My podcast is live since the middle of September 2019 and you can find all episodes here below, or at Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Twice a month a new episode will be published. Some will be in Dutch, others in English and below you will find the English ones (see the page in Dutch for also the Dutch ones).
Enjoy!
So, what do you think is the hardest thing to achieve in your meditation practice? What is for most people the quality that is very hard in their daily life, including mine?
In this episode you will get the answer to what in my opinion is this biggest challenge to achieve during the meditation session.
And of course, we dive right into that at a practical level in the guided meditation that is as always part of the episode.
What is the next step in your meditation practice? When do you proceed to the next level and what is that exactly? This is where I dive into with you this episode of my podcast. Of course with a guided meditation that suits the subject.
Enjoy!
Do you want to visit my weekly meditation evening or one of my courses or the mentioned retreat? Her you can find all about what I am up to the next periode: https://meditatie.amsterdam/aanbod/aanbod-voor-jou/
Curious about what after all these years of teaching meditation classes, my personal top 5 tips are for your meditation practise? I will share them in this episode!
Also you will find a small workshop about the key ingredients of meditation and you will get explanations and a guided ‘feel’ of the two main meditation forms.
Enjoy!
Are you interested in attending one of my meditation workshops yourself?
Take a look at www.meditatie.amsterdam and feel free to send me a request.
How can meditation help for peace in the world? I go deeper into this topic during the Meditate 4 Ukraine fundraiser I gave on the 13th of March 2022 and this is the recording of that part.
Do you want to learn more about how to help in these situations, sitting on a meditation pillow? And do a guided meditation aimed on sending good vibes to the Ukraine? Then this is where you need to tune in to.
The approach is a bit more spiritual than you are probably used to and is also one side of me, but I promise, it is still pretty graspable and down to earth and backed up with findings of researchers and scientists.
You can meditate everywhere, also when you are commuting. What better thing to do than take a break from your busy schedule and invest in yourself by giving yourself the gift of a moment of recovery and regeneration. How to do that best? All about it and a guided meditation you will find in this episode!
Do you want to listen to this meditation in Dutch? Go to my website and you’ll find it at https://meditatie.amsterdam/meditatie/audio-meditatie/
Meditation only has benefits right? Well, there are a number of cases where people experienced adverse effects, where meditation had results that were unexpected and perceived unpleasant.
This podcast will be very insightful for meditators and is an absolute must for yoga and meditation teachers! Because as my very first guest on this podcast, I found probably the world expert on this subject to talk to me about it! Willoughby Britton, PhD, did a lot of research around the adverse effects of meditation, gives training on this subject to meditation trainers and has her own foundation, Cheetahhouse, for helping people in need with guidance when meditation led to (sometimes very serious) adverse effects.
And in this episode, you can learn what she found in her research as well as working with people that experienced adverse meditation effects.
More about Willoughby: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/wbritton
Willoughby in conversation with the Dalai Lama about her research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etii18s9RKU
More about her program and research: https://www.brown.edu/research/labs/britton/research/varieties-contemplative-experience
Here you can find a recent press release of her most recent study on meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs: https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-05-18/adverse-effects
For help, resources, education and about meditation-related difficulties visit: www.cheetahhouse.org
Do you want to have guidance on your meditation practise? Check out www.meditatie.amsterdam!
Stress is health problem number one under the working population and organisations and the medical world are still looking for a solution for this ‘mental pandemic’. Curious how meditation can help and might be the best thing available? Find out in this episode of my podcast!
This is a live recording of one of my meditation evenings. If you want to attend one, live or online, let me know by sending me an email at roel@meditatie.amsterdam. Same for if you are interested in one of my workshops about dealing with stress, improving your relationship with your smartphone and sociale media, increasing your mental productivity or learning to meditate.
Wanting to let go or detach from certain things, is one of the reasons people seek meditation. Meditation surely helps in the process that things don’t influence you in a negative way anymore, but the question is if ‘letting go’ is what is actually happening. The answer, or at least my view on this, you will learn in this episode of my podcast.
The podcast is a recording of my weekly meditation evening in Amsterdam. If you want to join, make sure to check my website www.meditatie.amsterdam. As always, the start is explanations about the topic, then there is a guided meditation and afterwards you will find the questions and experiences of the ones present. This time a nice group conversation started around the topic, which I think really helps to really understand how the mind works and to deal with it when something is keeping your attention occupied or ‘kidnapped’. That is the reason why this episode is a bit longer than normal.
Enjoy!
This episode we talk about how meditation can help you in times of Corona where there are more challenges than normal. Also there is a lot of explanations about what meditation is and isn’t and what th epitfalls are. You will hear before and after the meditation part how the people new in the group to get insights and understanding in how their ideas and concepts around it were not completely right and stood in the way of the practice.
Alsp there is a guided meditation again that relates to the subject of course.
For this episode I was interviewed by a university student about how meditation fits into the corporate world of today, modern society and all the developments there like the increase of stress levels and burn-outs. The interview was recorded pre-Corona but the content became even more applicable since.
We also addresed topics like modern distractions, religion, the digital revolution, how technology has a huge influence on our lives and mental wellbeing and how the future of that might look like.
Because there was so much to talk about, this episode has no guided meditation. But no worries, you can find multiple of them on my website https://meditatie.amsterdam, in English as well as in Dutch.
Some people meditate in the morning, some in the evening and others don’t have a set time for their meditations. What is best or recommendable? The answer to that you will get in this episode!
In the guided meditation you will learn how to use sounds from your surroundings to benefit your practice instead of it being a distraction.
Enjoy!
Today’s podcast is a live recording of one of my meditation evenings and today you will find out more about how to get started with meditation, what different kinds of meditations are, what makes meditation different from an exercise and what posture you should meditate in. A lot of useful info to get you started. And if you are more experienced already, a good refresher and maybe some new insights and inspiration!
Of course there also is a guided meditation to experience all of this not only in theory.
Enjoy!
Today we go back a bit to when I had my live meditation evening, which I hope to continue quickly now when things normalise again with the Corona situation. In this meditation evening, we dove deeper into the subject of meditation and emotions. How can practicing meditation help you with handling your emotions better and being less tossed around and taken over by them, is a relevant subject right now, so here it is! And of course, there is a guided meditation accompanying that as well.
Enjoy!
This podcast part of my free Corona toolkit, which you can find at https://meditatie.amsterdam/en/covid-19-2/
From what I hear and see around me and experience in my own life right now, these times of physical distancing and till 11. of May the closed schools and childcare, are extra challenging for kids and mainly the parents. Next to their own job, often from home now, they have to manage their beloved mini-version(s) that are home more as well, and if they are a little bit older sometimes also have to help them with their schoolwork.
Because I would love to help all the parents out there, I created a sanity and recharge moment for you as my colleague-parents. In this quick tool for mommy or daddy (or both), I will guide you in ten minutes from overactivity and maybe overwhelm, to more peace of mind and mental space, so you can experience an at least temporary relieve of the the pressure for a bit.
Good luck and enjoy!
Especially in these insecure times, our moods and how we feel can change quickly. And we can select or choose a meditation that specifically fits that every time again. Thats where I built my Corona toolkit for. But is it useful always? That question will be answered in this podcast.
And the guided meditation will let you experiment with how to use different aspects of your attention to aim it at your current mood or state of mind.
Enjoy!
This podcast is part of my free Corona toolkit, which you can find at https://meditatie.amsterdam/en/covid-19/
This podcast I created for people that have the Corona virus and the meditation is tested and got positive feedback of people that actually went through this and had problems with their lungs and were short of breath. This meditation probably won’t work for everybody but does for many I hope, so I want to share it with you. And if you have feedback, please share it with me so I can improve it. All the best and quick revovery.
If you would like to have this meditation offline, send me a request at roel@meditatie.amsterdam and I will mail it to you. The link to the breathing exercise I mention is this one: https://doorfocusnaarflow.nl/en/practise/. Scroll down until you see ‘Relax Yourself’.
You can also use this meditation for relaxation and if you aren’t ill, or have something else then Corona.
This podcast part of my free Corona toolkit, which you can find at https://meditatie.amsterdam/en/covid-19-2/
In these times I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to have a good functioning immune system. Because if you become ill and how strong the symptoms will be, is influenced by the ‘fitness’ of your immune system. That determines how strong your body is to fight the virus. It is for a reason that mainly the older, sick and weak part of the population, is where it leads for the biggest problems.
The immune system is our natural protection against diseases and viruses. About how the immune system works, if and why it functions well or not and mainly how meditation can help with that, I will dive into in this podcast. Find out how meditation strengthens the functioning of your immune system and helps you against the covid-19 virus.
In the podcast I mention Wim Hof. If you want to know more about him, here you will find what his message is in this time of Corona https://youtu.be/6zgzLdZg31w, and here you will find his guidance to his breathing technique; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ
More about the scientific research about meditation and the immune system, you can find at https://meditatie.amsterdam/en/research/
In this new episode of my meditation evening online, I will go deeper into how beneficial it is to do your meditation practise regarding the challenging times that come in everybodies life. Why it is, as Jon Kabat Zinn said it, important to work on your parachute before you need to open it.
Because it is often more challenging to meditate in restless times and to keep a routine when your daily scedule is different than normal (which probably is the case for a lot of you), of course there also is a guided meditation to help you. Todays meditation will guide you into the presence with what is right now and will go deeper into the effect of meditation and how mindfulness meditation actually works.
The governement emphasises the importance of social distancing and isolation right now and that can be very challenging. We are so used to being externally focused, that being confronted with your inner world, can be all but easy, especially in these times of restlesness.
This episode and guided meditation is aimed to help you with that.
In this time where the COVID-19 virus is affecting our lives and state of mind, I want to contribute with some extra meditations to keep your system optimally calm, fitd and engaged. This episode of my regular meditation evening I recorded at home and want to share openly to anybody that might benefit from it.
I hope it helps you as well and wish you all the best.
There is a lot of info out there about the corona virus and I am not an expert, a medical specialist or scientist. As a meditation trainer I can add something useful to the topic that is covering the worldwide news right now though and hope to help in reducing the chances of having this, or any form of flu-ish diseases at all.
Meditation can not only help by reducing the stress and worries around the whole situation, it can inm opinion actually help to reduce the chance of being infected. If you want to find out how, check out this episode of my podcast!
The meditation in my podcasts are always directed towards the covered topic. This time it aims to calm the mind and body to reduce stress around the topic and to stimulate the immune system to do it’s job most optimally.
In this edition of my weekly meditation evening, we dove into the subject of the probably biggest distraction during your meditation session: thoughts.
What to do with them? Can we stop them? How do we make sure that they don’t ruin our practice?
The answer to these and more questions you will find in this episode, in which I also answer a question about what meditation can do for (social) anxiety. Also you will of course also find a guided meditation again.
No, it is not airy-fairy! 🙂 Of all the different ‘meditation objects’ or things you can focus on during your meditation, one of my favorites is energy. Something that we all work with on a daily basis and can’t see but can experience. Meditation is an ideal way to discover it.
In this episode you will learn how this is all but airy-fairy and energy is very concrete and recognisable. And of course there is a guided meditation that will help you to learn how to meditae on your own energy level and the energy of what is around you. Experience it yourself!
If you rather do this meditation in Dutch, you can find it under audio’s. Of course here is also the English vesion if you want to do it again in the future).
Sounds and noise are one of the hardest things to deal with during your meditation. You can shut your eyes, but not your ears. In this live recording of my weekly meditation evening, I go deeper into how to deal with noise and unwanted sounds during your meditation. You will learn how they can be less of a distraction and even help during your session.
There is of course also a guided meditation that fits to the topic. Also on my website, you can find a meditation directly aimed at meditating under ‘non-quiet’ circumstances. You can find it in English as well as in Dutch.
This is a live recording of one of my workshops and here I go deeper into how meditation fits perfectly in our daily life and modern society and it helps to deal with stress and mental overstimulation. Meditation realy can become your daily mini holiday if you do it right and how that works, you can find out in this episode.
The sound quality is a bit less than I normally want to present my podcasts in because of the room I was in during the talk. Because of the requests, enthusiast reactions and feedback afterwards, I decided to post it for you anyways.
Enjoy!
Are meditation and religion linked? How do they go together? Find out in this episode.
In this live recording of my meditation evening, you will of course also find a guided meditation again.
For more info about meditation and live training, go to https://meditatie.amsterdam/. Here you will also find the info about my weekly meditation evening if you would like to attend it.
Meditation practice is most commonly done on a meditation pillow. It is not restricted to that though. In this episode of my podcast there is a meditation on the bike. Try it yourself!
Do you prefer this meditation in Dutch? Go to my website at https://meditatie.amsterdam/meditatie/audio-meditatie/. You will find the Dutch version here as well.
Enjoy!
Yoga and meditation came to the Western world from Asia. They are close connected in philosophy and goals, but both have a different approach. What the overlap and differences are in my vision, I got into at the workshop I gave for a nice group of people at Sento in Amsterdam at their venue for the international yoga day this year.
As always, there wasn’t just a talk and there was a practical part as well. Enjoy!
In this episode the recording of a workshop I gave about meditation where I cover topics like what meditation is and isn’t, how it helps with the challenges of this time and society, the meditation posture and of course, there is guided meditation as well.
Because it was recorded in a bigger group and different room, the sound quality isn”t what I like to offer normally, but because of the positive reactions afterwards, I turned it into a podcast episode. The workshop suits perfect if you want to get aquianted with meditation or deepen your already existing practice.
The answer to these questions and more you will find in this episode.
Of
course there is also the practice itself so you can experience more
mental calm and freedom straight away by the guided meditation.
