“….Pollution! Look at this rubbish!” he said vehemently, “Bloody vandals! Chucking their garbage about!…” I had been wandering along a path, savoring the clear afternoon stillness of a popular national park near Melbourne,… Continue reading
In my audio course, and in some of the posts I’ve written for this blog, I’ve spoken at various times about emotions and pain during meditation, and described methods for dealing with these… Continue reading
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
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
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
Neuroplasticity is a subject very pertinent to meditation – particularly meditation as consistent practice. Because rest assured, for all the difficulties you might experience as you meditate, and no matter how hopeless you… Continue reading
So, at the outset, let’s get it out in the open. My personal view is, positive thinking, either as affirmations or visualizations, doesn’t work. In fact, it’s been seen that these strategies actually… Continue reading
“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
“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
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
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
As much as I have covered this subject in numerous posts, I keep hearing meditators complain about thinking. ‘I cant stop thinking,’ seems to be the main complaint, and obstacle in almost everybody’s… Continue reading
Question: “I’m finding I get really angry when I meditate. I remember things that have happened and I get angry and I don’t know what to do. Is this being created by the… Continue reading
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
An audio course participant wrote: ‘Hi, I’ve just begun meditating and I’m finding it quite a hellish experience. I can’t seem to find the calm I imagine should be happening. I end up sitting… Continue reading
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
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
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
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
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. … Continue reading
A question came the the other day that made me think. It was about a very common problem to do with uncomfortable tightening of the breath each time the practitioner meditates. I won’t… Continue reading
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
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
