Questions are précised. Q1 0:00 - Could you explain the meaning of mind? Q2 14:29 - When watching the breath, continuous attention is difficult due to the interference of thinking. How can we overcome this? Q3 28:14 - What are the basic techniques of meditation for a beginner Q4 39:12 - Before starting meditation should we practice yoga to train our mind? Q5 40:52 During breath awareness meditation, should we take the breath consciously, or see the natural process of breathing? Q6 42:00 Can you explain the process of metta meditation and how it helps to overcome anger, frustration and resentment. Q7: 46:00 What is mindfulness meditation? How is it practiced? Can we practice it while working in the office? Q8 52:36 I have acute pain in the knees and ankles when I sit. Are there any exercises that would help? Q9 56:12 When I meditate I usually feel sleepy. Why is this? Q10 1:00:19 When I meditate I see colours and lights, hear the sounds and feel fully aware of what is happening around me. What is this state? Q11 1:02:51 When I meditate my thought processes get very sharp, and more and more very good ideas seem to come into my mind. Hence, now I know I am fond of thinking rather than meditating. Please advise me. Q12 1:13:02 How can we shift from samatha to vipassana meditation? How long will it take a beginner to practice vipassana? Q13 1:20:50 How can we identify the improvements and development of mental states we've achieved as a result? Q14 1:26:50 During meditation I see a lot of incidents / situations mentally, which I have never experienced in day-to-day life. What is this? Q15 1:29:32 When I go to bed I usually try to pay attention to my breath. Is this good or will it negatively affect my sitting meditation? Q16 1:30:29 How long one should practice meditation to achieve samadhi? May I know a program or meditation schedule in order to achieve this state? Q 17 1:33:15 I joined a new company that meditates 15 minutes before work daily. Why I didn't get this opportunity before? Was it an effect of my kamma?

Samādhi is entered into dependent on the ripening of other factors. It gives us a place to stand outside of the personal perspective. The process of stepping out requires meeting the painful and unresolved in the body, then calming and soothing the heart.

Attention forms a focus that is by definition, only a part of the whole field (especially the visual focus). So if a ‘watchful’ focus is making your practice tense and try, relax attention and cultivate intention – it covers it all. Intention has a certain motivation, it steers attention. The intention for freedom from stress and pain is what citta is looking for.

Our spiritual home is within the heart. Are we able to activate that awareness, and to treasure kindness and goodness in our daily actions and speech? Can wholesome states of mind prevail even when we face difficult or painful conditions? Moral purity is the harbinger for our waking up to the Truth within us. As we hasten to empty and weed out self-centredness, the poison arrow of craving is extracted. This is freedom – this is life-saving sanctuary.

A reflection on the fabrication of personal expression.

This two part series explores how we regularly leave our body and skim life’s surface in a mental trance, and the ways we can train our attention to come home again. We look at working with physical and emotional pain, and the gifts of love, wisdom, creativity and aliveness that arise as we learn to fully inhabit these living forms and all our senses with awareness. Includes a meditation to guide us in working with pain.

This two part series explores how we regularly leave our body and skim life’s surface in a mental trance, and the ways we can train our attention to come home again. We look at working with physical and emotional pain, and the gifts of love, wisdom, creativity and aliveness that arise as we learn to fully inhabit these living forms and all our senses with awareness.

Meditation practice cultivates a diverse set of attentional, emotional and introspective skills. Central to the practice of mindfulness is the stabilization of attention. But before our attention stabilizes, practice can be overstimulating. This talk will explore the process through which the mind comes to rest. In developing this steadiness, equanimity (the capacity to fully permit the flow of both pleasure and pain) is a vital skill. We will see how concentration and equanimity reinforce each other and support a deeper understanding of ourselves. And how this stability, in turn, makes space for the heart to respond with joy and compassion.

Meditation practice cultivates a diverse set of attentional, emotional and introspective skills. Central to the practice of mindfulness is the stabilization of attention. But before our attention stabilizes, practice can be overstimulating. This talk will explore the process through which the mind comes to rest. In developing this steadiness, equanimity (the capacity to fully permit the flow of both pleasure and pain) is a vital skill. We will see how concentration and equanimity reinforce each other and support a deeper understanding of ourselves. And how this stability, in turn, makes space for the heart to respond with joy and compassion.