Guided Meditations and Other Resources

Guided Meditations (please scroll down for the Resource List)

Metta Bhavana (Loving-Kindness) Meditation. Our suffering in life often involves other people - people we like, strangers who affect our lives and people we don't like. In addition, our own inner critic constantly judges, criticises and questions our own and others' worth.
The main job of the Metta Bhavana is to help us to develop positive emotion about ourselves and other people. It helps us to see that the inner critic is just a product of our past conditioning and that many of our judgements about others (and ourselves) are just a way of shoring ourselves up. It also helps us to see when we are reacting, rather than responding, and helps us cultivate a sense of care and tenderness for ourselves and others.

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Shakyapada

Self-Care Meditation (based on the Metta Bhavana). We are not always kind to ourselves, in fact sometimes we can hold very negative views about who we are. Yet we are always doing our best and though we might be imperfect at the moment, it is where we are starting from. So this meditation is about developing a more positive and wholesome relationship with ourselves which in turn will help us to transform our lives and find more peacefulness. Please note: this can be a powerful meditation and it is not recommended for those who have suffered deep trauma or have mental health issues.

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Shakyapada (1)  Shakyapada (2)

More meditations to follow soon

More Guided Meditations from our Archive 

These meditations were recorded during our lockdown meditation sessions

Body Awareness Meditation (body scan). Awareness (or mindfulness) of the body is the key to effective meditation, since it helps to take us away from our busy mind and into our body. Really feeling the sensations in the body encourages the mind to be quiet. When we start we may not be able to feel too many sensations in our body, indeed some people might have difficulty feeling their body at all and this is okay. The more we practice and the more familiar we become with our bodies, the more we will feel. This is a delightful practice which really helps us to relax.

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Joanne (1) * Joanne (2)

Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation. In this meditation we concentrate on following the breath. It is in four stages: first we follow the out-breath (this helps us to relax the body and mind), then we follow just the in breath which brings energy into the practice. In the third stage we follow the whole of the breath in the upper body, noticing what this feels like, and finally, we bring our attention to the point where we breathe in - the nostrils, the upper lip of the back of the throat. This helps us to concentrate our attention on one point.

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Shakyapada (1) Shakyapada (2) Amalasara (1) Amalasara (2)

Metta Bhavana (Loving-Kindness) Meditation. Our suffering in life often involves other people - people we like, strangers who affect our lives and people we don't like. In addition, our own inner critic constantly judges, criticises and questions our own and others' worth.
The main job of the Metta Bhavana is to help us to develop positive emotion about ourselves and other people. It helps us to see that the inner critic is just a product of our past conditioning and that many of our judgements about others (and ourselves) are just a way of shoring ourselves up. It also helps us to see when we are reacting, rather than responding, and helps us cultivate a sense of care and tenderness for ourselves and others.

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Joanne

Self-Care Meditation (based on the Metta Bhavana). We are not always kind to ourselves, in fact sometimes we can hold very negative views about who we are. Yet we are always doing our best and though we might be imperfect at the moment, it is where we are starting from. So this meditation is about developing a more positive and wholesome relationship with ourselves which in turn will help us to transform our lives and find more peacefulness. Please note: this can be a powerful meditation and it is not recommended for those who have suffered deep trauma or have mental health issues

Choose from the following Guided Meditations. Shakyapada  Abhayamani 

Resource List
Useful Websites
www.thebuddhistcentre.com – website for the Triratna Movement as a whole. Contains a wealth of news and information on Triratna practice and activities, our history, etc. You can sign-up for information, podcasts etc. 

www.wildmind.org – Triratna meditation website bursting with tips and information about practising, plus articles and blogs. 

www.freebuddhistaudio.com – The place to find hundreds of talks and study materials on all aspects of Dharma practice. Free. Includes many talks by our
founder, Sangharakshita. 

www.windhorsepublications.com – the publishing arm of the Triratna Community – books for beginners and experienced practitioners alike

www.sangharakshita.org – Our founder’s personal website with lots of information about his life plus audio, video and articles written by him.

www.accesstoinsight.org – Not part of our movement but this is an excellent site if you want to explore the historical Buddha’s teachings as passed down in the Pali Canon (in English!). Facebook: 

Suggested Reading
These books are usually available to buy in our Centre Shop:

Wildmind: a Step-by-Step Guide to Meditation by Bodhipaksha – a lucid and comprehensive guide to all our main meditation practices. 

Buddhist Meditation: Tranquillity, Imagination and Insight by Kamalashila - a comprehensive and practical guide to Buddhist meditation, providing a
complete introduction for beginners, as well as detailed advice for experienced meditators seeking to deepen their practice. 

Life with Full Attention: a Practical Course in Mindfulness by Maitreyabandhu – In this eight-week course on mindfulness, Maitreyabandhu gently guides readers, teaching them how to pay closer attention to their experience.

Introducing Buddhism by Chris Pauling – a lively and engaging guide for Westerners who want to learn more about Buddhism as a path of spiritual growth. 

Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life by Vajragupta – the perfect Dharma guide for those seeking a meaningful spiritual path whilst leading
busy, modern lives. Very comprehensive and accessible. 

Sailing the Worldly Winds – a Buddhist Way Through the Ups and Downs of Life by Vajragupta – a very readable book dealing with our little (and large) cravings and aversions in life. All the things that ultimately make us unhappy. 

This Difficult Thing of Being Human: The Art of Self-Compassion by Bodhipaksa - We all long for someone to offer us unconditional love and
support. But what if that person is us? The practice of mindful self- compassion creates the space we need so that observation, acceptance, and real love can enter, no matter how judgemental or disconnected we may feel

Retreat Centres

goingonretreat.com has a comprehensive list of all our retreat centres plus places for solitary retreats.

adhisthana.org is in Hereford and is Triratna's biggest retreat Centre. It was the home of our teacher, Sangharakshita, in his final years.

www.dhanakosa.com is based north of Glasgow by a beautiful loch 

alfoxtonpark.org.uk is in Somerset and was once the home of William Wordsworth and offers a variety of retreats including work retreats 

rivendellretreatcentre.com is a charming retreat centre based in an old Victorian vicarage and grounds in East Sussex 

vajraloka.org is in North Wales and specialises in meditation retreats

londonbuddhistcentre.com/retreats are held at Vajrasana a purpose-built retreat centre in Suffolk

taraloka.org.uk is a women's retreat centre in the Welsh Borders 

tiratanaloka.org.uk  is a retreat centre for women who are training for Ordination based near Brecon in South Wales

padmaloka.org.uk is a men's retreat centre in Norfolk