When our awareness feels grounded and continuous, it’s fine to do a lot of informal practice. But when we find that our awareness is not so strong, we find ourselves mostly lost in thoughts or in whatever we’re doing, we need to have formal practice to ground the awareness, to give that momentum to the informal practice.
What is formal practice when we live our life? It cannot be taken as only the formal sit at the start and end of the day. Every moment we’re alone needs to become the formal practice in our life – sitting in the bus, when we’re driving or in the toilet, taking a shower or sitting down for coffee by ourselves, reading our books – all that become our formal practice.
Formal practice strengthens the stability of the mind, and we need that strength so that the awareness has more power and momentum.