The Monk on a Motorbike

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

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

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

She has been teaching for 25 years, guides silent retreats

I first met her at London insight retreat day. I was struck her

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

Enjoy!

Today my guest is Ethan Pollock, meditation teacher and

This is one of a series of interviews I am doing profiling

I met Ethan on a recent retreat at the Barn which is

I’m afraid my mic started to give up on this episode. I’ll

Please enjoy

Today my guest is meditation teacher Kirsten Kratz.

Born and brought up in Germany Kirsten has

One of her particular passions is exploring how wisdom teachings can foster appropriate

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

Enjoy

Today my guest is meditation teacher Gavin Milne. Gavin teaches at Gaia House retreat centre in Devon, one of the largest Buddhist meditation centres in Europe

Gavin has been practicing meditation for twenty years and gave up a career as a design engineer for the Red Bull Formula One race team to travel to Asia and the US to explore the Dhamma intensively before returning to the UK. There he became involved with Gaia House and started his teacher training in 2015 and became authorized in 20219. His teachings emphasize exploring the path of practice amidst the challenges of daily life

If you’d like to hear more of Gavin’s talks then go to dharrmaseed.org and search for his name

If you enjoy this or any other Monk on a Motorbike podcast please leave a review on Apple podcasts (or whatever app your'e using). Thanks

Enjoy

Today I’m talking to Professor Marc Buehner about how we make decisions

Marc is professor of cognitive Psychology at Cardiff University in Wales where he designed a course in decision making which he teaches to final-year students.

I’ve always been pretty indecisive, so when I learned recently that you can formally study the decision-making process and how to make better ones I wanted to know more

When I looked at some of the material on the course I was struck by how logical and mathematical this process can be when to my mind much of it seems to be intuitive and emotional. And maybe that’s why I am so indecisive?

Here Marc talks about what constitutes a good or a bad decision why numbers and logic are an important part of the process of making good decisions and why people can’t get their heads around the terrible odds of playing the lottery. And plenty more besides

If you want to get a taste of what Marc Teaches then check out his youtube lecture which is for his uni students. I'll  put a link on my website www.monkonamotorbike.com where you can also find out more about Marc and some of his suggestions for further reading

Enjoy

Sally Kempton Is a meditation teacher and author.

As a young successful journalist and feminist living in New York in the early 70s Sally had an awakening experience after dropping acid for the first time. This got her interested in meditation and yoga and led her to become a monastic under the guidance of the Indian yogi Swami Muktananda

For the next twenty years, she studied and practiced Hindu Vedanta and the north Indian tantric tradition of Kashmiri Shaivism, traveling and teaching with Muktananda and living in an ashram

In 2002 she disrobed and took to creating new teaching paths which she considered more suitable for the 21st century, integrating neurobiology and psychology and working with likes of integrative philosopher Ken Wilbur

Her teachings are based on Tantra, in particular deity practices involving deep and transformative visualizations, invoking and embodying the qualities of Hindu goddesses like Lakshmi and Saraswathi

This style of visualization is common to most traditions but often involves male figures. Sally transformed this by focusing on the feminine energies instead

She is the author of the books Awakening Shakti and Meditation for the Love of it and leads workshops worldwide

I met sally at one her workshops in London which I signed up for after reading her book

Awakening Shakti and she kindly agreed to a podcast interview

You can find out more about Sally, her teachings and books, and so on at her website sallykempton.com

Enjoy

There are a lot of bleak predictions going around about artificial intelligence creating mass unemployment or even becoming sentient and enslaving humankind or killing us all off. In this episode, I speak to one of the world's leading authorities on AI, Professor Dave Cliff about whether the computers of the future will finish us off or save us. 

Dave is a professor of Computer Science at Bristol University in the UK, with an impressive CV that includes developing the first automated trading software that revolutionized global financial markets, and advising the British Government on trends in technology

He is confident that AI is not the threat many believe it to be and for the most part believes it is a force for good and here he tells us why

Today my guest is Michael Von Der Geest. Michael helps to run one of the big four accountancy firms EY which used to be called Ernst and Young. He is also the CEO of EY Seren their digital platform.

He has helped to make mindfulness teaching widely available to their 250, 000 staff worldwide and sponsors their internal mindfulness support network which now has 10,000 members.

Here he talks about how mindfulness has helped him deal with the challenges of leadership, how it helps with team dynamics, and how he has used it to deal with his own anger issues, and balance a busy work and family life

Corporate mindfulness has come under fire in some meditative circles. Sometimes referred to as McMindfulnness it is seen as diluted and franchised. I was keen to hear how it shapes up against these claims by someone who is at the top of the corporate ladder and is a keen meditator. I found what he said to say very encouraging: it makes him less reactive and angry, enhances team harmony and integrity and increased the company’s sense of engagement with corporate responsibility

This was recorded in the Summer of 2019 pre-coronavirus, whilst Extinction Rebellion were making headlines

.If you have any questions or comments please feel free to get in touch. My email is on my website   www.monkonamotorbike.com

If you enjoy this or any other episodes please take the time to write a review on iTunes, it really helps to spread the word

Many thanks

Danny Hill  (the Monk on a Motorbike)

If you’re interested in Magick, what it is, and just as importantly what It isn’t, then you have to tune into this interview with Daniel Ingram

This is the second time Daniel has appeared on my show. Daniel is famous for his teachings on Buddhist meditation and his controversial views about meditative attainments-but is less well known as a practitioner of Magick, something which he has been doing for years

As  a former critical care doctor and  a data-crunching researcher, he is a well-grounded in scientific rationalism as well as being an expert in conservative, systematic meditation practices So I figured it would be very interesting to get his perspective on a subject that many, if not most people, would consider pretty out there if not downright scary or wrong or evil or all of the above

This is a fascinating interview and its really turned my head around to the reality of Magick and has me fired up to start some practices as well as realizing how much I am already practicing it without knowing

I’ve divided the interview into three parts. Each part builds on the other so it’s worth listening all the way through. Feel free to stop and start. There are show notes on my website -www.monkonamotorbike.com - with timings so you can pick up where you left off or go back and forth

If you enjoy this interview please take a little time to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks