Hello to a wonderful community

[jay.validus]

I was exposed to this practice while living in a 3HO ashram in 1974.  Over the next few years I occasional did the practice with others.  I found it very intimate because all would be revealed to me, so I found it useful to know the hidden, and subconscious motivations of a person.  I do not know if those I meditated with had the same experience.

I think it takes a type of person who is naturally sensitive to do this practice.  Otherwise, I could see someone reacting too strongly to another's conscious or subconscious feelings and desires. 

[Jhanananda]

Yes, I agree, Jay, meditation upon someone takes both sensitivity, and equanimity.

[follinge@gmail.com]

I started meditating a few years ago.

I found that it had helped me a great deal in my life: it helped me calm down, it helped me socially, and I felt that there was something more for me to learn from it. Thus, I gained a kind of faith. Not in anything like God, but rather to me, faith was a positive force that was very difficult to describe. But it was very important to me.

I read every Buddhist and meditation book I could find until I solidified my faith in Buddhist mediation techniques which I wanted to master.

I found Jeffrey Brooks' website. It was a refreshing take compared with other Buddhist teachers as it was totally focused on the meditation experience and especially jhanas which I had read about in books.

I especially liked his review of a meditation retreat because he was so honest. Not all teachers are created equal, and it does us a great disservice to create a fear to say anything negative because it lets people waste their time and money.

I continued to meditate when I moved to San Diego, and even joined a meditation group. This group created my first crisis as it was focused on a Pure Land Buddhism and our meditation retreat lead to bowing to statues instead of spending a lot of time meditating.

This was not what I wanted and this caused me to lose faith in the entire process. Once I lost the faith, I meditated less, and I wound up drinking a great deal and wasting a few years.

The beginning of this summer, I met some non-drinkers who inspired me to cut down on drinking then to totally quit drinking. This re-awakened my desire to meditate and again with the encouragement of a friend, I was able to meditate for much longer: up to twice a day for twenty minutes at a time.

This lead to me finding Jeffrey Brooks, once again this time on Youtube. I began watching his videos and especially liked the one which gave specific times for reaching jhanas. This made me realize that I wasn't meditating for long enough and it gave me something to aim for.

Realizing that I wasted too much time all ready, I contacted Jeffrey Brooks and asked him for a retreat.

It might happen!

It's with much gratitude and joy that I'd like to join this meditation community.

Sincerely,

Frederick Ollinger

[Jhanananda]

Thank-you, Frederick, for posting your sincere journey to us.  I look forward to retreating with you and others of the GWV.

[PeacefulDodo]

Hey Fred welcome to the community, it has been of great help to me and clearly attracts people of a similar spiritual disposition in the sense there is a real disconentment with mainstream meditation teachers/retreats that people here seem to intuitively quite wary of.  I know whilst i was at uni my mum was always talking about me joining a meditation group, i just felt very uncomfortable with the idea as many don't explore it very deeply.

It's good to hear you have stopped drinking and are focusing more on meditation, seems like a much more direct path to happiness, vitality and insight.  Good luck on your journey my friend

[Zack]

Welcome Frederick, I missed your introduction. I've had my own problems with the drink at times. For me it was definitely a longing for oblivion, but just became a way to check out of a reality I found painful, and compulsively chase ecstatic feelings. I look forward to meeting you if we're able to retreat together.

[PeacefulDodo]

Meditation has been going well as of late, as is often the case the level of absorption seems to deviate, with a definite snowball type effect in the sense that when i reach a certain state it seems to roll on to the next day until i do something unwholesome like masturbate or eat junk food, the two things that i feel hold me back.  Often this seems to act as a reset, at least reflecting upon it i would imagine this is why.

 I have recently started work as well but i am waking up to meditate for 45-1 hour in the morning, get to do 50 mins at lunch time then another 45-1 hour later on in the day whilst remaining mindful as possible throughout the day and reminding my self "i am" by chanting it mentally as much as possible throughout the day.  I realise that if i want to progress past 2nd jhana and attain jhana more regularly like i have been for a while now (in a bit of a lull now despite meditating quite a bit) then i need to give up masturbation and junk food, and devote my self wholly to the process, i feel like my mind is pretty much in a wholesome state 90% of the time, it's just the 10% i give in and slip up.  It's encouraging as the general mind state has made great progress in the last few years, and even months due to constant mindfulness but it's important not to "reward" ones self with good diet/practice/end of working week by giving in to the unwholesome mental state of sense desire, the other unwholesome states i feel i am pretty good at noticing and dispelling quickly.

I had an interesting dream last night, someone was teaching me how to summon a different version of my self, from an alternate reality by putting out my hands and adjusting my vibrational state to a degree where he was summoned into existence, it was clear this was me from a previous/alternate life/different timeline.  We were driving an airplane round my old university campus and he demonstrated extraordinary mastery in doing this, which lead to a conversation about how i could master meditation in this very lifetime and it filled me with a great sense of purpose, motivation and encouragement in the dream. 

[Jhanananda]

Good to receive an update from you, PeacefulDodo.  It is also good to see that you are making progress, and that you know what to work on.  You will find that when you can keep your mind still and attendant upon the charisms, then you will be purified of sense pursuits, and make greater progress to greater depths in meditation.

[follinge@gmail.com]

In preparation for the retreat, I've been trying to read this site as well as watch one of Jeffrey's videos every day as well as ramping up the meditation.

I really liked all the other people in the videos. The level of teaching was what really attracted me as well as the authenticity. I really hate the fake affected speech and stilted emotions that I find in the Western Buddhist Communities.

Thanks for the kind words, Zack. I'd really like to meet you and many of the other GWV people this December.

[Jhanananda]

Good to read from you, follinge, that you are reading the website, and forum, and watching the GWV videos.  Doing so will surely prepare you well for our retreat.  I am also glad that you have found our members represent a high caliber of contemplatives, so our retreats tend to be way beyond the superficial and introductory level that most Buddhist retreats function under.