Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Search Sangha Live

Daily Meditation Recordings, with James Rafael – Week of January 8, 2024

James Rafael

James Rafael

We’re fortunate that James Rafael has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about James, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Recordings will be posted by the end of the day of the live session.

 

This week’s topic is “New Year Habits and Hindrances”

 

In this week’s sessions we’ll explore how engaging with the Buddha’s teachings on the ‘5 Hindrances’ can help establish or deepen the habit of a daily meditation practice.

 

If you’re new to meditation, this framework offers ways to engage with common challenges we may face; “I can’t sit still’, “My mind is just too busy”, “I’m just not sure if this is working”.

 

If you have a consistent, established practice, revisiting the hindrances can be a gateway to access deeper levels of concentration (samatha), and the subsequent, often profound, insight (vipassana) which follows.

 

The 5 hindrances (obstacles) and the Buddha’s Pond

January 8, 2024

Hindrances in the suttas (ancient texts); tips for breaking / forming habits

January 9, 2024

Challenges and compassion; tips for working with sleepiness or restlessness

January 10, 2024

Doubt, shame, and the story of Mara

January 11, 2024

Deepening our practice, the forest pool, and habits

January 12, 2024

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Mindful Intentions: From Pressure to Growth

    Recorded : July 18, 2021

    What effect does it have if we practice mindfulness and meditation motivated by the fundamental assumption that there is something wrong with us? Perspectives such as ‘not being good enough’ or being ‘damaged goods’ can turn our practice into a painstaking attempt to improve ourselves. During this session we will inquire into our motivations for…

    Read More

  •

    Peace in this very everyday life.

    Recorded : January 31, 2016

    In the best of circumstances the path of life is a bumpy road. The practice of embodied presence opens the possibility to understand and transform our habits of dissatisfaction and distraction, and invites spaciousness and openness in our day-to-day lives. Becoming intimate, moment by moment, with living reality may expand our life-perspective and attune us…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of April 13

    We’re fortunate that Martin Aywlard has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Martin, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, April 13 Thought patterns Wednesday, April 15 Self-reinforcing thought loops Friday, April 17 Welcoming inner experience and also…

    Read More

  • Sophie Boyer

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of 18 November, 2024

    We’re delighted to have Sophie Boyer guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they bring peace and depth to your practice.

    This week’s theme is: The Fruits of Attention

    What difference does a simple reorientation of attention do to this moment? How will it condition what comes next? Every day this week there will be an opportunity for the fruits of attention to be revealed such as care, generosity, and morality. Let’s explore this together.

    Read More

  •

    Uncertainty, Stability & Love: Everything Comes With Everything

    Recorded : May 12, 2024

    Life is never only good or only bad, pleasant or unpleasant, comfortable or uncomfortable, just or unjust. Cultivating a wide spacious perspective within the reality of uncertainty gives rise to a bigger capacity to meet our lives more gently, kindly, and clearly, with more stability and more love. Join us as we explore perspectives and practices to…

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christopher Titmuss – Week of 06 January, 2025

    We are grateful to have Christopher Titmuss guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Each Moment, New Moment

    A week of practice to begin the year, with reflections on beginnings, commitments and a free attitude to life.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  •

    Wisdom and compassion in our relationships: two sides of the same coin.

    Recorded : July 3, 2016

    Wisdom and compassion are two wonderful qualities that grow in us as our practice deepens. Diving into each one and into the inseparable nature of the two reveals the way in which they support and give rise to one another, and the way they manifest in our relationships: with ourselves, with others, with the world….

    Read More