looking for recommendations - Advanced meditation programs for daily practice

[reverendsteveii]

I've been into meditation for a couple years now, averaging 20-30 minutes/day about 5x/week. I do a lot of ad hoc stuff, guided meditations from youtube, i've taught myself how to body scan, done a lot of individual types of meditation like yoga nidra, concentration on candle flames or sri yantra, basically an amalgam of various practices as one-offs. Much like when I started lifting weights, I've reached a point where I need to stop doing things buffet style and instead need a coherent program in order to continue making progress. Can anyone recommend a complete meditation course/program that can take an interested novice like myself and help turn me into a master? Obv there are a million apps and youtube videos and things like that but they all seem to be geared toward someone who has never meditated before and is just finding out how it works. I need something a bit more advanced, for someone who has demonstrated a willingness to invest the time and effort. Headspace is neat, and was a great tool when I was just getting started, but it seems to have hit a wall.

 

[Morell]

...willingness to invest the time and effort...

Then invest your time and effort and extend your sessions to 1 hour daily... (or 5 times a week, though daily is better, day or two of rest a week do not cause real harm)

I was lately doing I hour twice a day and it was quite intense. sick now but I'll return to it afterwards, because it had impressive effects.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 6:35 PM

re-reading your post, you do not need anything advanced, because you are trying all kinds of stuff and not sticking to a system, so you are still beginning. Find one kind of meditation that you like and stick to that one... and slowly extend the time towards one hour.

It takes time to train the mind to work as you want of it. That is why you should stick to one meditation practice, so that you can develop some real discipline of your mind.

 

[solxyz]

Can anyone recommend a complete meditation course/program that can take an interested novice like myself and help turn me into a master?

Sure, but as you know there is not just one kind of meditation, and they all have slightly different aims. You really need to be clearer about what you're trying to achieve: enlightenment? mind-melting concentration? magic powers? profound emotional health and sensitivity?

These skills do overlap quite a lot, and so you can make progress on all of those, but any specific program is going to focus on one or two of them, and the practice is going to be geared in that direction.

In any case, in order to give you something specific, what I would consider a "pure meditational path" goes like this: (1) develop the ability to calm and stabilize the mind, (2) develop strong one-pointed concentration that you can hold at length, (3) learn to remain fully attentive and present while relaxing your grip on a meditational focus, (4) recognize the inherent non-dual nature of awareness, (5) abide in effortless non-dual awareness.

 

[HoldAll]

I would say that at this stage you'll need a living, breathing teacher who's able to assess where you are right now and which kind of meditation would be appropriate for you. If you can't find a good teacher, it may be a good idea to go on a (zazen, vipassana, etc.) retreat to test your stamina and to consult with an instructor there. If this is not an option, I'd like to recommend Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated" (several copies on

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) where he also describes very advanced techniques. You may also wish to explore the 8 (or 9) jhana stages, that should be challenging enough.

 

[Morell]

I would say that at this stage you'll need a living, breathing teacher who's able to assess where you are right now and which kind of meditation would be appropriate for you. If you can't find a good teacher, it may be a good idea to go on a (zazen, vipassana, etc.) retreat to test your stamina and to consult with an instructor there. If this is not an option, I'd like to recommend Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated" (several copies on

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

) where he also describes very advanced techniques. You may also wish to explore the 8 (or 9) jhana stages, that should be challenging enough.

Didn't know that there is such a thing as really advanced techniques for meditation. It makes sense. Would like to ask you, because I'm lacking knowledge on this matter, how should one consider if they are still beginner in meditation or if they are advanced enough to move to more advanced approach?

 

[HoldAll]

Didn't know that there is such a thing as really advanced techniques for meditation. It makes sense. Would like to ask you, because I'm lacking knowledge on this matter, how should one consider if they are still beginner in meditation or if they are advanced enough to move to more advanced approach?

I'd really recommed reading the book I mentioned. The author describes ten stages (an abbreviated version of the book can be found in the Library) together with the goals and characteristics of each stage. For example, I'm currently stuck between stages Two and Three about which he writes:

Mind-wandering gets shorter and shorter until it stops altogether. Forgetting is the biggest challenge in this Stage, but sleepiness oen becomes a problem as well. Set your intention to invoke introspective attention frequently before you’ve forgotten the breath or fallen asleep, and then make corrections as soon as you notice distractions or dullness. Also intend to sustain peripheral awareness while engaging with the breath as fully as possible. Once these intentions become habits, you’ll rarely forget the breath.

I still have intrusive thoughts but can already see how it will feel once they stop (and a damn relief it will be!). I haven't read much farther than Stage Four but it looks like the book is exclusively about samatha (concentration meditation, much like zazen or empty-mind meditation). The next stage would be vipassana (insight meditation), where you use your acquired concentration to actively investigate your body and mind.

 

[Morell]

I'd really recommed reading the book I mentioned. The author describes ten stages (an abbreviated version of the book can be found in the Library) together with the goals and characteristics of each stage. For example, I'm currently stuck between stages Two and Three about which he writes:

Mind-wandering gets shorter and shorter until it stops altogether. Forgetting is the biggest challenge in this Stage, but sleepiness oen becomes a problem as well. Set your intention to invoke introspective attention frequently before you’ve forgotten the breath or fallen asleep, and then make corrections as soon as you notice distractions or dullness. Also intend to sustain peripheral awareness while engaging with the breath as fully as possible. Once these intentions become habits, you’ll rarely forget the breath.

I still have intrusive thoughts but can already see how it will feel once they stop (and a damn relief it will be!). I haven't read much farther than Stage Four but it looks like the book is exclusively about samatha (concentration meditation, much like zazen or empty-mind meditation). The next stage would be vipassana (insight meditation), where you use your acquired concentration to actively investigate your body and mind.

I should have known. Have to fully agree, this should have been more obvious to me...

 

[Freestarwins]

Have you tried medito app?

 

[HoldAll]

Another great book to read is Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha: An Unusually Hardcore Dharma Book by Daniel Ingram. What's so unusual and hardcore about it is how fanatically focussed this guy used to be while working his way up the jhanas, sometimes meditating for twelve hours a day and going on week-long retreats, often sounding like a top-level athlete describing his arduous training, his injuries, and his whole career - no beginner stuff here. On p. 16 he writes about samatha:

The world of concentration is vast and contains within it myriad skills that can be developed to remarkable degrees. As the number of objects that we can get good with and the many ways we can tune our minds are remarkably complex, it is hard to clearly delineate a simple and manageable inclusive list of all the things we can learn in the vast realms of concentration. However, were we to try, we might start with the following:

• The speed with which we can get into skillful altered states of awareness (generally called here “concentration states” or “jhanas”).
• The depth to which we can get into each of those states.
• The number of objects that we can use to get into each of those states.
• The stability of those states in the face of external circumstances.
• The various ways we can fine-tune those states (such as paying attention to and developing their various sub-aspects).

Maybe you'd like to focus on one of the methods you've already mastered and check if you can go longer and/or deeper, or keep your mind empty under more difficult conditions, e.g. when riding on a bus.

Post automatically merged: Today at 6:25 PM

Perhaps I should add that this is not a how-to book but the author's descriptions of what is achievable are truly fascinating.

 

[Evelyn Garcia]

I've been into meditation for a couple years now, averaging 20-30 minutes/day about 5x/week. I do a lot of ad hoc stuff, guided meditations from youtube, i've taught myself how to body scan, done a lot of individual types of meditation like yoga nidra, concentration on candle flames or sri yantra, basically an amalgam of various practices as one-offs. Much like when I started lifting weights, I've reached a point where I need to stop doing things buffet style and instead need a coherent program in order to continue making progress. Can anyone recommend a complete meditation course/program that can take an interested novice like myself and help turn me into a master? Obv there are a million apps and youtube videos and things like that but they all seem to be geared toward someone who has never meditated before and is just finding out how it works. I need something a bit more advanced, for someone who has demonstrated a willingness to invest the time and effort. Headspace is neat, and was a great tool when I was just getting started, but it seems to have hit a wall.

This is an excellent question that perfectly articulates the frustrating plateau many intermediate meditators hit when they outgrow basic wellness apps and look for structured, progressive depth.