Meditation retreats are generally a good thing for most people, but aren’t without their dangers. They can be really hard to get through – but can give you great results! We talk about the risks, the potential benefits, the general format of most courses, the physical and mental challenges, and specifically what we’ve learnt from attending the Goenka Vipassana Foundation 10 day courses. Daniel Ingram’s “Health warnings for meditation” gets a mention! Audio Version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Links Our interview with Daniel Ingram – for more on the risks and benefits of meditation. Global Vipassana foundation site…
It’s been a while! Excited to kick things off again as we (hopefully) start to see the beginning-of-the-end of the COVID pandemic. What a strange and interesting time to be alive. We speak about covid goblins, our practice, journaling, the climate crisis, effective philanthropy, the real consequences of actions in the modern day world, greenwashing, colonialism / capitalism, brewing green tea properly, the fantastic fungi documentary, psychoactives and microdosing and meditation parallels, Jasmine’s grandma’s mushroom stash and homeopathy. Audio Version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Links Conspirituality Podcast Conspirituality – Climate change episode – Interview with Daniel Sherrell Jason…
Really special episode this, with one of our favorite meditation teachers. Lorin is something of a ‘meditator whisperer’ – having spent much of his life being an unorthodox counsellor to meditators who were having trouble in their practice. Lorin casts aside monasticism, ascetism, and puritanical thinking for a clear-eyed and honest look at what it means to meditate as someone ‘in the World’: Someone with family, responsibilities, a career – and all the other things that exist outside the Ashram. We hope you enjoy this as much as we did – please let us know your thoughts! NB. A problem…
A friend from Awakin Circle (no relation), James is a remarkable character, engaged in the social dimensions of awakening and community. Audio Version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Links James’ Projects Find Enlight Project Enroll Yourself Learning Marathon (Creative & Analytic thinking ) QT – Community Magazine During Lockdown Influences Creative Mornings (Creative Lecture series ) Awakin London (Local Mindful community) Plant Environment (Local Growing Community) RSA Ken Willber & Integral theory (Clean up, Wake up, grow up show up) Metacognition & Self Referential Thinking in arts & life Neuroplasticity Permaculture thinking Systems Thinking Conduit Club has sadly closed!…
Thinking about starting to meditate? The good news is you do already! Meditation is an innate ability we all share. We’re joined again by our friend Liam Chai for a philosophical, wide-ranging chat about the many ways people meditate, and the various ways you can learn to deepen your practice – everything from 2 minute breathing exercises from apps to week long silent retreats. Audio Version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Links ⏳ Recommended app – Insight Timer ☀️ Liam’s site – liamchai.com 😉 ‘The Goenka gang’ – Silent vipassana meditation retreats somewhere near you- dhamma.org Books Lorin Roche…
Really enjoyed this conversation with ‘Awake In’ friend and marathon meditator Liam Chai. Be warned: The conversation is wide ranging and includes all kinds of risky subjects like: 🔥 Kundalini awakening on retreat, 🕊 spiritual bypassing, 🦖 and secret dinosaur civilizations. Audio Version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Topics 1:00 Intro to Liam and going “off script” 1:40 How me and Liam met via Jasmine & Awakin Circle 4:30 How Liam began his road to spirituality 6:03 Liam’s first meditation experiences 8:00 Vipassana’s life changing experience for Liam (sexual ref) 12:15 Did Liam tell the teachers about the occurrence?…
A fun chat that started with a regular call. We were meant to be talking about updating this website, but after “How are you doing? How’s your practice?” we got into an interesting discussion so began recording! We hope that you too, dear listener, will enjoy this. Topics 0:00 Intro and Mahasi Sayadaw style ‘noting’ practice 3:00 On high-speed ‘noting’ meditation 5:30 Do all types of meditation lead to the same place? Comparisons with yoga and other, Buddhist types of meditation. 7:00 Altered Traits book – studies of long-term, advanced meditators. Similarities and differences between veterans of different meditation traditions.…
An amazing interview with Daniel – really enjoyed this one! We were particularly blown away by his insights into the Goenka vipassana tradition, and why they don’t use the meditation maps. Goenka retreats were pivotal for both me and Jasmine, so it’s amazing to hear stories about his initial training, and why the retreats downplay or ignore ‘dark night’ or ‘dhukka nana’ phenomena (difficulties that can emerge during meditation). Audio-only version Subscribe in your favorite podcast app: Topics 3:24 – Practice and framing. How one begins on the adventure of meditation. Starting a practice during COVID-19 lockdown? 6:00 – Daniel…
We catch up on life in lockdown, Jasmine’s ongoing home retreat and practice in general. This is an experimental format – it’s a pretty loose conversation with minimal editing. Does it work? Let us know! We also announce our upcoming guest interview with (drum roll) … the one and only Daniel Ingram! Video version
We cover all sorts but here are some highlights:
Learnings from the amazing guests he’s interviewed. Steve’s meditation practice explained 3 ways – To a child, To an adult, To an experienced meditator.
Me and Jasmine kick things off. It’s a beta episode!
We get into our ideas and ambitions for the podcast, and discuss a range of topics:
Book mentioned: Lorin Roche’s “Meditation Made Easy” – Highly recommended!
Hope you enjoy! Please get in touch if you do :)
moc.ni-ekawanull@su
Audio Youtube version (audio only)