by Leza Lowitz, Sun and Moon Yoga The Japanese have a word, ikigai (生き甲斐) which means “reason for being.” In Japan, finding one’s reason for being requires a deep, long search for self. This search itself is considered central, as the discovery of one’s ikigai is what brings satisfaction and meaning. Ikigai is a compound of two Japanese words: iki meaning "life, alive" and kai "effect, result, fruit, benefit." So how do we find our ikigai? How do we discover and awaken our gifts? How do we … [Read more...]
Peter Fernando on Illness as a Spiritual Practice {audio}
by Kara-Leah Grant Peter Fernando has been living with chronic illness for almost two decades, including seven years spent as a monk in the Thai Forest tradition. He's seen over 24 different health professionals in different modalities, including both conventional, Tibetan, Chinese, and alternative medicine. At some point though he realised that his experience may not go away and his focus shifted to changing how he was relating to his illness and the pain. His new book Finding Freedom in … [Read more...]
A young man, a desire to meditate, and India circa 1979
By guest author John Guthrie April 1979, Kundabodha, a Meditation hermitage in Sri Lanka. This young man had been travelling for some time. Having already begun to learn the disciplines of Hatha Yoga, he now had a burning desire to learn meditation. In particular Buddhist meditation had an appeal to him. What drugs could not do, then no doubt meditation would succeed. After all, in much of what he had read in those recent times, the authors wrote that the illusory nature of mind … [Read more...]
March 17 – 21: NZ Tour, Meditation for a Joyful Life, Public lectures with Lama Ole Nydahl
. “Meditation for a Joyful Life" - Public lectures with Lama Ole Nydahl, New Zealand Tour It is with great pleasure that we announce Lama Ole Nydahl’s visit to New Zealand. Lama Ole Nydahl is one of the few Westerners fully qualified as a lama and meditation teacher in the Karma Kagyu Buddhist tradition. In 1969, Ole Nydahl and his wife Hannah became the first Western students of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa. After completing three years of Buddhist philosophy studies and intensive … [Read more...]
Treading water on the void – an interview with Zoë Wild
by guest author Peter Fernando, A Month of Mindfulness This interview is part of a one hour conversation I had with Zoë, a former Buddhist nun, in April 2012. You can the rest of her insightful and heartfelt reflections on the Month of Mindfulness blog, here. Peter: You seem to have a fluidity in terms of your relationship to spiritual forms. Looking at your path so far, there seems to be a real sense of an understanding of the transparency of forms, as well as a great respect for them. … [Read more...]
Why Do I Meditate?
by guest author Peter Fernando, Meditation and Mindfulness I've got to be honest with you. The desire to be a well adjusted person wasn't really what motivated me to commit to meditation practice. I remember once, when I was about thirteen, riding my bike home from school down the main street of Whanganui. It was a normal day, nothing spectacular going on. The usual concerns going around in my mind; 'I wonder if such-and-such a girl likes me...' 'Maybe I will become a rock star … [Read more...]
Walking the Path with Peter Fernando, The Meditation Guy
Born? Scotland Grew up? Wanganui Wanted to be? An Artist Social clique at school? Didn't really have any 'clique' I belonged to. I've never really felt like I belonged to anything exclusively. Hardest thing about being a teenager? Testosterone :) Greatest disappointment hitting adulthood? ... Greatest challenge or hardship to date? Monastic life during my twenties, and the challenges that brought up. In that environment I met, for the first time, the rawness of the heart and … [Read more...]