Videos

An Attitude of Gratitude Hangout: Guided Meditation & Discussion

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Practicing gratitude promotes happiness, contentment and good health, yet it is something we tend to experience only in response to someone’s extraordinary kindness or when reflecting on a special day. Fortunately, however, gratitude is something we can experience on a daily basis if we can train our minds to pay attention to the small things.

In this video I was joined by Denis Wallez and Julio Robles, two moderators of the Google+ Buddhism and Meditation community for a Google+ Hangout where I lead a 10-minute guided meditation on gratitude and followed this by a discussion and Q&A session where we shared practical tips on making gratitude a regular practice in our day.

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Meditation Tips On Taming The Monkey Mind (Having Too Many Thoughts)

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The most common problem for beginner meditators is having a monkey mind, where we have too many distracting thoughts which prevent us from concentrating on our meditation object. In this video I provide you with eight meditation tips for combating our busy mind so we can stay focused on the object of meditation. These techniques explain how to gently and effectively relate to these thoughts so we can achieve a quieter mind and make greater progress in our meditation.

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My Journey Into Buddhism

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My journey into Buddhism has been an unexpected and exciting one. If someone had told me when I was fourteen what I was going to do before my 30th birthday, I would have called them insane. But at the same time I would have sat in wonder at the adventures I was going to have and I would have been unimaginably excited about the years following my 27th birthday. In this brief video, which was originally created to promote my YouTube channel, I provide you with a snippet of my life and what led me into Buddhism.

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Buddhist Language: Dharma or Dhamma?

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Dharma or Dhamma? That is the question! Buddhist language can sometimes be a bit confusing for beginners, especially when the spelling of certain words is slightly different across Buddhist books. The difference is mainly because the Buddha’s teachings have been translated from two major languages, Sanskrit and Pali. Whether you are reading a Theravada or a Mahayana-based text, this will determine the spelling of certain words in Buddhism. In this brief video I attempt to allay some of the confusion behind this issue so you can read your Buddhist books with a little more understanding.

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Loving Kindness Meditation – Metta Bhavana

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Metta, or loving-kindness, is the feeling of universal love that wishes all beings experience happiness, both worldly and ultimate. It is a state of mind that can be developed through loving-kindness meditation, also known as ‘metta bhavana’, which means ‘to cultivate loving-kindness’. In this video I lead you through a 20-minute guided metta meditation so you can experience this extraordinary state of mind of limitless love.

This meditation can be practiced by anyone, from a religious or non-religious background. Practicing this meditation is the fastest method for developing unconditional goodwill to everyone, including our enemies. It is a very powerful antidote for eradicating negative feelings of anger and aversion.

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Metta (Loving-Kindness): The Practice of Universal Love

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Metta, also known as loving kindness, is an attitude of universal love that is radiated to all living beings in the world without discrimination. In Buddhist teachings it is said that there are four divine states of mind which are naturally and unceasingly experienced by those who are enlightened. They are metta (loving-kindness), compassion, joy and equanimity. Together they are called the Four Immeasurables or the Four Brahma-Viharas. By training in these states of mind through meditation we can tap into these divine states and create the causes for experiencing happiness now and in the future.

In this video, I look at cultivating the first of these divine thoughts: metta. In particular, I describe what metta is, what are the advantages in practicing it, what are some of the obstacles that might prevent us from cultivating genuine loving-kindness, and I highlight some practical tips that we can employ to ensure our formal metta meditation practice is a success.

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