Despite many attempts, Samantha felt she couldn’t meditate. A Meditation Teacher finally helped her overcome those initial obstacles.
She was now able to meditate, yay! However, no matter how hard she tried, or how long she sat, the practice didn’t move in the right direction. The results were patchy and any progress was short-lived. As she tried to implement the instructions, her meditations fell apart. A super-distracted mind interrupted her practice. Headaches and anxiety started to invade her meditations. She thought, “Obviously, meditation isn’t working for me.”
A friend asked Samantha to go to a Mind Body Spirit fair, where she found a talk on “What is Meditation?”. During the talk, she asked me about her specific situation. Although I was only able to give general answers within the talk, I introduced her to concepts she’d not come across.
Samantha registered for my week-long (silent) retreat*. Here, she learned to let go of all the things she did to make meditation a stressful activity. Learning how to create an internal environment for the results she wants is a limitless treasure she will enjoy for the rest of her life.
* In the context of meditation, a retreat is not running away. You may have heard of a Writer’s Retreat. A writer goes to a conducive environment so they may focus solely on their craft, without distraction. That’s what we do on a meditation retreat. You set boundaries (avoid distraction) to help you get the most from immersing yourself in specific practices.
On retreats, I take people back to the basics and help them rebuild their practice with a new framework of concepts, tools and principles. This is what Emma said after the Heal With Bliss retreat:
“I’ve been meditating for years. A monk asked me to lead and teach meditation. Yet, during Colin’s retreat I felt as if I was learning to meditate for the very first time.”
~ Emma Berry, Artist/Maker (e.g.: she makes museum-quality artefacts)
The new framework didn’t make their previous learning redundant. Instead, it helped them put everything in its correct place. I’m sure some of this understanding for Emma, came from the explanations derived from my experience. Maybe my conversations were more accessible than couching everything in the language of a tradition. One of the reasons I’m writing this book is to dispel the confusion I see about meditation.
In 1998, I began my journey into meditation. After my initial fumbling, almost every sentence from the monks and nuns seemed to reveal hidden perspectives. These nuggets of understanding gave way to finding gems of knowledge as I dug deep into the practice. The insights I gleaned during several 3-12 month meditation retreats eventually unearthed the secret codes in 2020.
By the time you complete PART TWO, The Seven Principles of Meditation, you’ll possess a whole new level of understanding. The seven principles are truly, secret codes to transform all your future meditations.
In 2001, having reached a level of mastery via retreats with the guidance of a venerable Tibetan monk. Suddenly, while in a stressful job, panic attacks engulfed me and the Doctor diagnosed me with stress and anxiety. My mind became very pedantic, pessimistic, and sceptical of everything –– including meditation.
During that time, I found it almost impossible to do formal meditation. I was thrown into a snake-infested pit of despair. The peaks previously visited vaporised into dreams of a former life.
I began exploring meditation again from the ground up. By the time I decided I knew enough to teach meditation, another decade had gone by. Several 3-12 month retreats in solitary and silence were a part of that journey to feeling capable to teach. I created the course, Meditation: ABC.
Samantha, Emma, and others encouraged me to set up a course so people could become Meditation Teachers. Yet, I felt like an imposter. A charity asked me to facilitate their anxiety group, but a Mindfulness Teacher told them, “Colin is not qualified!”
Thankfully, the charity had confidence in my ability. They put me on the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR, not the teacher certification course). Maybe there was something I could learn? I realised why I saw people who had done the MBSR but still believed they were unable to meditate. That is, until taught by me.
The MBSR framework is useful and works for many people, but it lacked certain elements I had been introducing to the anxiety group. Elements that can make a huge impact to your practice. I’ve come a long way since my initial courses that were a six week introduction to meditation.
Recognising the blessing of having useful insights to share I set up a new course: teaching highly skilled, experienced meditators how to become Meditation Teachers. For me, it then became crucial to be able to articulate the foundations of meditation. Out of that three year search, and another 3-month retreat (with the guidance of a Lama and the blessings of a Rinpoche), I uncovered the 7 Secret Codes.
The seven secret codes are the principles that take your practice to the next level. They are a guide for what is and is not meditation. They are also the reason why meditation can give you all the benefits attributed to it.
With the seven secret codes, your meditation becomes a space-capsule. You are motivated to dive into your inner-space using the capsule of meditation because of the undeniable treasures awaiting you. Undeniable, because you experience the truth of your essence.
With this book, you are guaranteed to find new ways of experiencing meditation. New concepts that encourage you to let go, and feel the fullness of your being.
If you’re completely new to meditation, buy this book so you can assess the teachings you receive. You will also bypass the pitfalls that so many meditators fall into after their initial enthusiasm. It’s the ultimate guide to get you started.
Graduates of the Meditation Teacher College are using this book as a manual for guiding their students. You know meditation works, now let’s make it work for you –– with or without a teacher.