serving the faith communities of the Goulburn Valley
Many Westerners, when they come to dharma practice, come looking for psychological healing — but this is not what meditation was designed to do. As meditation has become mainstream, it has been marketed as a way to address physical and emotional ailments as well as a way to improve performance at work, reduce stress, and rewire the brain.
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Phra Satit Thitadhammo delivered one meditation session on the morning of Saturday, 21 October at the Senior Citizens Centre, Welsford St, Shepparton. Phra Satit Thitadhammo is from the Dhammakaya Meditation Centre, Albury. He addressed the issue of mind, mind management, and methods of reaching awareness of the mind and moving beyond the mind. In this article, we consider several different types of meditation.
The word meditation covers a fairly wide spectrum of practices, from walking and eating meditation to mantra-based meditation. Some meditators find that one style works best for them—and they stick to it. Others like to experiment with the different styles. The important thing to remember is that one style isn’t better than another; they are all different and offer their own unique benefits.
There’s no shortage of press touting the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. It’s increasingly popular in clinical therapy and for managing everyday stress. But what does science say about the centuries-old spiritual practice? And equally, what can the ancient Buddhist tradition teach neuroscientists about the brain? In an effort to find out, a group of meditation practitioners, psychologists and neuroscientists gathered together for a weekend Zen retreat in rural New South Wales.
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