Nick's practice journal

Hi everyone. I've been practicing vipassana using Kenneth's style for about 4 months now, under the tutelage of Ron Crouch. Prior to that I've kicked around with zen and taoist practices for about 10 years, basically banging my head into the wall. Last year around this time i began looking into Advaita and non-duality type stuff. I saw some teachers, eventually I stumbled across the so-called "direct-pointing" method from our friends at Liberation Unleashed website, engaged in self-inquiry dialog process with them, and had a big non-dual awakening (sort of a 2nd-gear type practice really). Since then I've been able to meditate in a way that i wasn't prior to this experience (which I think may have been an initial A&P type thing). I now have access to 1st and 2nd jhana and can sit for prolonged periods without going insane. Reading around on Dho and KFD, I decided to apply myself to 1st gear practices, contacted Ron, and have been doing so ever since.

Currently I'm sitting about 35-40 minutes a day. I use a metta practice initially for a few minutes, then noting. I usually can identify the A&P within about 10-15 minutes, and then pass into DN. I stumble-note thru dissolution, there's a physical sensation that lets me know when fear is appearing, and currently i'm finishing up in the misery nana with some achey body sensations, unpleasant chills, and a general emotional tone of "this sucks". I'm a bit scattered right now, off to work soon. Will post more soon. Thanks for reading.

Nick

Welcome aboard, Nick. Nice to have you here.