These are the major pieces of my practice; how I move forward along the Eightfold Path.
- Daily Sit: I sit in the morning, at the same point in my morning routine, almost without fail. This is really the cornerstone of my practice. At times I have done a variety of different meditation practices, but regardless of how I am practicing, I always see my morning sit as a step forward along the path.
- Jhana Practice: This is new for me, but has been incredibly powerful. My quality of life is markedly different after sitting for long periods of very strong concentration. Everything is so much clearer, not to mention the Insights that arise.
- Meal Vedena: My intention is to eat each meal while being mindful of vedena, although that is generally more of an aspiration than something that actually plays out in reality.
- Reminders to Awaken: There are a few triggers (looking at a particular object, walking through a door, etc.) that I have tried to link to the act of taking a step back, and looking at what is going on in the mind and body. I’m not especially good at remembering these, but I manage to do so with a non-zero frequency, which I count as a win.
- Sangha (In the General Sense): Being around other people walking the same path I am has been more valuable than I would have thought before I started trying to make an effort to do so. It’s very reinforcing of my desire to expand my practice, in subtle little ways. I learn quite a bit from others, too.
- Sutta Sunday: Every Sunday I read a sutta that I will reflect on that week. Sometimes I will read it again in the mornings before my sit.
- Retreats: This is the other cornerstone of my practice. On retreat, I have a space to sit and be with myself that I don’t have anywhere else. The clarity of mind, and levels of concentration I can reach, provide Insights much more readily than in the normal world. Similarly, the emotions I feel become much greater, and I often have moments or even hours of profound peace and acceptance. To me, these provide a glimpse of the person I can become, and I use them as a touchstone when life gets difficult or murky. On retreat I often have the experience of the fog being blown away; things become clear, and I can see my path laid out before me. The fog comes back when I leave, but I can remember what I’ve seen.
- Day of Reflection: Once a month I take a day and do some intensive meditation, and reflect on whatever problems or big themes are present in my life. This takes various forms, and I usually choose several pieces of music to listen to or things to read to draw out those emotions.
- Expressing Metta Externally: This is a new focus of mine, but it has become pretty important. There’s a huge difference between feeling metta for someone, and using that metta to drive words or actions. I’ve found that it’s so much more powerful to express metta towards others than to simply feel it.
When I started practicing, I held it with a lot of rigidity. I came to meditation with the intention of trying to fix myself, and this showed up in how I practiced. If I had decided to do a particular thing, I would do it, whether or not I liked it or I felt like it was helping–sometimes medicine tastes bad, but you drink it anyway. That was my attitude. I’ve loosened that grip over the years, and I hold things pretty lightly now. Practices get swapped out when I want to focus on a different aspect of my practice, or when something I used to enjoy doesn’t fit me any more. I see my practice as jazz, and improvise in the moment based on what I am feeling.
