The Problem of Other People
Sartre once said in a play he wrote, “Hell is other people.” and indeed, when it comes to meditation, hell can sometimes be other people. particularly when they don’t understand what you’re doing,… Continue reading
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The Wavelike Nature of Progress in Meditation
There seems to be a pattern to some people’s relationship with meditation, and it goes a bit like this: 1. Enthused by the novelty of it all, they go at it like a… Continue reading
Between the Thoughts
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from people complaining about how they cannot stop thinking in meditation. They have the view that in some way, meditation should be helping them to stop… Continue reading
A Few Lines Light up The Mind
Sometimes just one sentence can light us up and reveal whole neural patterns of insight that we never knew we knew – a combination of words and the rhythm they’re written with or… Continue reading
Mind Your Own Business
Audio Course Participant’s Question: ” … I understand the importance of meditation because when I do it, I can feel my body relaxing and my mind unwinding. But mindfulness escapes me. So could… Continue reading
The Mind Rools, Okay!!!
First – an apology to all those people who are doing the Audio Course, who have been sending questions – I will reply soon – just been a bit busy the last week,… Continue reading
Using Mental Noting
Audio Course Participant’s Question: “In the early stages of the meditation, I find there’s a lot of things happening at the same time – especially Thinking, Hearing and Rising or Falling of the… Continue reading
Accept the Struggle
Most people struggle with meditation, either with the posture or with an attention that just won’t sit still – not to mention the skeins of thinking that just won’t let you alone. It’s important you… Continue reading
About The Stuff that Stops Us
I woke up this morning with the answer to a question that had been nagging me for a long time, which was: “Why do so many people want to meditate, but when they… Continue reading
Get Some Sleep!!!
People keep asking me about sleep – how to sleep when they can’t, whether meditation can be used to replace sleep, or whether meditating will make it such that they don’t NEED to… Continue reading
Free download of Acharn Chah’s Teachings
Though I never had the opportunity to practice with Acharn Chah, I wish I had, because his understanding of meditation, and the tricky mental obstacle course it can be when we practice it,… Continue reading
The Warrior and The Horse
The following is an excerpt from my book, ‘Love & Imagination’ (which you can download free from my website – HERE) And the reason I”m posting it here is because it responds to a common problem… Continue reading
Meditation is not the Destination
The skill of meditating is not for its own sake. We are not meditating to be excellent meditators. We’re meditating to have excellent lives. Meditation’s just a method, a tool after all –… Continue reading
Stillness – Keep it Simple
One thing that keeps coming through the emails I’m getting about the audio course is, people are turning meditation into hard work. They’re thinking too much about it and trying too hard to… Continue reading
The Natural Mind – A Lecture by Acharn Chah
Acharn Chah passed away a long time ago, but his words still ring with perfect clarity. This soundtrack is a reading from his book, ‘The Natural Mind’, and I suppose it might be… Continue reading
Mindfulness Meditation Creates ‘Happy’ Brain
“Last year, a Harvard study confirmed that there’s a clear connection between mind wandering and unhappiness. Not only did the study find that if you’re awake, your mind is wandering almost half the time, it… Continue reading
Sensations Are Everything in Meditation
In meditation, sensations are everything, and everything should be contemplated as sensations – nameless, characterless and constantly changing. Sensations are life. Life is sensations. Everything else are the illusions we build out of… Continue reading
Recommended Meditation Centers in SE Asia for Intensive Meditation
Audio Course Participant’s Question: “I have been practising vipassana meditation for over a year now and want to delve deeper into it…have you got any places you can recommend for a retreat?” …………………………………………………………………………………… Continue reading
The Main Game of Meditation
In a culture like ours, which values excitement and novelty above most other things, a lot of people come to meditation looking for exactly that – the novelty, the new, the wow factor.… Continue reading
Where Science and Buddhist Mind Meet
All too often, Buddhism gets lumped in with the other religions, Hinduism in particular. But even though Buddhist view arose from within a Hindu environment, Gautama Buddha’s insight went far beyond the god-oriented… Continue reading
Essential Reading for Meditation
I found this extraordinary resource in my wanderings on the net. It’s called Dhamma Talks.net and all of the greatest teachers of Mindfulness meditation are here … what they wrote, what they said… Continue reading
The Difference between Samatha and Vipassana Meditation Methods
Audio Course Participant’s Question: “I’ve been looking for information about Vipassana meditation and I keep noticing another method called Samatha meditation, so I’m wondering what the difference is between them. As far as… Continue reading
Meditation this Morning
Had an interesting meditation today, which I think I”ll share with you … it might be helpful, one never knows. The thing with meditation is it’s always different. The things that happen, the… Continue reading