The Samadhi Podcast - Meditation & Buddhism | Self Improvement | Personal Growth | Motivation

In this episode, David exploreskshanti, or patient-acceptance, a pivotal concept in Buddhism.This approach is more than mere tolerance or passive resignation. Instead, it is a wholehearted embracing of our reality in those situations we cannot change. In this audio we dive into four aspects of patient-acceptance: acceptance, understanding, love, and fortitude, seeing how they collectively form a resilient mindset that keeps us anchored amid life's storms.

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In this episode, David explores the transformative wisdom of the Tibetan Buddhist practice of the Four Opponent Powers.As tools for purifying negative karma, these four steps offer a pragmatic approach to understanding and amending past behaviours. Whether we'd like to purify negative karma or would like a more mindful way to address personal regrets, these Four Opponent Powers provide a structure for overcoming negative habits.

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In this episode, David explores the profound analogy of seeing life as like a river, and how this view highlights impermanence, acceptance, and the importance of living life in a flexible, fluid way. From understanding the nature of life's rapids to finding serenity in its gentle flows, David discusses how we can embrace the present and navigate life's ever-changing currents with grace and acceptance. 

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This is a guided meditation on Tibetan Buddhist practice of 'Body of Light.'This practice provides deep rest and relaxation to the mind and body, helping to relax the energy channels and balance the inner energies. It’s also taught as an entryway into more complex or advanced visualisation meditations.

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In this episode, David addresses a question about how to deal with stressful situations.Firstly, he explores the internal causes of stress and frustration from a Buddhist perspective, and then looks at some opposing minds that can bring us greater peace and wellbeing in such turbulent times. Minds such as acceptance, understanding, and compassion can help us handle stressful situations with greater ease.

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This is a guided meditation on reflecting on our growth in the last year. We often don’t notice the changes and growth we go through on a day-to-day basis, and it’s only when we stop and look where we were that we notice what has changed.In this meditation, spend time reflecting on and appreciating your life in the last year—the happy moments, the struggles, the doubts, the celebrations. Reflecting in this way can help us to cultivate enthusiasm and motivation for our continued spiritual growth. 

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This is a guided meditation on Compassion (karuṇā in Sanskrit). Compassion is one of the Four Immeasurables, a rich compilation of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships with ourselves and deepens our relationship with others.The essential nature of compassion is a yearning for the person we are directing our attention to be free of suffering. The object of one's compassion may be oneself, another human being, an animal, or any other sentient being. May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

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In this episode, David explores how to attend to the sufferings of the world without falling into despair and feeling burdened. Using his own experience of compassion and despair, and inspired by the teachings of the Dalai Lama, he explores why we should cultivate compassion for the sufferings of the world in the first place, and how to avoid this crippling feeling of despair. 

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The talk is from one of our weekly online guided meditation & discussion groups. The topic of discussion is 'expectations' - how our attachment causes us to grasp onto certain outcomes and thus results in us becoming upset when these expectations are not met. We invite you to join us live on Sundays to share in the guided meditation and discussion.

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In this episode of The Samadhi Podcast, David is joined by Dr Joanne Cacciatore, an expert and acclaimed public speaker on grief and traumatic death.She is the founder of the MISS Foundation and the Selah Carefarm and a tenured professor and researcher at Arizona State University. She is the author of the best-selling book “Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief” and the most recently published, “Grieving is Loving.”

During this conversation, we look at how to bear the unbearable. Exploring Joanne's personal journey with grief, the Selah grief model and hearing her thoughts on some questions from our community.

Joanne's insightful words we're sure will resonate with many. 🙏🏻❤️

More about Dr Joanne Cacciatore and the Selah Carefarm:
https://joannecacciatore.com/
https://selahcarefarm.org/
https://www.missfoundation.org/

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In this episode of The Samadhi Podcast, David is joined for a fascinating conversation with his teacher, B. Alan Wallace. One of the world’s leading scholars, writers, and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism and its relation to science, Lama Alan was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and devoted fourteen years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He has written and translated more than 40 books and has been a leading voice in the dialogues and research between Buddhists and scientists. He is the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and the Centers for Contemplative Research.

In this conversation, Lama Alan very kindly offers us his thoughts on the nature and potentials of consciousness, the importance of shamatha and contemplative inquiry, and his vision for the Centers for Contemplative Research.

This fascinating conversation we're sure will be of benefit to many. 🙏🏻❤️

More about B. Alan Wallace & the Center for Contemplative Research:
https://centerforcontemplativeresearch.org/
https://www.alanwallace.org/
http://sbinstitute.com/

Image credit: @michellemagrini

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This is a guided meditation on present centring.This practice is designed to help us bring ourselves back into the present moment when we have become lost in worries of the future or resentments of the past. Present centring is a skill that we need to develop in order to live mindfully and purposefully.

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In this episode, David responds to a question that came through our Facebook Group about how to preserve the calm and peace we find over the holidays when normal life starts again. Responding in the context of The Five Obscurations, which obscure our natural peace and clarity of mind, David stresses the importance of keeping a watchful eye over our mind at every moment and averting afflictions as they arise.

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This is a guided meditation pulled from our Sunday meditation class on September 12th.This meditation allows us to bring a difficult challenge, question or problem we have into our meditation practice. Quite often, the thinking mind tries to work its way through our problems and can obscure our natural intuition and creativity. This meditation is designed to bring clarity to those challenges which often need instead to be held in awareness. 

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This is a guided meditation on gratitude.It is best listened to in the morning, to start your day with a clean slate and an intention to express appreciation for all the things in your life, from the small day-to-day enjoyments to your health, and the bigger challenges that help you grow and make you who you are.

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In this episode, David explores the 'superpower' that is gratitude. Gratitude is supremely important for our well-being and can really turn our day around and bring a radical shift to our life.  It’s very easy for us to get fixated on the things that are wrong: what we don’t have, what we need, what isn’t working, what needs fixing.  In the midst of this, we can lose sight of all that we do have, everything that is going well, what is working, what doesn’t need fixing.  

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This is a guided meditation designed to help you unwind and relax your body ready for a good night's sleep. By bringing awareness into the body and consciously relaxing individual areas of the body, we allow the mind to let go of rambling thoughts and come to settle in a calm, witnessing mode. This soothing meditation will help take you into a deep, restful sleep.

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Inspired by a post on social media, in this episode, David talks about the elusive concept of perfection.By always striving for things to be perfect, we place a great deal of pressure on our self, others and the world around us and bring about our own disappointment and frustration with life. 

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This is a guided meditation on Heartful Presence with Neil Seligman. This practice helps you tune into the body with loving awareness and notice what is arising in your awareness. In this practice, we explore the energy of the heart through deep listening, focusing on body sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Neil Seligman - International Speaker, Author, and Expert in Mindfulness, Resilience, Conscious Leadership and Corporate Wellbeing. Neil believes in bringing conscious awareness to the challenges of our world and is passionate about sharing his understanding of mindfulness and transformation through his teaching, writing, speaking, and art. Neil very kindly offered us insights from his own personal journey and shared his thoughts on the gifts of mindfulness and conscious living.

This conversation we're sure will be of benefit to many. 🙏🏻❤️

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This is a guided meditation on viewing the mind as like the sky.Whenever we identify with and get carried away by our thoughts we lose awareness of the spacious clarity of our mind, within which our thoughts occur, and our perspective becomes small and constricted. When we can simply observe thoughts arising without getting involved, then we can come to know the natural spacious and clear nature of our mind. Calm, clear, peaceful, open spaciousness – without agitation and without anxiety and distress.  Getting to know the mind in this way will help us understand and influence our thoughts, emotions, and in turn, our entire reality. 

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In this episode, David talks about the keys to happiness in daily life.By taking the time to understand and cultivate the three pillars of genuine wellbeing identified by contemplatives for generations, we can simplify our daily practice and make progress every day towards a happy and meaningful life. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Barbara J Hunt - Forgiveness Specialist, Coach, Bestselling Author, and Workshop and Retreat Leader. Barbara has over 25 years of experience in the self-development space and has helped hundreds if not thousands of people bring forgiveness into their lives. Barbara was kind enough to come on and talk to us about forgiveness, getting to the heart of what it really means to forgive, and how we can push through some of the barriers we may face with it. 

This is a thoroughly interesting conversation which we're sure will be of benefit to many. 🙏🏻❤️

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This is a guided meditation on turning our self-criticism into self-confidence.During this practise, we learn to acknowledge and accept the self-critical mind, detach from its story, and cultivate a healthy balance, taking equal note of our accomplishments. We then rest in the simplicity of the present moment, in which everything is okay and we are calm, healthy and happy. 

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In this episode, David talks about saying no to the inner self-critic.Self-criticism, low self-esteem and thoughts of being not good enough can be really debilitating and hold us back from achieving our dreams and highest aspirations. Talking from the perspective of Buddhist psychology, David talks about what leads to overly critical thoughts and beliefs and provides some ways of letting go of these thoughts and building our self-confidence. 

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This is a guided meditation on experiencing the mind & body as a lake.During this practice, we mindfully attend to our experience of all sensations inside and outside the mind and body. Breath by breath, moment by moment, we bring awareness to our experience of being. This experience allows us to access an inner stillness and calmness that is present within us at all times and can be accessed anywhere, at any time. 

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In this episode, David addresses a question regarding changing habits - becoming aware of them, breaking damaging habits, and embedding new positive ones. Talking practically from his own experience, and using the analogy of a bus station and a road network, David talks about how habits are formed and suggests some helpful ways we can use conscious effort and self-awareness to overcome these negative habits and to cultivate positive ones. 

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This is a guided meditation on the second close application of mindfulness - mindfulness of feelings (Skt. vedana). The four close applications of mindfulness (Skt. smrityupasthana; Pali. satipatthana) are the bedrock of the Buddha's teachings on vipashyana, and as the Buddha described them: the direct path to nirvana.In this guided practice we attend closely to the different types of feelings (pleasure, displeasure, and indifference) arising in relation to sensations from our five physical senses and we carefully pose questions and inspect the very nature of these feelings.

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In this episode, Dassetu explores the idea of developing a daily meditation practice.It is common to think of meditation and mindfulness as a remedy to life's problems, like paracetamol for a headache, but really, meditation extends far beyond an activity done sitting down in the traditional way we think of. With simple changes in our life, we can be cultivating our heart-mind every moment of every day. 

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This is a guided meditation on R.A.I.N., recorded by Charlotte Adler. R.A.I.N. is a method by which we release painful emotions through mindfulness and self-compassion. Charlotte explains more about R.A.I.N. in Episode 13 of this podcast. This is a beautiful meditation and we're so grateful to Charlotte for her kindness in sharing this with us. We're sure it will benefit many. May all beings be happy. 

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In this episode, we are joined by Charlotte Adler of Bodhicitta Lifeworks. Charlotte is a healer, therapeutic counsellor, and meditation guide and has spent the last 13 years or so helping women to deal with all aspects of recovery in the aftermath of addiction and trauma. Extensive studies in Buddhist Psychology plus time spent in Northern India practising both yoga and meditation, have led her to her current position, offering, with the greatest joy, accessible Dharma workshops and guided meditation to retreatants at all levels of study and practice. Charlotte was kind enough to share her thoughts and experience of meditation, Buddhism, healing trauma through meditation, and R.A.I.N.

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In this episode, David explores a common emotion that many of us experience on a regular basis: frustration.Frustrationcomes from non-acceptance and our ‘grasping’ at our expectations. It comes from not wanting things to be a certain way and being unable to accept things the way they are. But, as we'll see, frustration is not an inherent part of our mind and is something we can reduce and remove altogether. The Buddha offered a range of simple methods to calm ourselves and let go of our frustrations so that we’re not so irritated and angry throughout the day, and to help us transform our minds completely.

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This is a guided meditation on Loving-Kindness (maitrī in Sanskrit). Loving Kindness is the first of the Four Immeasurables, a rich compilation of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships with ourselves and deepens our relationship with others.The essential nature of loving-kindness is a yearning that the person we are directing our attention to be well and happy. The object of one's loving-kindness may be oneself, another human being, an animal, or any other sentient being. May everyone be free of enmity. May everyone be free of affliction. May everyone be free of anxiety. May everyone be well and happy. 

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In this episode, David talks about love and attachment, and the key to happy, healthy and loving relationships from a Buddhist perspective.For a lot of us, if someone was to ask us "what would make your relationship with your partner better?" our answer would be something that our partner should do differently. It may even be a whole list that we have prepared. But as we venture on the path of meditation and self-inquiry, we realise that, as with everything, our relationships are subjective and the happiness, joy and love we seek must come from within. By bringing love and joy to the world and avoiding the extremes of aversion and craving, we can have happy, healthy and loving relationships with everyone we meet.

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This is a short 15-minute guided anāpānasati practice. Simply meaning 'mindfulness of breathing,' anāpānasati was the meditation practice most widely emphasized by the Buddha. It is a practice in which mindful breathing is used to develop samadhi (concentration) and achieve the state of shamatha (calm abiding) and is especially suited for those who are prone to rumination and overthinking. The Buddha said 'Concentration by mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, is peaceful, sublime, an ambrosial dwelling, and it disperses and quells on the spot unwholesome states whenever they arise.'

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In this episode, David addresses the question 'how to stop thinking 1000 thoughts during meditation?' Talking practically from his own experience and what's been taught by contemplatives for thousands of years, he explores key practices for those prone to rumination and suggests some helpful tips.

This episode was also recorded as a video which has been published on our website &Facebook. The guided meditation is included in the video, or as a Podcast in Episode 9 - Guided Meditation - Anāpānasati.

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In this episode, David addresses the question: what should I do when I feel sad and overwhelmed?In modern life, in the pursuit of a successful and happy life, we have a tendency to abuse the mind without even realising it. This leaves us feeling unbalanced, detached, unhappy, easily overwhelmed, and at times unable to function. These are symptoms of an unbalanced mind that is being abused. Now is the time to learn the art of grounding yourself, countering this abuse by cultivating emotional balance, and ridding ourselves of negative minds.

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This is a 15-minute guided meditation in which we engage in the practice of settling body, speech and mind in their natural states.This practice is a wonderful preparation for any meaningful endeavour and can be used as a meditation in itself or as a preliminary practice to a longer meditation session. The purpose of the practice is to settle the body, speech & mind with the three qualities of relaxation, stillness & clarity. By practising in this way, our mind will settle, and it's luminous, peaceful, blissful and nonconceptual nature will reveal itself. [This short session is an adaptation of the practice as taught by B. Alan Wallace, and has its roots in the great Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava.]

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In this episode, David answers the question 'Why Meditate?' and explains why everyone should meditate.When we first try to meditate, we notice that our mind is all over the place. This experience shows us how little control we have over our mind. Having so little control over our mind is the reason why we experience negative feelings and are not able to be happy. Meditation is more than just a fun way to relax, it is essential if we want to experience our deepest wish which drives our day-to-day life – the wish for lasting happiness and freedom from painful feeling.

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This is a 15-minute guided meditation in which we turn our attention to the space of the mind - the domain where thoughts, images, memories, and feelings arise.This meditation helps us to become familiar with the true nature of our human mind and the true nature of our mental activity, by taking a step back from being dragged along and instead, simply observing. When we are experiencing crippling anxiety, stress, depression, and other strong negative emotions, it is easy to become overwhelmed and can seem impossible to gain control over our mind. This meditation allows us to see that thoughts, feelings, memories, are not as big, scary and daunting as they seem. Instead, we see that they are formless - they have no shape, colour, size, smell, or tactile properties. By seeing this directly, we can realise our power as the agent, the 'thinker,' and learn to gain control over our mind and our emotions, instead of them having control over us.

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In this episode, David (Dassetu) explores anxiety, worry, and stress - how they arise in our mind, how we can overcome them, and some practical tips for what to do about any anxiety and worry that we are experiencing right now.In our life, it can seem that there is so much to worry about and be anxious over, especially in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, and so now more than ever it is important to distinguish between outer problems and situations, and the inner problem of our uncontrolled and turbulent mind. 

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This is a 15-minute guided breathing meditation, designed to help you totally relax and release the turbulence of thoughts and feelings that can plague your mind.This meditation will help you to uncover the natural inner peace, sense of wellbeing and genuine happiness that is already there within your own mind. Meditation is a method for calming the mind and developing a positive approach to life. Through meditation, we can learn to deeply relax, gain control of our feelings and emotions, find inner strength, and let go of negative states of mind such as stress and anxiety.

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In this episode, David (Dassetu) introduces the Samadhi Podcast and discusses a core Buddhist theme: Genuine Happiness.The desire to be happy and free from any form of discomfort or suffering is a desire common to all sentient beings; from small insects to animals, to humans. But, despite this desire and all our efforts, have we really found the happiness, fulfilment and contentment that we seek? Why does this happiness seem so elusive?

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