Why am I not getting better in meditating

[gasteria]

Why does he believe that Goenka method is not good? What else would you recommend?

[Middleway]

Attending the 10-day course as taught by Mr. Goenka kick-started my practice. I will always be grateful for that.

I do see the usefulness of the body scanning technique. I use this technique every now and then when my mind is restless and would not settle down in the first 15 minutes. By putting an effort into scanning the body part by part, my mind gets concentrated and settles down. I then switch to observing whole body breathing. I consider both techniques as part of the "contemplation of the body" described in the Satipatthana Sutta. Once we get the hang of the whole body breathing, I think it is important to move into the other three establishments of mindfulness described in the Satipatthana Sutta. These are contemplation of the feelings, contemplation of the mind (consciousness) and contemplation of the mental objects.

I would not go back to another course offered by Mr. Goenka foundation though. I cannot sign up to follow the body scanning technique and not be able to follow other techniques during the course. They also require that students would have to complete three 10-day courses prior to being eligible for Satipatthana Sutta course. I feel that this requirement is too restrictive and the main reason why most students do not go back. I would go back if they let me take the 30 day course without having to attend two more 10-day courses.

[Matthew]

Why does he believe that Goenka method is not good? What else would you recommend?

I understand he now sees it as highly fabricated, not really getting to know what is, but directing attention too much but that understanding may be not quite right.

Calm-abiding instructions on homepage are a very good place to start. Also read relaxation - the key.

[gasteria]

I've got new inspiration to meditate from the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana.

I've read few books on meditation before, but this one I consider the most explicit, practical, easy to apply, and easy to understand. I could identify with this concept of Vipassana because the book is tailored for people that are brought in western culture.

He mentioned that taming a mind might take decades for some people. All I need to do is to concentrate and be mindful at this very moment and do my best to see the truth about that moment. According to him this is the only way to untangle sophisticated web of lies that I say to myself to avoid pain and preserve pleasure.

The book is fascinating and I am planning to read it again and again to be sure that I did not miss anything.

Now I cannot wait to sit on the cushion and do my best to be mindful regardless how many times my mind wanders elsewhere. If it comes back to present moment it means that I am able to be mindful and the more I practice the longer I can stay in now. I even started practicing being mindful off the cushion, while driving, at work, or while interacting with people. I am not good at it for the moment but I am not competing with anyone. That is my own reality.

At some point I was seriously considering giving up meditation altogether. I am glad I did not do this. It was worth trying different methods until one method started to work for me. I hope so.

Goenka Vipassana gave me jump start on meditation and I am glad that I went through the process. I would not come back, though, because the schedule was too rigid, the concept was too abstractive for me to apply. I just clung to it because I was desperate to get out of my misery and nothing else worked by then.

I need to mention that I don't know of any other meditation center that is so readily available all over the world as Goenka Vipassana Center is. Maybe I would not even try without it. So I have to give this organization a credit for being there for me when I needed it.   

Thank you Matthew for directing me to homepage where I found information about this book.

I feel much better than when I started this thread.

[Alex]

Good for you! May your practice flourish!

[Matthew]

I feel much better than when I started this thread.

[Meditabondo]

Hi Gasteria,

Although mindfulness training starts to have positive effects after 8 weeks, 8 months are not enough to say that it's not working. Becoming more mindful is a huge challange for people -like me- who tend to ruminate. I recognize myself in the way you approach meditation: you are able to commit and you want to get a result. Maybe you want also to perfom well during meditation. I make all these assumptions because that's what I still do and I'm working on. The positive side is that looking back I see some improvements in my life and in my attitude/expectations to meditation.

Some practical tips for sustain the focus on mediation or noticing more quickly that you've lost attention:

- Using guided meditation: the guide's voice helps you to re-focus on the object of the meditation
- Trying different types of meditation like the ones based on imagery. Personally I find that my mind is less likely to get distracted if I have to actively use my imagination. You can add some breathing meditation before and after.
- Try to meditate in different ways to make the experience new and more engaging. Recently, for example, I joined an online group practising mindfulness meditation in video conference. I think that varying helps to prevent your autopilot from taking over.

 Apart from the ones above, just keep practising. And, btw, the journey is the reward.

I hope it helps.