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

  • Nathan Glyde

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of Jan 3, 2022

    This week’s topic is: Beginning to See More Possibilities.

    The Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki, said: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” With a beginner’s possibilities we can release our heart’s wholesome aspirations. Let’s engender a beginners spirit, and manifest our innate potential for freedom and well-being: embodying a saint’s patience to start again; an adventurer’s openness to step out of constricted views; and a creative’s zeal to reimagine ourselves and our world”

    Read More

  • Zohar Lavie

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of 20 January, 2025

    We’re grateful to have Zohar Lavie guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they support and enrich your practice.

    This week’s theme is: The Power of Refuge: Dharma for our Times

    Refuge is a practice of intimacy. Coming closer to the present moment experience, we open to it as a gateway to wisdom and compassion.
    During this week we will explore the breadth and depth of refuge practice; from taking refuge in the teachings as a place of rejuvenation and rest, to transforming suffering and its causes for all beings

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

    Read More

  • Leslie Booker

    The Paramis of Generosity + Morality: A Movement Towards a Shared World

    Recorded : March 20, 2022

    In a world riddled with addiction, violence and loneliness, it can feel challenging to figure out how to reclaim our humanity. We can begin by remembering that we belong to each other. On this Sunday Sangha, we’ll be exploring Generosity and Morality: the first two of the Paramis, the 10 perfections or attainments which show…

    Read More

  •

    Soothing Anxiety

    Recorded : October 20, 2019

    Anxiety is a completely normal, natural human emotion. Anxiety can be rooted in circumstances related to one’s personal life, relationships, or larger issues affecting our society and planet. Regardless of the source, many suffer from intense, frequent or chronic forms of anxiety. What does spirituality and contemplative practice have to teach us about how to…

    Read More

  • Ralph Steele

    What Am I Doing In Here

    Recorded : April 3, 2022

    The practice of Mindfulness from breath to breath is essential.  If you have knowledge of the Four Noble Truths then you have the foundation; only practice is needed to gain insight into the Dharma.  As we go through our daily activities, working with the masculine and feminine elements within us, it takes the Right View…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    On Teachings and Teachers

    Recorded : March 17, 2018

    People often ask about the importance (or not) of working closely with a teacher. One can benefit greatly from general meditation instruction, but personalised guidance from someone who knows you and your practice well can be deeply helpful. In this session, Martin speaks about approaching teachers for guidance and about the dynamics of the teacher-student…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    The art of enquiry: how to explore experience for wisdom and liberation.

    Recorded : May 15, 2016

    Dharma teachings and practices invite us to open up to our experience in order to see and understand its true nature. This class with Worldwide Insight guiding teacher Martin Aylward explores how we can inquire fruitfully, staying present and curious, without on the one hand getting lost in the story of our inner drama, and…

    Read More