@stoliglobalese@Thomasdelvasto_ i said โmoreโ! both are good, but most meditators would benefit from allocating some of their sitting hours to other practices
i thought i was good at feeling my anger because i got angry often, and wondered why it didn't stop me from lashing out. turns out that getting angry AT others requires dissociating from the anger up until the moment it becomes impossible to ignore
@stoliglobalese@Thomasdelvasto_ i said โmoreโ! both are good, but most meditators would benefit from allocating some of their sitting hours to other practices
most meditators would be better off doing more "relative" inner work (therapy, dance, bodywork, journaling)
only a healthy, capable self can survive its destruction
buddhism often draws a distinction between relative vs absolute truth. relatively, we live in a world of objects and selves; in the absolute sense, everything is empty of real, independent substance.
typically, "relative work" aims at building up a healthy psychological self, which is still necessary and good even if from the absolute perspective there is no such thing
@vimtor ime meditation strongly invites in whatever is present, especially what's being avoided. then the usual mechanisms used for dissociating from what's unpleasant no longer work, so meditation feels difficult
conversely, most people deep in relative inner work would be better off doing more meditation
you are so much more than just your feelings, exquisite and sacred as they may be
@CaryHawkins_ tldr: i think it ends up being fine for most people, just not beginners. i actually think it's a great container if your practice is decently far along enough to debug yourself. i just think the downside for some is asymmetrically bad, and it's hard to predict ahead of time
@CaryHawkins_ i still came away having benefited greatly, but the message i got at the end of the retreat was "if you don't practice 2+ hours a day you're wasting your time". this was pretty demoralizing to hear
the two practices that reliably *work* for me are zhan zhuang and ecstatic dance, but i keep doing silent sitting practice because those don't feel like Real Meditation
@ArtirKel no, my unopened copy of root verses on the middle way has been sitting on my desk for months lol
i also just got back from a month of retreat so the vibe is head empty no thinky, just see the emptiness directly bro
in retrospect, the idea that "all traditions are ultimately pointing to the same Truth" was a misleading mind virus that set back my practice enormously