
An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation - tortilla
http://hivelogic.com/articles/view/an-introduction-to-mindfulness-meditation/
======
miles
If you're into this sort of thing, I highly recommend Goenka's 10 day
Vipassana retreat:

<http://www.dhamma.org/>

I did the course in Kyoto years ago (there are locations worldwide:
<http://www.dhamma.org/en/alphalist.shtml> ). The entire 10 days you do
nothing more than watch your breath. First 6 or 7 days are hell, the remaining
days are heaven. Just need some time for the dust to settle.

The entire course, accommodations, and meals are offered completely free of
charge. They won't even accept a donation until you've experienced the course.
Even then, there was no overt push to collect money from participants.

They ask you to leave your existing practices at the door, and offer no new
dogmas other than watching your breath/mind.

I haven't been back to another course or otherwise involved with the group
since then, but it had a profound impact on my life.

~~~
kolya3
Can you talk more about your experience? How are the last 3 days "heaven"?
What was the "profound impact" on your life?

~~~
bdr
Here's a report from my friend who went:

""" the basics: for 10 days, i joined roughly 50 other people in onalaska, wa
(a little town in the middle south of olympia) and we learned anapanna and
vipassana meditations (as intepreted by s. n. goenka). we weren't allowed to
talk to one another. in the evenings, we could ask questions of the teacher,
but at the end of it all i probably said about 30 sentences

here's the schedule that we followed scrupulously every day:

4am - wake up bell 4:30 - 6:30 - meditate in the hall or the sleep quarters
6:30 - 8 - breakfast and rest 8 - 9 - meditate in the hall (strong
determination starting on day 4 (more on this below)) 9 - 11 - meditate in the
hall or the sleep quarters 11 - 1pm - lunch and rest 1 - 2:30 - meditate in
the hall or the sleep quarters 2:30 - 3:30 - mediate in the hall (strong
determination starting on day 4) 3:30 - 5 - meditate in the hall or the sleep
quarters 5 - 6 - tea/fruit break 6 - 7 - meditate in the hall (strong
determination starting on day 4) 7 - 8:15 - video discourse 8:15 - 9 -
meditate in the hall 9 - 9:30 - ask teacher questions if desired 10 - lights
out

in general we were instructed to sit however was comfortable and change
position as sparingly as possible. "strong determination" sits beginning on
day 4 meant that we were to not move the entire hour. of course, as the pain
got really bad, we were free to do so. i'll get back to the madness of this
later.

day 1 we were instructed to focus on our breath. we were to keep only our
breath in our minds. no counting, no visualization, no mantras. not deep
breath or shallow breath. just breathe naturally and observe. as the mind
wanders away, we we were told, notice it without anger or frustrating and
resume observation of the breath. my mind wandered away after observing my
breath for about 10 seconds max. it got a little better throughout my stay
there, but not much.

day 2 we were given the same instructions as day 1, but were told to also
start paying attention to the area of skin right below the nostrils. we were
to note wherever the breath brushed past that area and focus on the smallest
point of skin that we could.

day 3 we were told to look for sensations on the same moustache-zone. at this
point, i began to feel an odd tingling sensation very lightly and
ocassionally.

day 4 we were instructed in vipassana meditation. it basically consists of
observing every part on the surface of the body, in a fixed order, piece by
piece. we were told to observe any sensations as we go through the body and
not react with craving or aversion. just observe the sensation and pass to the
next part of the body.

day 5 - 10 was the continuation of this with additional elaborations on the
nature of passing attention through the body. these were also the days when
the weird shit started happening. i think sometime during day 5 i discovered
that my entire body actually experiences a low-grade tingling 24/7, but i just
never had the awareness to feel it. the ability to discern it comes and goes,
but, just today during my evening meditation, i felt it on nearly every part
of my body. (addendum from a month later: the tingling is gone, but still does
show up from time to time during particularly good sits.) it's neither
pleasant nor unpleasant and has its own internal logic. every person there
felt it, as i discovered after i spoke to them on day 10.

during one of the strong determination sits, at about minute 45, the pain in
my back became really bad. my mind started screaming for me to move, but i had
built up enough experience at this point to have a little delay in response. i
started examining the pain, really understanding it. i noticed that the pain
itself, the sensation, was not so bad. what was horrible, was the nagging
child inside me, the one that felt entitled to feel good all the time. the
child pulled on my entire body, trying to force it to move. i ignored it and
ignored it and really analyzed the pain. and... it all went away in a single
instant. just dropped from my body. i don't know what happened, but i suspect
i somehow managed to undo all sorts of knots of tension. i felt perfectly at
ease and sat out the rest of the hour plus another 10 minutes. afterwards, i
felt a tremendous elation. """

~~~
blurry
I'd like to second that experience, and to comment on some parts of it.

On one end of the spectrum, I am baffled by the drama surrounding the "weird
shit" happening to your body. I had the same stuff happening during my
meditation but I didn't find it to be all that notable. Yes, after several
days you begin to isolate tiny little sensations (like weak electric current)
all over your body. It's really just that and nothing more though. I guess I
question the value of that particular experience - is it really such a huge
revelation that practicing a small task over and over makes you better at it,
sometimes enabling you to do things you didn't think were possible?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel like people don't give enough
credit to the experience of forcing yourself to keep a position in spite of
searing pain. I am preparing to give birth soon and one of the exercises for
pain management is to practice relaxed breathing while squeezing ice cubes in
your hands. It's painful but also incredibly empowering to learn that pain can
be overcome, and unlike meditating for days to achieve a few weird sensations,
it's a practical skill. You don't have to commit yourself to a 10-day retreat
or practice a particular form of meditation to achieve that though, there is a
variety of ways to do it, none of them particularly mystical.

~~~
rjurney
By the end of the course, I could scan my beating heart within my chest. It
freaked me out. I wanted to tell my classmates all about it, but couldn't for
a couple more days.

I had severe back pain, have lower back issues, and it took days to get them
to allow me to meditate sitting against the wall. When my concentration would
break every few minutes, I would gasp in pain, my lower back muscles cramping
and spasming the whole time, because it was overwhelming. I thought, and I
still think, that requiring me to go through that was ridiculous, and it was
only when I told the lead teacher I was leaving if he didn't allow it that he
permitted me to sit against the wall. It still hurt like hell, and that was
fine, but I could hold myself physically upright at least.

I don't think the courses in the US are so uptight, though.

~~~
blurry
Mine was the same in terms of the requirement to sit upright with exceptions
granted to just a couple people. It was in Massachusetts although I forget the
exact name of the place.

~~~
rjurney
Thats how it should be. I was a medical exception, though. I crushed two
vertebrae, and so the muscle is pulled over them at a weird angle. They cramp
is I sit/stand without moving too long. The instructor didn't want to hear
that, because I told him the fracture had healed. Said it was my body's way of
'letting out the suffering' basically. Which was nothing other than stupid,
because actually it was my body telling me, "Hey stupid, your muscles have
been cramping for 20 minutes. How can you possibly stand the pain?"

Everyone should have to sit, and everyone will hurt when they don't move, but
if your back muscles don't freaking work, you should be able to sit against
the wall. Which they did let me, eventually.

------
endlessvoid94
I can recommend this book:

[http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Updated-
Expa...](http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Plain-English-Updated-
Expanded/dp/0861713214)

"Mindfulness in Plain English"

It's a great book that is easy to read and explains why and how.

~~~
dhimes
I have the un-updated-and-expanded edition, and it is excellent. So is
Buddhism Plain and Simple [http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Plain-Simple-Steve-
Hagen/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Plain-Simple-Steve-
Hagen/dp/0767903323/)

~~~
sandal
Both of these books are great. After those, the book "Seeking the Heart of
Wisdom" is recommended for those who want more of the whole picture.

------
mtalantikite
The article mentions Thanissaro Bhikkhu aka Geoffry DeGraff in the beginning
and links to some of his writings. His Dhamma talks are also freely available
at <http://dhammatalks.org/> for anyone interested.

Just be careful, I lost three close friends to the monastic life because of
his teachings -- two are monks with Ajaan Geoff at his monastery outside San
Diego, another is ordained at a monastery out in the jungle in Thailand.

Never thought I'd run into Ajaan Geoff on Hacker News.

------
eduardoflores
I'd recommend [http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shambhala-
Library/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Shambhala-
Library/dp/1590302672) (begginer's mind there are many possibilities, on the
expert's, few) And this for creativity and zen: [http://www.amazon.com/Zen-
Creativity-Cultivating-Your-Artist...](http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Creativity-
Cultivating-Your-Artistic/dp/0345466330)

~~~
gps408
Also Hardcore Zen [http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Zen-Monster-Movies-
Reality/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Hardcore-Zen-Monster-Movies-
Reality/dp/086171380X/) and Brad Warner's blog
<http://hardcorezen.blogspot.com/>

------
ZeroGravitas
Meditation is pretty interesting stuff. For those put off by the spiritual or
new age aspects of meditation, try The Relaxation Response.

<http://www.relaxationresponse.org/steps/>

<http://www.relaxationresponse.org/howto.htm>

It's trancendental meditation boiled down to the basics and demystified by a
Harvard MD.

------
justlearning
A bit off topic, but related:

There have been many complaining about the pain in sitting.

I am not a meditation expert, I have had numbness to my legs after 20 mins of
sitting and I tried Kneeling- sitting such that, your balls of the feet
touches your butt and the bottom part of the feet is completely parallel to
the floor. (<http://media.wiley.com/assets/6/99/0-7645-5116-7_0703.jpg>) why?
this forces you to have a natural posture i.e. keeps your spine in its natural
state, thus prolonging your meditation time. But, don't wear any footwear.

PS: I found the image doing a google search, this link is hotlinked to a
"meditation for dummies", where there are more postures described. I won't
post it here and make it messy. I trust your knowledge in doing a google
search!

~~~
khafra
It depends on your anatomy. I have a pronounced negative camber to my shins,
so kneeling like that puts almost all my weight on my metatarals.
Unfortunately, my hips aren't flexible enough to allow sitting crosslegged,
either, so standing, laying, and walking meditation are about it for me.

Some systems of meditation I've encountered encourage experimentation to find
a posture that works for you.

------
zenlinux
I'm a big fan of the podcasts at zencast.org. Particularly those by Gil
Fronsdal. He is a Vipassana teacher and gives talks in a very humble, down to
earth manner.

~~~
bodhi
I'll agree with this. Gil has an incredible manner of speaking. Some of the
other zencast podcasts have people that tend to lecture at you on their topic,
whereas Gil just seems to draw you in to the way he leads his life, warts and
all. I actually miss my one-hour commute (now a 5-minute bike ride) that gave
me time to listen to him.

------
radu_floricica
It's interesting to see all the opinions here. I recently found a zen (soto
zen) dojo in Bucharest, to my great surprise. The last weekend I attended a
short "retreat" there.

Mostly my experience fits with what I read here. Overall it was fine, and I
will continue going there. Probably my biggest problem is that I finally
understand and feel the difference between atheism and agnosticism. I am
atheist, zen is agnosting. That is, it really doesn't care what religion (if
any) you have. In practice this means people will be occasionally talking
about "positive energy" and "negative energy". It's mostly small talk though,
and the teacher was reasonably... well actually emphatically neutral.

As for the regular meetings, they are much cleaner. It's just "hello" and
small talk, then you sit, then "good bye" without small talk.

I did learn a lot of tips about correct posture and I got a proper pillow,
stuff I could not learn on my own. So even if you don't plan to join a dojo, a
few visits are probably very useful.

Edit: Oh yes, another thing that somewhat irked me. It took me a long time to
put my finger on it, but there was too little self deprecating humor in the
teacher's talks. Sue me, but this is how I felt.

------
solutionyogi
In Feb, I took Part 1 course of Art of Living (AoL). <http://artofliving.org>

In AoL, they teach you what they call 'Sudarshan Kriya'. It's a breathing
technique which helps you in variety of ways. I originally took the course
because I was very stressed and my friends recommended the course so that I
can learn how to deal with stress. I can definitely say that the particular
breathing technique helped me a lot and I can say without reservation that my
stress has reduced drastically. What I like about Sudarshan Kriya is that it
is a very practical technique. It's very easy to follow and as you do
Sudarshan Kriya regularly, your breathing capacity and your ability to focus
on breathing will increase. Sudarshan Kriya helps you slip in to meditation
much more easily. I highly recommend taking the Art of Living course.

~~~
justlearning
I wish I could downvote. I rarely post,so don't have the karma.

A friend and I went for a free seminar by Sri Sri himself and had to sit
through the parody of meditation and acted humour, which the paid patrons
enjoy. He evaded questions from everyone and all he 'preached' was to join
this course and not one person(outside their organization) I met afterwards
told me anything positive. It's a good way to loot you of 400usd.

I have my first cousins who attended the course and told me firsthand about
the "materialistic" association related to this course.[for instance, you are
told not to worry about money by a person who worked as a banker(made his
money) and now is a spokesman, then you are told to put in more money and rope
in more people for this course by 'volunteering" ]

~~~
solutionyogi
I up voted you because I completely agree with your points.

I have attended Sri Sri meet-up once and I did feel that the humor was forced
and all the attendants were still laughing. Also most of what Sri Sri talked
that day didn't make any sense to me. Let me give you an example. This is what
Sri Sri said: 'Everything is nothing' and then harped about it for next 15
mins.

When I learned that course fee was 350$, I wasn't really inclined to attend
the course. But I was so desperate for solutions to my problems, I decided to
give it a shot. And I can safely say that I learned a lot and it helped me
tremendously.

Later on, I wanted to attend another course and the fees were 450$. At that
time, I and my friend spoke to the course organizer and complained about the
high fees. They say that this money goes to the charity effort and there is
nothing he can do. Anyway, I could afford the fee and attended the second
course as well.

Personally, I don't agree with the 'forceful' charity and few other things,
but that doesn't discount the fact that the actual techniques they teach, are
very useful. If you can afford the course fee, it's worth giving a shot.

The bottomline for me is, there is a definite connection between breath and
mind. I highly recommend experiencing this connection regardless of the route
you choose.

------
k0n2ad
Zen is wonderful. In my opinion, a mindfulness or meditation program shouldn't
just have a profound impact on your life - it should make your life start to
have a profound impact on you!

I highly recommend the following books, which really help you chew through the
layers of expectations, belief and doubt when it comes to Buddhism (and in
particular, Zen):

[http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Pursuit-Happiness-Zen-
Guide/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/Ending-Pursuit-Happiness-Zen-
Guide/dp/0861715535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241186153&sr=8-1)

[http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-without-Beliefs-Stephen-
Batch...](http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-without-Beliefs-Stephen-
Batchelor/dp/1573226564/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241186214&sr=1-2)

------
zupatol
Meditation is something I would like to try. Recently I went to a zen dojo to
try. They sit on this zafu cushion in a position I am not flexible enough to
do. Even trying half of the position hurt incredibly. But the worst part was
after the meditation, when one of the students asked a question to the master.
The master then talked for a very long time, digressing on different parts of
his life, mocking his students, and boasting about his superiority, which he
tried to demonstrate by misquoting all sorts of people. I wondered if
listening to the master was also pain the students are supposed to overcome. I
won't go back there. I'll have to try meditation somewhere else.

~~~
silentbicycle
You can stretch and acclimate your knees to the sitting position, unless you
have a major existing medical condition or something. It comes with time.

The next thing that will come up is that zazen can be _incredibly boring_.

(It is.)

But it helps.

Also, sometimes people considered authority figures act like dicks. Sometimes
people cut their authority figures slack because they're "enlightened", or
whatever.

------
ellyagg
> This is what Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a renowned Buddhist meditation teacher,
> calls "getting the body into position."

"In order to do a sit-up, lie flat on your back with your knees at a 45 degree
angle. This is what Jane Fonda calls 'getting the body into position.'"

No kidding? What else would you call it?

~~~
alyssumclimbs
Next paragraph: "The hard part is what comes next: getting the mind into
position . . ."

Get it?

------
jmtame
I also recommend binaural beats. Look up "Mindwave" on your iPhone, it's $1.99
but it's really good.

~~~
justlearning
white noise (set to your liking) really helps.

url:<http://www.simplynoise.com/>

If you prefer something more flexible, sbagen is a freeware binaural beat
generator. you can create your own(and risk?) or use several beats generated
for you. There are about 40 beats just for focusing

url: <http://uazu.net/sbagen/>

------
nihilocrat
For those wondering, the use of a meditation cushion and a proper posture is
to make it comfortable to sit upright (not slouch) for long periods of time.
It's important and shouldn't be thought of as just sitting down.

