Get Started – Spirit in Practice

The second hardest thing to do is to start. There are two steps:

If you haven’t watched Gary Weber’s video, this is the place to start:

Gary Weber’s website: Happiness Beyond Thought and Youtube channel

2. Get Gary’s book, Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening, and start practicing the techniques to achieve stillness and no thought. The book is an excellent, practical, empirical approach with scientific explanations, internal evaluative exercises, yoga instructions, chants, self-inquiry based meditation and more, all directed to quieting the mind. All profits go to charity.

Get the book and start going through it like I did.

Then, self-evaluate: do you have more or less internal narrative? Do you feel a benefit from the practice.?

People usually report feeling benefits almost immediately.

However, the research indicates it takes about two months, 45 minutes a day, for the Default Mode Network to shut down during meditation. I absolutely feel the “Now, Now, Now” aspect of part of the DMN shutting down. For me it manifests as no sense of time passing while I’m in meditation. Which, in and of itself, is worth the price of admission for me. I used to hate meditation because it was boring and I couldn’t wait to be done and I was a constant clockwatcher. I can’t say I’m experiencing the “all is One” feeling as well but it’s possible that I am and I’m just not sensitive to it enough yet. And/or more likely there are certain attachments I have currently that I’m working on releasing and those are blocking it. I recommend Byron Katie‘s work for letting go of attachments.

And, the shutdown does not linger past the end of meditation experience, though you you may feel it for a bit. In my case, the stillness and peace that I experience during meditation is now easier to find during day-to-day life, and I am now practicing both the self-inquiry and focusing on and opening to the meditative state while still being completely functional in day-to-day life.

This is not just for people who “suffer.” Excessive thinking can negatively impact performance, concentration and ability to “be present”. Here, Gary suggests we need to Upgrade Our Mental Operating System.

However, if you’re not suffering, then you’re probably not gonna follow pass like this, and you probably do pretty much anything else and avoid this. Suffering has been the doorway into spiritual development and progress for as long as people suffering.

That’s it.

What’s next? Check out the videos I’ve assembled that can explain and give more context and what it’s like to do the practice.

If you need basic mindfulness meditation practice, this is a good introduction.

Need help breaking the mind stream? I did. Eckhart Tolle’s technique of focusing on a feeling in the body is excellent:

Eckhart Tolle’s website

The objective is not to stop your thoughts, that’s impossible. But rather, train the mind like a muscle to be able to keep attention on a single point and return to that point when thoughts arise. This rewires your brain and begins to deactivate the Default Mode Network.

Use self-inquiry questions as Gary describes in his book:

Who Am I?
When Am I?
Where Am I?
Who Is Having These Thoughts?
Who is listening?
Where is this thought coming from?
- These questions do not admit of an answer, but will invert the mind and stop the thoughts.
- Do not simply repeat the question like a mantra. Instead, go deeply into the question inside. Each person will find a question that works best for them. Yours might be different than what you see here. Trust your inner DIY-ometer.
You can also try taking a deep breath and shifting attention to another part of your body.
I frequently have earworms – repeatedly playing songs in my head. This is likely the brain trying to drown out the DMN’s blah blah thoughts. While the songs are not SRIN, they are also not stillness. I chant to stop the songs – typically Hindu or Sanskrit or Buddhist chants. Works very well and is a good sign the brain wants to quiet the DMN from “running wild.” Also, I took it as a suggestion to start playing music again, which I have done after a three year absence. And with less blah blah and more stillness, my playing is better than ever.

Begin a diary of your meditation practice. Log:

How many minutes each day
Do you feel like you have more, less or about the same number of thoughts?
Do you feel like you are more, less or about the same mind activity?
Have you noticed stillness between the thoughts?

Email: joe@spiritinpractice.org

What’s the hardest thing? To keep doing it. The good news is it gets easier as the brain likes the practice more and more.