Turning daily life into retreat

[Kris]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

[Malcolm]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

Work nine to five, practice 7-11, rinse repeat.

[conebeckham]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

[Kris]

Thanks guys. That's very encouraging!

[heart]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

First I think you really have to make your mind up as to what practice you want to do. The amount of time you can spend depends on your motivation and also circumstances like if you have a family or other engagements you can't avoid. Over the years I done several sadhanas and other practices spending between 1 and 4-5 hours daily depending on the circumstances. My experience is that the signs are not so clear when your not in retreat so for signs you should try to do many short (or long if you can) retreats also.


/magnus

[Rick]

I just found out that my wife needs to spend some time with her sister, who is recovering from an operation. I'm off summers (teaching) so I have buncha time, and I just started planning out some kind of one-week retreat when I ran into this posting!

I'm not much of an on-the-cushion meditator, so I think what I'm gonna do is work on my awareness mojo.

Anyway, thanks for the serendipitous encouragement! I hope your life-retreat goes well.

[Motova]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.

[heart]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.

"A housewife"? I am afraid we don't have those anymore where I live.

/magnus

[Aryjna]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.

It is even better if one is single, has no living relatives or friends and lives on some sort of savings or income.

[Motova]

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.

"A housewife"? I am afraid we don't have those anymore where I live.

/magnus

Of course allocating time to practice is not the same as boundaried retreat; due to constant distraction and concerns. Even so I'm interested in the possibility of accomplishing sadhana in daily life.

How much time (and of course diligence, patience etc.) is needed to pull this off? Would one focus more on practicing until signs, instead of by number or time?
Is it even possible?

I think a well paying job and a housewife who is also a practitioner would be ideal for an aspiring yogi.

It is even better if one is single, has no living relatives or friends and lives on some sort of savings or income.

I am probably wrong, but I feel Vajrayana is better practiced with a spouse who is a practitioner.

[Terma]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

Is there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?

I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.

[conebeckham]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

Is there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?

I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.

I have a full time job and a family with two kids... you can make it work.

[Terma]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

Is there any hope for one with a full time job and a family such as myself?

I guess in this case practicing for a certain length of time daily, even an hour per day with some weekend or other short retreats get's us there eventually I suppose.

I have a full time job and a family with two kids... you can make it work.

Good to hear. That's the plan!

[Tenma]

Personally, I perform my daily sadhanas in the bus in the morning and afternoon during school days. During lunch, I fast and recite sutras and whatnot. As it is summer vacation(unfortunately, more "Christian security"), I do my sadhana for around 1.5 hours from anywhere between 10 PM - 12 AM

[Manju]

Malcolm la,

what does ´rinse repeat´mean ?

Manju

[dharmafootsteps]

Malcolm la,

what does ´rinse repeat´mean ?

Manju

It's an idiom meaning to repeat the instructions/action over and over again.

[Grigoris]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

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Thanks guys. That's very encouraging!

Encouraging? You'll be looking for SSRI treatment in no time!

[amanitamusc]

Or, practice—4-6:30am, work 8-5, practice again 7:30-9....and push re-set button. Weekends, do more practice, and sometimes use PTO or vacation days for strict retreats of 4 or more sessions daily.

That is very Kagyu!

[Moha]

It's been challenging for me to diligently practice daily. I usually get off work earlier than my wife, so I have at least a couple of hours to myself - time which I should use better. Motivation is a big problem for me. That and the fact that I can be horribly lazy.

[practitioner]

It's been challenging for me to diligently practice daily. I usually get off work earlier than my wife, so I have at least a couple of hours to myself - time which I should use better. Motivation is a big problem for me. That and the fact that I can be horribly lazy.

In my experience just establishing a daily practice is the first step. Even just 15min. You can worry about longer sessions later. But creating that space in your life is the first step.