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People often ask: How many hours do I need to meditate every day?
The answer will depend on your time availability, but generally speaking the more you put into it the better. This is true if you are attending a retreat since daily social requirements simply dissipate and your mindset changes as a result.
Imagine that you are attending a three weeks meditation retreat, then the expected progression will be as follows:
Day 1
1. Mindful prostration. Watch the video linked in the corresponding entry and repeat it three times. It must be done very slowly.
2. Walking. 10 minutes. Heel up-moving-stepping (3).
3. Sitting. 10 minutes. Focus on rising and falling during inhalation and exhalation phases of your breathing.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you complete 3-4 hours a day.
Day 2
Same as day 1 but increase walking and sitting times:
Walking for 15 mins and sitting for another 15 mins.
Sitting. Focus your mind rising and falling and then in points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
Practice for 4 hours a day.
Day 3
Increase times to 20-20.
Walking. Add an extra stepping point: heel up-rising-moving-stepping (4)
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
Practice for 5 hours a day.
Day 4
Increase times to 25-25.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right; and finish with
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 5
Increase times to 30-30.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on top of both kneecaps, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 6
Increase times to 35-35.
Walking. Add an extra stepping point: heel up-rising-moving-touching (toes touch the ground first)-putting (finish touching the ground with your heel) (5)
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on top of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 7
Increase times to 40-40.
Walking: as per day 6.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on top of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 8
Increase times to 40-40.
Walking: as per day 7.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on top of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 9
Increase times to 40-40.
Walking: as per day 8.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 10
Increase times to 40-40.
Walking: as per day 9.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
Practice for 6 hours a day.
Day 11
Increase times to 45-45.
Walking: as per day 10.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
Practice for 7 hours a day.
Day 12
Increase times to 45-45.
Walking. Add an the final stepping point: heel up-rising-moving-lowering(lower your foot to about 1-1.5 inches above the floor/ground)-touching (touch the floor/ground with your toes first)-putting (finish touching the floor/ground with your heel) (6)
Follow these stepping points until you complete day 21.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
Practice for 8 hours a day.
Day 13
Increase times to 45-45.
Walking: as per day 12.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located from lower right-hand side of your lower back to the upper left-hand side of the top part of your back and right below the shoulder, including the middle of the back. Hence, we count three points in total.
Practice for 8 hours a day.
Day 14
Increase times to 45-45.
Walking: as per day 13.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located from lower right-hand side of your lower back to the upper left-hand side of the top part of your back and right below the shoulder, including the middle of the back. Hence, we count three points in total.
Practice for 8 hours a day.
Day 15
Increase times to 45-45.
Walking: as per day 14.
Sitting. Focus your mind on:
- Rising and falling.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the external side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both ankles, left and right.
- Points located on the internal side of both kneecaps, left and right.
- Points located on the top middle part of both thighs, left and right.
- Points located in the lower back at both sides, left and right.
- Points located from lower right-hand side of your lower back to the upper left-hand side of the top part of your back and right below the shoulder, including the middle of the back. Hence, we count three points in total. Then go down to:
- Lower left-hand side of lower back counting the middle point between both points: top and bottom and go across to the top right-hand side of your upper back just below the shoulder, and in similar fashion go down (including the middle point) until you reach the lower right-hand side of your lower back.
Practice for 8 hours a day.
Day 16
As per day 15 but increase times to 50-50 and practice for 9 hours a day.
Walking: as per day 15.
Sitting. The focusing points are the same as day 15.
Day 17
Repeat the same routine as day 16 but increase times to 55-55. Practice for 9 hours a day.
Day 18
As per day 17 but increase times to one hour for each component. Practice for ten hours a day.
Next time, I will discuss the last three days of our three week retreat, which are proven to be the most difficult (even though a three week retreat is already challenging enough for a lay practitioner).
Remember: taming the mind is an enormous task.
Good luck!
:)
Meditation: Progression
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 2:58 AM
Filed Under: breathing, Insight meditation, meditation retreat, Vipassana |1 comments
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1 comments:
I have decided to publish your comment because I want to be fair to everyone, even though it sounds very much like spam to me. The advice I give in my page is totally free and will always remain so.
I don't suscribe to your program and your practices because my site uses the traditional Eastern method, which deeply rooted in Taoist and Buddhist practices. Yours on the other hand, is Western in nature and not effective when it comes down to tackling imbalances in the human energetic system.
Now what you are rising is too simplistic. You have failed to mention qi blockages which are common in the Western world and societies that have adopted its model.
Liver Qi stagnation is the single most important imbalance that afflicts humans leading to a myriad of disorders which cannot be cleared using the Western approach. Only TCM and Ayurvedic methods are capable of successfully addressing this issue.
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