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 I am Erik, too! I've been trying to make a formal meditation practice stick for over 30 years, but I always fall off the cushion. How do you stick with it?
@erik365
Hello fellow Erik-with-a-K!
I know that it is really common to start a practice & then drop it early on. I did exactly that several times!
I think there are a few reasons that it stuck after the first couple of years:
* I noticed the benefits early on, so I felt that it was a valuable use of time.
* I came across advice that told me it usually doesn't *feel* like anything is happening during a sit (particularly until it is a habit), and I found it convincing enough to believe.
* I read a lot on the subject, and tried a lot of guided meditations (YouTube and Insight Timer). That really helped accellerate my practice, since I need to have a logical reason for spending time on it every day.
* I made a rule that I would sit for just 5m per day. That was easy enough that I was able to build up the habit.
@WhenIsayJ @IAmErik I like Insight Timer too.
@IAmErik @erik365 insight timer is a great tool, I use it every day. Often guided meditations, sometimes the timer.