"We must learn to be mindful of the dark side of meditation: indifference, conceit, detachment, pity, routine, coldness, self-cherishing, and pride; these create blind hardness."
Photo of a meditating dog. This dog is skilled in insight and calm-abiding practices and is quite peaceful and happy.
Photo of an indestructibly peaceful dog. He enjoys meditation, steamed broccoli, and vegan lasagna night.

Special Note to Beginners Looking for  a Good 1:1 Meditation Teacher

What I provide is hard to find and very special and I mostly work with intermediate and advanced meditation and Buddhist practitioners, guiding the members of this student community to-and-through the Buddhist Stages of Enlightenment by way of course-correction and the practical application of the Dharma.

There are many meditation teachers out there for people of all experience levels, but very few enlightenment trainers for the advanced practitioner, so I must make my time and experience available in ways that can generate the most benefit to those who are close to attaining one of the paths of Buddhist enlightenment and need my help to do so.

That being said, I do work with beginners and with those who are looking to start a meditation practice.  Still, it's important to know that your peace of mind and sense of contentment is only partly found from your time spent on the cushion (this is evident by the vast number of meditators who either become cold and emotionally-distant, and by those who continue to have short fuses and still lack peaceful and compassionate patience).  Meditation is only part of the Path, and quite far from all of the Path.

​So, for those who are new to mindfulness and developing a better relationship with themselves and others, it's important that we also work on developing your sense of resilience, self-compassion, and peace of mind.  With that stated, we would include elements of personal coaching as part of developing your meditation practice.
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Meditation & Analytical Mind Training.
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​Core Specialties: across all of the various meditation techniques that I instruct on, I provide guidance and practice in finally quieting your restless, distracted, and thought-filled mind.  By properly identifying, applying, and balancing (1) stillness, (2) effort, (3) focus, and (4) mindfulness, you will learn how to find and hold the object of your meditation with stability, consistency, and reliability to squarely overcome the Five Hindrances.  This is the stuff of enlightenment. This is much, much, deeper than it sounds and you will not find these techniques which cultivate the foundations for jhāna anywhere else (except perhaps from one of my teachers or from one of my many students).

Michael Turner
(f.k.a Anagārika Pasannacitta)
​An Advanced Buddhist Coach
​and Analytical Meditation Instructor
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​Experience personalised 1:1 instruction & training with Michael Turner
(f.k.a. Anagārika Pasannacitta)

​Buddhist Meditation Techniques That I Teach:
​​​Samatha (concentration/stillness)
Ānāpānasati (breath)
Sati-sampajañña (clear comprehension)
Satipaṭṭhāna (mindfulness foundations)
Maraṇānussati (death)
Atṭhika saññā bhāvanā (skeleton dwelling)
​Kāyagatāsati (body)
Vedanānupassanā (feelings)
Cittānupassanā (mind)
Dhammānupassanā (dhamma-vinaya)
Catu-dhātu-vavatthāna (elements)
​Analytical & Contemplative (yonisomanasikāra)
Mettā (lovingkindness)
Karuna (compassion)
Muditā (sympathetic/empathetic joy)
Tonglen (giving & taking/exchanging)
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and other analytical & non-conceptual methods
[ CURRICULUM 1: CORRECTIVE MEDITATION RE-TRAINING: FIX YOUR MEDITATION! ]
Meditation Re-training: Quiet Your Restless Mind and Finally Meditate For Real
(This service is appropriate for all meditation practitioners who struggle with distractions.)
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Do you find yourself losing your focus or thinking when you are trying to meditate?  Unfortunately this affects almost all people who strive to cultivate a proper meditation practice.  

This is a curriculum that I developed to help students who have spent many years meditating yet still struggle with the disruption, frustration, and difficulties of distractions and thinking while on the cushion hindering their ability to cultivate genuine concentration on the cushion.

I developed this as a corrective prescription for proper meditation skills-development to reset and course-correct long-time meditators who struggle to experience freedom from their restless mind and lack consistent concentration, focus, and measurable progress.

This is just as effective (if not more so) as a preliminary practice to be mastered before attempting to begin and establish a productive and successful meditation practice focused on buddhist spiritual and meditative attainments (i.e., nibbāna and jhāna).

This corrective training is meant to fill the gap that so many meditators fail to address, whether it's before they begin a meditation practice or whether they have been meditating without stable and consistent progress for years.

This practice will provide the training required to address and finally put to rest the nuisance of distracting thoughts (and the five hindrances in general) and cultivate the foundations that lead to genuinely deep levels of concentration (samādhi), and provide the basis for the development of Right Concentration (samma samādhi), also referred to as the jhānas.
[ CURRICULUM 2: INTERMEDIATE MEDITATION TRAINING ]
Intermediate Meditation Training: Beyond Mindfulness and into Altered States
(This service is not appropriate for beginner-level meditation practitioners.)
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There are many different meditation techniques that are taught and applied in traditional Eastern Buddhism, and moving beyond the the introductory breathing and awareness meditations is critical to the long-term success of the time you spend on the cushion.  Together we will explore some of these other techniques to find the ones that are most in-line with your skills and practices, and those that would be beneficial (e.g., filling skill or knowledge gaps) to helping you achieve tangible and practical on- and off-the-cushion results.  We will identify the techniques that will flesh-out your practice and fill the gaps that aren't being addressed in your current practice (e.g., the ones that are holding you back).  This develops the foundations for streamentry.

You will learn how and when to use differing meditation techniques as specific antidotes to the inevitable challenges and difficulties that you will encounter in life; for example, that using tonglen is best for being stuck in a disgusting hotel room, while practicing mettā is better if you're ego-tripping after a win/loss situation. 

You're not going to find this out in a book or at your local dharma center.

On top of that, this is more than just about providing you with a stable foundation from which to develop a well-rounded, productive, and stable meditation practice, it's about developing the skills needed to realise awakening, attain streamentry, and make your way along the path toward full enlightenment.
[ CURRICULUM 3: ADVANCED MEDITATION TRAINING ]
Advanced Meditation Training: Through Awakening and Toward Enlightenment
(This service is appropriate for intermediate-level+ meditation practitioners.)
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Time to take your meditation to the next level and apply a purposeful direction to your time on the cushion: awakening and realistically entering into the clearly defined Stages of Enlightenment as you learn to make highly-measurable progress toward Nirvana.  We will explore various natural states of altered consciousness and the direct realisation of Emptiness (sunyata) by way of attaining deeper levels of sustained concentration (jhana) or high-velocity insight (vipassana).
Schedule your initial session now
​Opportunities to meet someone who can veritably teach what I teach don't come by often.
Please visit my mind and dharma training page and my about me page to learn more about me and the breadth of services that are currently offered to this student community.