Coaching practices for Non Dual Meditation
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Non Dual Meditation, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Whatever I touch in my morning sit completely evaporates the second real life starts, and the calm stays locked in "meditation time"
- Even in meditation I’m secretly grading myself, chasing some better state, treating sitting as a means to an end
- I’ve got the breath thing down
- I’m comfortable following the breath, but the moment I’m told to drop the anchor and just be present with nothing to hold onto, I either spin off into thinking or go blank
- When I meditate I close my eyes and sink into a private inner world, and then it never carries over into real life with my eyes open
Practices that may help
- Small glimpses, many times — the micro-dose delivery model
Train non-dual awareness through many brief touches across the day rather than long sittings.
Non-Dual Awareness, Made Practical - Non-Dual Awareness, Made Practical
Non-dual awareness is a mode of consciousness in which attention is no longer exclusively identified with the contents of experience (thoughts, sensations, feelings) but rests as the open, aware space in which those contents appear. Loch Kelly’s "effortless mindfulness" approach uses short recognition exercises to shift into this mode; research on the broader open-monitoring family of practices finds reductions in anxiety and rumination, though non-dual awareness itself is a newer research area with limited controlled trials. - Shikantaza — "just sitting" in the Soto Zen tradition
Sit with complete presence and nothing to achieve — no goal, no technique, no observer separate from sitting.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Choiceless awareness — resting without an object
Sit with attention open and receptive, letting whatever arises in experience be the meditation object — without choosing, pursuing, or rejecting any of it.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Releasing the object: sitting without a focal point
Let go of fixing attention on the breath, a mantra, or any other anchor — simply be present.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Practicing with eyes open and lowered
Keep eyes softly open and cast downward — in Zen, the open eye is the practicing eye.
Kinhin: Zen Walking Meditation - Working with sensual desire (kamacchanda)
When craving or distraction toward pleasant experiences pulls you out of meditation, use anicca contemplation to see the transient quality of what is craved.
The Five Hindrances: Diagnosing and Working with Meditation Obstacles - Balance torpor and agitation
When the mind dulls, energise it; when it races, settle it.
Shamatha: The Buddhist Practice of Calm Abiding - Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical
Open monitoring meditation (also called choiceless awareness or open presence) is the practice of resting in an expansive, receptive awareness without directing attention at any single object — observing whatever arises in experience without preferring or pursuing any of it. It complements focused-attention practices and is associated with different neural signatures in contemplative neuroscience. Direct outcome evidence is limited compared to focused-attention methods. - Shikantaza (just sitting)
Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
Zen Practice (Zazen and Beyond)
Related concerns
- What Is Non Dual Meditation
Non-dual awareness is a mode of consciousness in which attention is no longer exclusively identified with the contents of experience (thoughts, sensations, feelings) but rests as the open, aware space in which those contents appear. Loch Kelly’s "effortless mindfulness" approach uses short recognition exercises to shift into this mode; research on the broader open-monitoring family of practices finds reductions in anxiety and rumination, though non-dual awareness itself is a newer research area with limited controlled trials.
- Bare Awareness Meditation
Pause, drop the question "What am I aware of?" and simply notice that awareness is already on.
Glimpse practice: a 10-second recognition of aware space
- How To Do Open Monitoring Meditation
Open monitoring meditation (also called choiceless awareness or open presence) is the practice of resting in an expansive, receptive awareness without directing attention at any single object — observing whatever arises in experience without preferring or pursuing any of it. It complements focused-attention practices and is associated with different neural signatures in contemplative neuroscience. Direct outcome evidence is limited compared to focused-attention methods.
- Non Grasping Meditation
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
- Objectless Awareness Meditation
Open monitoring meditation (also called choiceless awareness or open presence) is the practice of resting in an expansive, receptive awareness without directing attention at any single object — observing whatever arises in experience without preferring or pursuing any of it. It complements focused-attention practices and is associated with different neural signatures in contemplative neuroscience. Direct outcome evidence is limited compared to focused-attention methods.
- Open Awareness Meditation
Open monitoring meditation (also called choiceless awareness or open presence) is the practice of resting in an expansive, receptive awareness without directing attention at any single object — observing whatever arises in experience without preferring or pursuing any of it. It complements focused-attention practices and is associated with different neural signatures in contemplative neuroscience. Direct outcome evidence is limited compared to focused-attention methods.
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