The speaker emphasized the value of cultivating a range of complementary practices rather than relying solely on a single technique, no matter how profound or transformative it may seem. Even a highly adept meditation master with a deep wellspring of wisdom and realization can be caught off-guard and destabilized if their entire contemplative world rests on one particular practice, leaving them without other resources to draw upon in times of difficulty.

Therefore, the speaker recommends developing a balanced and diversified “portfolio” of practices that work together synergistically to facilitate a resilient, responsive, and well-rounded spiritual life. Rather than putting all of one’s eggs in a single basket, it is prudent to incorporate a variety of contemplative tools alongside ritual practices, devotional activities, physical exercises, artistic expression, intellectual study, and acts of service. These different modalities can serve distinct but mutually reinforcing functions.

The speaker cautioned that an overemphasis on any single practice pursued in isolation, especially when undertaken in an intensive or imbalanced way, has the potential to lead to a range of difficulties and adverse effects. While the disruption to one’s ordinary mode of being is often the very mechanism that enables radical insight and growth, it can also leave one vulnerable to the unintegrated material and energies that may arise.

For example, the profound tranquility and concentration cultivated through single-pointed meditation practice can be a powerful aid to stabilizing the mind, but if made into the sole focus and pushed too far, it can result in states of absorption that are hard to emerge from gracefully. The laser-like investigation of self-inquiry can cut through layers of conceptual confusion to yield liberating wisdom, but without sufficient groundedness, it can also leave one unmoored and disconnected from the relative world. Intensive love or deity practices can break open the heart to a boundless compassion, but without discernment, this expanded empathy can lead to unhealthy enmeshment or burnout.

Thus, the speaker advocated engaging a variety of practices that activate and harmonize different aspects of the body, heart, and mind, so that the inevitable shadows and growing edges that intensive practice in any one domain may catalyze can be illuminated and metabolized more easily. By creating a broad and stable base and cultivating fluidity in moving between diverse perspectives and modes of practice, one becomes more capable of meeting whatever arises on the path with wisdom, compassion and skillful means.