Life Is A Monastery
Interesting observation of my new book, ‘Being Still’ which I think I’ve commented on before, but which I think I will again:‘Hi Roger … read your new book and loved it, but I’m… Continue reading
Category Archive: Kindness
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The Main Game
A while back, while sitting in a café having a coffee, I overheard a group of people arguing about meditation. It seemed as if they’d been to some kind of meditation retreat, and… Continue reading
Meditating Without Faith is Like Breathing Without Air
It occurred to me today, that one thing I’ve neglected to write about on this blog is perhaps, one of the most important requirements of efficient meditation. And that is the notion of… Continue reading
Can Positive Thinking Work as Powerfully as Meditation?
This was another Quora question, which prompted my following reply. There’s a problem with positive thinking – and that is, your mind is not an idiot. It knows all of you, both positive… Continue reading
Kindness, the Giver of Life
‘Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom. – Theodore Isaac Rubin I was told the other day that about half of what we do… Continue reading
Windmill Stumblebum … and Other Creatures
Sorry I’ve been absent for so long, but I’ve been writing a book, and considering most of the 100 or so posts on this blog answer most questions I receive, I took a… Continue reading
Attention and Awareness
The Monkey in Our Mind The aspect of mind we’re working with in meditation is our meddlesome, hyperactive and mischievous attention – the part of the mind we were nagged about all through childhood, all… Continue reading
Don’t Fight to Meditate.
Hi Roger .. I’ve been learning to meditate and I’ve been to a number of teachers who keep instructing me to concentrate on the breath. It is supposed to relax me and make… Continue reading
Cleaning Up The World from the Inside
“….Pollution! Look at this rubbish!” he said vehemently, “Bloody vandals! Chucking their garbage about!…” I had been wandering along a path, savoring the clear afternoon stillness of a popular national park near Melbourne,… Continue reading
Meditation – Gym for the Mind
Lakshmi commented: “I am new to meditation and I went in with the delusion that at the end of the 20 minute I will emerge with a halo around my head and… Continue reading
Change Your Self, Change Your Life
A wonderful movie showing how the process arising from Vipassana meditation methods can change the way we are. It’s by Eilona Ariel & Ayelet Menahemi, the story of a strong woman named Kiran Bedi,… Continue reading
The World of Worry
In the mid nineteenth century, the word ‘worry’ referred solely to the act of physical harassment, whether of animals or humans – for example, ‘the dog worried at the sheep to herd them… Continue reading
Beginning To Meditate
Recently I sent out an email to all the people who bought the Practical Meditation Audio Course, asking them if they had any questions, so i could post my replies for everybody. Since… Continue reading
Our Forgotten Friend
“It is slavery to live in the mind unless it has become part of the body.” -Kahlil Gibran When I was in one of the temples doing Vipassana training in Thailand, there was… Continue reading
Free: A Most Inspiring Book
When I went to Thailand in 2000 to do the first of many silent retreats to train in Vipassana meditation methods, I was awash with information – things I’d read, accounts of other people’s… Continue reading
A Little More
I was looking through a meditation journal from one of my retreats in Thailand the other day and I found something that made me smile – a vibrant little note scrawled in my… Continue reading
Make Friends With Yourself
So, let’s go back to basics. Meditation is not a big deal. All we’re doing is learning to sit still, and be still, mentally and physically, without it making us anxious. We’re teaching ourselves to… Continue reading
Stillness is Not Stopping
A lot of people have a mistaken view that when they meditate, in being still, everything should stop – thinking, sensations – everything. They have the impression that stillness is a state in which… Continue reading
Reality is Created by Actions, Not Thoughts!
Question: I read something the other day about the Law of Attraction, which basically states: you attract what you think about. I’m wondering what you view is of this. …………………………………………………………………….. Interesting question, which… Continue reading
Expansiveness is the Lifeblood of Meditation
A question came the the other day that made me think. It was about a very common problem to do with uncomfortable tightening of the breath each time the practitioner meditates. I won’t… Continue reading
Acceptance is the Beginning of Release.
In the two decades I’ve been teaching meditation, the common thread that runs through the motivations of most of the people I’ve taught, is they want to be released in some way. Whether released from a sense… Continue reading
Accepting the Battle
In most of the emails I’ve received about the variety of problems people have when they meditate, I’ve noticed a common thread. Whether it’s restless mind or restless body or an attention that… Continue reading
Forgiving the Monsters
I was looking through all the emails I’ve received from meditators over the last few months, and it occurred to me that a lot of the problems we have in meditation, as varied as they… Continue reading