A comprehensive, introductory course on Mindfulness Meditation

[anatta]

There seems to be some interest here recently on meditation its beneficial results that are of interest to hackers. Developing the capacity for strong, calm focus and eliminating the detrimental effects of unhelpful mental functions are skills that take practice.

Many of the posts that have been floating around don't give very much substance on the nuts and bolts of how to meditate. Since HN is an erudite crowd of people who don't shy away from detailed topics, a more thorough reference is in order.

This is a 6 part introductory course that should take roughly a month to complete. It is self-paced and costs absolutely nothing. Each week you add on to the foundation you build the week prior. There are 6 lectures covering the topics and practice. Each one is a bit over one hour long and has lecture notes to go along with it.

The teacher's name is Gil Fronsdal. He was ordained as a monk and eventually returned to lay life to get his Ph.D in Buddhist studies from Stanford. He is renowned for being exceptionally clear and simple without sacrificing any detail.

If programming is one of the most powerful tools used for hacking computers, then Mindfulness Meditation is one of the most powerful tools for hacking the brain.

Good luck!

[michael_dorfman]

This is a great audio course, but I'd still recommend that folks interested in learning how to meditate try to get to a meditation center at least once, to get face-to-face instruction. It really makes a difference.