Q2-19880716-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-questions_and_answers-1554 Leandra Tejedor (1)

Talk: 19880716-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-questions_and_answers-1554 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 00:43:11 Display_question: How much time do you recommend we dedicate to formal sitting practice? Keyword_search: practice, Maharishi, meditate, sitting, regularity, silence, breath Question_content: Questioner: Would you recommend everyday practice that one would maintain in the everyday world? For example, would you meditate 1 hour a day? What would be an appropriate practice to do every day? Larry: Maharishi says 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at night. And I don't want to undermine Maharishi, which means great seer. Actually, I have a lot of respect… he's opened a lot up, when he came to this country. I don’t think…I think that's your job, not mine to figure out. You see, for one person, 20 minutes is an eternity. And so, if we say sit for an hour, it becomes some grim kind of thing. Another person, 4 hours is okay. If they have the time. I can make some rough guidelines because you've all sat. You've all… have you sat for an hour? I don't know, I'm not going to take anything for granted. We've had a few hour sittings. Have you ever done a few of them? Questioner: Yes Larry: And have you been able to do it, in a reasonable way? What does this mean? I think I know what it means. But you have to… there are other people here who don't have eyes in the back of their head. Questioner: Yeah, I’ve sat for an hour. Larry: Okay. I guess you better, I guess you better make it a half hour. Yeah. One rule of thumb would be to pick a time. Let's say, if you can do it every day, it would be helpful. Pick a time that's a little bit beyond your capacity, so that there's a challenge in it, but not so much beyond your capacity, it becomes drudgery, or oppressive. And then let that grow quite naturally. If you do it, it will. Regularity is very important. Trying to do it each day. Some people will skip three or four days, and sit for 2 hours. Then a week goes by, and sit for a month. And that isn't so helpful. What is much better is, the kind of the day in, day out, kind of just a smooth rhythm. It's very important, very helpful. It's hardly a luxury item. I don't know where you live. But for most of us, let's say, to spend, if you could, an hour a day, whether it's in one chunk, or half an hour twice, to just be with yourself, in silence, with no particular goal, other than to just be still, and allow whatever happens to happen. You can use the breath to steady yourself, as we've been doing, and then let that grow naturally. End_time: 00:45:53