Satsang and over-purification

[Arman]

Hi there!

A year or so ago I quite enjoyed satsang at the local buddhist centre. Since then I have become more sensetive to practices so I am wondering whether it may be too much to re-engage in Satsang. In your experience, is group meditation more grounding or is it perhaps too energetically evocative?

At the moment I am doing 5 minutes of breath based meditation twice daily which is proving to be enough and not too much. I feel if I did 15 minutes at home it would be overkill yet group meditation here is 45m to 1 hour! I would very much like to return to the group but at the same time I am worried of causing strain.

I recall in a lesson Yogani (I think) saying that doing sitting practices three times daily instead of twice can be workable on spiritual retreats when it otherwise may be too much. It is this line of reasoning that makes me suspect that likely I would be o.k
.

Thanks for reading. If you have any experiences or advice for satsang and pacing then please share.

[SeySorciere]

Dear Arman,

I believe Yogani was referring specifically to AYP Deep Meditation which may be done 3x daily in a retreat environment but not daily (where 2x daily for 20 mins is recommended). AYP DM is mantra based and not breath-based. Watching the breath can be done for much longer period of time I believe, so 45 mins or 1 hour is quite ok for most practitioners. However, you should self-paced according to your temperament and if you feel 5 mins is enough then stick with that. Sounds like you may be sensitive to meditation. It is, however, also good to now and again, test your limit by pushing it a little further and see how your body/mind react..so try moving your goal post to 10 mins. Build up your practice slowly from there.
Group meditation is energizing for me, not grounding...but others may experience it differently.

Good luck

Sey