From short guided meditations to week-long retreats, there is something here for everyone regardless of experience!
This Losar season, we’ve compiled a list of six resources to help you deepen your meditation practice in the coming months—especially if your Western New Year’s resolutions have faltered! We’ve also included at least one free guided meditation under each recommendation, which gives a little taste of what you’ll learn.
If you’re looking for a robust introductory course on genuine well-being and shamatha, this free retreat is for you! Held at the Vajrayana Institute in Sydney, Australia in 2019, this retreat includes a thorough explanation of shamatha over seven days of teachings and guided meditations. With over 90,000 views on YouTube, it’s a proven resource for those looking to grow their understanding and experience of what shamatha meditation has to offer.
We recommend this retreat for enthusiastic newcomers and yearslong practitioners who want to learn more about the theory and benefits of shamatha. You can access the audio recordings via Internet Archive, or watch the video via YouTube (though please be aware, there are some audio glitches in the videos). The link below will take you straight to the guided meditation in the first session.
Guided meditation: Settling body, speech, and mind in their natural states (24 mins)
A hidden gem of the CCR’s offerings. In this series of five talks, CCR resident teacher Doug Veenhof gives a taste of four different methods of shamatha meditation: mindfulness of breathing, taking the mind as the path, awareness of awareness, and the Dzogchen approach of mindfulness of breathing. We recommend this series for absolute beginners who want to learn the basics of shamatha meditation, and for seasoned practitioners who haven’t listened to a guided meditation in a while and may benefit from a refresher. The series is available via this YouTube playlist.
Guided meditations: Shamatha samples: Mindfulness of Breathing (13 mins) | Dzogchen Approach to Mindfulness of Breathing (17 mins) | Awareness of Awareness (12 mins) | Taking the Mind as the Path (14 mins)
The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind provides much of the guidance presented in “The Way of Shamatha” retreat in book form. Written with a secular audience in mind, this is a helpful handbook for both beginning and advanced meditators. The guidance in this book shares the essence of practices our long-term retreatants prioritize here at Miyo Samten Ling Hermitage in Crestone, Colorado, and offers a path to mental stability that does not involve commitment to any religious beliefs.
Guided Meditation: Mindfulness of breathing (plus guidance on posture) (27 mins)
The Four Immeasurables: Practices to Open the Heart is a powerful introduction to loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and impartiality, which, like shamatha, are are broadly compatible with a variety of spiritual paths. The Four Immeasurables not only open the heart, but also help to stabilize the mind as one endeavors to deepen a shamatha practice. Seasoned with personal anecdotes and practical applications, this book is a helpful companion for those whose practice feels dry or disconnected from the world.
Guided Meditations: Loving-Kindness with Dr. B. Alan Wallace (25 mins) | Discovering Loving-Kindness via the Fourfold Vision Quest (23 mins)
As you may know, H.H. the XIV Dalai Lama blessed the mission of the CCR at its inception. Taking the Dalai Lama’s guidance on inter-contemplative teaching and practice to heart, Dr. Wallace and Dr. Natanya devised the Fathom the Mind. Heal the World. retreat, held in Crestone in 2022. This retreat features contemplative teachings from the Indian Samkhya tradition, Buddhism, and Christianity. The teachings on this retreat are both scholarly and practical, and we recommend it to those who already have some footing in at least one of the featured traditions. We invite you to listen to Dr. Natanya’s guided visualization from the retreat, grounded in the Christian tradition, and linked below.
Guided meditation: Under the Fig Tree: Meeting Christ Without and Within (27 mins)
One of our most popular Ghatika Monthly sessions deals with a challenge many of us face: motivation for meditation practice. In her talk “Motivation Supernova,” Dr. Eva Natanya leverages modern psychology and ancient contemplative wisdom to help us cultivate a sustainable form of motivation—one that is authentic to our hearts here and now, and yet tangibly connects us with a future version of ourselves that is more compassionate and capable in serving others. If you find it difficult to make contemplative practice a habit, we highly recommend this teaching!
Guided meditation: Motivation Supernova (27 mins)
The CCR’s Seeds of Wisdom Library has a wide range of offerings—from full college courses given by Dr. Wallace on science and meditation to in-depth guidance for those aspiring for (or already in) long-term retreat. There’s something here for every curious mind, especially for those seeking harmony between the seemingly disparate streams of science, religion, and philosophy. You can join the Seeds of Wisdom Giving Circle here. And remember, if your financial circumstances prevent you from making the minimum suggested donation, please apply for financial assistance on the signup page!
Watch a sample teaching: “The one thing you have in common with all the Buddhas”
