The Monk on a Motorbike

Today my guest is Werner Meier, a realised Advaita master originally from Swiss Germany.
Werner left his home in the Swiss alps in the seventies and headed for India  in search of enlightenment
He ended up locking himself in a tiny cell at Amma’s ashram in Kerala for many years, enduring incredible hardships before he finally reached his goal
 
I met Werner in Tiruvannamalai in Southern India where he lives and holds weekly satsangs and where we recorded this interview
Here he talks about his remarkable journey to enlightenment, the practices he used, meeting Amma when she was almost unheard of, how he came to lock himself in a cell for many years and how Amma pushed him to his limits and beyond  
Enjoy!

Today I'm talking to meditation teacher, Yanai Postelnik about old age, sickness, death and the Dhamma

Yanai was diagnosed with bowel cancer just over a year ago and so has a very personal experience of both the Dhamma and ill health.

He has led retreats on the subject and talks very openly and candidly about what he has been through, so far from being a morbid conversation I personally found hearing his story to be deeply inspiring

Yanai is a mainstay of the teaching community at Gaia House Meditation Center in Devon in the UK and has been on the show before when we did quite a deep dive into his life and Dhamma background.

So if you’d like to know more about him please listen to the episode entitled Love in the Time of Extinction, where he also talks about his activism aimed at fighting climate change

Today my guest is Ayala Gill. Ayala has been committed to a path of insight and awakening since
her early twenties. She has been practicing Iyengar yoga since 1977 -aged just
six years old- Insight Meditation and Dhamma since 1995, Insight Yoga
(including yin yoga and psychospiritual enquiry) since 2001 and the animistic
practices of the Andean-Inkan Holy Mountain tradition since 2017. She says she is
humbled and fascinated by the potential of these practices to inform and
enhance our relationship to body, heart, mind and spirit – and passionate in
her commitment to translate this potential into everyday life.

She has been teaching for 25 years, guides silent retreats
in Europe which include yoga, meditation and ceremony, and is currently writing
a book about integrating these practices into daily life. She has received
authorisation to teach Insight Meditation from Martin Aylward, with whom she continues to study dharma. Ayala lives with
her husband and their 3 children between London and Dorset, where they are
using regenerative farming methods to enhance biodiversity. 

I first met her at London insight retreat day. I was struck her
commitment to both yoga and meditation. There are a lot of yoga teachers out
there who teach a bit of meditation and meditation teacher who include yoga
to  their practice but not many who have
really combined the two. And then branched off into shamanistic practices as
well

I really enjoyed hearing her story. I hope you will too

Enjoy!

Today my guest is Ethan Pollock, meditation teacher and
co-founder of Mindful Living Community. Ethan has been facilitating mindfulness
groups and retreats for over a decade. In his early twenties he gave up a career as a commercially successful artist and spent five years training at Plum Village with the internationally recognized mindfulness teacher & Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a qualified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. He facilitates and teaches around the UK including at the Sharpham Trust, Schumacher College, The Royal Drawing School, and local groups in Devon

This is one of a series of interviews I am doing profiling
meditation teachers linked with Gaia House

I met Ethan on a recent retreat at the Barn which is
closely linked with Gaia House where he was giving a talk. I was struck by how well he taught and interested to hear more about his training at Plum village

I’m afraid my mic started to give up on this episode. I’ll
have a nice shiny new one for my next podcast, I promise.

Please enjoy

Today my guest is meditation teacher Kirsten Kratz.

Born and brought up in Germany Kirsten has
practiced Buddhist meditation in Asia and the West since 1993. She started
teaching in 2006 and since 2015 she has been ‘teacher in residence’ at Gaia
House meditation centre supporting those on personal retreat there. Her love
and understanding of the Dhamma has been strongly influenced by, among others, the
teachings of her friend and teaching colleague, the late Rob Burbea.

One of her particular passions is exploring how wisdom teachings can foster appropriate
responses to the challenges of our time, and Kirsten sees her involvement in
activism as an important expression of her practice.

She is co-initiator of the “Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement” (DANCE) and supporting teacher of Freely Given Retreats.

If you enjoy this episode or any other of the Monk on a Motorbike podcasts please write a review on Apple
podcasts or any other platform that you use that accepts reviews or ratings. It really helps to spread the word. Thanks

Enjoy