***MEDITATION CONFUSION***

[longusername12345]

I've been rewatching Leo's meditation videos and am very confused. 

I don't here anybody talking about his vanilla meditation technique anymore. What are the pros and cons to this technique? Why does Leo pretty much dismiss this technique now? From my experience, I did it very consistently for a few months and saw amazing results, I didn't get lost in thought throughout the day and I was so much more present. Eventually I abandoned this technique (it was just too simple) and tried out all the other techniques Leo recommended more highly (like Do Nothing technique and Mindfulness Meditation with labeling). Monkey mind is on full throttle now. Last week I did 4 hours a day for 4 days of Do Nothing Technique and holy fuck, one thought gets me sucked into this super powerful river of concentration spacing me out into this thought. I feel dissasociated. My thoughts are more rampant than ever. I am a lot more neurotic. At least on an individual level. It feels like there is this ocean. It's all encompassing. It's everything. It's basically nothingness. And I'm always there. I'm always this ever present awareness. And now I'm a lot more tapped into that. But on an individual level, my mind is in chaos. It doesn't know how to deal with this ocean. Doesn't know how to live in sync with this ocean. So there's a lot of individual misery I guess. But its subtle. Its almost faded out because the ocean dulls the individual suffering a little. Extremely hard to explain. I don't know what the fuck this is. So on day 5 I decided to go back to 20 minutes a day of Mindfulness MEditation with labeling but that's extremely difficult because I get sucked into these thought streams into this dissasociation mode. Not present. So I'm considering moving back into the vanilla meditation technique (be aware of thoughts and let them go) but Leo's talked sortof negatively about it enough that I'm too doubtful to get back into that even though that technique has brought me much more peace than I've felt any other way.

Also, CONSISTENCY. Leo says you can't miss a day of doing a meditation technique. Well how do you switch it up. How much consistent daily practice of one technique is necessary to move onto the next? Can you do multiple meditation techniques at once?

THEN there are the meditation books on Leo's booklist which make it even more confusing. Which of Leo's meditation techniques could be considered 'Insight Practices' and which ones 'Concentration Practice'? And Om Swami's meditation book adds trillions of other techniques. How do we balance all these techniques without going crazy? Is it okay to switch up techniques every day? If you have to meditate every single day or you'll lose progress, what the fuck does 'meditate every single day' mean? Does it mean do 1 meditation technique every single day for 10 years or does it mean any meditation technique that falls under a certain criteria must be done every single day for 10 years or for life?

[Nahm]

@longusername12345

I had a very similar experience with so many meditations ‘out there’ and wrote an explanation of what imo is the most ‘basic’ or fundamental facets of the practice that you might find easy and clarifying. 

[Girzo]

16 hours ago, longusername12345 said:

How do we balance all these techniques without going crazy? Is it okay to switch up techniques every day? If you have to meditate every single day or you'll lose progress, what the fuck does 'meditate every single day' mean? Does it mean do 1 meditation technique every single day for 10 years or does it mean any meditation technique that falls under a certain criteria must be done every single day for 10 years or for life?

You decide. There's no rules in life. Use your intuition. When Leo said you have to meditatate everyday he meant you have to take your practice seriously, nothing more nothing less. Choose what you like, do it whenever iland in whatever combination you like, but do it.