Meditation resources

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Aro meditation resources

Tibetan calligraphy by Ngak’chang Rinpoche

Aro offers a wide variety of meditation training resources, including written material, audio recordings, group teaching (classes and retreats), and individualised one-to-one instruction.

Our free internet course is a thorough, practical, friendly guide to meditation techniques. It delivers a series of weekly emails that explain the methods and provide antidotes to the obstacles that most meditators encounter at one time or another.

We offer evening classes on meditation in many locations. Our course titled Roaring Silence: Discovering the Nature of Mind combines detailed explanations and practical exercises. Each class includes a talk by a course leader, time spent practicing the exercises, and a question and answer session. Roaring Silence covers much the same material as the free internet course. However, it allows you to ask questions, get solutions to problems you encounter, and explore topics that particularly interest you in greater depth.

You can find a class by going to our events site, choosing your region, and entering ‘class’ as the event type.

We have a growing library of audio meditation instruction. These are recordings that you can listen to on-line or download to an mp3 player. They will include talks, guided meditations, and question-and-answer sessions with expert teachers.

We have a page describing recommended books on meditation. None of these books are primarily manuals of technique. (The other resources here are preferable in that respect.) Rather, they explore the profound implications of meditation for one’s life as a whole.

Aro Lamas regularly lead weekend retreats. All of these touch on meditation in some form. Dzogchen Wonderment & Sheer Vividness teaches the same meditation methods as our free internet course and the Roaring Silence classes and book. It is a good starting point. Singing Power into Being teaches yogic song. It too is accessible to beginners and non-Buddhists. In yogic song the experience of the voice provides the possibility of finding the presence of awareness in the dimension of sound and bodily sensation.

You can find retreats by going to our events site, choosing your region, and entering ‘retreat’ as the event type.

Aro meditation groups meet most weeks in many locations. (They may skip some weeks; contact the organizer of your local group or check the event calendar.) Meditation groups are led by ordained Aro teachers. Often they meet in the teacher’s home, reflecting Aro’s descent from an ancient tradition of householders. Meetings include an hour-long meditation practice session that combines silent sitting with yogic song. There is also the opportunity for questions and answers, sometimes a short talk, and conviviality in the company of the Aro community. There is usually no charge for meditation groups.

The Aro Members programme provides individualised, one-to-one instruction from an expert mentor with many years of intensive meditation training. The rôle of a mentor is rather like that of a piano teacher or ski instructor. You can learn the piano, to ski or to meditate working alone from books and instructional videos. You might even become expert that way – but few succeed in isolation.

You will make more rapid progress with an advisor who:

  • answers your questions
  • helps diagnose problems and suggest solutions
  • helps you decide when you have enough experience with a particular technique to move forward, and can suggest possible next steps
  • provides encouragement when you feel stuck
  • may occasionally suggest that you go just slightly deeper into practice than you had been expecting.