On TWIM - A way to Work through Craving

Buddha was a cheeky kunt. He realized that if you want people to make gains or see deep insights like emptiness and Dependent Origination, you gotta have fun doing it and don’t take things too seriously.

Introducing you to a meditation technique called TWIM (Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation).

TWIM is essentially a form of Samantha Vipassana but uses Metta as the fuel to dissolve solidity.

You relax and surrender your way out of contractions, resistance, and distractions, and naturally cycle through the jhanas by using the feeling of #lovingkindness as your object of meditation instead of drilling sensations down to empty particles like in noting, body scanning, or concentrating on the breath.

This technique is unique in that it combines #Vipassana (contraction/concentration) with #DoNothing Meditation (letting go) and Metta (Loving Kindness) to strike the perfect balance between effort and effortless, intention and surrendering.

TWIM's original teacher Bhante Vimalaramsi said this was the OG meditation taught by the Buddha.

My friend who’s tried all kinds of techniques said this system is the Michael Jordan of Contemplative CrossFit, and that half of the people who went to a TWIM retreat had a cessation and got stream entry. Even people who have never meditated before accessed all jhanas in just one retreat and clearly see the links of dependent origination before letting them go.

TWIM emphasizes the "feeling good" aspect of meditation.

When the mind feels love, joy, and contentment, it’ll naturally return to its True Nature.

Hard core concentration-based techniques like #bodyscanning and noting can easily solidify the meditator, creating more contractions and conditionings, as you’re using cravings to remove cravings.

What exactly is “craving”, and how you can eat 14.6 chocolate cakes without craving.

When you try to apply self control to stop eating, which part of the self is the real “you”? The one suppressing or the rest me who wants to eat more ? Or neither?

If both the “self” and “control” are illusions, how do you eliminate suffering?

See part 1 on previous post on the TWIM technique to solve this paradox.

TWIM can be summarized with 5 Rs, and I describe it as the hybrid between Vipassana with Do Nothing Meditation with a sprinkle of Metta. An all in One package.

technique is explained in details in the slides.

1. (Recognize) when your mind is contracted, distracted and resisting and is no longer on the object of meditation. This takes a bit of mindfulness, but not the industrial level one-pointed concentration. It’s more like the gentler, soft core version of #Vipassana

2. (Release) and relax attention from the contraction or resistance. The “direction of attention” is what’s creating all resistance and suffering, let go of that you let go of everything, regardless of the content.

3. (Relax) any residual tension in the body and mind, and just let things be exactly the way it is. Nature will do the rest and course correct itself to the path of the least resistance (Do Nothing Meditation),

4. (Re-smile), put a light smile on your face like the Buddha statue. And smile in the mind, eyes, and heart. This consciousness hack can change your entire practice.

When the mind is happy and content, its ability to concentrate increases and becomes a lot more spacious and agile.

5. (Re-focus) come back to your object of meditation (in this case the feeling of Loving Kindness) and stay there until the next hindrance and solidity arise. Using the energy of joy and loving-kindness as the fuel to dissolve them by running the 5 Rs again.

What I like about this practice is that it’s very gentle and natural, and very easy to carry it off the cushion.

Full video “#MMA Of The Mind - How To Find The Perfect Practice For Spiritual Gains. Click the link to view it on Youtube.

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Diving Head First into Meditation