There are four stages: – Centering – Sending Peace and Healing – Prayers and Mantra – Receiving Inner Peace 18.00 – Centering We close our eyes and allow ourselves to drop down into our bodies. Our bodies know how to be at ease. Like sitting in your favourite armchair or sofa at home . . . Or sitting at your favourite cafe people-watching . . . Or out in nature watching clouds . . . Dropping, sinking down into our bodies . . . Move your feet just a bit to help you anchor down . . . Notice the subtle sensations of your clothes against the skin of your thighs . . . Notice the subtle sensations ..read more

  One of the most helpful insights I ever heard from a meditation teacher is this: There are two types of meditator. Those who require a silent mind. And those who do not. I was in my early twenties, just beginning my meditation practice, and was confused because my personal experience contradicted what everyone was teaching, that meditators must have a silent and empty mind. In fact, many of the books and teachers asserted that an empty mind was the real outcome and reward of meditation. But that was not my experience. Early on I had discovered that I could go into a very mellow, center ..read more

When meditation, shamanic or pagan groups meet online where is their actual meeting? In what dimension is their gathering? I pose this enquiry because it is relevant to the future and survival of regional and indigenous spiritualities. Culturally we obviously need to safeguard regional and tribal spiritual traditions. They have value, beauty and uniqueness. Their disappearance is a poignant tragedy.   People are also understandably upset by cultural appropriation – a form of absorption and watering down – when they see, for example, a white person wearing the hairstyle, ornaments or clo ..read more

Guided meditations can be enlightening, inspiring, boring and provocative. Led well, they can transport the recipients into relaxation, altered states of consciousness, and provide insights and illuminations. Led badly, they can be infuriating and sometimes funny. For me, it all began decades ago in a London group where we took turns leading the group mediations. In one session, all of us lying down, our leader took us into a relaxed state and then guided our meditation journey to Heathrow airport. We all boarded a plane to the Caribbean and a lovely island. ‘And now,’ she said in a monotono ..read more

It took me a while to understand what people were actually telling me when they described their experience of melancholia and depression.  They nearly always spoke about the purely psychological dimension of negative thoughts and emotions, often so unbearable that suicide seemed a redemptive relief. They rarely acknowledged their embodied physical experience. But almost without exception, when I continued to enquire about their ailment, they would begin to talk about extreme physical states: sensations of unbearable physical heaviness,  sluggishness, immobility, inability to rise f ..read more

There is a lovely human contradiction here. Meditators are strung out between being primal primates and transcendent gurus. The organic reality is that meditators sit in a complex system of nerves, juices and synapses. These  biological essentials are hardwired into basic instincts for survival — for the individual and for the species. Sometimes these built-in nature drives can be bloody and harsh. In the culture of traditional eastern meditation this is reflected in the classic Tibetan Buddhist mantra: I am a sack of skin filled with unpleasant things. Less harsh is the mantra: I have ..read more

First, big gratitude to all of you who sent in suggestions for the metaphysics booklist. I have a draft now of what may be my final version. Of course you will not agree with all of them, but here is my rationale. Each book should stand on its own and not be duplicated in the list. The list is for experiential metaphysics – ie energy work, esoterics and psychic/intuitive practices. So I am not including books that are seminal for mysticism and general spirituality. Here’s my twelve with one bonus. 1 Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliThere are many translations of this literary and spiritual jewel. It i ..read more

Martyrs who die fighting for Islam are promised seventy-two virgins in paradise. Scholars argue over whether this was actually ever promised in sacred texts. They debate too whether there was a correct interpretation of the concept. One scholar, Christoph Luxenberg*, suggests that a more accurate articulation would be something like ‘white raisins of crystal clarity’ rather than delightful virgins. Of course, the whole idea is a metaphor for the pleasure that awaits the faithful in the after-life. My own musings on this, deconstructing the patriarchal sexism, have pondered whether the promise ..read more

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