How do I meditate? Am I meditating right? | “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #10

In this tenth installment of the ongoing live series with Wendy Nash inquiring into meditation practice on and off the cushion we explore fundamentals of mediation via the questions: How do I meditate? Am I meditating right? We addressed some of the groundwork in What Is Meditation? | 11/2/2022 “Meditation Q & A With Wendy Nash” #02.

Some talking point notes:

meditation apps:
Smiling Mind
Sam Harris’s Waking Up
Calm
Headspace
Insight Timer

formal meditation distinction/context
starting with a short meditation
excuses (of my mind is too busy and/or I don’t have time)
building a meditation habit (of time and place)
starting with a two week challenge and building on it
meditation with and without apps
why meditate? https://integratingpresence.com/why-meditate
how cultural differences impact meditation practice
reasons for loving-kindness practice first
practice of receiving loving-kindness and as positive counterbalance
when (helpful) feedback is perceived and received as criticism

four general meditation categories:
Samatha or Shamata (calm abiding, unifying, gathering, collecting, quieting, stilling, or concentration)
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā (“insight”, “seeing clearly” or a type of inquiring to do so)
Open awareness
Awareness (itself)

right effort — not too tight nor too loose
enjoyment in meditation
(right) relationship with the meditation (object)
trusting one’s intuition as an internal guide and teacher
readiness to meditate
maybe it’s not a good fit or right time now and can try again some other time
internal listening and feedback
our experience of how “purification” or refinement works
meditation interviews and reporting one’s practice with different amounts of personalization
spiritual friendship https://integratingpresence.com/2022/04/24/podcast-friendship-the-whole-of-the-spiritual-life/

vetting teachers https://integratingpresence.com/2022/03/01/how-to-find-a-meditation-teacher/ and communities:
elitism?
favoritism and preferential treatment (by age, gender, attractiveness)?
internal trust and gut feelings

having profound insights outside of meditation
psychedelics (in trauma work and meditation)
‘if you can meditate while distracted you’re well trained’
maybe you shouldn’t meditate?!?

Join these Q & A's when they happen live https://www.youtube.com/@integratingpresence or via downloading the free Wisdom app in your app store or via: https://wisdom.audio where I'm @integratingpresence

*There's naturally an ongoing open call for meditation (related) questions for the (roughly) monthly "Meditation Q & A" either by the various social media means listed; integratingpresence[at]protonmail.com or just showing up on Insight Timer live or Wisdom App to type/ask live.*

Original blog post: https://integratingpresence.com/2023/07/21/how-do-i-meditate-am-i-meditating-right-meditation-q-a-with-wendy-nash-10-live-at-230am-central-930am-central-european-530pm-australian-eastern-daylight-july-27-2/