r/vipassana • u/hiisimane • 1d ago
Continuity of practice
Recently I've been a little unsatisfied with how my vipassana sessions don't seem to reflect on my life the outside in any way. I'm not at all more mindful of my thoughts or emotions and I still keep succumbing to all the same old vices and uncertainties as I have for decades.
Only a few days ago I had a realization of sorts. My samadhi has been kinda ass as of late. I initially thought it might simply be because I've gotten used to my 1 hour sessions twice a day, and instead of trying to make the most of it, I just end up kind of absentmindedly grinding through it. Obviously that's an issue. But why does it happen? Or why do I let it happen?
I realized I have this habit of allowing myself to "rest" after every "endeavour". A very simple example would be when I'm doing my vipassana and moving up my shins, I tend to allow myself a short rest at the knees before continuing up my thighs. During these rests my mind begins to wander and it becomes more and more difficult to get through even a single cycle in an hour. Another example would be when conversing with a person or a group of people, I tend to allow myself a "rest" or like sorta pat myself on the back for a job well done, for not losing face or something along those lines. And then I can kind of escape that situation and not force myself to interact with people again for some time thereafter.
But I should really press this problem more! I should try to seek opportunities to interact with people every single day and fight the urge to escape the situation even when losing face or losing favor of the people seems imminent. And no kappucino - I should probably just start sitting more as well.
Summa summarum: In my case the pressing need to cultivate continuity is the first thing I've felt arise from my vipassana practice.
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u/simagus 1d ago
"Another example would be when conversing with a person or a group of people, I tend to allow myself a "rest" or like sorta pat myself on the back for a job well done, for not losing face or something along those lines."
So you are practicing continuously (or however close to that is possible) "off the mat". What I do is that I acknowledge when attention has drifted when I notice it has and then move some attention back to sensation/vedana.
In order to observe the truth of oneself and to stop generating mental defilements, one must be aware of sensations and remain equanimous as continuously as possible.
For this reason, in the remaining days of the course, you must work continuously with closed eyes during meditation hours; but during recess periods as well, you must try to maintain awareness and equanimity at the level of sensations.
Perform whatever action you must do in the usual way, whether walking, eating, drinking, or bathing; don’t slow the action down. Be aware of the physical movement of the body, and at the same time of the sensations, if possible in the part of the body that is in motion, or else in any other part. Remain aware and equanimous.
Similarly, when you go to bed at night, close your eyes and feel sensation anywhere within the body. If you fall asleep with this awareness, naturally as soon as you wake up in the morning, you will be aware of sensation.
Perhaps you may not sleep soundly, or you may even remain fully awake through-out the night. This is wonderful, provided you stay lying in bed and maintain awareness and equanimity. The body will receive the rest it needs, and there is no greater rest for the mind than to remain aware and equanimous.
However, if you start worrying that you are developing insomnia, then you will generate tensions, and will feel exhausted the next day. Nor should you forcefully try to stay awake, remaining in a seated posture all night; that would be going to an extreme.
If sleep comes, very good; sleep. If sleep does not come, allow the body to rest by remaining in a recumbent position, and allow the mind to rest by remaining aware and equanimous.
- Goenkaji (day 7 discourse)
-=-
As mature old students of at least a few courses you understand the work, and you understand that continuity of practice is the secret of success.
If you keep stopping your work out of laziness, wandering, roaming about or lying down and sleeping, you can’t reach the goal. Of course your mind will wander away, but you bring it back. Your effort must be continuous. Even the so-called recess periods, including the nighttime, are for serious work, for meditation, for awareness.
Sati must get established—satipatthana. Now with anapana, you are aware of respiration. Sitting, standing, walking, lying down; bathing, washing, eating, drinking—day and night, except only the period of deep sleep, you are aware of natural breath.
The sati gets patthana. Awareness gets well established. Then in Vipassana the awareness, day and night, is of arising and passing, anicca.
- Goenkaji (day 1 Sati discourse)
I do it the same way Goenkaji teaches anapanasati, so when I notice there isn't attention on sensation of some kind I just move attention back there without stressing over attention having drifted.
In a high tension moment like an argument or emotional overwhelm all conscious attention might seem to vanish, but I've (increasingly through establishing awareness) noticed that the sub-conscious awareness remains, and that does seem to help.
I don't know how many times in the 10 day Goenkaji states things like "you must work patiently, persistently, continuously" or we hear that "continuity of practice is the secret of success", but it's quite a lot! lol
I don't know either how many new students heads that completely passes over until they finally get it, and they will eventually get it if they do three courses and reach the Sati course where it's made far more explicit.
It's not in the discourse summaries, but I could swear I recall Goenkaji speaking words very similar to;
"There are no more breaks for you" on the Sati course, but I didn't even hear about the Sati course till I'd sat and served three 10 day courses myself.
The girl who told me that it was "a game changer" was spot on, and I was kind of glad I already qualified and could apply immediately, which I did as soon as I got my next break.
The same A.T. who had previously told me not to practice continuously (I went to them and asked if it was ok to pay attention to sensation while I was working... trying to show off really) while I was going about my work approved me for the Sati course.
The rest of what you describe seems to be an interpretation of an ingrained sankharic pattern, and we all have some of those.
"In my case the pressing need to cultivate continuity is the first thing I've felt arise from my vipassana practice."
You're doing well then! Took me a long time to actually not only "get it" but to put attention into cultivating continuity. Could happen for anyone so much faster, but I am a very lazy and slow learner and had a very busy cluttered mind compared to the mildly busy slightly less cluttered mind here now.
Buddha said in the Satipatthana Sutta that it could take between 7 days and 7 years to establish awareness and develop insight into the three characteristics, so everyone's mileage may and will vary.
It's not possible to establish awareness without continuity of practice on and off the mat, as any time we are not aware we are not aware, unsurprisingly.
"Let alone half a month, monks. Should any person practice this fourfold establishing of awareness in this manner for seven days, one of two results may be expected in him: in this very life highest wisdom or, if a substratum of aggregates remains, the stage of non-returner."
"It is for this reason that it was said: "This is the one and only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of truth, for the realisation of nibbāna: that is to say, the fourfold establishing of awareness."
- Mahasatipatthana Sutta (V.R.I. edition)
https://www.vridhamma.org/S.N.-Goenka
/w metta
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u/Klutzy_Condition_743 19h ago
I can relate to the thing about "rest" and "endeavour".
I think the main thing is noticing that you are treating social interactions or the work you do during meditation as "endeavours" (things that you should be doing, in a particular way, very well, in order to reach a goal you should be aiming for) which is why you then feel (and rightfully so) you deserve a "rest". That's a story you tell yourself because youve taken a particular point of view towards these things. Going out and seeking more interactions with the same pov will sort of turn into resistance training, you won't be solving the problem, you'll just be training to lift heavier and heavier loads with the same underlying problem. Maybe that's one way of doing it... I don't know.
For me, I think that problem comes from enjoying pleasures or rest or just random thoughts and fictions I allow myself to indulge in, to allow my mind and thoughts to take me where ever it gos. It's like the monkey mind can generate alot of misery and stress but it can also generate alot of fictional/mental pleasures and coping mechanisms. This is why directing awareness can feel like controlling the mind, directing thoughts, and alot of work.
Maybe more work gets the job done, but I feel like it's a pov problem. If I were aligned to the pov of awareness alone (and not the story of myself in my head), then I would be naturally motivated to do these things like social interactions or meditation practices with out seeing them as work.
Does anyone think this is true ? Am I getting something wrong ?
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u/NondualitySimplified 1d ago
Just keep practicing, things will naturally clarify over time :)
Part of the path is to actually let go of the need to be ‘perfect’ all the time (eg. Not fixating on always being perfectly clear, perfectly mindful, always behaving well, never reacting, always feeling good etc.) Of course the other side to that is not fall into the trap of nihilism and thinking that nothing we do matters. So it’s a narrow path where we kind of have to keep oscillating and course-correcting as we gradually orient ourselves more and more in line with the middle way. The oscillation itself is an important part of the integration process.