I've done a bunch of Buddhist trainings, 10-day retreats and such and, for me at least, the saying "no plan survives contact with the enemy" seems to apply. I've yet to be able to carry what I've learned forward into a modern lifestyle. I'm able to keep some amount of discipline for around 2ish weeks following my period of isolation from the world, but I eventually find screen time and work pressures overwhelming my ability to resist. I get the feeling that meditation is an artisanal solution to an industrial problem. And teaching people to survive in a dysfunctional society rather than addressing that dysfunction directly isn't the right way to deal with it.
10 minutes of meditation, consistently & properly performed once or twice a day over time does a lot more good than any temporary boost like a retreat. In Mindfulness in Plain English, Venerable Henepola Gunaratana says:
> When you first start meditation, once a day is enough. If you feel like meditating more, that's fine, but don't overdo it. There's a burn-out phenomenon we often see in new meditators. They dive right into the practice fifteen hours a day for a couple of weeks, and then the real world catches up with them. They decide that this meditation business just takes too much time. Too many sacrifices are required. They haven't got time for all of this. Don't fall into that trap. Don't burn yourself out the first week. Make haste slowly. Make your effort consistent and steady. Give yourself time to incorporate the meditation practice into your life, and let your practice grow gradually and gently.
The way 'mindfulness' is taught and the business of retreats and training gets in the way of the real work, which takes place every day and in normal life, a little at a time. It doesn't need to be complicated.
