Category Archive: Physiology of meditation

The Immaculate Inbetween

Question: ‘Hi Roger … In stories of the Buddha that I’ve read, enlightenment seemed very easy to people. Just by listening to the Buddha, they used to suddenly become enlightened. Is this just… Continue reading

The Monk and The Bell.

Back in the 90’s, when I was researching stuff during the writing of my first book on meditation, ‘Happy to Burn’, I happened to find a fascinating article, (long since lost) which clarified… Continue reading

Struggle Creates Success

One time in Sri Lanka, while on a long silent retreat, I complained to the teacher that I was having a particularly difficult time with a block that had arisen in meditation. I… Continue reading

Yoga and Meditation Can Change Your Genes, Study Says

By Amanda Macmillan, time.com View Original June 16th, 2017 Yoga and meditation may do more than just help you feel relaxed in the moment. A new scientific review suggests that these and other… Continue reading

Sensations and Suffering

A wonderful, and quite forensic breakdown of the how sensations become suffering., and the role our conditioned reactions play in that transition. Essential viewing if you’re as fascinated by the processes within Vipassana meditation.… Continue reading

Get Some Sleep!

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”                 … Continue reading

Rhythm of Breathing Affects Memory and Fear

NEUROSCIENCE NEWS DECEMBER 7, 2016Summary: A new study reports the rhythm of your breathing can influence neural activity that enhances memory recall and emotional judgement.  Source: Northwestern University. Breathing is not just for oxygen;… Continue reading

The Brain Changes Itself

Meditation is not a panacea or any kind of quick fix. Nor is it simply a relaxation exercise, as it’s often marketed. When we meditate, we’re training the mind to be more efficient.… 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

Love Your Pain!!

Most people, as they go through the process of learning how to meditate, pass through a number of stages, some pleasant, some unpleasant. And my view is, no matter whether pleasure or pain,… Continue reading

Our Forgotten Friend

“It is slavery to live in the mind unless it has become part of the body.” -Kahlil Gibran One time, in one of the temples where I was doing Vipassana training in Thailand,… Continue reading

Feeling Before Thinking – Always

As much as I’ve covered this subject in numerous posts, people still consider compulsive thinking to be the main obstacle when they meditate. And its completely understandable. After all, in a culture such… Continue reading

Why Does Meditation Make Me Angry

A meditation audio course participant asks:“Hi Roger, I’m finding when I meditate I get really angry. I remember things that have happened and I get angry and I don’t know what to do. Can… Continue reading

Meditation and Neuroplasticity

There has been a lot of press about the relationship between meditation and neuroplasticity recently.  What this means is, where before it was thought that after fully forming itself during childhood the basic structure… Continue reading

Surfing the Storm of Our Self

I received this question from an audio course user, and it reminded me of a very important point to be made, so here goes: “Hi Roger … been using your audio course and… Continue reading

Stillness Heals Everything

As I’ve said before, meditation can be summed up in one sentence: ‘Meditation is the skill of being still.’ The stillness I’m speaking of is not the comatose stillness we are in watching… Continue reading

Why Does Meditation Make Me Cry?

Hi … been taking a break over the New Year and now I’m back.  A few questions have come in over that time which I’ll address over the next few days.  The first… 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

The Sound of Silence

Following is an interesting article from the Age Newspaper about taking a short 3 day Vipassana meditation retreat, and what happened.  I strongly recommend, if you’re at all serious about Vipassana meditation, that… Continue reading

Forget Reality … It’s All Fiction

A fascinating conversation with Michael Talbot, the author of ‘The Holographic Universe’, pertaining to the way reality is constructed by us, and the profound interconnectedness of everything. The reason I’m posting this is… Continue reading

Hurts So Good!!

AUDIO COURSE PARTICIPANT’S QUESTION: Though the Practical Meditation Audio Course has an MP3 dealing specifically with pain, I’ve received a couple of questions to do with chronic pain, in which, generally speaking people… Continue reading

Walking the Walk

A lot of people think meditation is all about sitting still in a quiet darkened room for long periods of time – and for sure, a lot of methods do indeed concentrate on… Continue reading

Just do It. Do What? Stop!

A nice little film which, perhaps, over-rhapsodises the benefits of meditation, but nevertheless, it’s quite motivating. ______________________________________________________ ‘BEING STILL – MEDITATION THAT MAKES SENSE’, Roger’s new book, is available now. ______________________________________________________ ‘BEING STILL’… Continue reading