I would love to get some conversations going about #meditation. I'm not sure how well this platform supports such things, but the best way to find out...
I started a practice some time in the mid 2000's. I kept it to short (10-15m) sits, but managed to make it a consistent habit within a year or two. I like Headspace and similar meditation apps as a starting point, and recommend them to people if the topics comes up.
Around 2018, I started with [The Mind Illuminated](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/wiki/index/), which is a more structured approach based on the book of the same name. This involved longer sits (20-60m), with some clear guidelines. I feel that my sense of equanimity improved dramatically around this time, and many facets of my day-to-day life along with it.
While I did reap significant benefits, I did not progress through the stages outlined in the book. This led me to a more metta-based practice called Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation or [TWIM](https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/wiki/twim-crash-course/), which is my core practice now. This has raised my baseline level of happiness quite noticably, and has also driven more "moral development" in terms of how I see the world and my place in it.
Does anyone else here follow one of these practices? Anything you'd care to share about your practice?
@IAmErik No idea if this is of any benefit, :) but just in case: I have a simple #shikantaza practice, meaning that sometimes I put down the zabuton and zafu, and sit for awhile as thoughts and ideas and things arise and dissipate. Other than attending to the breath as a way to catch myself drifting off into ideation, I have never found anything more systematic to be appealing. Sometimes I have sat in company with a sangha, and that is good, but usually I don't. It's all good. :)
