MEDITATE like a JEDI

Depersonalization, Rigidity, and Meditation - 1feb23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

4 days ago
1 min

Depersonalization, Rigidity, and Meditation - 1feb23

Tales of depersonalization are not unheard of amongst the students of bad teachers. In the words of Neil Gaiman, “…Sturgeon’s Law… approximates to ‘90 percent of everything is crap.’” This also applies to teachers. As they spread their confusion (like Mary Mallon did with Typhoid) they cause their students to misunderstand mindfulness and meditation. When mindfulness (vulnerable, passive, visceral, and spontaneous) is replaced with concentration (rigid and controlling) percep

0 views

Mindfulness and Meditation Clarified - 31jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

5 days ago
1 min

Mindfulness and Meditation Clarified - 31jan23

Pseudo-spiritual hacks mercilessly juggle the terms mindfulness and meditation confusing everyone. Neuroscience could offer some great rules of thumb with which to tell them apart. We could train in MINDFULNESS with every inhalation, for that is what accesses the Sympathetic nervous system, ensconced within our thoracic spinal cord. It is wired for sensory acuity; allowing us to perceive sensations, flavors, scents, sounds, sights as well as our emotions, intentions, reason,

0 views

Trauma, Imagination, and Contemplation - 30jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

6 days ago
1 min

Trauma, Imagination, and Contemplation - 30jan23

Those of us who endured child abuse and the C-PTSD it generates know what it’s like to involuntarily relive the highlight reel of our narcissistic parent, their actions, and their words. As a species our brains have evolved to savor a conundrum, like a dog with a bone. It therefore comes as little surprise that during flashbacks we could involuntarily scour our imagination searching for things we could have said or done to mitigate our abusers actions, no less, tame their hea

1 view

Lama Jigme Gyatso

7 days ago
1 min

The Benefits of a Wandering Mind

Fear not the wandering of your mind, for its travels are integral to healing and enlightenment. Although we read how our primal drives of dread and desire could undermine our peace, it is a far different thing to extricate ourselves from their influence. Perhaps that is why the Buddha taught contemplation, mindfulness, and meditation. Petty aversions and attachments are easily released by mindfulness and meditation’s silent recitation of, “Notice this…” and “relaxing!” during

1 view

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 27
1 min

Twice Daily Meditation - 27jan23

To understand the benefit, of meditating EVERY twelve hours, we need the physiological perspective. The endocrinology and neurology of primates is quite confused for evolution has given us two reward systems. The older one is dopamine oriented and rewards us for mating, and all that supports it, like drinking, eating, and sheltering. The newer one is oxytocin oriented and rewards us for strengthening our relationships: professional, personal, platonic, and intimate. The exper

0 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 26
1 min

Forging the Habit of Meditation

It is not meditation’s technique that is the most difficult to master, nor is it the posture, or even the motivation. No, the greatest challenge to a new contemplative is merely the task of forging a new habit. Most adults brush their teeth upon rising every morning and prior to retiring each night. What drives us to do this? Is it a fierce desire for perfect chompers, or a dread of cavities, root canals, and procedures? Or is it merely a habit, cultivated since childhood, th

10 views

Time, Training, and Meditation - 25jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 25
1 min

Time, Training, and Meditation - 25jan23

Congratulations! You’ve done the math and figured out that you have one hundred and twenty minuets in your daily time budget to “spend” on meditation. But how are you going to divide it? Any student of Jhana meditation will tell you there is no substitute for a long meditation session if you really wanna go deep. However Tibetan lamas extol the value of practicing four times per day while on retreat, and many Japanese roshis recommend that their lay students practice once eve

2 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 24
1 min

Thoughts of Future Longing - 24jan23

Are you familiar with the affirmation, “If it is to be, it is up to me!”? Oh what an efficient way to lose your peace and squander your life. Meditation is the quest for contentment and, when performed correctly, (as a fringe benefit) could reveal the middle ground between the two toxic extremes of being scattered and being controlling. From that midpoint your choices, utterances and deeds could flow from a place of centered spontaneity, rather than from perpetual dissatisfac

0 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 23
1 min

Heartbreak, Release, and Meditation

In the 1996 film “Kama Sutra: a Tale of Love” the sculptor is executed by having a royal elephant step on his chest; which is pretty much how a romantic break-up feels. In the second noble truth the Buddha inferred that striving to shove away painful emotions intensifies their stress. Instead of rigidly concentrating upon your breath, merely coordinate perception and release with breath’s natural cycles. Silently reciting “Feeling this…” during each inhalation helps us to eff

0 views

Concentration, Anxiety, and Meditation - 22jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 22
1 min

Concentration, Anxiety, and Meditation - 22jan23

Concentration, Fear, and Aggression: these are all of the same family; that of rigidity, tension, and control. Therefore concentrating exclusively upon the breath, in hopes of transcending anxiety is as ineffective as making love in the name of abstinence. But rigidity is to concentration as flexibility is to mindfulness and if we wish to transcend the hold that fear could have over our choices, utterances, and deeds we must traverse the Buddha’s path vulnerably, passively, v

2 views

Concentration, Mindfulness, and Meditation - 21jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 21
1 min

Concentration, Mindfulness, and Meditation - 21jan23

In a world where concentration is confused with mindfulness meditation is seen as a fount of frustration and consternation. But what could be the difference between the two? Where concentration is defensive, active, intellectual, and rigid; mindfulness is vulnerable, passive, visceral, and spontaneous. Consider eyesight: when we switch from foveal to peripheral vision we are going from one neurological circuit to another. The Buddha’s path is one of vulnerability and release.

0 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 20
1 min

Meditation and Gilded Cages - 20jan23

Obsessive compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder could be torture. So it is utterly understandable that those who suffer from them would seek a break from their symptoms. Sometimes they are taught a false bill of goods, hearing that “mindfulness” could give them that respite. Sadly that type of (hitting-the-metaphoric) pause button is the opposite of mindfulness, and once they stand up from their meditation cushion the symptoms (repressed or ignored) come rushin

0 views

Bickering, Bamboo, and Meditation - 19jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 19
1 min

Bickering, Bamboo, and Meditation - 19jan23

What could arguments and bamboo have in common? In “Pointing out Instructions for an Old Lady” Karma Chakme Rinpoche taught that once we slice open a bit of bamboo and discover its hollowness we then understand the nature of all bamboo, and no longer need to prance about the country side dissecting all bamboo we encounter. Similarly once we understand the spiritual perspective on arguing we have something that could be applied universally to every disagreement. In the sixty-f

0 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 18
1 min

Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Meditation

The Buddha dropped a hint in the Anapanasati Sutta first with the phrase, “…true knowledge and liberation…” and then with “…coalescence and tranquility…”. During my second three-year retreat Lama: Chodrak Gyatso taught me that relaxation was the key to meditation. Later Bhakha Tulku and then Bhante Vimalaramsi repeated these pointing out instructions. But what has that to do with neuroscience? Our thoracic spinal cord is the seat of our sympathetic nervous system. Evolutionar

1 view

Mindfulness, Impermanence, and Meditation - 17jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 17
1 min

Mindfulness, Impermanence, and Meditation - 17jan23

In junior high my companions would regale each other with tales of Bruce Lee. Each story a more fanciful departure from the truth. The same thing occurs concerning the Buddha: tales of bliss and attainment each straying further from what he taught. Beware of those who speak fondly of the bliss of permanent mindfulness for mindfulness that is oblivious to pain is NOT mindful. In the teachings of both Sutra and Tantra we are told of the evanescent nature of mindfulness. Contemp

2 views

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 16
1 min

Tinnitus, Resistance, and Meditation

Tinnitus sucks, but not in the fun, tingly way. And although it made Beethoven exceedingly cranky it was unable to extinguish the flame of his genius. Striving to resist the symptoms of tinnitus could be as exhausting and unproductive as trying to resist the tide. The secret is strategic acquiescence. Therapeutically allow tinnitus into your mindfulness by silently reciting “Hearing this…” during each inhalation. The key is not to actively concentrate but rather notice: vulne

0 views

Sleep, Control, and Meditation - 15jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 15
1 min

Sleep, Control, and Meditation - 15jan23

Our society trains us to yearn for superiority with which we may better accomplish worthy goals that others (or ourselves) might treat us with the respect that we crave. This can feed our controlling tendencies that often drive us to repurpose things and use them in ways they were never intended. For instance there are some who meditate in the hopes of reducing their need for sleep. But is that how it was intended to be used? The stresses mentioned in the first noble truth ar

0 views

Disassociation, Depression, and Meditation - 14jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 14
1 min

Disassociation, Depression, and Meditation - 14jan23

Disassociation can be frightening, and dangerous. Before sharing a contemplative solution, I would be remiss if I did not remind you that if you feel that you struggle with depression the PCRM website offers a FREE service helping you to find an M.D. who practices Psychiatry through the lens of Whole-food veganism. Disassociation is antithetical to the Buddha’s path for without mindfulness (vulnerable and visceral) there can be no enlightenment. If you feel prone to disassoci

0 views

Anger, Contemplation, and Meditation - 13jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 13
1 min

Anger, Contemplation, and Meditation - 13jan23

Anger, like a flame-thrower, flows from our most primal, survival drives. We repress it or indulge it, at our peril. However we can harness its raw energy. The next time you’re angry recite or chant this quatrain three times: . . “How could stressors give us the precious opportunity to bring dependence into compassion’s path and change into the path of letting-go?” . . You could perform the four contemplations that follow, four times each, silently reciting the first half of

1 view

Daydreams, Interpretation, and Meditation - 12jan23

Lama Jigme Gyatso

Jan 12
1 min

Daydreams, Interpretation, and Meditation - 12jan23

“Tell me what you dreamt and I’ll tell you what it meant.” said the protagonist’s wife in Fiddler on the Roof. Often (so called) hidden meanings tell us more about the interpreter than they do of the subject matter. The great, nineteenth century, Tibetan yogi, Dza Patrul Rinpoche, endorsed the spontaneous and uncontrived lifestyle that is the fruit of centering, mindfulness, and meditation. Rather than striving actively to interpret our dreams or visions we could ALLOW the su

0 views

MEDITATE like a JEDI​

MEDITATE like a JEDI​

MEDITATE like a JEDI

MEDITATE like a JEDI