The Practical Illusion of Self
Hi … I haven’t posted for a long time, largely because, this being question-based blog, most of the questions I’ve been sent of late have already been responded to in other posts, which… Continue reading
Tag Archive: inspiration
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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
Meditation Needs Love
When I first began meditating I had terrible difficulty with it, and almost gave up at one point, because I felt as if I just didn’t have what it took. It wasn’t… 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
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
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
Meditating From the Source
A while ago I was doing an online session with a meditator, and we were talking generally about what it is to practice meditation, and how difficult it can be to maintain a… Continue reading
Meditation the Journey
” The things that trouble our spirits are within us already. In meditation, we must face them, accept them, and set them aside one by one. Cristopher Bennett I was thumbing through a popular tabloid news… 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
Becoming Mindful
“Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep… 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
Meditation is More than Calm
Interesting question came in during the week. “I started meditating recently. Today was my fourth time actually, about 20 minutes long. I was fine afterwards, calm, like I had been the 3… Continue reading
Stillness Heals Everything
Meditation can be summed up in one sentence: ‘Meditation is the skill of being still.’ The stillness I’m talking about is not the semi-comatose stillness we’re in when watching TV, nor is it… Continue reading
Clearing Away The Crud
Hi Roger, Sometimes when I’m meditating and my mind is running away with itself, I find myself sitting with my mind all over the place. But I’ve noticed during these times, just sitting… Continue reading
Letting Go of Tranquility
I’m sorry I’ve been absent for a while, but I’ve been working on my novel, “The Sweet Burn of Emptiness”. It’s taken eight years to get to this final draft, so right now… Continue reading
Thinking is not Necessarily Knowing.
QUESTION: Hi Roger, Just wanted to touch base on something that’s happened. I’ve been meditating for a long time using a Samatha type method and only recently switched to the Vipassana methods in… Continue reading
The Illusion of Habits
Hi Roger, In the audio course you keep asking us to let go of expectations in meditation. But I’m not sure it is possible to stop my mind looking for some kind… 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
The Mind … and the Mind …
Following is a particularly curly question about something which always seems to become an issue in meditation, however briefly: “Hi, Sometimes while I’m meditating it feels like I’m using my mind to try… Continue reading
Forget Enlightenment … It’s Already Here.
Every so often I get asked about enlightenment – or nibbana, or nirvana – all of which Wikipedia describes as: ” … a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with… Continue reading
Tightness in the Breath
QUESTION: “Hi Roger … I’ve been having problems with meditation, in particular, watching the breath, for many many years and am at a loss to figure out what is wrong, and it’s only… Continue reading
Thought Storms
QUESTION: “Hey Roger, just on the thought storms you mentioned last week, do I have to be meditating for them to arise? Because over the last couple of weeks while I haven’t been… Continue reading