Dr. Charles T. Tart on August 28th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 12 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: You’re getting at the balance between an experience that is being relatively directly created by what’s actually happening at the moment, and starting to superimpose concepts of what should be happening [...]

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Dr. Charles T. Tart on August 24th, 2010

I am fortunate to have Shinzen Young as both friend and meditation “coach,” as I think he’s one of the best meditation teachers around, as well as a great guy. You can get info on the way he’s adapted traditional meditation teachings to work better for us moderns at his websites and numerous teaching videos [...]

Continue reading about Progress in Meditation?

Dr. Charles T. Tart on August 20th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 11 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. Student: Recently I’ve been feeling like I can be in that sort of peaceful place, but when I’m there, I can’t get out of it. Like I miss the state of being [...]

Continue reading about Effortless effort, or, “But I feel too good to do homework!”

Dr. Charles T. Tart on July 25th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 8 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. Student: You can only handle as much pleasure as you can pain. CTT: Sounds like a cool idea. I have no idea whether it’s true. Student: But I mean, it seems like [...]

Continue reading about Gurdjieff I

Dr. Charles T. Tart on July 18th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 7 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: Now this point you bring up about state of being is really a very important one, and it’s very hard to talk about adequately. We can talk about, say, personality. We [...]

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Dr. Charles T. Tart on July 17th, 2010

For several years I’ve been a member of an organization of “spiritual leaders” devoted to the question of developing a trans-traditional spirituality that would be more suitable to our time. Why me? I’m not a “spiritual leader,” but I think I’m their token scientist with a clear interest in spirituality. A serious question was asked [...]

Continue reading about Mindfulness: Can We Live in the Present?

Dr. Charles T. Tart on June 20th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 5 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. Student: I don’t want to be too much in my head, but what came up for me while you were talking was the difference between knowledge and being. For me, the words [...]

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Dr. Charles T. Tart on May 30th, 2010

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 2 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: How was that for you? Any interesting reports? You look happy. Student: Yeah. I feel good. I feel present in my body. CTT: Good. Student: I noticed that when I was [...]

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Dr. Charles T. Tart on May 21st, 2010

Something that’s been on my mind off and on for years, so I’m sending this question about it to Shinzen Young, a fabulous meditation teacher…. Just left you a phone message.  To preview what’s puzzling me – I’m a writer, and it helps me to get things out on paper – it’s the idea I’ve [...]

Continue reading about Emptiness and Compassion

Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 4, Part 1 of 17 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: A couple classes ago, I talked about an aspect of meditation practice, or spiritual practice in general, that I don’t usually talk about because it felt more personal; and yet it [...]

Continue reading about Setting the stage for the first meditation, and the Power of Partnership