Mingyur Rinpoche – BHNN Guest Podcast – Ep. 82 – The Neuroscience of Meditation

Mingyur Rinpoche returns for a dharma talk illuminating the neuroscience of meditation and the joy of the present moment.

Born in 1975, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a much-loved and accomplished Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher. From a young age, he was drawn to a life of contemplation. In addition to extensive training in the meditative and philosophical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche has maintained a lifelong interest in Western science and psychology. Rinpoche currently teaches throughout the world, with centers on four continents. His candid and often humorous accounts of his own personal difficulties have endeared him to Buddhist and non-Buddhist students alike. Learn more about Rinpoche and find his worldwide teaching schedule at tergar.org.

Guided Meditation: Mind, Body, Sound, Space, Awareness

In this 2010 dharma talk hosted at Spirit Rock, meditation teacher, Guy Armstrong, introduces Tibetan Buddhist master, Mingyur Rinpoche, shedding light on Mingyur’s magnetizing early path to monkhood, before handing the stage over for a sermon elucidating the neuroscience of meditation and joy of the present moment. On the precipice of a three-year retreat, Mingyur begins the session by leading an audience-prescribed guided meditation and subsequent explanation of the effortless awareness practice joining mind and body.

“Mind and body come together. When I was young, my father used to tell me that: Let your body on the cushion, and let your mind in the body.” – Mingyur Rinpoche

Mingyur shares his transformative story with Raghu and Krishna Das, on Ep. 289 of Mindrollling

Fighting Difficult Emotions: Panic As Support for Meditation (17:48)

Offering insight into his journey to Buddhism by sharing about a panic-stricken experience at a three-year meditation retreat, Rinpoche relays how he was able to work past his panic by using it as support for his meditation – relating to it as a teacher and a friend, rather than pushing against it as an outside enemy. The same technique can be used with any difficult emotion we may be facing in the grips of the monkey mind.

“I used my panic as support for my meditation, and after three days, my panic was gone. I learned a lot from my panic. My panic was one of my best teachers and best friends.” – Mingyur Rinpoche

Mingyur Rinpoche explores meditation, open awareness, and overcoming the monkey mind, on Ep. 73 of the BHNN Guest Podcast

The Neuroscience of Meditation: Pliability & Freedom of Mind (29:48)

Perforated with hilarious and playful crowd interactions, Mingyur shares his story of working alongside neuroscientists to study his meditative brain, the mind of a Tibetan Rinpoche.

“One of the goals of meditation is that your mind becomes pliable and workable – that’s what we call freedom of mind.” – Mingyur Rinpoche

Ram Dass, Raghu, & Daniel Goleman speak to the discoveries learned through Mingyur’s studies, on Ep. 122 of Here & Now

Joy of the Present: Open Awareness Guided Meditation (48:01)

Mingyur ends the episode by offering direct instructions for open awareness meditation.

“For this, don’t meditate. If you know how to meditate, just let go.” – Mingyur Rinpoche

     

Photo via tergar.org