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Lay people generally have limited time for meditation retreats. Because of that, it makes sense that they want to make the best of the time they can afford. So, how can you do that? |
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Firstly, have right information about the practice. How can we be sure we have right information? If it’s right, it should not lead us to increase stress. In fact, it should lead us to decrease stress. If it’s the opposite, it can’t be right information. |
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Do not try to attain something, or else, you are sure to suffer more than you did before the retreat. Why? Because that’s cultivating greed, and with it you will—consciously or not—try to manipulate your mind to be as the way you want. This attitude puts you squarely on the wrong track. Instead of decreasing stress, you will increase it. |
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What you need instead is to think of how you should practise: Are you having right attitude (which is the opposite of the above)? With right attitude, you are not trying to get something, nor are you trying to get rid of something. With right attitude, you want to observe and understand what is happening now. This is how you create the right causes and conditions to grow spiritually. |
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Do not compare yourself with others, much less compete with them. Remember: This is not a race. This is an endeavour to free yourself from suffering. So, there’s no need to pay attention to how others are doing. |
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Make both your successes and failures opportunities for learning. It’s inevitable that you sometimes do well and sometimes poorly. If you make both situations opportunities for learning, then either way you get to improve in your understanding of the practice. |
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Do not get hung up over posture. Meditation is a mental work, not a physical work. Sure, sometimes a certain posture is more suitable over others, but no one posture is better than others in and of itself. If you think a certain posture is the best—which is sitting for most people—you will overdo it. The best posture is the best one for you at that time. |
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This next tip is the most important one of all: Practise outside your retreat period. It’s unreasonable to think that you can forget everything about meditation in your normal life, and then do well in your retreat. You can think of a retreat as an opportunity to intensify your practice, which is true, but if you don’t practise normally, you will have a hard time getting into the groove. |
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All the best to you.
Writer's profile: https://justpaste.it/kumara |