critique my insight technique

Hi,

I'm still reading heavily and trying to digest and absorb everything suggested so far; the three characteristics, noting, objects of insight etc... I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel and I have contacted a dharma teacher for personal instruction, but in the meanwhile I just wanted to see if I was on the right track.

I've taken a Goenka 10 days retreat several years ago and done quite a lot of mindful emotional processing amongst other things. My way of doing it is to start by focusing on the breath, then begin to get a sense of my whole body while I'm finding stability. I use this as my base and then explore the sensations I'm feeling, wherever my attention seems to want to go. Then I stop and sense in. I usually spend a couple of minutes sensing in before I can no longer feel anything, and then it's on to the next one. I've been trying to do a bit of noting which at the moment feels a bit disruptive to concentration. I've been keeping in mind what I've read about impermanence, and trying to get a sense of the subtlety of the sensation (flickering, vibration). And I've been doing this for half an hour and shamatha for half an hour every day.

So I just wanted to check in and see if I'm on point or if I'm making any particular mistakes anyone can see. Any suggestions are gratefully received.

Thanks
Sam

I'm not entirely sure I get what you mean by "sense in." I myself haven't done a Goenka retreat and am unfamiliar with their terminology and approach; all I know is that it's different from the Mahasi noting that I tend to do. I get the impression you mean that you stop and wait for the sensation you're exploring to lose its charge.

There are lots of different techniques; Kenneth outlines his approach in the links on the home page to this forum. What works for me is to begin with focus on the breath (like you--in my case I actually count 10 breaths 3 times), then begin noting. Hearing is a good place for me to start, then I move around the body. I tend to mix it up: sensations, thoughts, feeling tone, etc. Others here are more structured in noting one foundation for awhile before moving on to another. Some people prefer out-loud noting (and in fact Kenneth highly recommends it), others do better with silent noting. I shift to open awareness when things settle down and the noting feels cumbersome, return to noting if I start drifting.

On the whole, if you feel you're maintaining mindfulness in a technique, then that's a good sign; if you give another technique a good try and it seems to get in the way, then there's no sense slogging through it. The most important thing is to work long enough with a technique to give it a chance to work.

"Emotional processing" is something that happens as a byproduct of the practice, not as its primary focus. If you're thinking about your emotions and creating storylines in meditation, you are on the wrong track. If you keep your observations at the sensate level, you're on the right track.

Seems complicated. Potential for blind-spots. The disruption of concentration you feel sounds like the beginnings of progress, which (unfortunately) is not pleasant.

I suggest you do this: kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/page/How+to+Get+Enlightened

Rather than trusting in something you came up with on your own.

So basically, I relax my body in meditation and then go looking for sensations to explore. I mean by 'sensing in', just trying to feel it on a subtle level, explore it's dimensions. Goenka had us just sweeping up and down the body, looking for areas of coarse sensation, waiting with them a while and then moving on. This is what I was doing before but I'm not tied down to an approach. I'm reading through "How to Get Enlightened" (thanks for the link again), as well as MTCB. There is a lot of information and I'm sure you get tired of newbies asking the same questions. But if you could please humour me just one more

If I'm in vipassana, and the object is a physical sensation. Does it make a difference if I stay with it for the entire sit (if it remains that long), or if I limit myself to a minute or so before moving on to the next. Is there any particular advantages to one way or the other or does it make zero difference? I suspect the answer is in here somewhere already but I haven't been able to find it. Thanks

"If I'm in vipassana, and the object is a physical sensation. Does it make a difference if I stay with it for the entire sit (if it remains that long), or if I limit myself to a minute or so before moving on to the next. Is there any particular advantages to one way or the other or does it make zero difference? I suspect the answer is in here somewhere already but I haven't been able to find it. Thanks

"

Nah, move on. Stuff is flying up all the time, and trying to focus on one sensation will just make you try to hold onto it and solidify it. Try to note out-loud, once a second, for the entire sit. Something like this: "hearing, pain, dryness, coolness, hearing, itching, reflecting thoughts, imaging thoughts, hearing, imaging thoughts, itching, pressure." That was the last few seconds of my experience. Some of those things arouse and passed away, such as sounds from the street outside, but others were there the whole way through, such as the pressure of the seat under me, but they just faded out of attention.

Thanks for the advice. I haven't tried doing it that way before so will give it a shot and see how I get on.