Individual one on one sessions for experienced and beginner meditators:
The most important aspect to the teacher-student relationship is that the student wants spiritual transformation and that the teacher wants the student to spiritually transform.
Ok, good enough! How does that look like in real life? Well, I enjoy understanding each student and how they personally approach the practice. So, I probe and try to understand. This facilitates a good outcome. When the guidance is tailored to the student the practice itself goes more smoothly and the student’s willingness to apply it is greater as well. These two factors together support transformation.
There is lots of room for Q&A, and recent issues that have come up over the last week in the practice, difficulty integrating insights etc
Issues possibly addressed in sessions:
- Assessment as to what is lacking in your practice and then remedial practices
- Further clarification on skillful means to approaching the path as it relates to your particular life
- It can be lonely on the meditative path, so having someone there who knows the territory and can relate and encourage is often critically important
- It’s easy to fall off the path into a ditch if you don’t have someone to unpack with and redirect you.
- Life Foundations: healthy diet, exercise, sleep, relationships, and livelihood, is assessed and supported.
- Also, some spiritual bypassing is the norm, and it is crucial for intermediate meditators to work through.
More meditation topics suitable for discussion
Here’s a list of material I am comfortable working with meditators:
- How to bring about real transformation
- Working with motivation, procrastination, distractions
- Helpful and supportive attitudes to practice
- How meditation is supported by, and can support, other healthy practices such as exercise, therapy, etc.
- Meditation & Psychological health
- The wide world of psychological healing models and how they do and do not relate to meditation
- Modern spiritual culture and the way it has skewed or distorted images of healthy practice
- Meditation in Theravadin, Mahayana/Zen, and Vajrayana contexts, as well as modern contexts such as Pragmatic Dharma
- Meditation and how it relates to love, kindness, warmth, happiness
- Meditation and death
- Meditation and suffering, of yourself and loved ones and all sentient beings
- Working with mentors, teachers, community, etc
- And anything that you need help with