There is an increasing amount of attention being paid to the risks of meditation, a practice that – through its mainstreaming – has wholly been associated with calmness and mental health benefits. However, a growing body of research and first-person accounts are revealing that mindfulness meditation – particularly when it’s intensive and prolonged, as on…
View Post
Meditation has been seen by many as one of the best ways to manage stress and various mental health issues. However, there are often darker sides to meditation that we don’t always see (the topic is overshadowed by talk of meditation’s benefits, but the negatives are increasingly being covered, such as in some illuminating articles…
View Post
Mandalas are intricate designs and symbols that are drawn in geometric forms (mandala is Sanskrit for “circle”). They originated in India, and are pervasive in Buddhist culture – particularly Tibetan Buddhism – as a way to represent the universe, deities, or certain realms. They are a form of spiritual artwork used across the world as…
View Post
One of the most interesting aspects of psychedelics is how the experience ties into philosophy. I am especially drawn to the notion that they can attract one to – or concretise – certain philosophical ideas, theories, and systems. For example, in The Subjective Effects of Nitrous Oxide (1882), the psychologist William James wrote how the…
View Post
There are many obstacles and pitfalls when it comes to engaging in a daily practice of meditation, and one that I’ve noticed being a persistent one recently is when meditation feels like a chore, one more item on the task checklist to cross off and get out of the way. But meditation shouldn’t be a…
View Post