Following Your Own Curiosity
Seguir tu propia curiosidad
The teacher reflects on what has been most effective in their own meditation practice, emphasizing the role of personal curiosity and intuition over rigid structure.
Following Your Own Curiosity
The teacher reflects on what has been most effective in their own meditation practice, emphasizing the role of personal curiosity and intuition over rigid structure.
In my own practice, what I found most useful was when I wasn't following a meditation structure by the letter, as an obedient practice follower. What was truly useful when I was alone was following my curiosity and my desire to explore.
The value of checking in with a teacher
I spoke to my teacher about that because I wanted to check with him: is this a bad thing? And he said, no, that's great. He said I could stop following the meditation structures he was giving, since he would give those for people who wouldn't even have an interest on their own. If you don't have the motivation, if you don't naturally have a practice, then it's better to follow a directive. It's like physical exercise: if you're not working out on your own, it's better to go to a structured class. But if you're already working out naturally, you don't need that structure. In my case, if anything was effective, it was that curiosity to explore and inquire in all kinds of forms.
The importance of one-on-one dialogue
But then, always coming back to somebody I could talk to one-on-one, directly. That has been really important for me. And I was never too closed-minded in the sense that only one person, one teacher, could help. Throughout all the years I was with my teacher, I also spoke to others, and my teacher was very aware of it and encouraging of it.
No formula
But that's also not a formula. I was following my own intuition and my own curiosity, and that's how it played out for me. For the next person, it could be very different. So in a sense, it comes back to that: curiosity, and developing my own intuition.