• Super agreed with Matthew. One of the Dharma Treasure teachers here in Tucson gave me this great advice last week, which is “mindfulness works except when it doesn’t.”

    I conducted a study maybe 5 years ago on meditation practice and negative emotion, expecting to see a negative correlation. Actually, what the study found is that when people…[Read more]

  • Hi everyone,

    I’m Tucker, a meditation teacher in Culadasa’s lineage. I’ve gotten to know many of you through eSangha, the weekly advanced meditation class I teach on Google Hangout video chat.

    I wanted to invite anyone who is interested to join a six-week eSangha introductory meditation course, based on the philosophy of The Mind Illuminated.…[Read more]

  • Hi Kurt,

    I oddly did a psychology PhD on the topic of sleep and meditation. The word “Buddha” means someone who is awake, and the neuroscience on the topic seems to show that this is not a metaphor. Meditation literally makes the brain (and the mind) more awake 24 hours a day, meaning meditative experiences in sleep and lucid dreaming both…[Read more]

  • I was trying to be vigilant not to take too long to respond to your thread, but I didn’t get an email that you had replied. Alas …

    I think the intention behind Culadasa’s paragraph (and maybe he’s reading this and can correct me if I’m wrong) is to create a balanced approach to PSD. On one hand, we do want to try to overcome it if we can. On…[Read more]

  • I’m sorry Jacques! I just saw I never responded.

    I’m not entirely sure I understand the question. So let me give a stab at an answer, and if it’s not what you were looking for, let me know (and I’ll respond this time, promise!).

    Progressive subtle dullness (PSD) will both on a practical and definitional level prevent you from attaining Stage…[Read more]

  • Hey Jacques,

    As regards dullness, I’ve found sometimes it’s possible to overcome it by applying the antidotes or practicing things like mindfulness, patience, etc. But if I haven’t been sleeping well, have a cold, etc., I sometimes find I can’t overcome it. What I try in these cases is mindfulness of dullness. My students have often seen…[Read more]

  • Hi Chris,

    My name is Tucker, I’m a dharma teacher trained by Culadasa. I teach a weekly Sangha over Google Hangout, a group video chat forum, in the style of Culadasa’s teachings. It meets Tuesdays from 5:30 […]

  • Involuntary body movements are a not-much-discussed but quite normal part of meditative progress. It is related to prana/chi/inner winds, and it’s a little hard to talk about, because it requires adopting a […]

  • That’s right, Oleg. Essentially, you’re learning a new skill, so in one sense, you are starting from scratch. You should expect not to be as proficient at it and should expect more mind wandering.

    Another […]

  • Hi Oleg, my name is Tucker. I’m a meditation teacher studying with Culadasa. We talked about your question this morning and he suggested that I respond, because I had the same problem about 7 years ago.

    I […]