[swayvil]

Re : lapse in meditation practice.

Concentration meditation. I used to do it as much as possible. Every day. Sometimes 2, 3, 6 times. I was kinda nuts. But my practice was strong.

Vipassana + concentration. My practice was extremely erratic.

Vipassana. Just vipassana. That's what I do now. My practice is very consistent. Haven't missed a day in a decade.

I think it's because vipassana is more compatible with the rest of my life than concentration. So there's no big transition. I'm basically doing vipassana, in varying degrees, all the time.

For what it's worth.

[andrei_says_]

What do you mean by “doing Vipassana, all the time”? Body scanning? Focusing on equanimity? Observing change in the phenomena you’re perceiving?

[akomtu]

Not the OP, but some schools of buddhism, e.g. gelungs, describe two types of meditation: static and dynamic (my own terminology). The static one is sitting still and sharpening your focus. The end goal is the state when your mind naturally snaps into this fully attentive state - samadhi. But that's a weak result, and dynamic meditation is ability to retain this state no matter what you're doing or even thinking. That's vipassana. There are decent books about the history of buddhism and dzogchen that explain this better.

[swayvil]

Another one is "meditation with a seed" and "meditation without a seed".

From Raja Yoga. Translated. Samprajnata Dhyana and Asamprajnata Dhyana, respectively.

[akomtu]

From what I know, meditation without a seed is "just" observing your own mind, with full attention, to let it release to its natural state (kun-dzi).

[swayvil]

In my experience there are only 2 things that you can do with your awareness. They go by various names, are described various ways, depending on the tradition. But ya, just the 2.

[swayvil]

How about shrinking and growing? I think I saw that in Patanjali

[boppo1]

> decent books

Such as?

[swayvil]

I recall Ram Dass's Journey of Awakening being nice.

Or if you want a truly esoteric brick, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali. (The big yellow one)

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPsQJu...

[swayvil]

Well, in Vipassana we cultivate an awareness that is big, relaxed, spread-out, nonreactive.

I do that awareness shape all the time.