constant noting

[befriend]

has anyone done this, in the mahasi method, noting your experiences all day long? will the mind get tired? is it only for advanced meditators? thank you, metta, befriend

[bodom]

Constant and continues noting from my understanding is only to be undertaken in intensive retreat type setting and not for use during fast paced modern daily life.. There are others here though that are far more experienced in the mahasi method such as mikez who could shed more light on this topic.

[daverupa]

I am also not a practitioner of noting, but I had understood it to be a tool rather than a comprehensive practice. In other words, it can help to reign in the mind, but when it does that the noting is done and one proceeds mindfully with other tools.

[mikenz66]

Hi befriend,

As bodom says, it's possible, and extremely useful, to do noting continuously on a retreat. It can be usefully done through certain everyday tasks, those that are mostly physical. However, it's going to get in the way of tasks requiring conceptual work (reading, writing, studying, etc).

I made some comments about this here:
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=11240#p169548

One interesting observation came out when I asked [my teacher] about how to maintain mindfulness in "normal life". His reply I reword/summarise as:

The point is not so much to be trying to take techniques from those suitable for retreat training in continuity of mindfulness, etc, but to use the wisdom gained from retreat training.

i.e. on retreat one can carefully observe to determine what is skilful (or not). That's ideally what one should be doing at all times. Techniques such as doing everything slowly and deliberately are not so practical in normal circumstances, but its the quality of observation, rather than some particular technique, that needs to be carried over.

Mike

[befriend]

thanks all.

[purple planet]

Hi this makes me wonder -

when i walk for instance in daily life - is it better to just label -" touching " when hitting the floor - or just note everything ?

because i ue labeling when i meditate - i thought that using a bit labeling in daily life is better - if i can - so when i walk i dont label all moves but just 1 the touching so maybe its better not to label ?

[mikenz66]

There is no unique answer to any technique question. Try some different options and see what works best for you.


Mike

[Uilium]

has anyone done this, in the mahasi method, noting your experiences all day long? will the mind get tired? is it only for advanced meditators? thank you, metta, befriend

you just begin by noting what you can because in the beginning the mind wanders a lot and like anything you get better at it,more advanced so your mind will wonder less and this leads to insight. IF you are tired of noting then you should note the tiredness. We need to see what happens when we don't get what we want. So ITS have heard. So ITS have experienced...sorry if this post is a little shaky but Im a little under the weather.