Meditation: Therapy or enlightenment?

First published on www.meditationaustralia.org on 18th Sept, 2019 The promise of mystical experiences attracted me when I began learning Yoga in the early 1970s. I was particularly drawn to meditation. My first serious teacher, though, discouraged my dreaming of...

Humour and playfulness in meditation

In the previous blogpost ‘So much more than technique’ (9/10) I outlined employing the metaskill of ‘curiosity and wonder’ when meditation feels to have become stale or unsatisfying. The examples referred to ‘watching the breath’...

So much more than technique

Hello reader! If you have been a reader of these blog posts in the past you’ll have noticed there have been NONE for a long time. Many personal changes, relocation from coastal NSW to central Victoria, and no home/office internet have something to do with that....

Stress and anxiety—5 keys to recovery

Widespread stress and anxiety are a hallmark of our age. Perhaps these experiences have been common to all ages but we know that massive numbers suffer with anxiety, stress-related health conditions and depression today. In my new book, Freedom from stress and...

Mirth, merriment and wellbeing

OVER THE LAST five or more years we have seen an endless stream of media stories (if you read those media) on the power of mindfulness and meditation to change conditions in our brain and body and heal illness. Some of the reporting is exaggerated and does not...

Stress, anxiety and wellbeing: a jigsaw puzzle

Stress and stress-related health complications are possibly the biggest public health concerns we have across our communities today. They certainly are if you include anxiety disorders and depression under the broad umbrella of ‘stress-related’. Over the...