The course presented here is based on personal experience. It is not based on something I believe in, but in something I can see. If you come across a concept that seems like a belief to you, I’m not asking you to believe it. But I’m also telling you that I see it and if you follow the course, you will eventually see it too. I will only ask you to believe one thing: Enlightenment exists and you can reach it. If you don’t believe that, you are wasting your time here. If you believe more than that, you are opening your self to the demon of self-delusion.
Inspired by the Three Paths of Buddhism, the practice I teach revolves around three main practices:
My goal is to bring my students to a sufficient level in each of these categories so that they can practice the main exercises of each discipline without my help. My method is based on simplicity and clarity. I strive to cut through the noise and give you the essential techniques that really work. The course is free and will always be. If you wonder why, let’s just say one day you will see what I see and you will want to give it. That day, the idea of selling it will make no sense to you, just like you wouldn’t sell love.
The course is a series of exercises not really meant to be followed page by page in order. This section is here to help navigate through them.
If you are only interested in relaxing after a hard day of work (which is totally fine), all you need its the Breathing Exercise. Practice this 10 minutes a day or whenever you feel stressed.
If you are new to meditation there are preliminary exercises that you can do: The Basics of Insight, The Object of Concentration and Quieting the Mind. Practice them all a bit until you find which of insight or concentration you prefer. Once you feel you are ready to move on, replace the preliminary exercise with the main exercise, either Insight Meditation or Concentration Meditation.
As far as your method goes, the first thing to focus on is reaching a point where you can practice for 15 minutes every day without feeling like it’s a chore. At first, all sorts of resistances and distractions will get in your way. There will be days where you don’t feel like it. But with dedication and determination, all your resistances will eventually subside and it will become natural. You must pass that threshold.
Your initial schedule should be:
Once you’ve passed the threshold of 15 minutes of effortless meditation, you can start thinking about your progress should you feel compelled to: Measuring Progress. Before this point, it would premature and detrimental to your practice to think about any progress other than attaining effortless meditation.
In between your meditation sessions, you can develop your world view by reading on any subject that interests you and more importantly by thinking about what you are going through in your meditation and the impact it has on your life. Here you can find every page and blog post tagged as Worldview. You will find some thought experiments that are not meant to be believed as absolute Truth. They are only meant to challenge your preconceived ideas and stimulate your thoughts. Find your own truth.
As you practice, I would recommend you get in touch with me from time to time. Tell me how it’s going and ask any question you might have. Feel free to comment under any page as well. I’m at your service. The whole point of the course is that I’m here to guide you, so don’t be shy.