Hi everyone,
I'm new to meditation only having taught myself over the last year. My catalyst was my father getting lung cancer and my searching for answers about consciousness. He passed away March last year which drove my determination to practice further.
I started off with following a few guided meditations by Jon Kabbat Zinn, which led to reading Sam Harris Jospeph Goldstein and Shinzen Young.
To cut a long story short, I became interested in the Mahasi method and I'm convinced it suits my mind very well as I think a lot! I got to the stage of sitting for 1-2 hours each day and getting into quite deep states at times.
After listening to a few of Daniel's talks, I realised it was important to find a good teacher.
I found out Sayadaw U Pandita Jnr is the Abbott of local Monestary near by so I called up to enquire and found myself on the phone with him. He invited my for a meditation lesson and I spent 2.5 hours chatting with him and learning walking and sitting meditation. I felt privilaged to spend time with such an accomplished master.
I don't have any expereince with such high level teachers. I googled how to greet etc before I attended as I felt very out of my depth. Can anyone give me any advice going forward? Due to having a young family and difficulty getting away for long periods, I have to rely on one on one lessons. But I don't want to stretch the friendship. Can anyone give me some do's and don'ts? Any cultural norms I need to follow when attending? If there is anyone else here who has trained with Sayadaw I'd love to get in touch.
