Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat

Another unguided meditation this afternoon, first introduced with a description of the obstacle of feeling separate from others, and how this impedes the flow of loving-kindness. The unguided meditation begins at 9:20 in the recording. Alan then answers a number of questions from the group, beginning at 37:35 in the recording. 1. Where does volition reside? It's not there when I look for it. It appears and disappears. 2. In awareness of awareness practice, I bring my attention to the heart chakra. In loving-kindness practice, you talk about the heart. To me that's slightly different. Is there a distinction? 3. When I allow my body to breathe without controlling my breath, it is often shallow and light. The practice of tonglen makes my breathing deeper, and this also happens with other visualization practices. Is this okay? 4. Could you use as an object for shamatha the felt sense loving-kindness in the body? 5. When doing mindfulness of breathing, I still have some chit-chat, some thoughts, and some i