Hello all: Introduce yourself in this thread or just read it to meet the members

[Matthew]

Seth,

Welcome to the forum.

There is no need to "hope one day" to be able to meditate. You just need to sit and do it. The beginners guide to meditation posted at the top of the "Dhamma, Meditation, Practice and the Path" board gives the essentials to sit down and do so.

I would advise starting with ten or twenty minutes twice a day for the first few days or weeks.

Warmly,

Matthew

[garyj.bowles]

Hello there,

I became interested in 'alternative' things 5 or 6 years ago and have trudged through many fascinating subjects and disciplines to reach the point of now being a regular Vipassana practitioner. The inherent clarity, simplicity and perfection of the practice +Buddha's teachings, as well as the 'obvious' benefits are what initially attracted me and are what keep me sitting daily.

In February I took a ten-day course at a Vipassana centre in Hong Kong (a SN Goenka-style facility) and moved home to Beijing later the same month. As the Chinese government is quite sensitive about such things, there are few (read: none for someone who only speaks English) opportunities for group sittings or meeting other meditators. As a result I thought by joining this forum I could share my experiences and listen to those of others as a way of receiving and hopefully giving inspiration.

Having read about some of your experiences I hope to interact with all of you as you obviously all have such rich experiences to share!

Take it easy,

Gary

[Matthew]

Dear Gary,

Welcome to the forums. We are all about the practicalities of the path. Mindless discussion of imponderables is not our bread and butter. We are very open to discuss anything but, as you will have read, the majority of discussions are about meditation practice.

I hope here you find the connectedness and opportunity to share that your current situation lacks.

Warmly, in the Dhamma,

Matthew

[garyj.bowles]

Thanks Matthew!

By the by, I didn't mean to suggest that I was here to talk about imponderables - quite the opposite! I'm here because at this point all I want to do is improve my Vipassana practice! Just wanted to clear that up.

All the best,

Gary

[Matthew]

Gary,

It did not occur to me that you were here for such discussions. It was an attempt to describe our community focus and that you will hopefully find that supportive.

Please accept my apologies if I gave the wrong impression to you.

Warmly,

Matthew

[garyj.bowles]

OK great! I wanted to make sure I hadn't given the impression that I was here to cause trouble.

[Matthew]

You didn't. And don't worry, we're pretty good at spotting that stuff, so you won't be troubled by anyone.

M

[dlemire]

I am not sure if I'm doing this right, don't see a new topic button so I am assuming any new member can just post in this one thread..?

Anyway, my name is Dan. I am a freshman at college, 19 years old. I came across Vipassana while studying different forms of meditation. Then soon after I read John Frusciante practices Vipassana, so I decided to check it out further, and I was very interested in it. I have not taken a 10 day course or even had any formal training or practice but I am very interested in starting this form of meditation. I do have a lot of questions so hopefully after I introduce myself I will get on over to the main forum and post those. Don't know much else to say, I love music and often meditate with it on because certain music can alter my state of mind pretty intensely. Thank everyone.

[mettajoey]

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the forum.

If you click on any of the boards on the home page you will see a button on the right for a new topic.  You won't find that however, in an existing thread.

With metta,

-Joe

[Matthew]

Welcome Dan,

I suggest you read around the boards a little as many of your questions will have in depth answers. Also check out "meditation: some basics for beginners" in the Dhamma, Meditation, Practice and the Path board. The main thing is once you have a basic grasp to begin some meditation and try to do it daily. Also I'd suggest starting with a more Shamatha focussed approach .... but that's explained all over the forum.

Questions we will do our best to answer. And you're right about this thread. Decided when we built the forum to have one tread where everyone introduces themselves.

Warmly,

Matthew

[alexaquatic]

Hi there:

I'm so glad I found this forum. I am 33 years old male from Mexico and I've been practicing Vipassana for a few weeks now. I practiced catholicism for almost 30 years, since that was how I was raised, and  I dont know anybody who knows about meditation, let alone Vipassana, so this is a great place to learn from others and to share whatever I can from my experience.

Thanks for reading..

Alex

[Matthew]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to the forums. You will find there are good people here to help you find your way. Meditation is a D.I.Y project, yet the benefit of others help is invaluable.

Have a read around and if there are questions you want to ask, don't be afraid.

Warm regards,

Matthew

[Vikki]

Hi!
This is a wonderful group and website given the excellent advice and available information for those with questions and even for those who find they really did need to find some answers.
Anyway, I am a practicing Buddhist and came to it via of meditation which I understand does happen...sort of coming through the backdoor.
As daily meditation practice has reduced my panic disorder/attacks, which I have had almost my entire adult life, the idea that a state of calm awareness could be cultivated through Buddhism interested me.

That was 7 years ago.  Married, mother of 3 adult children and houseful of pets, mostly rescues.

But I have been having some disturbing moments or episodes during  meditation in the last 4 months that I am hoping someone can provide their
views on why this is occuring.
I will post this issue in the appropriate forum....thanks, Vikki

[Matthew]

Welcome to the forums Vikki.

Warmly,

Matthew

[1hourmeditation]

Hello

My name is Michelle and I am a yoga addict, vegan and guided meditation creator.

I hope to learn from all of you here. I look forward to learning about Vipassana too.

[Morning Dew]

Hi Michelle and welcome on board 

I just checked your web link and it shows you sell meditation techniques. Can you explain what techniques you use?

Remain relaxed 

[Matthew]

Hello

My name is Michelle and I am a yoga addict, vegan and guided meditation creator.

I hope to learn from all of you here. I look forward to learning about Vipassana too.

Hi Michelle,

Welcome to the forums. Sometimes we've had folk here before who sell stuff and just post a couple of times to get links. But you don't sound like that .

Warmly,

In the Dhamma,

Matthew

[Refugee]

Hi everyone,

My name is Tim - I have been on the Buddhist Path for about 18 months now.  As I do not have access to a Sangha or any Buddhist centres in the province where I live, my practice is wholly based on books, internet and my personal experiences. By joining this forum, I hope to be able to get additional support to enhance my meditation practice. Presently I practice mainly shamatha meditation, but hope to include vipassana as soon as I am able to quiet my mind sufficiently.

I extend my gratitude to the owner and mods for affording me the opportunity to join this forum.

Metta to everyone.

With kind regards,
Tim

[Matthew]

Tim,

Welcome to the forums. I hope you find some support on your path here.

Warm regards,

Matthew

[shendy]

Hi and hope everyone is ok and doing goodly.

I was a monk in a Thai/Burmese vipassana tradition for 2 years.

I gave up Vipassana in order to deal with trauma from my childhood.

I recently began meditating again.

This time I am enjoying it much more than before.

I hope to enjoy my time here.

Stephen Hendry-Shendy 8:)

[Matthew]

Stephen,

Welcome to the forums.

I'd like to chat with you on Skype some time if you use it.

Warmly,

Matthew

[Vivek]

Hello my dear friends,

 My name is Vivek, and I am from India. I was introduced to the wonderful Dhamma through GVF's 10-day Vipassana course, and I have been on the path ever since.

Before the course, I knew very little about Buddha and his teachings; I used to think that His teachings were even contradictory to those of other Indian schools like Vedanta.  But now, having come this far, I realise how significant His contribution is to humanity.

I look forward to learning from you all, as well as sharing what little I know.

May all be happy.

Vivek.

[Crystal Palace]

Dear Vivek,

Welcome to the forums!

Feel free to post anything you want here. This forum will give you only as much as you put into it - therefore participate actively. This place can be a great support to your daily practice.

May the Dhamma grow in your heart!

Warmly,
Crystal Palace

[Vivek]

Thank you, Shreyans. Looking forward to have a good time here.

Vivek.

[Masauwu]

Hello,

I've been reading this forum for a couple of days and it's a great place with good advice and nice people, so i decided to join. I don't have much experience in meditation but i want to understand it better and practice it correctly. My immediate goal would be to make meditation part of my daily "routine" in spite of my lazy mind that is having a great time finding reasons for not sitting down to meditate. 

My search for a spiritual path started years ago, looking into many paths and reading quite a lot on subjects ranging from religion to mysticism, Osho's books and Gurdjieff's "4th way", eventually all these made me realize that i can't find my answers using the intellect. I had the first introduction to practice last December when i decided to try this Vipassana 10 day course i had just found and it gave me a good feeling that this is the path i want to follow. Sadly after i came back to the big city with all the distractions of the daily life i didn`t continue the practice, until recently when the flame was reignited and i started again to look for answers.

In my search i found this great forum and after reading many of the topics i started practicing Shamatha (for a couple of days now) because Matthew's explanations about the Shamatha - Vipassana made sense to me. Starting with 20-30 minutes in the mornings and the evenings and working my way up and also finding a way to practice in the daily non-sitting life seems to be the plan for now.

My thanks to all the admins and members that keep this forum going.