This talk offers some basic tools and reflections to help meditation students with Depression and Anxiety. You will learn to recognize the optical illusions of mind, label distorted thinking patterns, and unblend from difficult mindstates.

Throughout history, hatred, human violence and horrific sufferings have plagued the world. Truth is never diminished by these worldly conditions. So we feed the mind with what supports inner peace and awakening and not with thoughts of depression, disappointment, despair, or fear. What we most fear is unconditional love. That's not consent for nor approval of hateful conduct but rather a call to bear compassion – the most difficult love of all. Like the sun that gives warmth to all beings, the awakened mind does not differentiate. It does not choose one over another. It just gives light

Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness. These two talks explore several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.

Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness. These two talks explore several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.

Roland is a long-term meditator, a psychopharmacologist and professor at Johns Hopkins, and a leader in researching the clinical effects of psychedelics, including their impact on those struggling with cancer, depression or addiction. At the end of 2021, he discovered he had incurable stage 4 Colon Cancer. This conversation explores the relationship between meditation and psychedelics, and how they both can serve profound spiritual awakening and deep inner freedom in the face of mortality.

Clarification about the fetter “attachment to rites and rituals”; what’s the purpose of life; question about addiction; working with depression; where is the reference to energy in Buddhism; how to get space in intense situations; review of the 4 qualities to promote social harmony – generosity, gentle/harmonious speech, benevolent service, impartiality – DN30:1:16, AN4:32

This is in response to a question about how to work with depression and negative thinking loops.

Advice for young people experiencing panic attacks, lack of motivation, depression; how to locate tension and contraction in the body; feeling restless about others’ difficulties and wanting to share Dhamma; working with disconnects in society; working with external sounds in meditation; how to get more steadiness in meditation when body is so uncomfortable.

How to utilize the teachings of emptiness for depression and anxiety in Buddhist meditators.

Depression and Anxiety: Practices for Buddhist Meditators, Part 1. (This is part 1 of 2 talks)