOWVkNQ

I sometimes video into their meetings. Good stuff.

Hello everyone,

My name is James, I'm a near 30, avidish practitioner currently living in Brisbane Australia. I am currently in my third year of med school. I came across this site via the Australian Pragmatic Dharma google hangout, as I noticed a number of you were members and so I thought I would check it out.

As far as practice goes, my primary practice is TMI (Stage 4-5), however I also go to a Gelug FPMT centre here in Brisbane and I have started to combine Lam Rim practices with my TMI practice. As far as pragmatic dharma goes, my primary interest lies in establishing how the Tibetan teachings are grounded in very ordinary experiences, along the lines of Ken Mcleod's Then and Now course, or "Turning Confusion Into Clarity" by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. As such I read widely within multiple traditions (including Zen and Therevada), although in terms of human influence my main influence is via the Gelug school.

I look forward to practicing and having fruitful discussions with you all.

Welcome, James. Glad you found us.

Greetings!

I'm Michael, 36, in Terre Haute, Indiana. After many fruitless years of Advaita-ish stuff punctuated by brief attempts at regular seated meditation informed by Zen and a Goenka retreat, I stumbled across TMI last May and immediately acquired a consistent and committed daily practice. I've since dabbled with quite a few approaches, but noting techniques were creating agitation and I couldn't justify subjecting my family to that process. Fortunately, a heavy dose of metta and body work seems to have altered my relationship to noting, and I am currently building some momentum with a technique based on simple labels at a varied pace (based on my capacities at the time I'm meditating).

I'm currently mining this board's archives for valuable information and I look forward to being a part of this community.

Welcome, Michael!

Hello!

I'm John and living in Tokyo since 1998. I'm returning to Mahasi-style noting practice which I did for a few years in the 80s before meeting Canadian Namgyal Rinpoche aka Ananda Bodhi aka Leslie George Dawson and training in his tradition for three decades. For the past three years I've been flying solo. During this time I was doing an hour or two per day from among the many practices of the eclectic Vajrayana/Theravadin hybrid Namgyal tradition. Recently I read Daniel Ingram's and Shannon Stein's books, and Daniel's "fast noting" (1-15 times per second) set my practice alight and got me back on the noting track. I do mostly walking and sitting Mahasi-style one or two hours or more per day as possible with work etc., interspersed on occasion by Tibetan-style visualizations etc. for specific purposes. I'm finding the Mahasi approach immensely fruitful compared with my younger days when the instructions were difficult to follow due to raging hormones, confused ethics, childhood trauma, etc., much of which have been sorted out by life experience and the wonderful training with my teachers in the interim.

In light of my current aspiration and circumstances, Daniel and Shannon suggested I seek the community and guidance of fellow practitioners rather than another formal teacher/student apprenticeship, so here I am! I look forward to learning and sharing with you all.

Welcome John!

Hello everyone!
My name is Stig, I am 64 and living in sunny Spain. Originally I am from Norway, but with all the minus degrees and snow going on up there I found it best to find a Spanish woman to marry
For the last 30 years or so I have had some kind of spiritual practice. It has varied over the years; many years with yoga and TM, then years in the Eckankar org until it fell apart (well it is still there but...). The last 5-6 years it has been all about Self-Inquiry meditation (Ramana Maharshi) . I have also listen a great deal to Adyashanti whose words resonates with me. I have, as I guess many of you gays also, had "openings" which have showed me that I already am what I am seeking. I feel like the man who is in the city he is seeking to find without knowing he is there and jumps on trains and buses to get there. This has brought me to contemplate if my relationship with my spiritual practice, that is to gain something from it, rely is the wrong one. Maybe we need to lose it all !?

Great to be here!

Hi,

I'm Malcolm from a small town in England called Sandwich, one of the most preserved medieval towns in the country. I first started meditating in 1969, for an hour using the TM technique I was shown at the time - nah, it didn't suit me. Then in 1975 I was shown the 4 techniques comprising Knowledge, yeah! Practiced for about 15 years but wouldn't 'let go' so it got a bit dry. At the time, I liked that there were no explanations other than that the initial initiation experience was a powerful appetite wetter

5 years ago I decided that I'd focus on the breath but for my own reasons refused to do cushion meditation. Had a few amazing experiences but it wasn't until 14 months ago that I decided that it was time to start what I call my final 7 year goal, that of preparing for 'death' - either the inevitable one or the letting go one. I've been strange since about the age of 12 when I suddenly realised I would eventually cease to exist. I mean smack in the face panic realisation. I wanted to lose fear and over time seem to have lost most fears apart from that letting go fear, although I now welcome every opportunity on the cushion to watch as my control gently slips away and...

I discovered 'The Mind Illuminated' 14 months ago and started to make more progress than I had since 1975, enough to get really excited about the prospect of meditating no matter what happened. I feel that I'm unpicking 70 years of conditioning and I like it!

Welcome, Malcomb. Glad to have you on Awakenetwork.

Hi Malcolm, welcome to AwakeNetwork. It's a small world, I grew up just down the road in Dover but subsequently escaped to Yorkshire! Look forward to hearing more about your practice.

Nice to have you with us, Malcolm!

Hi there to all!

Thought I'd stick my head in the door and see what you all get up to on here.

I kept a practice log on KFD years ago for about a year or so when I began my practice in 2012. Have been practicing since then. Mostly zen and vipassana in the SN Goenka style. I tried noting for a while early on but always found it difficult to note... I was incredibly slow!

Right now I'm a dharma outcast, not part of any real world groups.

Jack

Howdy Jack! I'm an old Goenka hand from 1983. Been around the block a few times since then but still a beginner. Nice to meet you!