Online Sangha Video Archive

In this session, the group shared personal updates and reflections on meditation practices, exploring various techniques and experiences while discussing the importance of adapting practices to individual needs and conditions. The conversation concluded with discussions about natural phenomena, spiritual practices, and mindfulness teachings, including guided meditations and a dedication prayer.

In this session, geshe discusses Tibetan Buddhist practices, particularly focusing on meditation and impermanence. The group explored concepts including Rigpa, Kalachakra Tantra, and the energy of life (Laguk), with explanations provided by Geshe about these buddhist tantric and practices. The conversation ended with a guided meditation session led by Michael, which included practices around impermanence, concentration, and bodhicitta, followed by a group chanting session.

In this session, the group engaged in a comprehensive discussion about Buddhist practices and concepts, including suffering, meditation, and the nature of Dharma, with participants sharing personal experiences and perspectives. They explored various aspects of emotional processing and mindfulness, discussing how different approaches like therapy and meditation can address emotional pain and develop awareness.

This session’s main focus is on meditation and mindfulness practices, with Geshe providing teachings on the nature of mind, Guru Yoga, and the importance of understanding one's true nature.

The meeting opened with an opening prayer and discussion about presence and connection in spiritual practice, followed by teachings on consciousness growth and the three pillars of life. The group explored various meditation practices and techniques, including discussions about body tension, telepathy, and intuitive connections. The conversation ended with a guided meditation and dedication prayer, emphasising the importance of consistent and quality practice in spiritual development.

Participants shared spiritual challenges while discussing mindfulness for balance. Geshe taught on mindfulness, reality, and heart-mind, focusing on practical applications. The group explored meditation practices, dark retreats, and the mental body concept. The session concluded with guidance on managing uncertainty and future planning.

Participants shared their personal meditation experiences, including techniques for managing physical pain through movement and breath-work. The group discussed the challenges of embodying Buddhist teachings like loving-kindness and patience, noting the difference between intellectual understanding and direct experience. Meditation approaches were mentioned, including the Nine Realm Breath, preliminary exercises, and establishing a consistent practice routine to maintain focus and awareness.

In this session, the group explores paradox, ethics, embodiment, and action without attachment. Discussions include burnout, prosocial motivation, kundalini experiences, and how embodied insight emerges beyond theory.

Geshe-la discusses lojong as preliminary training, the role of trust and compassion, and phowa practice as both death preparation and long-life method. The group reflects on forgiveness, encouragement, and self-trust. The session ends with guided meditation and dedication prayers.

Geshe-la explains how sensitivity transforms into wisdom, the signs of genuine Dharma, and the role of trust and determination in practice. He introduces dream yoga and advanced methods while stressing natural mind recognition as essential. After Geshe-la departs, the group continues with a reading on the natural state and a guided meditation.

Retreat logistics are discussed, including prerequisites and scheduling. Geshe-la answers questions on trauma, awakening, and Dzogchen view, emphasising ethics, concentration, wisdom, and trust. The session concludes with reflections on community, non-dual awareness, and a closing meditation led by a group member.

Geshe-la discusses “uniting the three spheres,” the eight auspicious symbols, and the importance of compassion in practice. He addresses karmic tendencies, the role of sangha, and variability in meditation experiences. The session closes with a guided meditation visualising maternal lineage and teachers offering support and compassion.

Geshe-la responds to questions on choice and surrender, sharing personal stories of becoming a monk. He explains the difference between healthy surrender and forced choice. The session explores symbolic meaning of the eight auspicious symbols, guidance on phowa visualisation and life force, and concludes with dedication and a guided meditation.

Group discussion begins with questions on the opening prayer and body tension before meditation. Members share grounding methods and experiences integrating practice into daily life and workplaces. Session includes reflections on prayer melodies, translation of verses, playback of chants, and concludes with meditation and dedication prayers.

This session includes a reflection on resistance, survival strategies, and subtle effort in practice. Geshe-la encourages staying present with discomfort without trying to fix or escape it, emphasising trust, receptivity, and the natural unfolding of awareness beyond conceptual identity.

Geshe-la discusses signs of progress in consciousness transference practice, the difference between death dissolution and phowa, and the stages of preparation needed for the upcoming Phowa retreat in Nepal. The group also explores levels of yogic realisation, supporting the dying, and logistics for travel to Nepal.

Geshé-la offers detailed guidance on Phowa, preparations for the upcoming retreat in Mustang, Nepal and the ripening of the mind through preliminary practices. He explains subtle body dynamics, emotional purification, and the stable heart as the ground of real trust. The session ends with a short meditation on impermanence and taking refuge.

Geshé-la explores how fear and insecurity arise from not understanding the nature of our mind, emphasising personal dharma as the most vital tool for transformation. The session covers meditative experience, subtle perception, and the limits of language before concluding with a guided meditation on warmth, awareness, and spaciousness.

Geshé-la shares how guru yoga transforms conceptual mind, cultivates devotion, and matures trust in the natural state. He explores fear, striving, and integrating the view into daily life, emphasising simplicity, openness, and the heart’s role in sustaining recognition.

Geshe speaks of the funeral proceeding for His Eminence Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche who recently passed which becomes the occasion for a wide-ranging reflection on the dying process, Phowa, Thukdam, signs of yogic realisation, and the power of post-death connection. Geshé-la responds to questions on lineage, ancestors, and interfaith, and a meditation on the stages of dissolution closes the session.

Geshé-la responds to questions on the progression from concentration to emptiness in Bön. He describes key distinctions between Sutra, Mahāmudrā, and Dzogchen, explains the nature of projection and reactivity, and guides the group in recognizing awareness without interference, striving, or fabrication.

Geshé-la responds to questions on the Three Buddha Bodies, rebirth, and how to support the dying and the dead. He gives clear instructions on mental offerings, avoiding craving, and dedicating merit. The group also discusses hallucination near death, ethical use of power, and how to let go with awareness during transitions of life and death.

Practitioners discuss quieter mental chatter from regular Shamatha (concentration) practice and explore how posture—chairs or cushions, hip-knee alignment, and hand placement—affects steadiness. There is discussion on how to return attention when the mind drifts where Geshe notes bringing focus back to the chosen object or resting awareness. A brief discussion of tummo clarifies it follows only after concentration is stable.

This session explores how to remain in awareness in the face of distraction, agitation or emotional discomfort. The group discusses subtle identity, spiritual bypassing, and what it means to meet experience without getting caught in distraction and losing the view. The discussion reflects ATRI Session Six, Seven & Eight with emphasis on natural awareness and direct experience along with deepening concentration.

This session follows a 7-day retreat on the Nine stages of staying using Asangha’s Elephant Path and focuses on integrating concentration into ongoing practice. Participants reflect on the foundational role of stabilising attention as preparation for insight, the connection to view, and the relevance of structured practice when approaching emptiness teachings.

This session revisits the theme of concentration and explores the challenges of sustaining it. Topics include distraction, subtle avoidance, and the tendency to favour spacious practices over disciplined focus. Reflections include how resistance shows up, how effort is understood, and how concentration relates to stability in meditation.

This session is structured around live dialogue and practitioner-led inquiry. Topics include resistance to meditation, fear of regression, and how to interpret changes in motivation and clarity. The discussion moves through various perspectives on effort, self-doubt, and the nature of genuine progress in practice and how preliminary practices support inner transformation.

This session discusses yogic conduct and the continuity of awareness beyond formal meditation. The group explores how post-meditation practice functions in everyday life, and how presence can be maintained in action and speech. Teachings are shared on embodiment, conduct as expression, and how internal practice shapes outer behaviour.

This session offers reflections in preparation for a concentration retreat, with discussion of the Eight Consciousnesses and how subtle activity in the mind-stream shapes meditation. The group explore stability, attention, and how psychological habits influence awareness. The session supports foundational understanding aligned with ATRI Session Five.

This live Q&A session explores the role of different meditation styles in supporting emotional regulation. The group discusses how concentration practices impact reactivity, and whether they are suitable for states of freezing or collapse. The conversation clarifies distinctions between structured and open methods, reflecting ATRI Sessions Five and Six…

This session explores the function and sequencing of preliminary practices in the ATRI structure. The group discusses how texts like the Threefold Embodiment and ATRI treat Preliminary Practices with particular focus on mandala offering and receiving blessings. Themes include accumulation, aspiration, gift waves of influence and how lineage transmission supports depth in practice.

This session explores the nature of mind through the lens of clarity, movement, and perception. The group discusses how subtle forms of grasping and unconscious patterning obscure awareness, and how the view in Dzogchen relates to immediate experience. Themes include the language of Western and Tibetan approaches and the role of direct inquiry…

This session focuses on preparation for the upcoming retreat, including reflections on motivation, capacity, and readiness. The group discusses balancing spiritual aspiration with personal limitations, and how to assess whether conditions feel supportive. Attention is given to common hesitations and the importance of clarifying intention and alignment.

This session explores how uncertainty and hesitation arise when future decisions feel unclear. The group discusses resistance to planning, difficulty initiating action, and the tendency to doubt timing or direction. Attention is given to how inner conflict and pressure affect clarity, and how to relate to periods of pause within both life and practice.

This session explores the Dzogchen view that appearances and mind are inseparable. Using the phrase “vision is mind,” the group discusses how perception can be used to recognise the nature of awareness. The conversation covers conceptual vs. direct experience, integration into daily life, and stabilising recognition beyond intellectual insight.

This session explores foundational practices through the lens of symbolic offering, trust, and refuge. Topics include the meaning and function of the mandala offering, the emotional orientation of Bodhicitta, and how these elements support purification and alignment. The conversation reflects early stages of the path as laid out in ATRI Sessions Two and Three.

This session outlines the year’s structure and introduces the upcoming retreat focused on concentration. The group discusses the role of the Elephant Path as a framework for stabilising attention, and the importance of strengthening foundational practice before moving into insight. Reflections also cover the relevance of preliminaries and the value of consistent preparation.

This session explores traditional Bön perspectives on death, dying, and post-death ritual. The group discusses organ donation, signs of death, and the treatment of the body post-death in both ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. The latter part of the session shifts to cosmology and how Bön teachings compare with other traditional and scientific views of progression, followed by brief questions on concentration practice and inner fire (tummo).