Episode 081: The hardest thing during your meditation session @ weekly meditation evening

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.

Episode 078: What is the advanced step in a meditation practice? @ meditation evening

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/

Episode 73: My top 5 meditation tips and a small workshop

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.

Episode 68: Meditating for peace @ Meditate 4 Ukraine fundraiser

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.

Episode 67: Meditation in bus, tram or train

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/

Episode 48: Can meditation do harm? – with Willoughby Britton, PhD

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! 

Episode 41: Meditation as the best antidote to stress @ weekly meditation evening

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.

Episode 39: The process of letting go through meditation @weekly meditation evening

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!

Episode 34: How meditation can help you in times of Corona @ weekly meditation evening

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.

Episode 30: Meditation in modern society and the corporate world

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.