Continuation of Meditation

[VinceField]

Giving meditation advice can be tricky business.

Some of this may have been already said or hinted at. Just my thoughts:

One important consideration is the purpose of a person's meditation practice. Are they meditating simply because it helps them relax and feel more grounded and balanced? Or do they have more serious ambitions, such as if the meditation practice is part of a dedicated spiritual path with the goal of achieving significant personal transformation?

There are many different meditation methods which bring about unique results. Is the method being implored in alignment with the person's goals for the meditation, or are there methods which bring about the desired results more efficiently? Is the person meditating in a way which is counterproductive to their purpose?

Another important consideration is the case of using meditation for less than wholesome purposes or in ways which lead to less than wholesome long term results. An example of this is what is called "spiritual bypassing." It's best explained using a quote from one of my favorite teachers:

"An example of spiritual bypassing is this: Suppose you have troubles in your life and you don't want to engage in the difficult business of trying to become more mature in dealing with others or negotiating the conflicting desires in your own mind. Instead, you simply go and meditate, you do prostrations, you do chanting, and you hope that those practices will magically make the problems in your life go away. This is called spiritual bypassing — an unskillful way of clinging to habits and practices. As you can imagine, it's not very healthy — and not very effective. People often come back from meditation retreats and they still have the same problems they had before."

I'm sure there are more points to consider but that's all that comes to mind for now. Take care.