Note: Wanted to a fresh start with my meditation journey so I could keep track of improvements better, so I deleted everything.
The current theory/principle I am following is what I call 1% improvement. Its where I try and improve my meditation practice by 1% every week/month. I figure that if I do this my meditation practice will be 52% better at the end of the year. It will also compound as the years go by.
Nov 3rd 2021 Current daily meditation schedule/plan
Morning
- 7am wake up
- drink tea
- stretch legs for 5 minutes
- pranayama 4 in 8 out 4 hold 5-10 min
- yoga or walking meditation 5 min
- wim hof 5 min
- somewhat cold shower
- breath meditation 20-30 min
- Currently setting intention/imagining my self really relaxing during
meditation
- listen to guided Samatha meditation
- intermittent fasting till noon
- eat all food for the day within a three hour period
Evening
- 8:50pm daily prayer
- shower warm
- sleep routine
- yoga, pranayama, and stretching 20 min
- guided samatha meditation 20-30 min
- leave phone outside of room
- meditate until I fall asleep
Current bad habits I am trying to stop:
-Nicotine use
-stretch legs (try to touch toes) hold for 60 seconds everytime i get craving
-Coffee Use
-Replace with tea
January 1st 2022
Shortly after my last entry my practice fell off the rails as I ended up becoming super depressed and unmotivated. Hoping to really up my practice since I am feeling substantially better now.
I am going to stick with Rob Burbea's instructions for samatha
so far I can get hits of happiness as well as spreading a comfortable feeling over small areas of my body. I have been practising about 2 hours a day. In terms of how disciplined my sits are on a scale of 0-10 I am a 0:
Bad Posture I listen to music sometimes (or a Dharma talk) No a consistent location No consistent sit time, I will decide on a whim if I am going to stop
Since these bad habits have become so ingrained it is very hard for me to sit and not do some of these things. I think once I am able to consistently hit the first Jhana I will fix posture and have more of an intention to sit for a certain period of time.
I hope to dedicate a minimum of 5 hours a day in these next 10 days.