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I'm a student with time on my hands. I will do 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. Sometimes I will try to sit extra time. I will mostly do Ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing).

I just read Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha ( http://www.interactivebuddha.com/mctb.shtml ) and it inspired me to focus more on "concentration" before focusing on "insight".

The key is to have the discipline to bring your attention back to those sensations every single time you notice it has strayed. That is the only factor you can control. Don't give in and decide to continue thinking. Bhante G (the author of Mindfulness in Plain English) describes it thus:

> Ancient Pali texts liken meditation to the process of taming a wild elephant. The procedure in those days was to tie a newly captured animal to a post with a good strong rope. When you do this the elephant is not happy. He screams and tramples, and pulls against the rope for days. Finally it sinks through his skull that he can't get away, and he settles down. At this point you can begin to feed him and to handle him with some measure of safety. Eventually you can dispense with the rope and post altogether, and train your elephant for various tasks. Now you've got a tamed elephant that can be put to useful work. In this analogy the wild elephant is your wildly active mind, the rope is mindfulness, and the post is our object of meditation-- breathing. The tamed elephant who emerges from this process is a well trained, concentrated mind that can then be used for the exceedingly tough job of piercing the layers of illusion that obscure reality. Meditation tames the mind.

I'm excited! I'm planning on reading Mindfulness in Plain English tomorrow. I haven't posted in the commitment thread yet, but I'm planning on dedicating half an hour a day to meditation, even if I can only manage ten at the beginning.

I guess you shouldn't be hearing this from me, since it's just my day 5, but here's what I can say. Start reading Mindfulness in Plain English, it's linked in the description of this subreddit. Your skill and calmness in meditation won't increase as you read the book, it will increase as you practice. First day, loosen up, smile, get rid of all expectations of meditation and set your timer to 10 minutes, sit and just relax and focus on the breath. The next day do 15 minutes, the day after also, and in the following days just do how much you feel. You will notice that after each session you are feeling really aware and clear-minded, though this is a good thing, you must agree with yourself that this isn't the main goal of your meditation - it is insight and a deeper look into yourself beyond the misty veil of ego. Sorry for unformatted text, typing on my small netbook x)

P.S. if there's a nice toilet in your office, and there is no loud farting taking place around, you could try meditating there when you feel overwhelmed at work, just try to get rid of work-thoughts prior to that.

I like Brad Warner quite a bit, too. Haven't read any of his books (have read a couple of his articles), but I did enjoy his recent SFZC Dharma Talks a few months ago (one of my favorites, actually). I've been meaning to buy Sit Down and Shut Up for years, but have quite a backlog of reading. I love Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind and the others; rereading is also in my backlog! As far as Dogen, the Tenzo-kyōkun is important for any budding Buddhist philosopher. I'd also like to read Kazuaki Tanahashi's translation of "the" Shobogenzo when it comes out as I heard good things about it; maybe I'll interlibrary loan it, hope for a paperback, or wish for a really good deal.

Oh, all the book talk (a weakness) made me forget what I was going to say! Myself, I usually only count the breath if my mind is particularly wondering in a session. Then, I'll do it to 20 out-breaths and try again. Some light exercise (yoga or running) the day before works wonders, too, with both posture and breathing.

I know I should be more specific in what I'm looking for. I'm reading through Mindfulness in Plain English from the sidebar, and just going with that.
A big part of what I'm hoping to get from this is just the discipline of forcing myself to do it every day. I have a terrible work ethic. Also, I'd just like to be more 'centered' throughout the day, I guess.

This app for Android does all that you describe and worked perfectly for me when I was on Android. Unfortunately, there isn't anything as good on Windows phone. Other things it did that you may want to add is a log that is easy to view of consecutive days meditated and missed days. Also it allowed you to define your day end so for instance if you set day end as 2am then you could meditate from 1155pm (or 1205am) to 1230am and not have a missed day recorded.

Oh yeah, that's a highly recommended one. I use Meditation Assistant myself because it's open-source on F-Droid and I don't really need anything fancy like guided meditation, but it's definitely one I've looked into. The only thing I wish Meditation Assistant had was a more active "current meditators" function, but that's just window dressing really. Oh, and Reddit login support would be neat (it supports the old OpenID at least which is how I use it).

Thank you.

My posture is something like this: https://declutterthemind.com/wp-content/uploads/meditationposture.jpg, feet firmly on the floor. I think I just need more core strength. Another reason to exercise regularly.

I am basically a complete beginner to meditation. I've been starting to read about it lately (I'm on like chapter 4 or something of Mindfulness in Plain English) and I'm working on making it a habit. I've been curious about how the different types of meditation work and which one I should take up. This morning I tried the Breathing type where you focus on your breath, and it was hard. ):

My goal for the 30 days is to make meditation a habit and go for 20-30 minutes at a time.

Nothing quite like that. I have just followed a system that was explained in 10% Happier by Dan Harris. All I did was focus on the process of lifting, moving and then placing my leg for each step - whilst walking my dog in the local (very quiet) woods. I did this along a stretch of the wood where I knew I could let my dog do his own thing, the whole thing lasted about 5 minutes. It was a good taster into it though and I will definitely start doing it more often.

I know you've probably read this already, but this quote from "Mindfulness in Plain English" always helps me through, when I feel jumpy while meditating:

"'Discipline' is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up -- restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-- just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for 'self-discipline'. It is 'Patience'. "

Btw, today my timer failed me ;)

Thanks for your advice.

I'm doing Vipassana with the help of 'Mindfulness in Plain English'. I just started reading his new book 'Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English' and I think this book deals exactly with that.

Oh come now! You should try it. Mindfulness isn't just for the zafu. Next time you're washing the dishes give it a go.

> While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, > which means that while washing the dishes one should be completely > aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes. At first glance that > might seem a little silly: why put so much stress on a simple thing? > But that's precisely the point. The fact that I am standing there and > washing these bowls is a wondrous reality. I'm being completely > myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and > conscious of my thoughts and actions.

Thich Nhat Hanh The Miracle of Mindfulness

did 10 mins in the bathroom at work when i caught myself slackin. I have a question regarding the 'sign of concentration' as described by Mindfulness in Plain English. what is it? i dont think i've ever felt it. the only similar thing i can describe is like a straining effort by my mind to stay focused on the breath without distraction. thuis happens about 3 or 4 minutes usually and after it happens my mindfulness usually feels increased.

Huh, I've always ended with metta when I do it at all. I haven't read Mindfulness in Plain English yet, so I can't comment. I'm sure he has more insight than I do; I'm very new at this. I figured that thinking about people after I've been meditating allows me to see them with a little more detachment and spaciousness.

I feel that cultivating metta helps me reacquaint myself with my noblest intentions towards others, which in turn changes how I treat them when I'm off the cushion. My limited experience has been that it's at least as transformative as "real" meditation.

It also gives me a chance to examine the ways that my attachments prevent me from truly wishing others well. My approach is that when I notice I don't "really mean it," I don't try to mean it; I notice what emotions arise instead and reflect on what those emotions teach me about my attachments. Then I continue with the metta phrases when the emotions have subsided. I don't know if that's a normal thing to do or not; as I said, I'm new. Maybe I'm being more psychoanalytical than I should be. I hope someone more experienced than me will comment on whether this is an appropriate use of metta time.

At any rate, it seems to take me at least 3 or 4 minutes per person I try to cultivate metta for, and I could easily take a lot more.

There was some discussion of metta yesterday, too, by the way.

Hello guys. I'm taking part in the [/r/BTFC](/r/BTFC), and I am making the commitment to meditate through all twelve weeks, and continue beyond that. I am reading Mindfulness in Plain English this month. Previously, I've been reading many texts online and from the library on Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. Good luck everybody.

I will be meditating five minutes for the first week, and ten for the rest of the month. In March, I plan to go to 15.

"Mindfulness in Plain English" says that counting is one of the ways to help concentrate on your breath. In fact it even suggests ways of how to count.

Take a look at the pdf file from the link on the right. It might help.

I read Mindfulness in Plain English today, as promised. I sort of skimmed some parts that seemed less useful / more advanced; I imagine I'll keep referring back to it as I get further and further into my practice.

I had to wait until my family went to bed. I sat on two pillows and set my watch timer for 15 minutes. I thought about 10 minutes had passed when it went off. I was pretty tempted to stop a few times, but I made myself focus on my breath for a while before I could give in and that worked. My knees started shaking at some point and I got pretty itchy and had all sorts of strange thoughts. At one point the thought that I was the reincarnation of a master at meditation floated in and I let it, and it kind of helped in some way. I realize that sounds odd, but I'd like to write it down anyway. Besides, the book said not to force any thought out, rather to be mindful of it.

I feel great. I'm going to keep with 15 for a few days so I can prove to myself I can keep it, and then see where that gets me before considering upping it.

Got my zafu in the mail today, so I sat for longer than I first planned. The first 10 minutes my mind felt like that of a gerbil, but the last 5 minutes were much better. :)