Using Meditation as a Tool for Daily Balance with Cortland Dahl – 5-16-15
April 4, 2015
For many people, meditation is an essential part of their daily routine and spiritual practice. Meditation can be especially helpful in providing an opportunity to bring centeredness, peace and calm to each day. What does research show us about the value of meditation in helping us find balance in life’s daily frenetic pace, and how can we easily incorporate it into our lives? Our guest this week brings extensive knowledge about meditation practices to our discussion to help us better understand the tool that it can be.
Cortland Dahl has practiced meditation for more than twenty years and has studied Buddhism around the world. He has spent time on retreat in monasteries and retreat centers throughout Japan, Burma, India, and Nepal, and for eight years lived in Tibetan refugee settlements near Kathmandu.
In 2000, Cortland received a Master’s Degree in Buddhist Studies from Naropa University. Since that time, he has interpreted for various Tibetan lamas and taught courses on Buddhism and meditation throughout the world. He founded the Rime Foundation in 2004 to aid in the translation and preservation of Tibetan Buddhist literature. In 2009, this non-profit organization was transformed into Tergar International, a global meditation community under the guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.
As an author and translator, Cortland has published numerous works on Buddhist meditation practice, including Entrance to the Great Perfection: A Guide to the Dzogchen Preliminaries; Great Perfection, Volumes I & II; and Deity, Mantra and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, as well as works on classic Buddhist philosophical texts, such as Middle Beyond Extremes and Distinguishing Phenomena from their Intrinsic Nature.
Cortland currently serves as Chairman of Tergar International and as a Senior Instructor for the Tergar community. He lives with his wife and son in Madison, Wisconsin, where he is pursuing a PhD under the guidance of renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.
Cortland is interested in exploring the interface between the body, the mind, and the brain, and especially in the question of how meditation and other contemplative practices may help us cultivate positive qualities like compassion and resilience. His current work focuses on the effects of long-term meditation practice on aversive conditioning.
For more information about Cortland, please go to http://tergar.org/about/instructors/ or http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/cihmPeople_Grad.html#cDahl
