Like traditional silent meditation, Insight Dialogue has meditation guidelines to support meditators as they change their habitual ways of reacting and interacting with others. Each guideline can be used to remind us to calm down, become aware, and release old habits. As a practice, these guidelines work together to point the way towards spiritual awakening.
As part of the practice, we discuss and contemplate profound subject matter such as impermanence, fear, and joy; however, the core of the practice is about becoming aware of how the heart and mind function, how habits hold us captive, and what remains when these habits dissolve.
The six elements of Insight Dialogue practice that generate this awareness and release of habitual patterns are: Pause, Relax, Open, Trust Emergence, Listen Deeply and Speak the Truth. Each of these helps us pay attention to our bodies, thoughts, emotions, and storylines. The first steps calm us and allow us to focus on what emerges in the moment. As we move into dialogue, our spoken exchanges are part of the moment; moreover, we can remain aware of the thinking and emotional processes of body-mind even while we engage with one another.
The brief descriptions of the guidelines on this site will introduce you to these six elements of Insight Dialogue practice. Each of these is deeply connected to one another and contains the seed of all the others. Therefore, it is best to read them sequentially. Reading the description of the guidelines mindfully can give you an impression of the practice. However, since Insight Dialogue is experiential in nature, we recommend reserving conclusions about the practice until you experience it, ideally with the support of a trained Insight Dialogue facilitator.
Click below to hear Gregory Kramer introduce the Insight Dialogue Guidelines.