My work lives at the intersection of ancient contemplative wisdom and modern psychological science. On one side, the depth of the Dharma offers direct pathways to cultivate clarity, compassion, and a profound sense of meaning and inner stillness.
On the other, the skillfulness of therapeutic modalities—drawing from clinical psychology, psychotherapy, and neuroscience—offers valuable frameworks for understanding the mind, trauma, and the journey of healing.
Rather than separating these worlds, I allow them to inform and enrich one another—offering meditative practices that are both grounded and transformative. In this space, we can begin to meet ourselves and the world with greater kindness, resilience, and insight—gently finding our way home.
I can honestly say that meditation has been one of the most profound gifts I’ve received in my life. However, my first experience with meditation, during a retreat at the end of 1992, was paired with an even greater gift—the gift of Dharma.
Dharma isn’t confined to any single religion; it’s a universal path that aligns us with the fundamental laws of wisdom and truth. It’s about discerning what is wholesome and what is unwholesome, recognizing what leads to greater suffering and what helps relieve it.
In our modern world, where truth and "alternative facts" are so often entangled, it’s increasingly difficult to discern what’s real and what’s not. In such times, it becomes crucial to ground and root ourselves in a perspective that offers clarity, truth, and compassion. By cultivating this deeper way of seeing the world, we can find a more direct, authentic, and compassionate path for our life.
One key area of research is the impact of mindfulness meditation, a central aspect of the nature-of-mind practices, on the brain. Studies led by neuroscientists like Richard Davidson, with whom Mingyur Rinpoche has collaborated, have shown that consistent mindfulness practice can enhance the brain's ability to regulate emotions and reduce stress.
Mindfulness meditation has been linked to increased gray matter in areas associated with memory, learning, and emotional regulation. This suggests that by training the mind to rest in awareness—observing thoughts and emotions without clinging to them—we can "rewire" the brain to become more resilient to stress and more adept at sustaining positive emotional states.
Awareness is with us all the time, yet usually we fail to notice. With proper guidance and practice we can train our ability to recognize our inherent natural and loving awareness. It’s like returning to a place within us that’s always present, always accepting, and whole.
By focusing our awareness on the body’s life force or subtle energies, we can make space for difficult emotions and open ourselves to the compassionate warmth in our hearts—both for ourselves and for all living beings.
We can also simply rest in open and natural awareness, which brings with it a profound sense of peace and clarity.
Nature-of-mind practices in the Buddhist tradition—such as those taught by Mingyur Rinpoche—focus on cultivating awareness of the mind's natural state, free from attachment, fixation, or ego. These practices help practitioners become aware of the mind's impermanent nature, observing thoughts, emotions, and sensations without attachment or identification.
Research on meditation has shown that these practices can have a profound effect on how the brain functions. In particular, mindfulness and awareness meditation increase activity in regions of the brain associated with attention, emotional regulation, and self-awareness, such as the prefrontal cortex. Mingyur Rinpoche has emphasized that through these practices, we can access the mind’s natural clarity and spaciousness, which neuroscience has found to be reflected in changes in brain wave patterns, particularly those associated with deep states of calm, concentration, and insight.
As a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, my work weaves together the timeless wisdom of the Dharma with the insights of modern psychology and neuroscience.
With years of clinical experience in the field of mental health—particularly in working with depression, anxiety, and emotional trauma—I bring a grounded, compassionate approach to inner healing and transformation.
I offer meditation as a living, embodied path: deeply rooted in contemplative traditions, yet responsive to the challenges of our disruptive and rapidly changing times.
We are living in a period of profound disruption and challenge. The world is in turmoil—marked by armed conflicts, looming hunger, and the ever-present threat of epidemics. Social media dominates every aspect of our lives, bombarding us with a relentless flow of information, making it harder by the day to discern truth from fabrication. Our nervous system, which evolved over millions of years, has never faced such an overwhelming onslaught of fast-paced, fragmented data.
If we are biologically ill-equipped to handle the pressures of modern life, even in the relatively calm environment of central Europe, what does this mean for our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being in the long term? How can we possibly cultivate resilience, or better yet, genuine happiness, in the midst of it all?
While there are no easy answers, I believe—based on both my personal experience and the trust I hold in the wisdom passed down through generations of dedicated spiritual practitioners—that the teachings of the Dharma hold some of the most invaluable tools for navigating these turbulent times. These ancient practices, honed over centuries, offer profound insights into the nature of mind and the human condition, and some, like the Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and Advaita-Vedanta from India, have only recently been made accessible to a wider audience.
These teachings don’t promise to help us self-optimize or inflate our egos. Instead, they guide us back to the heart of who we truly are, pointing us toward our innate, timeless wisdom and love. Their purpose is not to make us “better” in the conventional sense, but to help us come home to ourselves—so that we may, in turn, share this truth with the world, liberating all beings into their true nature.
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