Week 1
Becoming Your Own Guide – Week 1 (9/8/25) Take Home Practice
Each day during your formal meditation practice, after a period of at least 5min using the instructions of your choice. Take 10min and if you can notice how each of the 5 spiritual faculties is presenting itself. They are:
- Saddha (pali): Confidence, Trust, Faith
- Virya (pali): Energy, Vigor, Courage
- Sati (pali): Mindfulness, Awareness
- Samadhi (pali): Collectedness, Steadiness, Gatheredness, Concentration
- Pañña (pali): Wisdom, Discernment
If you are doing formal practice, there is at least some trust/confidence/faith present, some Energy, some Mindfulness, some Collectedness, and as soon as the mind is taking an interest in feeling and identifying these, there is certainly some Wisdom/Discernment present. Notice how they appear to you, feel to you, or present to you in this moment.
Those of you who are newer to meditation or returning after a hiatus might use basic instructions on mindfulness of breathing or hearing (find these anywhere you like) and may wish to start small this week, practicing for a total of 15min, 5min of using basic instructions then noticing each of the 5 spiritual faculties ~10min.
Those of you who find it beneficial for a longer formal practice session, please do so. Give yourself at least a third of your overall time to practice before beginning an investigation of how each of the faculties is operating/presenting.
There are many tools nowadays that can help you track the time to do this. One among these is the app Insight Timer. No intended endorsement here, just some direction for those who are unsure how to find a way to set a timer for mid-way through your meditation period.
If you wish, you may find it illuminating over time to keep a notepad next to your place of formal practice, and to make a very very brief note, at the end of each meditation session describing how each of the 5 faculties felt.
There is no right or wrong way to do this. We are simply endeavoring to explore the terrain of our meditation practice through highlighting these particular textures or realms of our experience. Be interested in what you may discover!