The Meditation Audio Course is Back
A few years ago, (well, almost a decade ago – golly how time flies), after I closed Practical Meditation & Counselling and began travelling (again), I recorded the entire course as a series… Continue reading
Category Archive: Psychology of meditation
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Letting Go of The Struggle
The question: Hi Roger. I’ve been meditating most days for a while now and it feels like I’m in a losing battle with my mind. No matter how hard I try my attention… Continue reading
Experience The Experience
‘Experience the experience’ was the epitaph my father wanted engraved on his headstone when he died. And indeed, it was the creed he tried to live by. He was constantly pushing himself to… Continue reading
Commitment Gives Life To Our Dreams
I was watching a movie the other night and something was said that annoyed me. A woman was complaining to a friend about her husband and how their marriage had become stale. To… Continue reading
Our Attention Creates Our Reality
I think there is a core principle in meditation, and in life, and it’s this: Our attention energises whatever we attach it to. Whether it’s a thought, an idea, a feeling or emotion,… Continue reading
Perfect World Syndrome
A long time ago, I had a client who was constantly angry. She was quite wealthy, lived in a big house, drove a Porsche and had a family who loved her – but… Continue reading
Using Mindfulness to Deal With Anguish
Question:Roger, I suffer from chronic depression. I’m not sure what triggers it – it can happen anywhere. All I know is it usually happens when I’m among crowds of people. When it happens… Continue reading
Making Mindfulness A Habit
I’ve been getting more emails asking about mindfulness – more than I have about meditation. So I’ll write another post about it to see if I can bring a bit more clarity to… Continue reading
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
What Are You?
Everywhere I go, in various iterations, I keep hearing the same question: ‘Who am I?’ People pose this question as if somehow, if only they could find an answer, it would solve all… Continue reading
Keep It Simple
Meditation is very simple – just sit still with your attention resting lightly on the breath. Notice what arises in the mind and body, accept that it’s there, let it go and return… Continue reading
Spiritual Or Delusion?
This question came thru today, and it’s an interesting one. ‘Roger, why is your view of meditation so unspiritual? As far as I know, meditation has always been a spiritual practice, yet you… Continue reading
It’s Not About Relaxation
I think for this post I’ll get back to basics. It’s in response to a question a friend asked me the other day … a very, very … very … basic question which… Continue reading
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 a Meditation?
The question that forms the heading of this post came up in my Quora feed, and it touched upon an interesting issue, so I’ll post my reply here in this blog: There’s a… 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
In a new paper, published in Frontiers in Immunology, British researchers analyzed the findings from 18 previously published studies—involving a total of 846 people—on the biological effects of meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, Qi… 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… Continue reading
Fail Gladly to Succeed
Just found this wonderful interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates on the writing process, in which he says: “I always consider the entire process about failure …” Like with any skill, I also believe this to… Continue reading
Alan Watts – The Mind and Worrying
I’ve always found Alan Watts inspiring to listen to. When he speaks it sets off little explosions of insight in my head that feed my practice. In this video, he’s speaking about worry,… Continue reading
Love The 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
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