We take our body for granted all the time.  When we are sick, weak and helpless, we prayed for speedy recovery.  We even promised to ourself to exercise, quit junk food and adopt healthier diet.  Most of the time, when we got better, we eventually forgotten these promises.  Often commitments of our work, studies and other indulgences take priority over care for our mind, body and soul. Without physical fitness and healthy functioning organs, our mental state would eventually suffer too.  Meditation can be a quick check of the health of our mind, body and soul (MBS).  It like going to the gym to workout our body.  If we come out of the gym feeling terrible, its an indication of out lack of physical fitness.  If we come out of meditation session feeling disturbed by the mental noises, it's an indication of the lack of mental fitness.  A good mental state motivates us to eat right, do exercises and have a vibrant social activity. If you have never meditated before, you probably would want to understand more and ask questions from what you heard about meditation.  The problem is, many people spent too much time learning about meditation  rather than trying to do it.  The only way to learn to ride a skate board is to get on the board and learn as you practice.  The same for learning to ride a bicycle.  Nobody learns to ride a bicycle by reading a manual.  The rest of this book will reveal many aspects of meditation that would help you to gain your own “balance and riding that skate board”.  But we need to start doing it. Let’s begin with our first session to center our mind.  This is the foundation for all meditations to come.

Death is the most difficult of all separations. Whether its death of a pet, a friend, or a family member it affects us deeply because it is an ultimatum where they would never return, plus the uncertainty of where they went. To let go of our emotions, think of someone who has left us, we fill our memories of them with happy moments and good deeds that  they have done, knowing that these thoughts will transfer bright energy to help them on their journey ahead. Think of good deeds you have done for others, and transfer the merits of your good deeds to those departed.

We set goals and look for finite milestones in our journey in life.  These milestones also trap us from being free to realise the infinite possibilities beyond our mindsets.  Imagine the ripples on the pond created by drops of water from the leaf of a tree above. Each droplets strengthen the ripples, creating gentle waves that pushes further and further with one beginning and no ending.

In respond to the curb the pandemic spread of COVID-19 virus, most countries imposed lock down and social distancing.  With no need to go to office, reduced physical social interactions, and no travel plans, what to do with the extra time we've got?  Perhaps it's time  explore our inner needs and reflect what more we can do to make ourself better, and not what we need help make others better.   

Our life is full of expectations; from ourselves or others; from parents, Teachers, friends, Bosses, Partners, business or society. A successful meditation can only be achieve with NO expectations. For the next few moments free yourself from any expectations from others and of yourself.

Our lives is full of activities, commitments, work, study and relationships.  We have emotions, desires, anger, guilt and believes.  Imagine ourselves as a new born baby, where our bucket is empty. No fear, no emotions, no desires.  Just that instinctive need to be alive and happy.  Emptiness is a practice for meditators to bring the mind back to its original baby-like state of purity.

Visualise a clear and transparent sphere, like  crystal ball, a  full moon, a dew drop or a soap bubble.   Imagine you standing in an open field watching soap bubbles blowing in the air.  So clear, light, transparent and reflecting the bright rays from the morning sun.  Allow your awareness to follow these bubbles, as a guide to your meditation.

Letting go. Duration 20 mins.   Most people live their life around making money, acquiring possessions, building relationships, developing knowledge, and taking on new titles.  These items define who we are, what we do, guide our purpose define our values.  They liberate us towards success yet over-attachment will imprison us from true happiness.  When we learn to let go of these attachments, we gain control of our life and learn to balance between success and happiness. “The Monkey Mind” is a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided session to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com the publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Its Inner Peace time. Sit in comfortable place. With your eyes open, take a few moments to adjust your body.  Keeping your back straight and neck erect. You may cross your legs on the floor or sit comfortably on a chair. Gently, allow your eye lids to close touching softly without squeezing them tight.  Bring your mind to the present by taking a few deep breathes.  Breathe in and breathe out. Notice how relaxing it feels. Breathe In and out. Imagine you are sitting all alone at your favourite place in the world where there is nobody around. Nothing awaits your attention.  No needs to be anybody, any where, anything.  Just be conscious of the breathe keeping your awareness of this present moment in time. Letting go of yourself. Relax your mind and muscles.  Relax and gently, bring your consciousness into your body entering at the spot in the middle of your abdomen, directly inside your navel. Continue to breath in and out.   Letting go of all thoughts, and expectations. Letting go of your work, memories, and relationship around your life.  Just let go of every. Feeling free and the sensation of lightness.  Imagine you body is just a vessel, and empty vessel. With no organs or bones. Let go of your body.  Let the the outline of your body to fade into the background. Your body begins to be transparent,  blending and into the environment. Feeling light, feeling safe, and empty.  Let go .. set it free.. let it flow. Let it go. Let it be. Be free. Continue to be like this till the end of time.

Letting go : Most people live their life around making money, acquiring possessions, building relationships, developing knowledge, and taking on new titles.  These items define who we are, what we do, guide our purpose define our values.  They liberate us towards success yet over-attachment will imprison us from true happiness.  When we learn to let go of these attachments, we gain control of our life and learn to balance between success and happiness. You are listening to “The Monkey Mind” - a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided sessions to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  Meditation could reset our beliefs, attitudes and mindset  creating balance between success and happiness in our lives.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Its Inner Peace time. Sit in comfortable place. With your eyes open, take a few moments to adjust your body.  Keeping your back straight and neck erect. You may cross your legs on the floor or sit comfortably on a chair. Gently, allow your eye lids to close touching softly without squeezing them tight.  Bring your mind to the present by taking a few deep breathes.  Breathe in and breathe out. Notice how relaxing it feels. Breathe In and out. Imagine you are sitting all alone at your favourite place in the world where there is nobody around. Nothing awaits your attention.  No needs to be anybody, any where, anything.  Just be conscious of the breathe keeping your awareness of this present moment in time. Letting go of yourself. Relax your mind and muscles.  Relax and gently, bring your consciousness into your body entering at the spot in the middle of your abdomen, directly inside your navel. Continue to breath in and out. Letting go of all thoughts, and expectations. Letting go of your work, memories, and relationship around your life.  Just let go of every. Feeling free and the sensation of lightness.  Imagine you body is just a vessel, and empty vessel. With no organs or bones. Let go of your body.  Let the the outline of your body to fade into the background. Your body begins to be transparent,  blending and into the environment. Feeling light, feeling safe, and empty.  Let go .. set it free.. let it flow. Let it go. Let it be. Be free. Continue to be like this till the end of time.

You are listening to “The Monkey Mind” - a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided sessions to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Contentment Its Inner Peace time. With your eyes open, take a few moments to adjust your body. Sit in comfortable place. Either on a chair or on the floor. Keeping your back straight and neck erect. You may cross your legs by placing your right foot over bent left knee. With your left palm open and facing up, rest it comfortably on your lap. Place your right palm over the left palm, allowing your right index finger to touch the tip of the left thumb. Continue to adjust your body by stretching and relaxing your joints until you are comfortable. Now, Gently Close your eyes allowing your eye lids to touch very slightly without squeezing them shut. Bring your mind to the present by taking a few deep breathes.  Breathe in and breathe out. Notice how relaxing it feels. Breathe In and out. Notice with each breath, fresh air enters your nostril. Allow your mind to follow the air as it enters your body, filling every cell in your body. Bringing smiles and happiness to every single cell.  Rest your mind at the center of you body, near the middle of your abdomen where the airs turns around.  Feeling completely relax and feeling completely still.  Happy, and peaceful. Allow the mind to rest here continuously. Just let it be. Let everything go. Let it flow. No need to attend of any thought, feelings or any matter is the world. Just relax and be content, be comfortable, Everything in your life will be fine. Be grateful for the breathe. Being alive. Being who I am. No more is needed. No more is wanted. Just be happy with what I have now. Who I am. And what I can. Contentment is to be satisfy with what I have, I can do, how I do it, and who I am. No need to compare. No benchmark. No competition. Just be myself. Just be me, now and forever. I am happy, I am satisfy, I am alive. I am comfortable and content now. And there is no better time than the present.

Center of the body You are listening to “The Monkey Mind” - a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided sessions to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  Meditation could reset our beliefs, attitudes and mindset  creating balance between success and happiness in our lives.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Its Inner Peace time. Sit in comfortable place. Either on a chair or on the floor. Keeping your back straight and neck erect. If you are sitting on the floor, you may cross your legs by placing your right foot over bent left knee. Place your left palm open and facing up, resting it comfortably on your lap. Place your right palm over the left palm, allowing your right index finger to touch the tip of the left thumb. Continue to adjust your body by stretching and relaxing until you are comfortable. Gently Close your eyes allowing your eye lids to touch very slightly without squeezing them shut. Now, take a few deep breathes and Relax. Breathe in and breathe out. In and out. Put a slight smile on your lips. Relax. Notice with each breath, fresh air enters your nostril. Allow your mind to follow the air as it enters your body, filling every cell in your body. Bringing smiles and happiness to every single cell. Breathe in, and out. In and out. Relax. Each time you inhale, allow your mind to follow the breathe as it enters the body. Feeling the air presses against the lungs. Flowing into the middle of your abdomen Feeling the fresh cool air as it reaches the abdomen. Where  air turns around as you exhale, bringing along all of your worries and cares. This is the center of the body, which is the seat of the mind. Maintain your mind here, gently, softly. Just be here. Let it be. Observing without involving. Breathing in and out.  Feeling completely relax just being here. Imagine a small sphere of bright soft light at this center. About the size of the egg yoke. Maintain your soft attention at the center of this sphere. Just know it's here, as you observe it, and breathing slowly. Check the muscles around your eyes so that its is not squinting to look. Relax the body. Clear the mind. Just stay at the center of the body. Allowing the mind to sit here, rest here, and be home till the end of time.

You are listening to “The Monkey Mind” - a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided sessions to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk.   Mindfulness and our Body Now, let’s begin meditation. You may sit on a straight back chair or on a firm cushion on the floor.  If you are sitting on the floor, start my adjusting your sitting position into a meditation posture. With your legs folded into a Cross-legged position, with your right foot resting over the bent left leg. If you are sitting on a chair, sit comfortably with your feet  squarely planted in front of you,  without leaning against the back of the chair. Keep your back straight and chin tilted down slightly, resting the head comfortably on the shoulder. Place the back of the left palm gently on your lap, with your fingers straight. Rest the right palm over the left palm, with the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of the left thumb. Breathe in deeply and slowly.  feel the relaxation as you breathe out. Very slowly and very gently, close your eyes, without squeezing them too tightly, as if you are about to doze off to sleep. Breathe in by Inhaling through your nose and breathe out by exhaling through your lips or nose. Allow the air to fill you lungs completely when you inhale. Imagine you are sitting alone at your favourite place in the world where you feel completely at ease, safe, and happy. Imagine that the air that surrounds you is filled with peace and stillness   Lets begin to Relax every muscle in your body…. letting go of any signs of tension. Start by relaxing the muscles on the TOP of your head. …..scanning down the body.. relax your forehead Relax your eyelids…..And the muscle at the side of the eyes. Relax your cheeks …..And your lips Allow your Chin and jaws to be loose and slack. Begin to loosen the muscles around your neck. …And in your shoulders Feel the relaxation spreading to your upper arms and around your elbows, Down to the lower arms, around your wrists, to your palms and and all the way out to the tips of the fingers.   Begin to relax the muscles in the chest and your trunk. Relax your shoulder blades …. And all the muscles along your back Loosen the muscles around your waist,  stomach and  …..All the way down to your hips. Relax Loosen the muscles of your buttocks ….And feel the relaxation spreading down to your thighs….to your knees Down to through the calves …. around your ankles … To your feet and all the way out to the tip of your toes. Relax Allow every single muscle in your body to be… loose …. slack……relax. . pause Just sit here without feeling the need to do anything.  Let it be.  Let everything go. Just be here. Breathing gently.  Keeping the awareness at the center of the stomach, inside the abdomen.  Let the mind sit here. comfortably and relax. Breathe in.. Breathe out.. imagine all the cells in your body smiling happily.. keep a slight smile on your lips as you continue to mediate in silence .. till the end of time.

Mindfulness with the breathe You are listening to “The Monkey Mind” - a meditation podcast where we learn meditation techniques and practice with guided sessions to slow down our mind to  attain a state of stillness.  Meditation could reset our beliefs, attitudes and mindset  creating balance between success and happiness in our lives.  This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Now, let us begin our meditation session.  Make yourself comfortable. You may sit on a straight back chair or on a firm cushion on the floor.  If you are sitting on the floor, start my adjusting your sitting position into a meditation posture. With your legs folded into a Cross-legged position, with your right foot resting over the bent left leg. If you are sitting on a chair, sit comfortably with your feet  squarely planted in front of you,  without leaning against the back of the chair. Keep your back straight and chin tilted down slightly, resting the head comfortably on the shoulder. Place the back of the left palm gently on your lap, with your fingers straight. Rest the right palm over the left palm, with the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of the left thumb. Very slowly and gently, close your eyes, without squeezing them too tightly, as if you are about to doze off to sleep Gently take 3 deep breathes by Inhaling through your nose and slowly exhaling through your lips. feeling the relaxation as you breathe out. Allow the air to fill your lungs completely when you inhale. Feeling the abdomen rising as the air turns around.  Maintain your awareness of the middle of the abdomen by observing the air turning.  Just observing softly and gently, without any force or sense of time pressure. Imagine you are sitting alone at your favourite place in the world. And although you are all alone you feel very safe, at ease and secure. Imagine that the air that surrounds you is filled with peace and stillness. Each  time you inhale, every single cell in your body smiles with happiness and joy.  And each time you exhale, you exhale away all of your cares  your worries. Notice that the breathe brings our consciousness to the present moment.  As we maintain a soft attention on each breathe,  let it lead us along the path where the air flows into our nostril, through our lungs and filling up our abdomen. Continue to breathe gently feeling the body starting to be more and more relax. Allow any thoughts in the mind to float downward towards the abdomen.. dissolving and disappearing  as they reach the center of the stomach. Keep you mind at the center of the stomach, feeling comfortable and relax.  There is no need to do anything. Let it go.  Let it be. If the mind starts to wander away with a thought, or hear a voice or seen an image, gently bring it back to follow the breathe. You may do this by observing the air or the path of the breathe.   Feeling the sensation of lightness as air enters your body.  A sensation like balloon getting larger as air fills it up. Breathing in… breathing out.  In… out… slowly and gently continue to meditate in silence for a few moments. Continue to be in touch with the nice and good feeling you now have with meditation. Keeping your mind steady and still inside your body.  Take a few more slow deep breathes.  With each breathe, bring your awareness back to the present.  Be aware of the outline of the body.  The seat you are sitting on. The room you are in and the air around you. And When you are ready, slowly and gently open your eyes.

Episode 6.  7th Base : The home of the mind This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk.   There is an invisible path that we could practice to lead our consciousness to the home of the mind.  It is at a position, geometrically center of our body.  Think of an imaginary horizontal thread that enters the navel from the front of our abdomen area and exit the back of our spine.  Think a second imaginary horizontal line that runs from the left to the right side of our body and intersects with the first line from the navel, in the middle of the abdomen, inside our body.  This point where the line intersect  is the 6th base on the path of the mind.  Directly above this point, at distant about the width of 2 fingers (the index and middle finger) is the 7th base. This is the point that is the center of our body. And it is also the home of our mind. We bring the mind to the 7th base during meditation to re-familiarise the mind to its home.  Our daily busyness has distracted the mind to leave its home for too long resulting short attention spans and wandering mind.  When we practice complete relaxation of the body,  empty our thoughts and silence our inner voices, we will experience the complete stillness of the mind at this point. Let us begin our path to the 7th base of the mind. Its inner peace time. Get into your favourite meditation posture.  Clear your mind of any commitments and things to do.  Tell your self:  For the next few minutes, I do not need to attend to anything, and there is no rush to get to anywhere.  Just be here and let go of the world around me.  Breathe in slowly and deeply. Keep your eyes looking at a spot infant of you, without focusing on any particular object.  Just keep it soft and defocus.  Slowly, the eyes lids would close naturally, touching very softly and lightly - like the delicate wings of a butterfly opening and closing as it rests on a flower. To guide the mind, let’s visualise a mental object. Imagine a small clear round object. Like a crystal ball or a clear dew drop.  You may imagine any other other object that comes to mind easily.  Make this object small, like the size of a small pea.  Imagine that this mental object is floating in front of your face.  Look at it and feel comfortable with it using it as the object of focus to guide our attention along a path into our body.  Imagine its is perfect round, clear, transparent and bright. Place this small object at a point just under our nostril.  The right  nostril for men and left nostril for women. Tis is the first base on the path of the mind. Take in 3 deeps breaths and recite the mantra, Samma Arahang, which means “pure and virtuous”.  Or you may use “clear and bright” as the mantra.  Repeat the mantra 3 times with each breath. Allow this object to move into the nostril up the nose between the eyes, and let it rest at the inner corner of the right eye for men and left eye for women.  This is the 2nd base of the path of the mind. Breath in slowly each time recite the mantra. Let this object be as clear and bright as possible while repeating the mantra 3 times. Samma Arahang. Samma Arahang.. SammaArahang. Now imagine a point at the center of the head, directly behind the eyes.  Allow the object to move to this place, which is the 3rd base of the mind.  Imagine that this object radiates brightly as you recite the mantra 3 times. samma arahang. Samma arahang.. samma arahang. Continue to maintain relax as you breath.  Just let the mind follow this path comfortably, without questioning or resting.  Just feeling very safe to go along this familiar path. The 4th position of the mind is directly down a vertical path that leads to the roof behind our month.  Let the object be radiating every so brightly as we rest here a moment and relaxing.  When you are ready, take 3 deep breath while repeating the mantra with each exhalation, samma arahang. Samma arahang.. samma arahang.. 

Episode 5. Dealing with sleepiness This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. The four most common causes of Sleepiness are : A full tummy.  After a heavy meal it natural to feel sleepiness because the body is busy working on digesting the food, redirecting blood away from the brain.  So try not to have a heavy meal before meditation. Fatigues. When our body or muscles are physically tired from work or exercises they need to rest.  Meditation helps the tired muscles to relax triggers the organs including the brain to slow down…which lead to falling asleep.  Do some stretching exercises before meditating.  Or do walking meditation.  Which will be covered in another episode. Intoxicant.  Alcohol and other drowsy medicine could cause sleepiness too.  Do not meditate after you have consume intoxicants.  Or even better, do not consume intoxicants. Lack of Sleep.  If you have not been sleeping well, then sleepiness could arise during meditation.  Just go to sleep and have a good rest before attempting to meditate. Don’t work too hard to fight sleepiness during meditation.  You could come back to meditate another time. I found that a good and hard stretching of the body and joints before meditation helps with a tired body.  If you find drinking Coffee or a strong tea help with sleepiness, go ahead have a drink before meditating.  Personally, coffee does very little to help me with sleepiness. Let’s prepare our body for meditation by some stretching exercises.  Put your palms together in a prayer position, place them next to your chest in front of you. Take in a deep breathe and Raise   both arms straight above our head reaching up to the sky with your head upright looking forward.  Breathe out.  Pull you spine upwards and your shoulders as high as you can.  Bring the arms down to the front of your chest with your palms together in a prayer position.  Repeat this upward stretch 2 more times.  As high as you can stretch for the sky. Breathe out.  Stretch a little higher, and higher.  And bring the arms down and relax. And one final time, stretch upwards, breathing out. Higher, higher. And even higher.. and Relax and bring your hands down to your side.  Clasp both your palms behind your back, and stretch your arms back by pulling them as far back as you could away from your body. Feel the shoulder blades squeezing together and the chest expanding.  Relax by bringing the hands down to your spine.  Repeat this stretch 2 more times.  Stretch back, further and further.  Breathing out as you push your palms away from you.  Relax.  And one final time squeezing the shoulders and stretching the chest.  Breathe out. Finally, place your hands on your knee. Relax and begin to stretch your neck by turning your head to the right, trying to touch the chin on the right shoulder.  Now turn you head to the left.. try to touch the chin on the left shoulder.  Repeat this 2 more times.  Breathing out as you feel the neck muscles stretched. Let us begin our meditation session now.

Episode 4.  Meditation Posture Physical Strength This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com - the publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. For the mind to be still, the body must be strong and balance.  Four parts of the body that most affects balance of our posture during meditation are The face, the Neck and shoulder, spine, and the legs.  The facial muscles reflects the internal tension inside the mind.   Over concentration causes the the eyes to squint and eye-lids to tighten.   Begin by relaxing the forehead and eyebrow.  Release the tensions by relaxing the muscles around the eyes .  Relax the cheeks by putting a slight smile on the lips. Allow the jaws and teeth to slacken and hang loose The neck keeps the head upright bearing 10-12 pounds of its weight.   If not balanced, it could exert up to 50 pounds force on the neck.  Adjust the position of the head to a perfect balance point where the head is not too forward and not too backwards - a point where the eyes is looking straight ahead.  With a balanced neck, the shoulders could drop into a slope, reducing excess tension on the shoulder blades and the chest. The spine like the neck needs to be erect and upright.  Not leaning too far back or forward. When our spine is balance, the mass from the upper body would feel weightless on the spine.  One way is to thrust the stomach and chest slightly forward while pulling back the shoulders creating a gentle S-shape on the spine.  This would support the body better than leaning on a wall or the back rest of a chair. Finally, fold the legs in a cross legged position with one leg over the other (right leg over the left or the other way round).  Sit on a firm cushion about 1-3 inches thick.  Allow the folded part to the legs to lay flat on the floor outside of the cushion.  This is also called the semi-lotus position.  This posture distributes the weight of the body evenly across the points of contact with the ground, providing a good balance. Now that you are a mediation posture, let’s begin our meditation. Take a few deep breathes to center yourself. Bringing your mind into the center of your abdomen. Very slowly and gently, allow your eye lids to touch without squeezing them too tight. Bring your consciousness to the breath. Gently breathing in and our - slow and deep.  In and out. In and out. Feel that you are at the center of your abdomen, the control center of the mind.  Maintain the mind here. You may imagine a crystal ball sitting in the middle of the abdomen. And the gentle sound of a mantra coming from the center of the crystal ball…..Clear and bright. Clear and bright. Clear bright. Continue Breathing and noticing the gentle rising of the abdomen with each breathe. Sense the outline of your body, sitting in perfect posture. Relaxing the muscles as you scan your body starting from the head to your toes.  Feeling the muscles of the face relaxed. Balance the head on the neck and shoulders, straighted spine,  relax the chest and the abdomen. Scan and relax the arms the way to the tips of the fingers.  Relax the muscles on the buttocks, thighs, calves, foot and all the way to the toes.   Relax completely feeling no tension on every single strand of muscle.  You may shift your body weight on the cushion by gently rocking forward and backward, continuously finding that perfect point of balanced where the weight disappears. Breathing in and out.  Feeling light and soft. Imagine the outline of your body beginning to soften against the background. Almost dissolving into a faint line, feeling like it is hollow and empty. Like an empty vessel or a helium balloon.  experiencing a sensation of lightness and emptiness.  Continue to stay this way, balanced, light, empty and hollow. Every breath brings the mind comes back to the Present, at the center of the abdomen. feeling peaceful, safe and balance. No need to go anywhere, just being here. Let it be, let it go.  Continue to stay like this.. comf

Episode 3 Wandering Mind. The Monkey Mind is a production of TheCEOMonk.com. The publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Our mind is constantly in motion.  We think, analyse, make assumptions, have inner conversations, make decisions and judgements.  Sometimes we are more logical, where the sequence of thoughts follows the order of see, think, and act.  Other times we may be less rationale, where we say before thinking.  Or act before explaining our intentions. Our Minds, is like a young monkey, constantly jumping from branches to branches, moving their arms, legs, or tail, and always curious for anything interesting. Like the curious monkey the mind is is constantly thinking of many things, making assumptions, judgements and conclusions.  The mind respond to inputs from our 5 senses of sight, sounds, smell, taste and touch.   We are always looking for any opportunity to “do something”.  Do you find yourself listening to multiple conversations, even to those across another table. Does your car radio channel plays in the background while you are driving? Do you work and study with music streaming through your ear phones.  The mind crave for sounds. The mind processes over 60,000 brain signals, or thoughts, per day.  That’s about 1 thought for every breathe we take.  Imagine our brain and mind are parts of a computer.  The brain is the hardware, while the mind is the software.  Our 5 senses behave as input devices, like the keyboard, mouse, sound card, video card, and fingerprint sensors.  The software synthesises these input signals as data and passes them through programmed logics, to produce the desired output.  Similarly our mind processes the signals from our 5 organs as data and decides how we response to them.  The response could be fight or flee when when we felt threatened. The response could be smile or frown when we heard a feedback about us.  Or we could react by shouting and doing hi-fives when the football game on TV showed a winning goal by our favourite team. Why do we want to tame the Monkey Mind?  Who controls our behaviours? Does our minds influences what we think and act? Or do our actions influence our mindsets?  Some behavioural experts claim that our beliefs program our mind to think in a certain way.  Beliefs creates attitudes and mindsets.  These Beliefs, attitudes and mindsets  influence our actions.  The actions we could take are: thinking, speaking, doing, moving, fighting, frowning or feeling happy, angry or sad.  Etc These actions in turn result in outcome that are desirable or undesirable.  These outcomes form an Experience, which are either good experience , neutral experiences or bad experiences.  These Experiences will strengthen our original Beliefs or weaken them -  when repeated, could result in the mind changing the Beliefs .  It is like reprogramming the mind.  Our mind listens to these Beliefs just like our computer respond to the software app that was installed.  If a virus program was installed by accident, it messes up the entire computer.  A virus software program installed in the computer is similar to a belief installed in our mind by the repeated bad experiences.  A great software installed in our computer, wold be similar to a Good Belief installed in our mind by having great experiences. During meditation, to prevent the mind from wandering, we need to give it something to do.  We use visualisation and repeating of a mantra.  A mantra is nothing more than a phrase to keep the audio channel of the mind occupied.  And visualisation is to keep the visual channel of the mind busy, Now being our mediation with visualisation and r  mantra. Now, adjust your clothing and sitting position and make yourself comfortable.  You may sit on the floor or on a chair.  You may sit on in the semi-lotus position by folding in your legs towards you and placing your right leg over the left bent knee.  If you are sitting on a chair, sit with your back straigh

Episode : Setting Up The Body This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Now, let’s begin meditation. You may sit on a straight back chair or on a firm cushion on the floor.  If you are sitting on the floor, start my adjusting your sitting position into a meditation posture. With your legs folded into a Cross-legged position, with your right foot resting over the bent left leg. If you are sitting on a chair, sit comfortably with your feet  squarely planted in front of you,  without leaning against the back of the chair. Keep your back straight and chin tilted down slightly, resting the head comfortably on the shoulder. Place the back of the left palm gently on your lap, with your fingers straight. Rest the right palm over the left palm, with the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of the left thumb. Breathe in deeply and slowly.  feel the relaxation as you breathe out. Very slowly and very gently, close your eyes, without squeezing them too tightly, as if you are about to doze off to sleep. Breathe in by Inhaling through your nose and breathe out by exhaling through your lips or nose. Allow the air to fill you lungs completely when you inhale. Imagine you are sitting alone at your favourite place in the world where you feel completely at ease, safe, and happy. Imagine that the air that surrounds you is filled with peace and stillness Let's begin to Relax every muscle in your body…. letting go of any signs of tension. Start by relaxing the muscles on the TOP of your head. …..scanning down the body.. relax your forehead Relax your eyelids…..And the muscle at the side of the eyes. Relax your cheeks …..And your lips Allow your Chin and jaws to be loose and slack. Begin to loosen the muscles around your neck. …And in your shoulders Feel the relaxation spreading to your upper arms and around your elbows, Down to the lower arms, around your wrists, to your palms and and all the way out to the tips of the fingers. Begin to relax the muscles in the chest and your trunk. Relax your shoulder blades …. And all the muscles along your back Loosen the muscles around your waist,  stomach and  …..All the way down to your hips. Relax Loosen the muscles of your buttocks ….And feel the relaxation spreading down to your thighs….to your knees Down to through the calves …. around your ankles … To your feet and all the way out to the tip of your toes. Relax Allow every single muscle in your body to be… loose …. slack……relax. . pause Just sit here without feeling the need to do anything.  Let it be.  Let everything go. Just be here. Breathing gently.  Keeping the awareness at the center of the stomach, inside the abdomen.  Let the mind sit here. comfortably and relax. Breathe in.. Breathe out.. imagine all the cells in your body smiling happily.. keep a slight smile on your lips as you continue to mediate in silence .. till the end of time. Clear and bright. Soft and happy.   Slowly, bring your awareness back to your body.  Starting from the center of the abdomen.   Feel the outline of your body becoming clearer.  Be aware of your chest rising and falling with each breathe.  Bring your awareness back to your sitting position, your body, and the place you are sitting. When you are ready… gently open your eyes. This is the end of the meditation session.  Be thankful for your experiences and the time spent today.  Whatever the experiences you have during this session do not be attached to them.  Attachments create expectations that make it hard to “let go” during meditation.  Throughout the day whenever you can, bring the mind back to the  center of your abdomen - the home of the mind - and maintain a gentle smile on your lips.

Episode 1: The Breath Brought to you by https://theceomonkbook.com Now, let's begin meditation. You may sit on a straight back chair or on a firm cushion on the floor.  If you are sitting on the floor, start my adjusting your sitting position into a meditation posture. With your legs folded into a Cross-legged position, with your right foot resting over the bent left leg. If you are sitting on a chair, sit comfortably with your feet  squarely planted in front of you,  without leaning against the back of the chair. Keep your back straight and chin tilted down slightly, resting the head comfortably on the shoulder. Place the back of the left palm gently on your lap, with your fingers straight. Rest the right palm over the left palm, with the index finger of the right hand touching the tip of the left thumb. Very slowly and gently, close your eyes, without squeezing them too tightly, as if you are about to doze off to sleep Gently take 3 deep breathes by Inhaling through your nose and slowly exhaling through your lips. feeling the relaxation as you breathe out. Allow the air to fill your lungs completely when you inhale. Imagine you are sitting alone at your favourite place in the world. And although you are all alone you feel very safe, at ease and secure Imagine that the air that surrounds you is filled with peace and stillness Imagine time you inhale, every single cell in your body smiles with happiness and joy.  And each time you exhale, you exhale away all of your cares  your worries. Every breathe brings our consciousness to the present. Focus softly on each breathe, following the path where the air flows into our nostril, through our lungs and filling up our abdomen. Continue to breathe gently as your body begins to relax. Allow any thoughts that enters the mind to float downward .. dissolving and disappearing  as they reach the center of the stomach. Keep you mind at the center of the stomach, feeling comfortable and relax.  There is no need to do anything. Let it go.  Let it be. If the mind starts to drift with a thought, a voice or image inside the mind, gently bring your attention back to the breathe. You may do this by imagining the air entering your nose. Or feeling the lightness as air enters your body like filling up a balloon. Breathing in… breathing out.  In… out… slowly and gently continue to meditate in silence for a few moments. Continue to be in touch with the nice and good feeling you now have with meditation. Keeping your mind steady and still inside your body.  Take a few more slow deep breathes.  With each breathe, bring your awareness back to the present.  Be aware of the outline of the body.  The seat you are sitting on. The room you are in and the air around you. And When you are ready, slowly and gently open your eyes.

The Monkey Mind is meditation podcast to train the mind to slow down and be Still.  When the mind is Still  clarity arises, and we experience a sense of inner peace and happiness.   This is a production of TheCEOMonk.com, the publisher of the book:  “A CEO, an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk. Introduction to Meditation. There are many meditation methods being practiced all over the world and is not restricted to any race or religion.  I used to look at meditation as an activity, like working out at the gym or attending a yoga class.  The techniques had helped me to ease stress and tensions in my life.  In the past 3 years, my journey in meditation took a drastic turn when I decided to go deeper by spending a year to learn meditation from Monks in temples and forest in Thailand.  In 2017, the sudden death of my Mom created a vacuum in my life that lead me towards this path.  Having many unanswered question about life and death, I turned towards books and religion, only to be disappointed when these information lead me towards “believe” and “faith” base theology - with no explanations that I could accept. A talk by a Monk at a meditation center, Dhammakaya Center in Singapore, convinced me that meditation is the key to the door into deeper understanding of the Law of life and death - a law that was not sufficiently explained by religion, science, logic or maths.  There was only one path to be fully indulge in learning meditation - The path of a monk’s life. It took half a year to cleared all of my personal and business commitments before I could commit to be ordained as a Theravada Monk with a temple, Dhammakaya temple - to learn the simple ways of a monk’s life.  In this process I was hoping that the simplicity would help me empty my mind, cleanse it, attain complete stillness, and maybe give me a new perspective to redesign how to live the rest of my life. I immersed in an intensive 45-day training as a monk.  Head completely shaved, wore only saffron robe, slept in a 1-men size tent, ate from alms donated, chanted buddha’s scriptures and meditated daily.  The most difficult part of that journey was not having a watch to tell time and a phone to stay in contact with anyone.  Waking up at 4am and eating only 2 meals was less difficult than I had expected.  The second most difficult was to keep the mind clear from passing judgements and expressing opinions on everything.    After completing the 45-day training, I disrobed and return to my normal life.  Everything outside had not changed a bit, yet everything inside me had changed.  Today, I continue to practice and spread the knowledge meditation to help more people attain the inner peace that we all had ignored and forgotten.  Most people seek happiness by working hard to attain success.  We pursue goals that we set.  Aspire to be in position higher than our current.  Acquire objects we want to own.  It could be money, wealth, assets, relationship, or dreams of being somebody of importance.  And in this journey, we refuse to be happy for who we already become.  By wanting things we do not have we create discontentment of what we currently own.  Hence we are perpetually never satisfied or happy with ourselves. We either worried of the future (uncertainty, fear, yearning etc) or burdened by our past (guilt, shame, disappointment etc) Meditation would help the mind to settle down to a state of stillness.  When we learn to meditate, we learn not to Stir up the dust around our life.  Eventually, we even learn to simplify our needs, so as not to clutter our life with more dust or desires.  So the combination of less dust and less stirring create clearer mind, which translates to a life that is happier and more content. The Monkey Mind Podcast This podcast contains episodes of guided meditations suitable for beginners, new practitioner and experience meditators.  They are re-scripted and translated from compilation from many meditation masters during my past 2 years m