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

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of June 17, 2024

    This week’s theme is “Preparing the Heart and Mind”. In Buddhist practice we often hear we should let go. And often enough we would really like to let go of those thoughts, impulses, moods and contractions which keep us agitated and in unease. But letting go is rarely something we decide to do; and neither is holding on. In the upcoming week we will explore why the heart-mind holds on to something and how we can prepare, nourish and soothe it, so that letting go becomes a natural process, not a willful command.

    Read More

  •

    The Power of a New Year’s Resolution

    Recorded : January 5, 2020

    We start a new year. It is 2020. Perhaps the intensity of environmental dramas in 2019 finally made clear to many people the vulnerabilities to life on Earth. It might be useful to make a New Year’s resolution that lasts longer than a week. Here are four considerations. 1. Dedicate an hour a day or…

    Read More

  • Lisa Ernst

    Exploring Karma, Choice and the Mind

    Recorded : June 30, 2024

    Karma is action in Buddhism, driven by intention. With practice we cultivate the ability to choose our response and our actions, internally and externally. We might think if our intentions are good our actions will follow, but our intentions are often under the influence of strong conditioning that prevents us from living our choices. But…

    Read More

  • Nathan Glyde

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of March 21, 2022

    This week’s topic is: Harmonising Our Life. The Buddha’s wisdom highlights how we often live entangled in stress and distress. The earliest mentions of this disharmonious state called it being in an argument with life. Dharma teachings invite us away from habitual rigidity and reactivity into a responsive and harmonising release. This week we will uncover deeper and more creative ways of attuning to life that support inner and outer freedom and well-being.

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of March 30

    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, March 30 Being in the body Wednesday, April 1 The elements of bodily life Friday, April 3 Being…

    Read More

  • Stephen Fulder

    Welcoming the Beyond

    Recorded : February 9, 2020

    What is beyond the ordinary mind? What is beyond thought? How can we access a consciousness that is open, free and limitless? How can we dive into the ocean instead of being tossed by the waves? The dharma is in its essence a spiritual journey and the character of the path is to meet, engage…

    Read More