Our passion for tea and inspiring conversations gathered us again for another open and heartening talk… This time we a having a TEA TALK with Karuna Priy, who is behind the Mindfulness Meditation & Yoga Retreat in beautiful Algarve, Portugal.
Meet Karuna, who has in recent years devoted his time and helped busy Londoners manage stress to achieve inner peace & contentment. At the age of 8, he became a monk and was given the opportunity to live in the monasteries for over 15 years. During this time Karuna was able to truly develop his understanding and practice of Mindfulness Meditation & human psychology.
Meet Karuna, who has in recent years devoted his time and helped busy Londoners manage stress to achieve inner peace & contentment. At the age of 8, he became a monk and was given the opportunity to live in the monasteries for over 15 years. During this time Karuna was able to truly develop his understanding and practice of Mindfulness Meditation & human psychology.
How and when did you first become interested in meditation?
I encountered meditation when I became a Buddhist monk at the age of 8. I suddenly became ill and was in a state of coma for couple of weeks. Doctors in my home town in Bangladesh thought that I won’t be able to survive. But I woke up and started to get well. My parents thought that it was a miracle to be alive. In gratitude they put me in the monastery for a month first. However that went on 15 years.I had a chance to go and study Buddhism and meditation under a Buddhist monk Professor Dhammajoti in Sri Lanka. After about 5 years with him, I had another chance to go to Thailand to study my 5 years degree in Buddhist Philosophy. I went on various meditation retreats studying with many teachers from all parts of Asia.
Tell us about your meditation practice – do you practice every day and for how long?
I meditate at least once a day for about 20-40 minutes and sometime longer. I try to meditate early in the morning when things are still quiet. If I need to rush then I do it in the evening before going to bed. I teach meditation almost every day of the week, so I get to meditate for another 1 to 2 hours with fellow meditators too.
There are two meditations that I do. First meditation is called ‘calm-abiding’ meditation (Samatha). This includes exercises like focusing on the breath, counting the breath, focusing my mind on a single object or thought. I do visualisation practices (an inspiration figure or colours). This helps me to expand my mind a lot and increase creativity. I also do a lot of loving-kindness meditation (compassion). When I am frustrated, I focus on my being gentle and kind to myself. When I am frustrated with others, I loosen up a bit, let go of the judgments and try to see their point of view. In that way, I can be more accepting and forgiving.
Second meditation is called ‘insight’ meditation (Vipassana. Mindfulness meditation comes from the original Insight meditation tradition. This includes the ingredients of calm-abiding, but it goes beyond just focusing or concentrating. It recollects, investigates, becomes aware of judgments, and releases the unwanted thoughts and feelings. Insight (Vipassana) means seeing clearly, to be able to see clearly of our own state of mind, how it changes moment to moment and letting go of inhibitions that trap us. What would you recommend to people who would like to start meditating?
Take it easy. Meditation is a gradual process. We live in a very fast paced environment and culture of quick fixes and instant gratification. Meditation is not going to fix each and every problem, but it will surely help you reduce stress and anxiety about the future. Mediation can help you declutter your busy mind, simplify your thought process and give you time to relax and heal.
To way to succeed in meditation is to take step by step and chunk by chunk. Take 10 minutes a day to sit down and breathe. Organise your calendar. Put reminders two times a day to pause and breathe. You can also integrate in your daily life, such as while walking, simply walking. If you are driving, simply be mindful that you are driving rather than getting anxious about getting to the destination. If you are eating, simply enjoy eating.
Do not rush for result, but approach meditation as meditation. It means giving your head some time and space to connect, rejuvenate and let go of preoccupations. It can be a great tool.Reading a book on meditation or mindfulness can definitely be helpful. However, I would highly recommend people to do a meditation course. It is important to lay the foundation first. A teacher can guide you to the right direction. I also found out that attending a second course can also be a great way to deepen one’s practice. Other alternative is attending a meditation retreat away from the hustle and bustle of busy life. It can be a great way to learn meditation and also have some time off from daily routine.
Starting meditation is like training a wild horse. In the beginning, the mind will be all over the place like the horse. The horse is a majestic animal and it can do great things when it is trained properly. Otherwise it can harm others, destroy plants and become uncontrollable. In the same way, the mind is a powerful thing, but if it is not trained and tamed, it can cause suffering to oneself and others. Taming the mind can be useful to do what you want to do and achieve, but it requires training, patience and persistence.
What is mindfulness to you? Do you integrate mindfulness in your daily life, if yes - how?
Mindfulness is a heightened awareness and the quality of paying in the present moment. Often we live on autopilot, day-dreaming or caught up in planning. For example, when you leave home and get to work, do you ever feel like ‘how did I get here?’ You may be driving to a place; you had no idea how you got there. That is called mind wandering and mindlessness. The modern definition of Mindfulness is ‘paying attention in the moment as it is without judgement and on purpose.’ It is something everybody has it built in, but with different degrees. When developed it can be a great tool for our health and wellbeing.
Mindfulness originates from the Buddhist meditative tradition. It has been refined and practised for many centuries.
The modern version of Mindfulness has been developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and Dr. Mark Williams that include a secular language and in medical context. Their research has shown that Mindfulness can reduce stress, pain, anxiety, depression and enhances sleep, performance, creativity and social skills.
Meditation has been a daily routine for me for the last 25 years. At first when I was quite young I used to fall asleep while meditating. My teachers however were very kind and helpful. Then as I started to grow up, I saw the benefits of meditating. I noticed that I felt a lot calmer. My thoughts were a lot clearer. I didn’t get angry as much as my other lay friends. There was also inner peace and simplicity about my view about the world. I got to see my monkey mind, able to return to my breathing and let go of past or future thoughts. I cannot see myself without some aspect of meditation embodied in me.
Meditation helps me reduce my negative emotions. I am able to be more resilient to bounce back if I hear sad news or get irritated by a fellow traveller. One of the challenging things I found living in a busy London is the constant planning and living in the future. I try to be mindful of my present moment a lot, return to my body and let go of the future. Otherwise, future planning seems endless and never finishing. When I am walking I try to simply walk and enjoy the moment rather than getting caught up in some fantasy. It is helpful to be an observer sometime rather than engaging with each and every single thought without awareness.
What place / city / country you would like to visit this year?
I am looking forward to seeing Algarve, Portugal this year. I go there to teach meditation and run mindfulness retreats. It is one of my favourite places in Europe. Its beaches and landscapes are just stunning and beautiful. The food is amazing too. I love the sunshine there, as we lack that in London.
Can you remember anything what surprised you in a good way and made you laugh? :)
I remember one event. Normally in the morning I get dropped off to the tube station by my wife in the morning while she is going to her work. Sometime I forget to take my hat, or gloves, or even my Oyster card. She would be like: ‘How on earth did you forget. Here take mine. Here is my card, take it’ annoyingly. But this time was different. We leave home, we drive for 5 minutes to the station, and she is running late to get to her work. We are right in front of the station. We were saying good byes to each other. Then I looked at feet and said: ‘oh no, I forgot something!’ My wife said: ‘Okay, whatever it may be I am not going back. I am already getting late and if you have forgotten your Oyster card, here take mine. Use it, but I am not going back. I lifted my feet and said: ‘I forgot to wear my shoes. I was wearing the flip flops. We both looked at each other and knew that I can’t go to work with my flip flops on. She was just about to scream at me, but knew couldn’t do anything except going back. There was a moment of silence. Then we both started laughing at each other. We drove back home, got the shoes and then leave again.
You still have a chance to join Mindfulness by the Ocean Retreat which starts at the beginning of March. You can choose 3, 5 or 7 day retreat, starting from the 14th March, 2016
More details about the retreat on our website by the link
