@siv Welcome in! Cool to see other practitioners of dharma here!

I primarily meditate with techniques involving samatha / vipassana practice! My main inspirations are:

- My IRL teacher
- Thich Nhat Hanh
- Sayadaw U Tejaniya
- Bhante G
- Joseph Goldstein

Favorite Suttas are:
- Four Foundations of Mindfulness
- Mindfulness of Breathing
- Heart Sutra

I also dabble in metta practice and some mantra work!

@siv Sounds pretty similar to myself! I also started primarily from a secular standpoint. My teacher is based out of the Western Vipassana movement with roots in Theravada primarily.

I also regularly read more than I practice. I've been working with gentle open awareness with less emphasis on any strong concentration through striving and more of observing as the practice unfolds.

I work with cultivating mindfulness while at the same time observing if any hindrances arrive to the mind.

@JshBet8 it’s great you have access to a teacher in your area. In-person options are very limited in my geographic area, but I was fortunate to find some to guide me through some study of the Zen tradition.

I’ve historically gravitated to the open awareness/insight type practices, but it feels lately like my focus is what needs more improvement so I’m trying to spend more time on the concentration side of the style spectrum.