Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Shaila Catherine: Concentration to Insight



(Google Talks) Shaila Catherine, author of Focused and Fearless, speaks to ordinary meditators who wish to attain extraordinary states of meditation with ease. Through her book she offers a creative and contemporary slant on this ancient path of happiness and wisdom.

Blended with contemporary examples, pragmatic exercises, and how-to instructions that anyone can try, this book provides a wealth of tools to cultivate non-distracted attention in daily life and retreat.

Shaila Catherine has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has been teaching since 1996 in the USA, India, Israel, England, and New Zealand. She studied at the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England and dedicated six years to studying with masters in India, Nepal, and Thailand. Shaila's current focus is the development of concentration and the deep states of absorption called jhana under the Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw.

She is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay based in Mountain View, California. This event took place on May 14, 2008, as a part of the Authors@Google series.