PROLOGUE Tenzin Dorje (pronounced Ten-zin Door-jay) Zheng-po Monastery, Tibet March 1959 I am alone in the sacred stillness of the temple, lighting butter lamps at the Buddha’s feet, when I first realize that something is very wrong. “Tenzin Dorje!” Startled, I turn to glimpse the spare frame of my teacher, silhouetted briefly at the...
This question sometimes comes up at seminars and is one that interests me having trained as a hypnotherapist before I came to meditation. Since I was a boy I was fascinated by the way that hypnosis provides direct access to the subconscious mind. And so, some years ago while living in London, I learned a...
Near death experiences, or NDEs, have always been with us, but in the past 30 years as resuscitation techniques have become much more effective – especially after heart attacks – reports of NDEs have become more widespread. The sheer volume of cases has given rise to significant research by eminent medical specialists and researchers such...
Prologue The idea came about one sunny Himalaya morning. There I was, lying in my usual spot on the broad, first floor windowsill, the perfect vantage from which to maintain maximum surveillance with minimum effort, as His Holiness was bringing a private audience to a close. I’m far too discreet to mention who the audience...
Being born in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), both the landscapes and animals of Africa were normal, even ordinary to me when I was growing up. We didn’t have herds of elephants wandering through the garden. But nor did we have to drive very far out of town to see them, along with the other ‘Big Five’...
In the words of Clare Goodman, a good friend and colleague, most of us aren’t employed for our good looks. We’re employed for our minds. But how many of us consciously seek out ways to optimise our most important asset? Seems pretty obvious when it’s put that way. And organisations around the world are increasingly...
In my blog about some of the main physical benefits of meditation, I made the point that categorising benefits as ‘physical’ or ‘psychological’ is somewhat artificial. Reducing high blood pressure through meditation may seem a measurable and physiological benefit, but it only happens because of the psychological change that precedes it. Every change in mental...
If meditation was available in capsule form, it would be the biggest selling drug on the planet. As the powerful effects of meditation have been validated by all manner of research teams and institutions, a gathering chorus of scientists are voicing this same theme. Describing the main, physical benefits of meditation in a short blog...
Given that the wish to be happy is universal, you’d think that happiness would be a core subject at school, and that we’d all be pretty expert on happiness and its causes. But the truth is, most people are somewhat hazy about it. The title of a recent book by Daniel Gilbert, Prof of Psychology...
As a regular gym goer, as well as long-term meditator, I am often struck by the similarities between mind training and physical training. The same rules that apply to an exercise regime – be that the gym, yoga, bike riding or running – also generally apply to meditation and mindfulness. Here are a few of...
