Thank you, Trail.

Yes, a lovely share and it is appreciated! Will I get up 10 minutes early tomorrow to do this instead of yoga stretches or spelling bee? maybe. thank you.

I stated choose the time and place. No need for substitution no need for either/ or. At the current retreat between 8 am and 10 pm the yoga folks managed to choose any or all 4 meet ups offered. Start with 10 min each day …. your choice , your practice.

What is the goal? Does everyone have a different goal?

Here is the stated ” goal”. Perhaps a better term is understanding but you can research more about the terms or better yet … sit stay. 🙏

Vipassana meditation is a mindfulness technique that involves observing one's thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations without judgment. It's a way of seeing things as they truly are, promoting self-awareness and potentially leading to increased peace, understanding, and compassion. Vipassana is rooted in ancient Buddhist teachings and aims to achieve a state of liberation through self-transformation.

Nice trailrunner.

For beginners, I have found guided meditation a good way to start.

I started in earnest with MBSR: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn's program. It is taught in a lot of places and does do guided meditation. The program also includes a day in silence as well as understanding causes of stress and ways of dealing with it. It is done in a secular way so is appropriate for everyone.

I suppose a lot of people have a lot of different reasons they started with meditation, and they keep finding more benefits of it: improved immune system response, reduced blood pressure, stress reduction, reduced anxiety, reduced depression, helps with pain management, and improved sleep. But it's also a way to increase awareness which adds more life to your life, which can only be lived in the moment, rather than spending your life living in the past or being fretful about the future.

When I don't meditate, DH complains about my b*tch meter being in the red zone, so it does make an attitudinal adjustment, at least in my case.

This is interesting. Thank you. Probably not tomorrow, but this sounds like something I will try

I attended a Buddhist university undergrad. Not for the Buddhism (Shambala), but for their choreography program. I was required to take 9 credits of meditation or contemplative practice in order to graduate.

It nearly killed me. I loathed it. It felt physically painful. Teachers were saying I was just noticing my monkey mind, blah, blah, blah. Turns out I had extensive cancer that was causing insane hormonal shifts and my brain was literally raging on hormone fire. Years later, now that my hormones have evened out, I have from time to time meditated. It feels like a piece of cake in comparison.

DH complains about my b*tch meter being in the red zone

I love that you and your DH can approach conversation about your bitchiness. (It happens to the best of us.) It is the sign of a great marriage.

Thank you everyone that has commented. I am glad Annie added her info as she is a long time meditator and has such an amazing calm demeanor. We met up in NYC in 2007! It was a GW get together with Jane and Robin so many others. Husbands too. My son Garett was there for the lunch. It was his 30 th birthday .

I want to differentiate the meditation practice using a taped guided technique and silent meditation.

With the silent meditation it is just you and the quiet. The beauty of it , and what many fear is what will ” come up” if you will. It can bring up long buried feelings . I can attest to this . It is a cleansing if you will. We bury our feelings year in and year out. They don’t go away they often fester coloring our every day lives and behaviors. There are of course happy memories as well as traumatic . They are ALL you.

Give it a chance. Get to know yourself the one that’s an important part just like all the rest of you. 🙏

I agree trailrunner about the difference. At first the guided meditation was useful. But as I progressed, I found it distracting and spent more time in silence. That's why I recommend it for beginners. My GF has meditated for years now, but finds a mantra helpful. I've spoken with other buddhist monks who have used mantras or not. It's so individual, and what one needs to help their practice can change over time too. There's a reason why they call it a "practice"! :)

I have to admit though that one of my favorite meditations is a listening one where you become an antennae, receiving sounds with equanimity, not preferring one over the other, not anticipating them -- just receiving them in a nonjudgmental way. Sounds can be recalled from the past or imagined in the future but only actually heard in the moment. I find that, as sounds, whatever they are, are part of your current experience, I become increasingly imperturbable -- be it traffic or planes or a loud noise -- all just part of my present experience.

Interesting Kendrah - it was as if in meditation, your body was telling you you had a real health issue. Glad you're better!