What Is The Void?
Question: What is the void? I sometimes go with a friend to a Zen meditation class and the Japanese monk who teaches there keeps talking about ‘the void’. Can you explain what this… Continue reading
Tag Archive: mindfulness
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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
The Prison of Thinking
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. … 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
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
The Many Minds of Mind
G’day Roger, Sometimes while I’m meditating, my mind is full of instructions about what I should be doing – things like: pay attention to sensations of weight, now pay attention to sensations of… 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
Pain is Only a Problem if it’s a Problem.
In my last post, ‘Hurt’s So Good’, Leena asked a good question which I thought was worth another post: She asked: “Life is Pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling you… 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
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
AUDIO COURSE PARTICIPANTS 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,… Continue reading
Thought Storms
AUDIO COURSE 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… Continue reading
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
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
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