Intro to meditation: Class 6 notes

Continuing with self compassion

The theme of this week's class is how to keep making progress after this course has finished (which is less than 90 minutes away). I hope that your self compassion has deepened over the past six weeks.

I recommend Kristin Neff's Self-Compassion as a resource for going deeper into self compassion.

Around the room

Around the room discussion of meditation experiences in the past week.

Resources for further practice

These are (roughly) in order of importance, most important first.

Keep sitting

This is the big one. Just keep sitting. Pick a practice and don't change it for at least several months. If you're not sure which one to do, ask me and I'll suggest one.

Find a sangha

The "three jewels" of Buddhism are dharma (the teachings), Buddha (the teacher or example-setter), and sangha (community of fellow meditators). This third jewel is too often neglected. I can help you find a local community if you'd like. There are larger organizations like IMS that have a presence in many population centers. There are also some online gatherings—but I strongly recommend finding an in-person sangha.

Go on retreat

Go on retreat. Really! A retreat will super-charge your practice, and there are many things you are unlikely to experience or learn without going on retreat.

Here are a few options I recommend. All are teachers or organizations I have personal experience with.

• Tucker Peck's retreats: These are all in-person, in various places. I've sat several retreats with Tucker. You can practice any style you'd like; most of the sits are unguided.
• Kynan Tan, who is based in Australia, offers several in-person and online retreat and course options, some as brief as a single day.
• Robin Moisson came up with the idea of a "life retreat". It's meant to blur the lines between retreat and regular life. I've never sat one of these but plan to next time one aligns with my schedule. My intuition is that you may want to sit a "proper" retreat before sitting a life retreat, but I'm not sure.
• Upali, a very heart- and emotions-first teacher, offers several retreats and courses each year.
• Goenka retreats: You know how I said above that all of these are options I recommend? In this case, I have some caveats. These are free, and they focus on a body scanning technique similar to the one we covered in Week 4. My first retreat was one of these. Often misleadingly referred to as "vipassana retreats" (they do teach vipassana; but it's just one specific type, not "the" vipassana). The main caveat I have is that these are on the stricter, more ascetic side. I'm happy to discuss further if you're considering sitting a Goenka retreat.
• The Unified Mindfulness folks presumably run retreats. I know they offer classes. They introduced the See, Hear, Feel technique we discussed in Week 2. UM is the only system or teacher on this list that is not explicitly Buddhist (though it is deeply informed by Buddhism).

Books

While I mostly suggest you just sit more, reading has its place, too. Here are a few books I recommend.

• The Science of Enlightenment (Shinzen Young): Probably my highest recommendation for an all-around survey of what meditation is about, how it works, and some techniques you can practice.
• The Mind Illuminated (Culadasa): Extremely lucid manual teaching concentration practice. It has a few faults, but so do all meditation books. Remember when I said that you should treat all technique instructions lightly, not taking them too seriously? That goes double for this book.
• Sanity and Sainthood (Tucker Peck): About how meditation makes you a more moral person who can better relate to reality.
• On Having No Head (D. E. Harding): Only sort of about meditation. Great read, weird but in a good way.
• After the Ecstasy, the Laundry (Jack Kornfield): A beautiful collection of accounts of people's lives after profound spiritual transformation.

Those are my general recommendations. If you're wondering about any particular topic, just ask.

How to stay in touch

You all know how to contact me, and you're welcome to reach out with meditation questions any time. You're also welcome to audit future runs of this class for free, space permitting — I just ask that you yield sharing time to new, paying participants. I may offer other meditation courses in the future, and I also offer 1:1 meditation instruction on an ad hoc or recurring basis.

Lovingkindness (mettā) instructions

Mettā is the Pali term for lovingkindness. It's a feeling of goodwill you offer to others. It's traditional to close a retreat with a mettā meditation, and we'll do the same for this class.

There are many variations on mettā practice. Most that I've encountered follow the pattern of repeating a few benevolent sentiments towards a series of recipients or groups of recipients.

Here are the instructions for the version we'll do:

• Choose a short set of well-wishes. Here are the ones I typically use. You're welcome to choose your own if you'd like.
  • "May <person(s)> be happy"
  • "May <person(s)> be healthy"
  • "May <person(s)> be safe"
  • "May <person(s)> be free from suffering"
• For each person or group in the following list, spend a few minutes cycling through your phrases. Truly wish the outcome; focus more on the wish and the emotion than on the words. Really try to mean it. Use their name or the group's name in the phrases.
  • A benefactor (someone who has supported you or helped you in some way)
  • Yourself (this is sometimes hard for us Westerners!)
  • Someone you are close to and care for
  • Someone you are neutral towards (e.g. the cashier who rang you up the last time you went to the grocery store)
  • Someone you dislike or consider evil
  • Everyone in this class
  • Everyone in your neighborhood
  • Everyone in your state or province
  • All beings

Will wishing health and safety to someone make them healthier or safer? Probably not. The point is to cultivate wholesomeness in yourself. For some people (myself included), it can take some time before mettā practice feels like it's "doing" anything. I spent many hours doing it over the course of a few years with no noticeable effect. Then, one day, a mettā sit at the end of a short retreat caused me to break down crying.

Group sit: mettā

20min group sit, guided, following the instructions above.

Closing around the room

What's next for your meditation practice? ("Nothing" and "I don't know" are ok answers!)