School of Meditation Weekly Teachings

Weekly Teachings 17/07/2011

Quotes about the Mantra in the Eastern and Western Tradition of Christianity

“The mind should unceasingly cling to the mantra until strengthened by continual use of it, it casts off and rejects the rich and ample matter of all kinds of thought and restricts itself to the poverty of the single verse.

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Weekly Teachings 10/07/2011

The problem of distractions

"I want now to address a particular question that we all encounter. It is the question of distractions. What should you do when you begin to meditate and distracting thoughts come into your mind? The advice that the tradition has to give us is to ignore the distractions and to say your word and to keep on saying your word. 

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Weekly Teachings 03/07/2011

The Journey of meditation (2)

Last week we talked about what may happen to us on our journey of meditation. We begin with enthusiasm, our commitment to the daily practice grows, but in time we inevitably meet with the ‘demon of acedia’. We start feeling bored and restless; we feel as if we enter the desert.

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Weekly Teachings 26/06/2011

The journey of meditation

The journey of meditation is in John Main’s words essentially “a pilgrimage to our own heart”, the most sacred place, where Christ dwells. Meditation is discovering “the life of the Spirit of Jesus within our human heart.” 

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Weekly Teachings 19/06/2011

Can I change my mantra?

In Christianity praying by repeating a set phrase or phrases has been a very well -established practice throughout the ages, just think of the ‘Our Father’, the ‘Hail Mary’, ‘Glory be’, and the ‘Jesus Prayer’ in the Orthodox tradition.

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Weekly Teachings 12/06/2011

The fruits of meditation

In our mind we often restrict the aim and purpose of meditation to a way of relaxing our surface self and dealing with our stressful lives. The focussed attention on our prayer word, our mantra does indeed do exactly that. And that is good too! Read more »

Weekly Teachings 05/06/2011

Do we ever stop saying the Mantra?

This is an important question any meditator or group leader will be asked. Often we start feeling so relaxed after saying the mantra for a while, that the mantra may seem an interruption in the peace and quiet we are experiencing. 

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Weekly Teachings 29/05/2011

Sample Talks introducing meditation to a mainly Christian audience (Part Two)

The following are suggestions for talks for weekly groups. The following points will be food for a series of talks. Restrict your introduction to 15 minutes at the most at your weekly group meeting.

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Weekly Teachings 22/05/2011

What makes our meditation Christian?

Sample Talks introducing meditation to a mainly Christian audience (Part Two)

The following are suggestions for talks for weekly groups. The following points will be food for a series of talks. Restrict your introduction to 15 minutes at the most at your weekly group meeting.

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Weekly Teachings 15/05/2011

What makes our meditation Christian?

The discipline of Meditation is to be found in one form or other in all the major World Religions. In all it is a way of attention, a way of focusing the mind in a one-pointed way. It is a way of clearing the mind of all surface thoughts, so that only the sacred phrase or image or sound is upper most in our consciousness and will lead us beyond the material world into the Divine Reality, whatever name we give to that.

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