Working out, meditating, but missing... (video)

Ven. Santacito (Nick Keomahavong), June 2, 2021; Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The missing piece of spiritual progress: A Monk's Perspective

The Buddhist Cleanse: The 1-Day Spiritual Detox

Why are we not progressing in our meditation, mindfulness, and spiritual practice?

It is almost certainly because we are not practicing the full training. As people begin to take up meditation, mindfulness, or other spiritual practice, they typically delve right in without knowing the full model.

Here is a Buddhist monk's perspective on how we train ourselves and the model we use. This will help anyone's practice -- ensuring that sila, the foundation, is included.

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:05 Body and mind
• 2:12 My fitness mistake
• 5:49 How to develop the mind
• 6:35 The missing piece of spiritual practice
• 11:56 How did we get to this point?
• 12:05 We may not know
• 13:45 Picking and choosing

Venerable Nick (a former psychotherapist in San Diego, California) is a monk talking about physical fitness, mental health, a workout plan, spirituality for beginners, and the monastic life of a Theravada Buddhist monk in Thailand. His book is: The Buddhist Cleanse: The 1-Day Spiritual Detox (with audio sample).